As a technology company, we must constantly consider the marketplace we operate in. Naturally, a major consideration is whether our solutions are fit for purpose or whether we are following an outdated strategy which could render our business model obsolete.
So, it was with great satisfaction that, according to the ‘experts’, we are right on track!
According to a Gartner 2017 blog post*, ‘Enterprise Content Management is dead’. Now, that comment caused quite a stir, most certainly due to the terminology used. To state that ECM is dead could lead one to understand that all those huge system deployments across thousands of organisations worldwide is now pointless.
Far from it. The blog post (and further posts and published research) outline that the push to consolidate to a centralised enterprise-wide platform is an almost impossible task. No single platform can perform all the tasks required of it to meet regulatory compliance, retention of knowledge, cost and process efficiencies whilst at the same time evolving to offer new ways of working.
The complexity of the above requires technology providers to think in a different way. Lengthy and costly migrations and implementations are not a realistic answer and can easily alienate the workforce. Instead, Gartner recommends a Content Services approach which builds upon a family of applications that communicate well together. This allows for maximum functionality, minimum risk whilst also ensuring a single source of truth across the multiple content repositories employed.
Well before the doom of a single consolidated platform was hinted at, Generis had developed CARA, our user interface for content and information management systems. Designed to meet the demands of both business users and IT professionals, It allows users to access and manage information through a single user interface, whilst at the same time working with existing systems, thus avoiding the need for data migrations and complicated implementations.
Generis’ strategy is for CARA to be the umbrella user interface – whatever the organisation’s underlying system(s). With existing and planned integrations, CARA already offers a host of specialist functionality, which can be implemented on day 1 as part of the its original configuration. It also has plug and play configurations which can be easily added or removed according to the business context. In this way, content can be accessed, navigated, searched, created, reviewed, approved and published according to each user’s role using an interface personalised to how they work.
CARA’s core configuration capabilities also provides the flexibility required by IT, so it works in exactly the way stipulated by the business, from business rules, through workflows, dashboards, user views and more – all with minimum impact for IT.
In conclusion, CARA ensures maximum functionality for minimum risk, offering a single point of access via its highly user-friendly interface. Our strategy moving forward is to continually improve and evolve but for now it is encouraging to know that, thanks to the extensive research of Gartner and other leading organisations, we got it right.
If you would like to know more, please contact us.
*Please note that specific comments or opinions expressed on the referenced blog are those of the individual contributor only, and do not necessarily represent the views of Gartner, Inc.