"Hierarchical firms fare much worse"

Many companies struggle with an IT application landscape and infrastructures that have developed over the years. According to the SER survey, three out of four responding companies claim that they use several different systems just for document and business process management alone. The result: chaotic filing structures, redundant data retention, and information silos. "The situation is alarming! This kind of organically grown and heterogeneous IT landscape just kills efficiency. It is precisely these information silos that exacerbate information sharing and project collaboration — and this negatively affects in-house teamwork as much as it does work with external partners, suppliers and customers," explains Manfred Zerwas, Managing Partner of the SER Group.

ECM is important, 85 percent say

Another key result of the survey: The majority of the 1,826 responding CIOs, process managers and IT managers are well aware of what is needed to get out of this situation, and yet they do not consistently pursue a strategy. A substantial 85 percent of the respondents see the importance of enterprise content management as a strategic priority to overcome the challenges listed here. Only 41 percent, however, currently pursue the necessary ECM platform strategy — at least on a department level and not yet company-wide. Another 41 percent have yet to adopt an ECM strategy and 18 percent are in the process of formulating one.

"ECM has reached corporations and mid-sized businesses and is finally emerging from the shadow of ERP, CRM, etc. In companies that already practice cross-departmental and cross-functional collaboration, ECM is much more widespread than in companies that still operate largely in terms of hierarchies," comments Zerwas.