Partner Article

M-Files: deliver content in context in 2016

Delivering content in context will be key in 2016 and beyond, says M-Files

Provider of Enterprise Information Management solutions cites the trends set to dominate the sector in 2016 and beyond

The continued explosion of digital content, the mainstreaming of ‘millennials’ in the workplace, and the emergence of the extended enterprise are among the key trends that will drive the Enterprise Content Management (ECM) market in 2016. This is according to M-Files Corporation, a provider of solutions that dramatically improve how enterprises manage documents and other information.

Over the past decade the ECM market has experienced strong growth largely driven by organisations continuing to transition away from paper-based document management practices, striving to automate manual-based processes and replacing existing information management systems that have proven to be complex and difficult to use.

Instead they are turning to enterprise information management solutions such as M-Files to eliminate content chaos and information silos, while enabling fast and easy access to the right documents and other information from any core business system and device.

Julian Cook, Director of UK Business at M-Files, stated: “The increasing prevalence of Shadow IT and BYOD has grown out of necessity, as younger and increasingly tech-savvy employees seek to leverage their own devices and solutions to get their work done faster and more efficiently. Not only is this putting a strain on the traditional IT department, which is increasingly being asked to support business applications across a variety of new mobile platforms, but legacy ECM solutions are failing to address a number of key issues in the market today. The problem is that they are trapped in software architectures from an earlier, more homogenous age with platforms generally not built for the cloud and offer only limited mobile support.”

In light of these challenges, Cook believes that more organisations are realising the need to provide easy-to-use tools for their employees to access and manage information. Emerging vendors are delivering on this need in innovative ways in order to address the information management issues, challenges and trends in 2016 and beyond, such as:

1. The explosion in digital content

IDC is projecting a stunning 50-times growth in digital content from 2010 to 2020, with 90 per cent of it consisting of unstructured content such as documents, emails and video. Businesses rely on fast access to current information to make smarter and faster decisions for a competitive advantage. However, content chaos often reigns supreme since many organisations are drowning in a sea of information that grows bigger and bigger each day. An organisation’s documents are often strewn all over the place - in filing cabinets, in network file folders, in emails, in file sharing and sync applications and in various business systems. As a result, employees waste enormous amounts of time every day searching for the information they need.

Julian commented: “M-Files eliminates content chaos by providing an easy-to-use solution that enables users to quickly locate the exact content they need, regardless of which business application it resides in. M-Files enables enterprises to more effectively organise, manage, secure and share their information, which leads to better decisions, faster results, improved collaboration and the highest levels of security and compliance.”

2. The rise of the Millennial

It is estimated that by the year 2020, millennials will form 75 per cent of the global workforce. This new generation of information workers is tech smart and they want solutions that are fast, easy to use, and device agnostic. Legacy ECM solutions that are complex and require millennials to change the way they already work will continue to lose market share to emerging providers with intuitive and simple offerings.

3. Emergence of the extended enterprise

Organisations are extending their value chains and engaging more deeply with external companies, such as suppliers and distributors. However, this type of collaboration only works if there is controlled, two-way information flow across organisational boundaries. The next generation of solutions needs to drive productivity, and enable information workers from different organisations to collaborate and securely share content. The extended enterprise requires a new approach to ECM that supports easy, controlled sharing of content and process inside and outside the organisation.

4. Cloud, on-premises or hybrid deployment?

Businesses are increasingly being transformed by the adoption of cloud and hybrid cloud deployments of core business systems. Traditionally, content management systems have largely been deployed on-premises, but the emergence of hybrid offerings that enable organisations to leverage their existing on-premises technology investments in concert with cloud-based business applications is becoming an increasingly popular alternative.

“The hybrid cloud option deployment gives organisations the flexibility to implement their information management strategies by managing content in its optimal location based on operational needs or compliance requirements,” explains Julian.

5. Addressing security concerns

High profile cyber attacks and data breaches have pushed security to the top of the agenda for a lot of organisations resulting in conversations about firewalls, disaster recovery plans and resilient infrastructures becoming commonplace for the C-suite. However, what many fail to recognise is the equally deadly threat from internal data breaches.

Research from the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) highlights that only 34 per cent of organisations see external hacking and malware/viruses as the most likely source of a security breach. The main concern is now coming from inside the business, with over half (53 per cent) seeing unauthorised access by staff as the biggest issue.

An ECM solution is designed to manage an organisation’s information and business processing assets – storing, indexing and serving content to users, but it’s also responsible for securing that same content. Modern ECM solutions include advanced access control and permissions management capabilities that go beyond basic security provisions. In addition, comprehensive audit trails and proactive reporting techniques enable organisations to proactively track irregular usage patterns, out-of-hours access, or anything that might be perceived as dubious activity.

Cook concludes: “The rise of millennials, growth in cloud adoption, ongoing security concerns and the explosion of digital content are just some of the factors that will continue to disrupt the ECM market. ECM software is evolving to better serve the next generation of users who have the expectation that information can be accessed from anywhere at any time. M-Files will continue to drive innovation and disruption in the ECM market by eliminating information silos and breaking down the barriers between workers and their information.”

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About M-Files Corporation

M-Files enterprise information management (EIM) solutions eliminate information silos and provide quick and easy access to the right content from any core business system and device. M-Files achieves higher levels of user adoption resulting in faster ROI with a uniquely intuitive approach to EIM that is based on managing information by “what” it is versus “where” it’s stored. With flexible on-premises, cloud and hybrid deployment options, M-Files places the power of EIM in the hands of the business user and reduces demands on IT by enabling those closest to the business need to access and control content based on their requirements. Thousands of organisations in over 100 countries use the M-Files EIM system as a single platform for managing front office and back office business operations, which improves productivity and quality while ensuring compliance with industry regulations and standards, including companies such as SAS, Elekta and EADS. For more information, visit www.m-files.com.

M-Files is a registered trademark of M-Files Corporation. All other registered trademarks belong to their respective owners.

Press contacts:

Nick Ringrow/Nick Bird

Spreckley

Tel: 0044 (0)207 388 9988

Email: mfiles@spreckley.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by M-Files .