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Another important role of the Information Professional is that of content advocate.  This is not a gatekeeper role.  It’s a role that ensures the best solution for a particular case is implemented and that the content is managed within the guidelines of corporate standards.  Information Professionals look at specific content requirements first, regardless of where and how it’s kept.

There Can Be More Than One

In the past, many ECM (Enterprise Content Management) vendors believed there could be only one ECM platform inside an organization.  This had meant that documents, web content, and digital assets (rich media) all were stored in one system.  This is no longer a strongly held belief.

Different ECM platforms and content solutions may be needed to support any individual organization.  It is the Information Professional's role to understand why each platform is best for their organization's needs and how those different solutions will interact with one another.

For instance, due to many remote locations and challenges with I-9 documentation, a company may choose to use a hosted solution that supports the eVerify process, while contracts and related documents are stored in an onsite system.  The Information Professional will know why each solution has been deployed in this manner and what changes in the future may affect this..

Adherence to Information Governance

Retention is one of the largest components within information governance.  Any document that is a record of a business decision usually has some level of retention needs.  At the same time, if those records are subject to discovery then that retention solution also needs some sort of litigation hold capabilities.  Yet even within the traditional ECM vendors, records management was not part of the core platform until 2002, when the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed.

Today, some content solutions still don’t support records capabilities.  Many users do not consider records retention, national privacy laws nor disaster recovery when they are looking for a content solution.  It’s the role of the Information Professional to understand under what rules content needs to exist within an organization.

Keeping Chaos At Bay

Just because documents are stored in various ECM and content solutions does not mean that they are under control.   Content chaos can occur within ECM systems as much, if not worse, that it can on disparate file systems.  It is the responsibility of the Information Professional to be able to know what content exists in his organization, how her organization uses that content, and how long that content needs to be maintained.

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Marko Sillanpaa  ECMp
www.BigMenOnContent.com