Cheryl Butler-Poole
AIIM International
1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1100
Silver Spring , MD, 20910
cbutler@aiim.org
www.aiim.org

AIIM International Defines Enterprise Content Management (ECM)

Organizations View ECM as "Glue" Between Front- and Back-end Applications -

    Silver Spring, Maryland, November 13, 2000 - AIIM International, the industry association that connects users and suppliers of e-Business technologies and services, today announced that Enterprise Content Management (ECM) has emerged as the number-one e-business concern to organizations around the world. Defined as the creation, capture, delivery, customization, and management of content across an enterprise, ECM is the "glue" between front- and back-end applications (see attached diagram).

Front-end applications (i.e. sales automation and CRM), back-end applications (i.e. ERP and order processing), and an organization's infrastructure are the most visible aspects of an e-Business solution. What many organizations are missing, and now realizing, is the management of unstructured content, and processes throughout the enterprise. ECM Technologies include:

  • Web Content Management
  • Document /Image Management
  • Forms Processing & Recognition
  • Business Process Management
  • Enterprise Portals
  • Knowledge Management -Business Intelligence
  • Data Warehousing/Data Mining
  • Content on Mobile Appliances
  • Preservation
  • Storage

    "Simply put, Enterprise Content Management is viewed as the heart of e-Business," said Marcel Van Hulle, director worldwide content management sales, IBM. "Industry sales of ECM software have grown more than 20 percent year-over-year. Why? During the past several years

    organizations focused on implementing business processes such as CRM and ERP. Organizations did not always consider from the start how to manage the content generated by these mission critical applications, thus creating a 'content management crisis.' Today, as organizations face new customer service requests, they realize that an Enterprise Content Management solution is mandatory for a successful e-Business deployment."

  • The top ECM issues that organizations face today include:
  • Security/Privacy of customer information
  • Managing Web site content
  • Content on mobile computing devices
  • Storage
  • Outsourcing Decisions (Application Service Providers)

    "ECM, or what we call e-Content is one of the hottest topics in the e-Business space," said Carl Frappaolo, co-founder of Delphi Group. "Of the seven technology sectors that comprise the e-business market, e-Content is second only to e-infrastructure, and it should maintain this lead position well into the future. The reason, simply put is because in e-business content is raised to a new level of criticality. It is the single interface and documenter of all business transactions."

    "Today, with the advent of the Internet and the extended enterprise, the management challenge has become even more complex," said John Mancini, president of AIIM International. "It is like Pandora's box… users, applications, and information have moved beyond the four walls of the enterprise. It is not just employees accessing the system, but it is also customers, business partners, suppliers, and distributors. In addition, organizations must manage content in a mobile environment as laptop computers, PDA's and Cell phones all receive, send, and store information. Implementing ECM is a massive initiative taking place in today's market"

    About AIIM International
    AIIM International is the global industry association connecting the users and suppliers of e-Business technologies and services. AIIM International represents the specific area of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) within e-Business - the technologies used to create, capture, customize, deliver, and manage enterprise content to support business processes. These technologies are key enablers of e-Business and include: content/document management, business process management, enterprise portals, knowledge management, image management, data warehousing, and data mining. A neutral and unbiased source of information, AIIM International produces educational, solution-oriented events and conferences, provides up-to-the-minute industry information through publications and its industry web portal, and is an ANSI/ISO-accredited standards developer. Additional information about AIIM is available on the Web at: www.aiim.org.

    To learn more about ECM attend AIIM 2001 - April 30 - May 3 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York, NY, USA. For more information call 1-301-587-8202 or visit www.aiim.org.