Blogs

Reading around the information on the AIIM website, there are some very scary statistics around ECM projects. The one that stands out, is that over 50% of ECM projects are not successful. What a statistic! And a real shame on those providing software or services in the ECM sector.

The Road to ECM Hell. Why do so many projects run into difficulties? Over-ambitious requirements? Bad software? Bungled project implementation? At Repstor, we think there is a combination of factors that lead to unsuccessful ECM projects. The road to ECM Hell is paved with customers, software vendors and implementers all trying their best, having good intentions, but failing to provide a solution that works. 

Why is this? Well it starts with the basic premise – why is the ECM software needed in the first place? The benefits are clear. Centralized ECM provides better information control and security. It allows an organization to manage the information lifecycle, making it easy to ensure they have access to important information when and where it is needed. It minimizes your e-discovery risk, by avoiding retaining unnecessary information longer than required. And it allows an organization to build structured processes around information. It introduces information efficiency. All these benefits have the potential to save huge amounts of money. So everyone is bought into the need for the centralized ECM system, right?

Not quite.

You’ve forgotten about people and their day jobs. Most of the benefits of ECM are related to the organization, not the users accessing the system. The users who must submit and access the information on a daily basis. It is only these users who will make the ECM system a success through their daily use of it. Too often ECM projects fail to focus on the user who is key to the success of the system.

Over the next few weeks we’ll discuss how good intentions from all those involved do not make a successful ECM project – and why we have ended up in ECM hell.