Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) | Enterprise Content Management (ECM)
AIIM recently conducted a survey of 387 individuals from organizations with 100+ staff to measure the benefits of connecting ERP and ECM. ERP has long reigned supreme as the all-encompassing enterprise application and is primarily focused on structured content. Meanwhile ECM has grown rapidly to become the repository of all the unstructured content and documents that accumulate outside of the purely transactional processes. Joining up these two major business engines has major potential as a common information interface for users across the business.
From the results of our research, we learned which process integrations bring the best ROI and what strategies are working for integrated access portals. We also gained a better understanding of the benefits and practicalities of integrating ERP with content and document management systems, what the most popular choices are for portal configurations and integration middleware, and what longer-term issues might arise for support and compatibility.
Here's are the highlights from our findings:
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As regards ECM supplier, 23% are using SharePoint, with EMC/Documentum, Open Text, IBM/Filenet, and Oracle/Stellent all taking around a 10-12% share.
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The biggest business benefit given by our respondents for linking ERP and ECM is the productivity gained by linking document and process workflows. Next, come improved customer service and then knowledge sharing.
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Accounts payable is the best performing integration, followed by HR, Project Management, and ECM.
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Invoice Number, Customer Number, and Purchase Order Number are the most popular process integration links between ERP and ECM, with Contract Number as an important document integration link.
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68% considered that linking ERP and ECM gave a better or much better return on investment than other IT integration projects.
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53% have a portal to provide a single point of access to ERP and ECM content or plan to have one in the next 12 months.
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Asked, “How would you feel about sourcing your ERP and ECM from the same supplier?” 42% agreed that it could have benefits, and they might consider it. 13% already source from the same supplier, 20% are committed to their existing supplier, and 24% prefer the flexibility of different suppliers.
