Enterprise content management in a mobile age

Organizations that deploy enterprise content management (ECM) are well-positioned to realize significant operational advantages, including streamlined document management processes.

"Enterprises and government agencies around the world use ECM systems to store and internally share files," Yorgen Edholm, CEO of Accellion, wrote in a recent ComputerWorld blog. "Because ECMs securely manage and create workflows, they have become the favorite storage site of valuable corporate documents."

Room for ECM to grow
That said, most ECM systems fall short when it comes to mobile integration, which presents a major issue to the increasingly mobile workforce. With bring-your-own-device programs becoming ever more popular and a rising number of companies making smartphones and tablets key parts of their operations, the fact that mobile devices don't play well with ECM is a big stumbling block.

"Short on time, an employee will turn to the first free public cloud file sharing service they can find to share a document, or store a video they need to show from their tablet later that day," Edholm noted.

Minimizing data breach vulnerability
This state of affairs could prove disastrous for firms' security efforts – the last thing companies need at a time when data breaches are frequently in the media. For instance, news recently broke of the second largest Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) breach since a law requiring entities to notify affected parties went into effect in 2009. The breach, which involved the theft of four unencrypted computers from Advocate Health Care, resulted in the loss of more than 4 million patient records containing "personally identifiable patient information as well as clinical data, including diagnoses and health insurance information," wrote Online Tech blogger Thu Pham.

So what can executives do to maintain the security of data stored in ECM systems?

"The best way to make sure your employees aren't finding their own solution to accessing data with unsafe solutions is to create a unified experience," advised Edholm. "Take a broad look at all of your content. The goal is to bring together all disparate content silos to provide unified and ubiquitous access from your ECM to a mobile device."

ECM is already generating significant operational improvements – not to mention the accompanying time and cost savings – but now it's time for companies to take things to the next level by integrating mobile.

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