Hello everyone and welcome to 2013! It's the first full work week of the new year and around this time each year, the tech press and blogosphere is full of predictions and prognostications about what will happen in the coming 12 months. Some of them are, shall we say, more likely than others but usually these lists are entertaining and it is always fun to look back after the year is complete to see which of them were accurate.
What is of even more value however is setting resolutions we can actuallyachieve. We all know that around New Years, people set personal resolutions for themselves and if they are not reasonably achievable, those same resolutions will be back on next year's list and maybe the year after that. When they are overly grandiose, they end up getting scaled back, or in many cases, they simply never get off the launchpad. We all have likely experienced this in our personal resolutions, but the same can happen in business. We know there are things we can do and resolutions that we can set to improve the way we do business, but turning them into reality can sometimes be a challenge.
With that in mind, over the course of this week we are going to focus on achievable resolutions related to Document and Content Management that can help your organization be better organized, more efficient and more successful.
ECM Resolution #1: Begin to deliver better information access.
We've all seen the reports about how information is growing exponentially each year. While these reports are usually published by companies selling high-end storage, the fact remains that content of all types is being gathered and used within our organizations at an alarming rate. Couple that with the increasing demand for expanded access to select content via mobile devices and the need to integrate content more completely into important business processes and you have what appears to be quite a challenging resolution but fortunately, it is one that is achievable. When your company takes a more holistic view about how information is being used, accessed, captured and stored, you will almost certainly find opportunities to eliminate redundancy and centralize the management of your content.
For many organizations, the best resolution is to focus on moving towards a single repository for most information. Now I hear you say... wait a minute! I thought we were focusing on achievable resolutions here! I understand that this appears challenging given that most organizations already have content scattered across multiple repositories or locations. And in many cases, migrating all of that information along with its associated metadata and classifications can be anywhere from daunting to impossible. The trick to success is to zero in on specific applications, often one at a time and take your success in increments, learning along the way. For example, you may begin by integrating ECM with your HR system and then once that is done, tie in your Accounts Payable process and so on. Overtime, you have simplified your approach to information and are delivering simplified,easier access to a primary repository. Your corporate information is more easily managed and controlled within in a single repository while also being made available within a growing variety of business applications and users across the enterprise.
As you might have guessed, Oracle WebCenter is uniquely positioned to help you achieve this resolution. Because it is developed by Oracle as part of the Fusion Middleware platform, it is easily integrated with key business applications like Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Siebel CRM and more including (gasp!) business applications from other companies. The WebCenter Content repository is also uniquely designed to take advantage of the unmatched power of the Oracle database, including the SecureFiles functionality offered by the latest releases. Performance and scalability of such a repository is obviously critical and Oracle WebCenter delivers the goods here as well. Check out the Performance and Scalability Whitepaper on our websitefor much more detail.
Moving towards a single repository lets you address your security, compliance and content management requirements while providing seamless workflow and content access within multiple business applications while allowing for a variety of access methods depending on the use case. If you want to learn more right away, be sure to check out the informational webcast available here.
Hopefully this first resolution is an idea that you can seize on as you focus on the year ahead. Throughout the rest of this week, we will focus on other content management resolutions that can help you and your business cut costs and be better positioned to manage future growth.