ECM in the Cloud: Convenient instead of secure?

Many SMEs still prefer to install their ECM system, which they use to capture, store, manage and archive company-related data and documents, on their own servers, i.e. on-premise.

In the meantime, however, people are increasingly working in process-related teams, using workflows and exchanging documents - both within the company and with external business partners. This type of collaboration is often outsourced to the cloud, because cloud computing services offer the necessary flexibility and mobility.

Uncontrollable cloud services from the consumer sector then quickly come into play. A shadow IT system emerges and the original security concept is undermined in a grandiose manner. Once again, convenience and ease of use are ahead of IT security.

Of course, the ECM industry has long since recognized how it can fill this gap and offer users flexibility and mobility without compromising on security: by moving its own functionalities to the cloud.

Manufacturers such as WMD are therefore increasingly transferring the functionality of their systems to the cloud or enabling hybrid operation. This is the only way to integrate collaboration sensibly and securely into one's own ECM process and value chain.

And ECM from the cloud offers another important advantage: The company can use the functions flexibly and as needed, and bill on a performance basis.

The most sensible approach has proven to be to first use the archive in the cloud and then connect further functionalities such as capture, document reading and workflows.

Demand is growing for typical document-based processes to be handled in the cloud. This primarily involves digital incoming mail, pure document reading and subsequent workflows such as invoice processing.

This works no differently than in-house: paper documents are scanned and sent to the capture technology located at the hosting partner; PDFs and email get there electronically.

They are read out, their content analyzed and classified. A workflow engine then distributes the documents fully automatically throughout the company and triggers further processes that result from the document or message.

For a central, process-oriented digitization of incoming mail, all the documents behind which there are structured workflows are of interest. In every company, there are the typical documents from accounting, but also a variety of individual or industry-specific information and documents behind which there is not necessarily a work process that can be triggered automatically, but which are relevant for the company.

The digitization of these documents virtually redefines a process that can be mapped in the cloud. In the real estate industry, several thousand tenant and rental property-related documents of various types are often received by mail or digitally every day.

With an incoming mail solution, paper documents are digitized, the scans or digitally incoming documents are read and assigned directly to the correct clerk through automatic indexing.

Transfer to industry-standard subsystems is also an option. Until now, companies with conventional (on-premise) incoming invoice solutions have generally started with 10,000 to 15,000 invoices per year.

It can be guessed that the number of all documents in the company will be much higher. At such a scale, the solution is still more likely to be deployed on-premise or in a hybrid cloud scenario.

The advantage of a pure cloud solution is that it is also interesting for companies with lower document volumes, as there are no high start-up costs for hardware and software and the operating costs are low.

Whether hybrid or completely from the cloud: By relocating archive and other ECM functionalities, companies relieve their IT team and local systems.

They do not have to purchase new hardware, but work with high availability on the most modern infrastructure of a German data center. As a medium-sized company, they also benefit from the experience of the hosting provider, which provides support in complying with legal requirements, takes over the entire administration of the system landscape, and applies security patches and updates during operation to ensure maximum availability.