Tired of the current Content Services or ECM (Enterprise Content Management) platform you are using? Are you feeling stuck with a subpar product that only supports limited functionalities? Are the high maintenance and overhead costs dragging you down? Is your product outdated and is upgrading to a newer version going to break the bank? If you answered yes to any of the questions above, then it may be time to migrate ECMs. It is a huge project, and it may be scary to think about making such a tremendous change, but with a competent vendor with multiple success stories under their belt, it might not be as scary as you think.
If any of the points below are what your organization is currently looking for, then it is time to migrate from one Content Services product to another:
Planning on moving away from on-prem and planning on implementing a cloud-first strategy
Need to integrate between your Content Services product and other systems, such as ERP and CRM like SAP or Salesforce
Looking for a better search functionality
Want a compliant system with out-of-the-box seamless records management capability
Require automation of business processes like Engineering, Contracts, Records Management, HR, and AP Invoicing
Want a newer and better platform since the current platform is outdated with high maintenance and overhead costs
Need to clean up your ECM since there is too much ROT (Redundant, Obsolete, or Trivial) data and the information architecture (IA) is a mess.
Even if you have made up your mind to make the switch, it may be hard to decide on where to begin. There are so many Content Services platforms out there and deciding on which will best meet your organization needs can be hard to assess. The following steps below should make choosing your next ECM solution easier:
1. Make a list of all the key requirements that you would like to have in your new Content Services platform. The list could include any of the bullet points from the previous section.
2. Review the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Content Services Platform and start looking from one of the leading products. The leaders will have more functionalities and flexibilities to make sure all the key requirements are met.
3. Review if the Content Services platform that you have chosen supports all or most of the key requirements. For example, if you are planning to integrate with other systems, make sure the platform you chose can do it. This analysis can be hard to perform without any expert guidance, so it is advisable to reach out to a competent implementation specialist to assess the platform of your choice.
Once you have chosen a Content Services platform, start planning the project with the vendor of your choice to implement your new Content Services platform AND migrate data from the old system to the new. This is easier said than done since there are only a handful of vendors with the competency and expertise to take on these kinds of projects and it across the finish line. Especially with migration, there are many factors to consider. Nevertheless, with a competent vendor, you should have the new platform running with the migrated content in no time.
If you would like an in-depth assessment or have any questions regarding migrating ECMs, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We are partners with the two leaders of the Content Services platforms: Microsoft (Gold Partner) and OpenText (Partner of the Year for 2021). We have over 85 ECM projects under our belt with over 350 million documents migrated from one ECM platform to another. We take pride in our work, and we make sure to complete our projects in time and on budget without sacrificing the quality of delivery.
Cadence has done many Content Services migrations including the following:
Alfresco to OpenText Extended ECM (Content Server/Livelink)
Application Xtender to SharePoint Online
Application Xtender to OpenText Extended ECM (Content Server/Livelink)
OpenText Extended ECM (Content Server/Livelink) to SharePoint Online
Laserfiche to OpenText Extended ECM
Laserfiche to SharePoint Online
M-Files to OpenText Extended ECM (Content Server/Livelink)
Network Share to OpenText Extended ECM (Content Server/Livelink)
Network Share to SharePoint Online
SharePoint On-Premises (2013, 2016) to OpenText Extended ECM (Content Server/Livelink)
SharePoint Online to OpenText Extended ECM (Content Server/Livelink)
About Cadence Solutions
Jordan Uytterhagen founded Cadence Solutions starting on the client side of the table. His mandate has been to help organizations struggling with digital transformation implement projects without losing their trust and confidence. Our solutions include automation of human resources, finance, accounts payable, contract management, document capture, drawing and records management, as well as managed services. Cadence Solutions has proven, time and again, that our client's projects will be successful because we are authentic with unmatched experience.