Kevin Nono, CEO of ELO Digital Office Africa

Say goodbye to high-maintenance standalone solutions and excessive administration with an enterprise content management (ECM) system.

An ECM system store company data such as e-mails, office documents and accounting records in a central repository. In addition, it integrates with your existing infrastructure and helps you to meet Protection of Personal Information Act (Popia) and GDPR requirements.

Learn more about the ELO ECM Suite

Kevin Nono, CEO of ELO Digital Office Africa, shares five reasons for introducing an ECM system into your organisation and explains what to look out for.

An ECM system connects standalone software solutions

Companies generally use different software applications, many of which are high-maintenance systems that generate large quantities of data and store them in different places.

At the same time, standalone solutions slow down processes and are a security risk.

This is where an ECM system comes in: it functions as a central repository where all the information a company generates and receives is stored and managed, no matter the file format.

Another value-adding factor is the optimised integration that the ECM system offers with ERP or CRM systems. This eliminates the need for middleware, and users can take advantage important ECM functions from their leading system – for example, for creating folders or viewing and storing documents.

An ECM system allows companies to go digital step by step

Companies wanting to replace standalone applications in the long term should make sure they opt for an ECM system that includes integrative applications for all departments. An ECM provider that also offers invoice management and contract management solutions, or a digital personnel file, can serve the special needs of accounting and HR departments.

The bigger the portfolio of specialist solutions it offers, the more likely it is to meet the company’s overall needs. And, if the software solutions are preconfigured and don’t require any complex installation, even better. In this way, companies can digitise all their processes quickly and easily with solutions from a single provider, which means less in-house admin and lower costs.

An ECM system serves multiple purposes: it combines the diverse software needs of a company in a single system and is the ideal basis for digitalising business processes in a holistic way. – Kevin Nono, CEO of ELO Digital Office Africa

An ECM system aligns with existing infrastructure

Implementing a new software solution usually involves a lot of admin work. This is not the case if you have the right ECM system. Users can be imported directly from the Active Directory database and roll-out and administration is done centrally.

You can also customise the client interfaces so that users only have the range of functions that they really need. If the system can be installed on distributed servers, you also have the right conditions for enabling OCR recognition

An ECM system streamlines collaboration

An ECM system can do so much more than just storing documents and managing projects. Permissions allow you to control access easily, state-of-the-art search technology finds information fast and the built-in workflow function automates certain processes.

Versioning or collaboration tools such as the “feed function” for collaborating on documents make it a lot easier to work in teams. Teamwork is also taken to a new level with virtual project rooms that allow members without direct access to the system to collaborate with users and manage and edit files using a web browser.

You no longer need to share sensitive files through unsecure platforms and, since information is not being sent by e-mail, you will have less data on your e-mail server.

An ECM system is privacy compliant

Popia is South Africa’s data protection law, aimed at protecting personal information processed by public and private bodies. Popia, just like Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), imposes obligations on organisations on how they collect and process personal data. An ECM system allows companies easily to implement these principles with features for deletion and retention periods and for assigning rights and role concepts.

The documentation and implementation of technical and organisational measures are also easier with an ECM system if it provides checklists and forms. And, if it includes a template for setting up a records processing directory, then you can be sure that you are in line with Popia and GDPR requirements.