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Is Sharepoint 2010 now ECM ready?The leading ECM vendors have been in the space for a long time and do some things very well. However, the clear trend is a move to SharePoint because of all the other things that can be done directly through SharePoint. In particular it directly integrates with Office and Exchange and much of the other Microsoft software prevalent in organisations and known and used by their staff for some considerable time. In fact 80% of Fortune 500 companies currently have some form of SharePoint licenses, attracted by its broad capabilities, but can it offer true ECM? There are 3 current trends around SharePoint 2010:
When SharePoint 2007 was launched, industry analysts decided there were key elements that were missing to prevent it from being a true ECM solution, in particular records management, scalability, granular security, persistent links, metadata, auditing and eDiscovery. Enter SharePoint 2010, which satisfies ECM fundamentals with Document Sets, Managed Metadata and Taxonomy, strong content types, content type publishing with enhanced metadata and retention schedules, in-place records management and records centre, content audits, eDiscovery and a Document ID service. So, if it’s all there, what are the barriers or functionality gaps that might dissuade organisations from moving to SharePoint 2010 for ECM? The main question is a justification for adopting SharePoint as a main ECM platform versus the associated effort and costs with deploying another system. There are certainly still some gaps in SharePoint and areas where companies need to do some additional development, such as particularly complex business process management requirements. Organisations may therefore have no choice but to go with another solution, and use SharePoint as a front-end to deliver content into whichever repository they choose. These types of requirements are the strongest barrier to SharePoint adoption and replacement of established ECM systems, especially when organisations look at their annual maintenance costs. At the very least, most senior business managers are looking at how they can utilise both their old ECM system and SharePoint together. However, increasingly organisations are looking at the whole picture of functionality versus cost versus integration with other systems likely to already be in use. SharePoint 2010 has very broad and powerful capabilities outside of the standard ECM toolset, something which competitive and often far more expensive proprietary ECM solutions simply do not offer. For example, it offers a powerful and relatively inexpensive business intelligence platform, using features like PowerPivot and Excel Services, combined with SQL Reporting Services, putting BI in the hands of every staff member, and all using the Excel interface that almost everyone is familiar with. These features allow project teams and business units, when combined with the ECM capability, to build and expand out rich corporate environments with integrated workflow automation, dashboards and reporting. More importantly, teams no longer need to build out and maintain separate platforms for each of these functions. In summary, with the exception of some unique compliance considerations, SharePoint 2010 really is ready for ECM. But, like with all ECM platforms, detailed business planning around staff needs and integration requirements is required to make the transition successful. With SharePoint 2010, the first step is setting up the platform in such a way that it can scale and perform, followed by planning for the ECM specific features and structure. This planning will be more or less consistent with all ECM systems metadata, security and governance. The ultimate goal is to create a blue print that allows for a quick and effective deployment of SharePoint 2010, to give your organisation the maximum benefits at the outset. To find out more about Ballard Chalmers services and how we can help your organisation please email us or call Andrew Chalmers on 01342 410223. Related links
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