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Chasing Compliance
How a User-Friendly Approach to Content Management Can Help You Catch Today’s Runaway Train
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Million dollar fines. Ongoing lawsuits. Damaged reputations. The risks associated with regulatory compliance are well understood in today’s corporate world.
Staying ahead of the ever changing compliance and regulation requirements is similar to chasing a runaway train. In fact, there are five factors that make compliance so challenging:
- Volume growth
- Proliferation of e-documents
- Multiple content creators
- Speed requirements
- No end in sight
Volume Growth
One of the first responses to the current compliance challenge is to “save everything.” So it is not surprising that stored information is growing by leaps and bounds every year.
Proliferation of E-documents
In the past, records retention was easy. Files were put in a carton and shipped to a warehouse, to be destroyed after seven years. Today, paper storage is no longer an option with over 90% of documents being created electronically.
Multiple Content Creators
It is a fact that any given document could be created by multiple people, since virtually every employee in every department is capable of creating a recordable event.
Speed Requirements
Regulatory authorities are increasingly imposing time limits on companies to provide the required information. In the age of instant-response search engines, the expectations are that you can provide content immediately.
No End in Sight
Establishing regulations and criteria can be a lot easier than complying with them. Today, there are over 10,000 federal, state, and industry-specific regulations active in the U.S. alone.
A New Compliance Mindset
While all compliance technologies must ensure that information is tightly managed and secure, systems that will actually be used and adopted by today’s end users must also provide flexibility in how they can access, share, and utilize that information. The key to a successful implementation can be summed up in one word — easy:
Easy to Use
It is important that the system support the way people conduct business and serve customers, not the other way around. An effective ECM system should offer:
- Web-based access: — providing timely content access to users and administrators
- Intuitive interface — with a browser-like interface and intuitive navigation, requiring virtually no training
- Generic functionality — industry-specific solutions do not support long-term enterprise-wide needs
- Fully configurable — systems should be flexible to conform to existing business processes and user preferences
Easy to Evolve
Most business information resides in unstructured documents, so every type of document must be managed with equal flexibility. A sustainable ECM solution should provide:
- Reliability — with a flexible design so a change in one module will not require a change in the implementation of another
- Platform independency — Java-enabled technology that supports MS Windows, UNIX, Linux, and a host of web browsers and database systems
- Unlimited scalability — expect high system response times, regardless of number of users
- Ease of evolution — open architecture is essential
Easy to Deploy
An enterprise wide approach offers consistency and savings, but only when the system supports and integrates with the users’ primary business goals. Features of a flexible ECM solution include:
- Optimized code — provides for easy installation, uses industry standards, and requires small system footprint
- Integration — multiple interfaces provide an unsurpassed ability to integrate
- Customization — able to easily enable new features
- Adaptability — no restrictions due to technology limitations
OpenEDMS — Transforming Content into Compliance
OpenEDMS is a dynamic, enterprise document management system designed to optimize the security, integrity, and accessibility of business-critical information within organizations of all sizes. Unlike other solutions, OpenEDMS was not designed solely for compliance. Instead, it was designed as a solution that makes it easier for companies to administer a broad range of document management needs — including compliance.
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