The Bell curve graph above is meant as a rough visual
representation of the maturity of ECM. On the Y-Axis is ROI, on the X-Axis is
Time. Some companies have more of a Long Tail graph. Some have a straight line
that never achieves ROI.
Marker #1 (year 1)
Discovery and Roadmap Development
The business is interview, given the heads up that change is
coming.
Driving Force
Sets the stage for how the whole rollout will progress
Ex: Finance vs. HIM: the first project usually gets the most
attention, the onsite vendor team, the full budget request, the flagship
presence.
Scoping
The project with the most bang for the buck is chosen and
developed. The focus is on this project, regardless of the impact on other
teams and systems.
ROI measure
It’s absolutely critical to get baseline measurements of the
current processes. Measurements that highlight the FTEs involved with pushing
paper, referencing multiple systems, etc.
First project Implementation
Usually the ECM vendor or associated consulting group
installs, configures and deploys the first implementation with a lot of
fanfare. It might even get mentioned by the CIO.
Turnover
Within a year, the initial consultant(s)/employee(s) will
leave project or company. They are there to feed off the initial expense budget
and leave to get on another budget train.
Marker #2 (year 1-5)
Execute Roadmap
This is when the ECM manager attempts to execute as much of
the ECM Roadmap as possible. As the ROI is realized, there are second and third
waves of getting the most out of the investment. Licensing costs be
scrutinized. Upgrades are delayed.
Propagation
In some cases, the roadmap is rewritten to expand the
initial vision of ECM, in others it is reduced. If the ROI goal proves hard to
reach, more projects may get started to reach it.
Stop Gaps
ECM suites are capable of serving as stop gap solutions to
many different areas. As other systems labor on with obsolete technology, ECM
can sweep in and save the day. As older systems are replaced, the documents and
images need a relatively inexpensive place to be stored for retention. This is
perfect for ECM.
Integration
All possible integrations are added to the solution that
stream line the indexing and processing of the incoming content.
Marker #3 (year 5-8)
Commodity
ECM is fully mature; its expansion is over. The original
team is smaller. Most of the maintenance is routine.
Maintenance
The biggest issues are scaling for storage and performance.
In large ECM systems this can be more and more of an issue. The original
Roadmap usually doesn’t include plans for splitting up the repository that is
now huge.
Cloud
At some point, a director will make the case to move the
system to the cloud. Because it is huge, the argument to move it might be a
good one.
Marker #4 (year 8 to XX)
Superseded by Better Technology
There will be a time when the shiny, new system becomes old
and obsolete. The need to simplify and break apart the system becomes a
necessity for survival . Technical advancements will become too glaring to
ignore or workaround. Migration projects might start up to gradually dismantle
the solution piece to move them into more modern systems.
Life Support
As new technology pressures increase, it may be an option to
put the system on life support and left for retention only.
