Information governance has always been a critical aspect of corporate management, but the digital era has pushed the importance of these strategies to new heights in a relatively short period of time. Virtually every organization needs to have a tightly run content management program in place, otherwise reporting, analytics, accounting and various other core corporate functions will begin to either be inaccurate or inefficient, both outcomes significantly threatening overall financial and operational performance. 

There is no denying that digital technologies are driving the private sector toward the new era of content management, and automation is playing a major role in the ways in which companies handle the everyday demands of governance. The most intelligent and efficient businesses tend to be the ones with the highest profit margins and greatest levels of continuity, and leveraging all of the solutions that are now readily available to assist firms in more complex matters can bring a firm to operational optimization. 

Now that so many organizations have started to use automated content management solutions, there are plenty of use cases and return on investment examples that prove just how financially advantageous the deployments can be when implemented and managed properly. This should give managers and supervisors all of the evidence they need to make a strong business case for investing in advanced automation solutions, which will in turn ensure that corporate purchasers do not miss the boat on these effective technologies. 

Still, business leaders will never want to take a lackadaisical or cookie-cutter approach to their content management strategies, as the best possible governance programs will tend to be highly customized per the specific needs and objectives of each given firm. Before choosing the right automation, decision-makers must first understand exactly what their organizations need to succeed in these areas, as well as how the solutions will align and support business processes over time, for the most beneficial results. 

Need-based alignment
There are a few types of positions that will be heavily involved in the formulation of a content management strategy, including chief information officers, IT professionals and general managers in other departments across the business. The trick is to ensure that all of these parties are working together in orchestra toward a common goal, collaborating every step of the way and bringing in recommendations from ground-level employees whenever possible. 

The needs of the business, which will generally be illuminated when conducting a thorough analysis of the organization's general operations, will help to guide purchasing decisions for solutions, as well as the overarching strategies meant to improve reporting and overall content management. This is why the identification of needs and objectives is a critical first step for businesses to complete before finalizing a content management strategy. 

Once all of the internal research has been conducted and completed, decision-makers should work closely with a content management automation vendor to decide which piece of software will most closely align with their unique needs and objectives. Remember, the market for these solutions has diversified and grown rapidly, presenting plenty of options for businesses to choose between, which will generally help to improve returns on investment. 

Clear-cut returns
One might believe that automated content management will not come with all that many financial rewards, instead only yielding operational benefits that do not necessarily impact profit margins too much one way or another. While the operational advantages ought to be firmly placed at center stage for decision-makers, there are plenty of financial-specific benefits to consider in this regard.

For example, Nucleus Research released a report earlier this month that found enterprise content management systems provided $7.50 in returns for every dollar spent by the adopting business. Although that is a clear indication that these solutions are worth their weight in gold on its own, the firm went a step further to explain that this is a 23 percent increase from only two years ago when the figure was $6.12 in returns for every dollar spent. 

Cloud-based solutions have been driving adoption, while the analysts affirmed that data and document capture, as well as reporting analytics features that have become so common in content management systems, are strengthening the market as a whole. 

"ECM has come a long way from the costly, consulting-intensive deployments of the late 1990s," Rebecca Wettemann, Nucleus Research vice president, explained. "With more sophisticated and demanding buyers and advances in application delivery and breadth of benefit, companies are simply getting more from their ECM investments."

At the end of the day, firms that embrace content management automation systems will generally be better positioned to get the most out of their digital assets without placing too much strain on the IT department. With the right services offered by the most reliable vendors, the opportunities to excel in the realm of information governance and analysis are boundless.