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Looking beyond the Open Source and SaaS Marketing Hype:

Why Fast and Cheap ECM Deployment is a Bad Idea

By Jim Thumma, VP of Sales and Marketing, Optical Image Technology

(This article originally appeared in a August 2009 publication of ECM Connection)

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If you listen to the marketing hype, Open Source and SaaS ECM seem almost too good to be true. The new kids on the block have been getting a lot of press lately as they scramble to find their niche. And on the surface, it looks like they’re starting to differentiate themselves from conventional ECM offerings with claims of low costs and quick installations, respectively. It’s hard to resist the dual temptations of cheap and fast ECM implementation.

But like my grandfather used to say, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” If you’re shopping around, you probably already know that a few of us conventional ECM vendors have been offering robust, affordable, easy-to-use solutions for decades. We’ve learned a few things over the years by working in the trenches and listening to our customers. One thing that we did not need to learn is that cheap and fast are recipes for disaster - or, at the very least, disappointment.

We have also cleaned up other vendors’ failed installations enough to know that a fast deployment doesn’t necessarily equate to a successful deployment. If you’re drinking the Kool-Aid and thinking that affordable, fast ECM implementations are only available from Open Source and SaaS vendors, you would be wise to investigate a little deeper. Because the fact is that Open Source and SaaS are rarely inexpensive. And the idea that quick implementations aren’t readily available from conventional ECM vendors is a fallacy. Why, then, does it typically take so long to deploy ECM?

It’s not me; it’s you

Gartner says-correctly-that conventional ECM systems can take six to eighteen months to deploy on average. Can we do it more quickly? Of course. Is it something worth promoting? Not really. Why?

Speed is not the goal.
Each project is different.

Successfully controlling all of your structured and unstructured documents - and then leveraging them to make your company more efficient and profitable - is the goal. Quick implementations seldom allow organizations to make significant improvements to their business processes. Furthermore, it’s important to keep in mind that no two clients - or implementations - are the same. Even within the same industry, businesses that might appear to be comparable would still prepare differently to start a project.

Deployment time is dependent on the human factors that are associated with setting up an ECM solution. And oftentimes, this is where the timelines expand and where our competitors fail their customers. It’s true that you can get up and running with a solution in minutes in some cases; but simple imaging and searching are hardly groundbreaking uses of the technology. To have an ECM deployment that is truly successful, you need to invest some time. You need to come up with:

A proper indexing plan
A change management plan

And, if your project includes BPM/Workflow:

A true process analysis and process re-engineering plan

All of these factors will drive a successful enterprise deployment, but they take a little time. They don’t just magically happen, in spite of the one-size-fits-all propaganda from the SaaS vendors. No two businesses operate in same manner, even if they have similarities. You can implement ECM as quickly as you want to, but at the end of the day you need to make a time investment in understanding and enhancing your business processes. Is speed really a good idea? You can speed-read your way through a book, but without retention or comprehension, what have you accomplished? Experienced vendors know that immediacy in deployment is not the goal.

The unfortunate reality is that a pre-configured system doesn’t work for everybody. The one-size-fits-all SaaS model may be appealing to organizations that don’t want to put any time or effort up front into business process improvement. But without the ability to truly configure your solution to fit your specific needs and connect your information, your ROI will be severely limited. When it comes to process improvement, there is no silver bullet and there are no shortcuts - in spite of what the marketing hype would have you believe.

Considering Open Source ECM? Don’t skimp on the research

The factors that are associated with length of ECM deployment - process analysis, development of an indexing plan, configuring automation, etc. - are the same, regardless of whether you’re considering Open Source or a legacy implementation. The costs escalate when you consider the need for customization, maintenance, and support. Sure, some organizations have an IT team on staff that can address their specific needs. This might be an attractive option if you’re planning to go into the ECM business. If, however, like most organizations, you’re simply planning to use the technology, you’d be better off avoiding the learning curve and going with a vendor with a fully supported solution and a history of domain experience.

If Open Source ECM is attractive to you solely because of the perception that it is inexpensive, do your research and explore all of your options. There are conventional ECM vendors who deliver successful, configurable, truly enterprise-wide solutions at a price point that is competitive with Open Source costs.

Research the solutions thoroughly, and ask the right questions. Do vendors deliver true enterprise-wide solutions? Do they offer full support programs? Does their technology support your operations? Can they help you understand how your business processes are related to one another? Look for substance. Don’t be swayed by the marketing hype.

The fact is that you can buy – from conventional vendors – cloud optimized solutions with non-traditional subscription pricing models to give you the best of both worlds. You can get the functionality and the customization that you need without a capital expenditure. At the same time, you can get the security of a private cloud/on-premises installation from a conventional ECM vendor with domain experience.

The unattractive truth behind the hype

What is this hype really about? It seems as if most of the leading SaaS and Open Source solutions are being driven by industry veterans who are exploiting your fears and industry myths that ECM projects take to long and cost too much. Let’s throw the hype aside and pull the covers back:

Typically SaaS models charge you based on your use and storage volumes – meaning that the more you use the technology, the more your costs go up. Does that still sound appealing? As one CEO recently commented in an eweek. com blog , “Providers created SaaS as a revenue generator to expand market penetration due to the increasing prices of their software packages. Understandable. It’s just another acronym that has nothing to do with serving businesses with a superior product. It is to serve the providers with another revenue generator that is substantially weaker than my own stable, resilient, reliable, comfortable, secure solution.”

With respect to the Open Source model, you have the options of community and supported versions. One is available for free, basically, and the other is supported for a fee. So you have a choice in taking the free version and blazing your own trail, where oftentimes fast and cheap are a recipe for disaster. Your other choice is to take the supported version. And when you say “supported,” you had better look at the fine print: your idea of supported and theirs tends to be a little different. And here is where the costs really start to escalate. One of the highlights of Open Source can be the breadth of the product; but at the same time, one of the weaknesses can be the depth. The reason for this is fairly easy to understand: it is more fun for most developers to build new flashy pieces than it is to work on making existing ones work-much less work well.

What are your goals for enterprise deployment? In order to get the most out of your implementation, you need to analyze your business processes. You need to figure out how to manage your records. A change management plan will ensure that your staff is excited about the technology-not intimidated. Without these factors in place, you may not get beyond the efficiencies associated with scanning and imaging. For some organizations this will reflect process improvement of sorts, but in terms of the ROI that you could be receiving, it’s barely the tip of the iceberg. Using ECM solely for imaging is like using your iPhone or Blackberry to just make calls. Demand more from your ECM system. You can do better.

Optical Image Technology offers an integrated suite of imaging, document management, and workflow software, including document archiving, lifecycle management, electronic forms, and email management products. To learn more about our products and services, visit our website at www.docfinity.com, email info@docfinity.com, or call us at 800-678-3241.