Organizations have always needed to manage their information effectively. Today, however, the challenge is greater than ever. IT departments are under immense pressure to balance seamless usability with robust security, enable productive remote work and ensure strict compliance. This pressure has intensified with the recent rapid shift to hybrid work models, forcing businesses to adapt on multiple fronts.
In this climate of change, a defensive posture might seem logical. Yet forward-thinking organizations see an opportunity, with 71% of content managers proactively migrating users and content away from legacy solutions, according to Forrester. By making strategic investments during volatile times, they position themselves to lead in the future. At the core of this strategy is intelligent information management.
This guide examines why organizations are investing in modern information management strategies to navigate change, mitigate risk and create business value. It also shows how cloud-enabled content management platforms are providing the answers they need.
In a recent survey conducted by Forrester Consulting and commissioned by Hyland, Forrester presented findings that underscore the importance of harnessing the power of enterprise content and unstructured data.
Explore their findings, which include insights on which content intelligence capabilities are ripe to flourish.
The need for better business solutions escalated during the pandemic, but the trend was already in motion. The world and its workers demanded — and continues to demand — new secure and efficient ways to compete in a fast-paced environment.
The six Vs of information management are distinct pressures that challenge organizations of every size:
These six factors render many traditional information management tools, like legacy enterprise content management (ECM) systems, obsolete. They simply can't keep up with the demands of the modern business world.
> Read more | Legacy system modernization for the digital era
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ECM platforms have been a cornerstone of business operations since the early 2000s, providing governance and control over documents and data. However, today’s business landscape is fundamentally different, and the tools used to manage information are rapidly evolving.
Traditional ECM platforms face several critical limitations that hinder their effectiveness in today's environment.
Many legacy ECM systems are built on dated, monolithic frameworks. This architecture leads to limited functionality, makes integration with modern applications challenging, and results in expensive development and maintenance cycles for any customizations or add-ons.
Initially, many ECM vendors and their customers were hesitant to adopt the cloud. But the undeniable need for anytime, anywhere access to content, coupled with growing confidence in cloud security, is driving more companies to make the switch, with 92% of respondents to a Forrester study reporting they’re investing in cloud/web-based applications that simplify working remotely and from a variety of devices to support content strategy. A core requirement for any modern content strategy is ensuring management tools are not just cloud-ready, but fully functional and optimized for the cloud.
> Read more | Modern cloud content management: The emergence of cloud-enabled ECM
The intense focus required to rearchitect legacy systems for modern infrastructures often leads to a drop in innovation. Users of these older platforms miss out on transformative capabilities like artificial intelligence, content intelligence and intelligent automation. They also lack integration with modern collaboration tools and simplified user interfaces, putting them at a significant competitive disadvantage.
Deploying traditional ECM systems typically involves careful planning, long development cycles and extensive user training. This combination results in high implementation and maintenance costs, especially when compared to the flexible, consumption-based pricing models and extensive customization options available with modern platforms.
For years, vendors promised a single system to store all an organization's content. This promise was never fulfilled. Instead, businesses ended up an average of 21 repositories, according to Forrester, and these disconnected information systems were never designed to work together. The result is a chaotic landscape of aging platforms, abandoned collaboration sites and isolated departmental solutions. This information sprawl makes it nearly impossible to leverage unstructured data to make swift, informed decisions and improve business efficiency.
These shortcomings highlight a clear need for a new approach — one that embraces the cloud, fosters innovation and provides the agility modern organizations require to get their intelligent information management strategies right.
Here are four key areas where a modern ECM approach makes a significant impact.
The shift to hybrid work underscored the critical need for access to information from any device, at any time and from any location. This means seamless access to content from any business system, whether it's their email client, ERP system or the native ECM interface.
A modern, cloud-powered information architecture delivers several key advantages to enable this level of access:
Investing in cloud-/web-based applications that simplify working remotely
Adopting a cloud-first strategy for content management processes
Proactively migrating users and content from legacy ECM
According to Forrester, 74% of content management decision-makers expect AI to have a significant impact on their ability to meet key objectives. It's clear that the time to embrace intelligent content management is now.
By transforming unstructured content into AI-ready data, organizations can:
Modern intelligent content solutions are distinguished by several capabilities:
Hyland’s suite of intelligent content management tools delivers a new level of value to enterprise content management strategies. Together, they don’t just optimize content management — they fundamentally redefine how organizations operate and innovate. From agentic AI to knowledge discovery, our AI-powered tools position you for better business.
Modern ECM platforms move beyond the rudimentary automation of early document management systems. They offer the advanced capabilities required to drive new levels of efficiency and innovation.
AI-powered automation features include:
By leveraging these capabilities, you can unburden your team from tedious, repetitive data tasks and reduce burnout while enabling them to focus on their most strategic work.
Every organization has unique needs that off-the-shelf software rarely addresses perfectly. A modern ECM platform solves this by including powerful low-code development tools that enable rapid creation of purpose-built applications.
Low-code tools offer a wide range of benefits:
These tools empower organizations to build tailored solutions faster and more affordably, providing the agility you need to thrive.
Content Innovation Cloud is the future of enterprise content management. By leveraging a unified content, process and application intelligence platform, your organization can unlock profound insights from enterprise content and unstructured data — fueling innovation without disruption.
The rise of AI has created the perfect opportunity for organizations to innovate their information management practices and embrace a new era of technology-led intelligence. By giving structure to vast amounts of previously hidden unstructured content, modern ECM platforms can unlock a new era of efficiency and insight.
Hyland empowers organizations to unlock profound insights that fuel innovation and redefine how they operate. By leveraging AI and cloud technologies, you can transform your enterprise content into a powerful strategic asset.
Explore how Hyland Content Innovation Cloud™ can help you deliver on the value of intelligent information management, so you can build a smarter, more agile and successful future.
Gain a cloud-native digital transformation strategy dedicated to better customer service — and smarter, stronger, faster growth. With Hyland, you can reach your full potential.
Discover how five companies from across the industry spectrum used Hyland’s ECM solutions to replace legacy systems, transform their content management capabilities and drive new levels of efficiency, innovation and scalability.
Get the basics about the opportunities for infusing artificial intelligence into your content management strategy.
