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ENTERPRISE CONTENT MANAGEMENT
What we
mean by ‘dark
data’ is when
somebody
creates
something
that they store
in some folder
that nobody
ever finds
again.
It goes dark
For decades, document and
then content management
systems have been promising
an end to document chaos. Yet,
according to a recent survey by
M-Files Corporation, 95% of UK
organisations still face challenges
when trying to find, access and
edit documents.
n
63% sometimes have difficulty
finding information
n
64% find that documents are
often saved in incorrect folders
or systems
n
Half of workers complain about
‘version creep’, with multiple
versions of documents saved in
different places
n
Four in 10 encounter problems
caused by the incorrect naming
of documents
n
29% have problems accessing
documents from different devices
n
63% say they have had to
recreate documents that already
existed because they were
unable to find them.
Clearly, there has been progress
in content management – flexible
working, digitisation, mobility and
the cloud attest to that. Even so,
a list from 10, 20 or 30 years ago
might have looked very similar. So,
why do these problems persist?
Information silos
One reason, claims Greg Milliken,
vice president of marketing
at M-Files Corporation, is the
proliferation of information
silos, including network folders,
Sharepoint, traditional ECM
systems like Opentext and
Documentum, emerging file sharing
systems like Box and Dropbox and
core business systems like CRM
and ERP systems. Research by AIIM
shows that less than 40% of the
ECM systems in use are integrated
with another core business system.
“There’s a lot of fragmentation
out there. Even a small to
medium-sized business might have
Sharepoint and some file shares
and maybe Salesforce. Just that
presents challenges. Even with
these systems, it is difficult to find
stuff. A given system might be great
at finding what’s in it, but what if
something you need that’s related
to that customer is off in the file
share or in Sharepoint? How do you
get to it when you’re in Salesforce
or any other flavour of CRM or
ERP?” he said.
This, says, Milliken creates the
problem of ‘dark data’.
“What we mean by ‘dark data’ is
when somebody creates something
We are on the cusp of a new wave in enterprise content management as
automatic content analysis and machine learning provide better access to
stored data. James Goulding speaks to Greg Milliken about what the future
holds and why M-Files is viewed as ‘an innovator’
Look and learn
that they store in some folder that
nobody ever finds again. It goes
dark. Being able to overcome that
so you can always find the most
relevant and valuable information
when you need it is what’s
driving interest from companies –
finding and harnessing what they
have, eliminating duplications
and unifying access any time,
anywhere,” he said.
What customers don’t need, he
says, is another repository. “The
message we hear is ‘Don’t come in
here and tell us that you can just
give us another system that is going
to fix everything, because that’s
how we got multiple silos to begin
with.’ We think what’s needed is
the ability to get more value out of
existing assets through integration.”
Ease of use
Central to this is improved ease of
use.
“Traditionally, ECM systems have
been really complicated; they’ve
required lots of services and
customisation, which have created
barriers to the idea of unified
access to information and ensured
that legacy systems retain their
position – every company we talk
to still uses network folders, for
example. Users have resisted ECM
systems not only because they’re
complex to implement but also
because they can be complicated
to use. People will even resist using
a tool like Sharepoint, which is in
almost every company, saying ‘I’m
not going to put it up in Sharepoint
until I’m done with it’ or ‘If I put it
up there and change a copy here
things will get out of sync’. Day
to day challenges like these have
been heavily influenced by the
architectures of these systems:
they’ve been static and they’ve
been heavy around services, so
hard to adapt, which has held back
adoption.”
Milliken added: “The rise of
Box and Dropbox is an immediate
indicator that usability has been
lacking. Granted, they don’t do a
whole lot – they’re just a folder
structure up in the cloud – but
they’re simple and they’re easy. So
