“To cloud or not to cloud?” A question that many businesses are still grappling with regarding their corporate technology strategy and needs. Over the past several years, business and IT leaders all over the world have opted to replace legacy, on-premises enterprise content management systems with flexible, scalable, and cost-effective cloud computing and cloud-based information management. Yet, some organizations have been reluctant to transform or may have some residual legacy content that has yet to be migrated.
From reducing IT costs and overhead to offering new opportunities for growth and innovation, there are many clear long-term business advantages to pursuing a legacy content migration project. However, for many organizations, taking that initial leap of faith requires convincing that the benefits outweigh the deep-seated comfort of legacy ECM.
Five Benefits of Cloud-Based Enterprise Content Management
1. Enhanced Security
Target, Whole Foods, Nintendo, Forever 21–countless companies have fallen victim to data leaks and security breaches. What do these companies have in common? They were all managing information on legacy systems. Many legacy business systems — whether built in-house or purchased from software vendors — contain inherent security vulnerabilities that only deepen with time.
While some large companies can pour millions of dollars into corporate IT security, many organizations don’t have the specialized human capital to properly combat breaches associated with human error. On the other hand, public cloud companies have both the resources and expertise to build and maintain secure computing, storage, and networking infrastructure to guarantee heightened security at all times.
For example, consider the Azure cloud — Microsoft spends over $1B annually on cybersecurity research and development, has over 3,500 dedicated security developers, and also provides security attestation services for free. Can any on-premises data center come even close to this?
Advanced security capabilities such as data encryption also become easier to access when using the cloud, as encryption is a native functionality on Azure. By migrating to the cloud, organizations can modernize their IT infrastructure to protect their applications from malicious hacking attempts and secure their data from potential system failures or human error.
Cloud-based ECM gives organizations the tools they need to effectively implement security policies, data governance, user access controls, and compliance requirements as needed, at scale, and securely.
2. Speed, Scale, and Savings
Business agility is critical for modern organizations looking to get ahead or even stay afloat in today’s economy. To keep pace with the rapidly evolving remote-first work environment, organizations must enable fast access to business content on-demand, from any device, to continue to operate at high speed. With cloud-based content management, content and IT resources are readily available as and when needed. Content can be opened and updated in real-time, removing latency issues and improving efficiency across the board.
Plus, by removing the need for server provisioning or on-site hardware installations, organizations can free up IT resources and allow more legroom for enhanced productivity, increasing overall business agility.
3. Scalability and Flexibility
With on-premises systems, scaling operations to adapt to company growth requires buying and deploying new servers, which is time-consuming and incredibly expensive. Cloud-based environments scale dynamically — allowing organizations to use as much, or as little, capacity as they need, when they need it. Adding or scaling down data requirements or system features according to the ebbs and flows of business activity or evolving business needs is one of the main benefits of migrating to the cloud.
This flexibility of scale is matched by the flexibility of pricing. Most cloud services use a pay-as-you-go model, where you pay for what you consume on a monthly basis. This turns any cloud-based software solution into an operational expense rather than a large upfront capital cost — very beneficial to manage and spread costs.
4. Reduced Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
Transforming or adapting legacy systems to suit evolving business needs takes significant time and resources. In addition to implementation, continued migrations, and training costs, expenses like third-party integrations, customizations, and ongoing consulting services all factor into the total cost of ownership (TCO).
On top of removing upfront investment on servers, hardware, and long-term maintenance fees, migrating to the cloud can help save significant time and money in the long haul. IT leaders can easily tailor computing resources around priority workloads and adjust as needed to cut wasteful spending. By leveraging the cloud, organizations can shift their resources back to their business.
5. Endless Integration Opportunities
Finally, migrating to the cloud opens new windows of opportunity for leveraging modern technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), which aren’t available on-premises. Rather than conducting a simple lift and shift migration, organizations gain the ability to enhance legacy content by applying machine learning capabilities and advanced data analytics for better insights into their existing content.
Leveraging cloud-based services and AI capabilities can deliver a world of automation possibilities, including advanced data extraction and automatic document classification and capture powered by machine learning and OCR. KnowledgeLake is a classic example of a cloud-based solution that fully utilizes the power of the cloud.
Hosted on MS Azure and delivering intelligent document processing capabilities from its content services platform, KnowledgeLake integrates seamlessly with MS SharePoint, Teams, and numerous line of business applications — providing a level of integration that would have been incredibly challenging in an on-premises model.
Integration with core systems, applications, and legacy IT environments helps mitigate challenges associated with content sprawl or siloed information across different content repositories. This level of connectivity helps solve content-viewing challenges associated with operating multiple legacy systems or repositories while streamlining collaboration, ultimately offering a more consolidated approach to information management.
Migrating from legacy systems to an integrated cloud-based solution is a golden opportunity for organizations looking to connect disparate systems, automate processes, or enrich existing data with advanced technologies to make more intelligent business decisions.
Learn more about best practices for migrating content to the cloud in this KnowledgeLake eBook.
Conclusion
Effective information management is the key to success for any modern business. Yet, legacy information management systems continue to prevent organizations from pursuing the digital technologies they need to grow and become more efficient.
Migrating business content from outdated, cumbersome on-premises systems toward innovative and cloud-based content management solutions is a rite of passage for organizations looking to modernize their information ecosystem. Those who take on the challenge reap the benefits of boosted productivity, remote working, and more effective information management — those who don’t, are destined to fall further and further behind.