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Mitigating The Risks Of ECM Implementations

The technical decisions behind what enterprise content management (ECM) system to use are only a fraction of the equation in a full implementation. With so many good platforms to choose from, some of the most critical decisions -- and biggest risks -- within an organization have nothing to do with technology.

A good piece discussing this was published recently on the AIIM (Association for Information and Image Management) site; Top 5 Risks When Implementing ECM by Bob Larrivee, AIIM's director of Educational Services for the Americas, summarizes the secret to success:

Project status, policy, procedure, product, and training are all vital to the success of your implementation. You need to develop and maintain a line of communication throughout your project. This might include a Web site, blog, or regular e-mails to all interested parties. This approach provides a sense of openness and ownership, while also providing a good vehicle to gather feedback.

The piece does a nice job of dissecting five of the most common nontechnical challenges to the success of an ECM implementation. Here's how they break down:

Risk #5: Underestimating the effort to migrate content
Risk #4: Uneven use resulting from poor procedures and enforcement.
Risk #3: Internal Politics
Risk #2: Lack of training for internal staff
Risk #1: Underestimating process and organizational issues

The article balances how to mitigate these risks with sound advice on best practices. I found that users are often more flexible than you might expect and can adapt to just about any sort of technology. But having a good foundation of process and policy around your enterprise content management approach can make a huge difference.

You'll need to sign up for a free AIIM account to access the piece, but there's good advice throughout and it's definitely worth a read.

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