ECM systems
ECM systems help tame information chaos
Businesses today are creating new data and documents at an ever-faster rate. While this information can help companies improve decision-making and seize opportunities, the immense volume of data produced daily can also create a kind of chaos. Simply organizing, storing and managing documents can become an overwhelming task, preventing companies and workers from using this information for business advantage.
An enterprise content management system (ECM system) can help. Using artificial intelligence to minimize the complexity of managing data, ECM systems help tame the chaos of information overload. ECM tools also help reduce business risk by ensuring the security of sensitive documents. And by automating document-intensive workflows, ECM systems enable content management to be a competitive advantage, rather than a drain on productivity.
For businesses seeking a superior enterprise content management solution, M-Files offers an intelligent information management platform that helps companies make smart connections across the business while automating business processes and keeping information secured and controlled.
ECM that truly connects your business
Connect all your enterprise content and support your business workflows with M-Files.
The challenge of managing enterprise content
To manage content effectively, ECM systems must provide solutions to several critical challenges.
Dark data
It’s estimated that only 0.5% of all data created is analyzed for operational decision-making1.
That means most organizations are collecting, processing and storing massive amounts of information that is going unused. This “dark data” is typically unknown and uncategorized, rendering it useless to the organization. ECM systems must help companies find and use dark data that could offer business insight, or to reduce storage costs by getting rid of redundant, obsolete or trivial documents.
Unstructured data
Organizational data tends to double every 1.2 years2 and 80 to 90% of that data is unstructured3.
Documents such as videos, graphics, presentations, email, social content and other information is much harder to manage than structured data which can be easily aggregated and analyzed. ECM systems must offer an easy way to identify, search for and make use of unstructured data.
Inaccessible information
By some estimates, employees spend as much as 30% of their working day searching for information4. Additional time is spent trying to determine whether a file is up-to-date, and whether workers can trust the information within it. Superior ECM systems can help eliminate the frustration and wasted time of searching for information by making every document available within seconds.
Security breaches
When users can’t easily find and share documents, they often resort to personal file-sharing apps and other shadow IT that represents a great threat to document security. ECM systems can improve security by providing solutions that are more convenient to use than these less secure technologies.
Mobile access
While a growing number of employees are working remotely or from home, they often lack the ability to access documents via mobile devices. The right ECM solution should make it easy to access documents on any device from any location.
M-Files: a smarter way to manage content
M-Files is a next-generation intelligent information management platform that improves business performance by making information easy to find and use. In contrast to traditional ECM software, M-Files doesn’t require a big migration project to move content and documents to a central repository. Instead, M-Files unifies systems, data and content throughout the organization without disturbing existing systems or processes.
Smart connections via metadata
Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, M-Files identifies and creates connections to documents in any system or repository, including network folders, filesharing services, CRM systems, SharePoint, and other platforms and applications. Using an Intelligent Metadata Layer, M-Files labels each document with information that allows workers to find it easily in seconds.
Automation to keep business moving
M-Files also simplifies document-intensive workflows to minimize human error and streamline processes. With M-Files, documents move efficiently and automatically from one user to the next, guided by document metadata that is updated at each stage of the process.
Content that is secure and controlled
M-Files secures documents with encryption and advanced permissions that ensure only the right people can access, open and edit a document.
Cloud and Security: addressing the challenges of managing information in the workplace
Learn how organizations can combat the growth of Shadow IT and take back control of their business information.
A full-featured ECM system
As a standout among ECM systems, M-Files offers a wealth of features that simplify and streamline content management.
A single view of content
M-Files connects content such as documents, emails, customer details, order numbers and project data to provide a single view of information, even when it’s stored in different systems and archives.
Fast search
To find a file, workers don’t need to know where a document is stored. Rather, they can simply enter a few details in the M-Files search bar and get connected to their content in seconds.
Complete context
With M-Files, you can search for all content for a certain project, all invoices due this week, all correspondence with a specific customer or all contracts that are about to expire. You get the full picture on any topic you’re interested in.
One version and one source of truth
M-Files puts an end to version control headaches by keeping a single version of every document. Workers access documents via a link that can also be shared with colleagues and collaborators outside the organization.
Mobile access
All content connected to M-Files can be accessed with a mobile device, no matter what system or network folder it’s in.
No more data silos
M-Files effectively breaks down data silos by making it easy to find any document in seconds.
Dynamic access rights
Access rights in M-Files are based on user roles and document metadata. Permissions may change automatically when there are changes in the organization or work groups.
Automating workflows with M-Files’ ECM systems
With ECM systems from M-Files, metadata helps to guide documents through workflows to enhance business process automation. The M-Files Workflow engine makes it easy to model document, project or process lifecycles on real-world workflows. M-Files can automatically assign tasks to individuals and follow up to make sure documents are processed correctly and on time. The metadata in each document in a workflow gets automatically updated as it moves from person to person or stage to stage.
Electronic signing capabilities in M-Files help to accelerate workflows. Documents can be signed from anywhere, on any device, in a secure and auditable way. Once signed, documents are immediately stored according to company policy, and any contractual stipulations can be assigned to an automated workflow.
How M-Files enables efficiency for your business?
Faster Search
What you need, when you need it. That is the way M-Files works. Fast, easy, and intuitive.
Familiarity
You can use your favorite daily tools, such as MS Teams or Salesforce to manage your documents.
Easy collaboration
Share content securely, and co-author documents simultaneously — wherever you work.
Streamlined daily work
Let M-Files suggest tags for your documents and add workflows for faster processing.
Why customers prefer M-Files
M-Files increases the productivity of knowledge workers by making information easier to find, access and share. By helping companies make smart connections and automate critical business processes, M-Files ensures a seamless digital experience, strengthens collaboration, promotes business continuity and reduces business risk.
M-Files can be deployed in the cloud, on premises or as a hybrid solution that optimizes cloud-based collaboration with investments in on-premises architecture. Integrations with line-of-business solutions, other archives, and legacy ECM systems make it easy to use M-Files with an existing technology stack. Workers can even use their favorite daily tools such as Microsoft Teams or Salesforce to access and manage information via M-Files. And a highly configurable platform with third-party add-ins makes it easy to customize M-Files to support any use case or business requirement.
Today, thousands of organizations in more than 100 countries around the globe rely on M-Files to manage business information and processes while giving their employees a smarter way to work.