A survey conducted by AIIM, a Silver Spring, Md., enterprise content management (ECM) association, reveals that while cost reduction is still dominant in driving ECM decisions, compliance and payback are growing in popularity.AIIM surveyed more than 1,200 end users and potential end users of content and document management technologies in nine countries: the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Germany, Australia, and the Benelux countries (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg).
Among the primary findings: There is remarkable consistency across nations in terms of the project and technology interests of end users. They are focusing on extremely practical applications with clear payback. If it can't be justified quickly, it won't get approved, notes the report.
As a reflection of the increased regulatory climate in the U.S., the percentage of U.S. survey respondents citing compliance as a chief reason to look at ECM technologies rose from 17% to 24%.
The study revealed that interest in projects such as e-mail management, forms handling, and security are growing concerns for end users from all countries.
Despite having the most litigious culture in the world, notes AIIM, U.S. users are not as aware as they should be of the importance of managing electronic information. e-records, says the report.
