In an earlier age, it was possible to see things with your own eyes and take appropriate actions to run your business successfully. That age disappeared with the emergence of large businesses.
In a large business, many things will be going on in many different areas. It will be impossible to understand what is really going on based on personal observations alone. Analytical reports based on specific data bring out the nuances of ground realities.
For example, production levels might be going down owing to a combination of factors. Raw materials are often not available in time. Machines break down more frequently owing to poor maintenance. New, inexperienced workers have not been properly trained and produce low volumes.
In a very large plant, the harried plant manager might see just one of these factors and focus efforts on it alone. For instance, he might be more aware of machine downtimes and focus on that problem, only to find that production levels still remain low after spending a great deal of effort, time, and money on improving the maintenance practices.
Well-designed analytical reports will highlight the different reasons that led to each incidence of low production volumes, and bring out all the causative factors.
Things get far more complex when you go up to overall profitability and factors that affect it. A comprehensive system for analyzing events occurring all over the enterprise is absolutely necessary to control profitability.
This is what enterprise-wide systems, such as Enterprise Content Management, seek to accomplish.
Enterprise Reporting Systems
Reporting becomes far more complex as your operations expand to far-flung locations and to different product lines. You will now need to capture information from many different locations. These varied sources are quite likely to use different operating systems, file formats, software applications, and so on.
An enterprise reporting system need to integrate all the varied information, analyze and categorize it, and produce reports that are meaningful in the new global context. For example, marketing operations in the US might suffer owing to production problems in China. An enterprise-wide system must monitor emerging trends in China, and produce timely reports for marketing and other top managers.
The above example points to the need for converting raw content, such as events in China or at the Chinese factory, into meaningful business intelligence that brings out the likely impact of these events on marketing operations in the US. The Enterprise Reporting System must be designed to convert information into business intelligence.
With executives constantly on the move across global operating locations, the reports generated must also be distributed in a variety of formats suited to such devices like PDAs and mobile phones, as well as traditional workstations.
Features of Enterprise Reporting Systems
Good Enterprise Reporting Systems generate reports that produce concrete business results - such as improved cash flow, higher sales, and lower costs.
The specific system features that produce these results include:
Designing systems and reports to provide business intelligence, and not just difficult-to-comprehend statistics
Integrating departmental and functional applications to eliminate redundant resources and duplicate tasks
Improving collaborative work by facilitating interactions and remote communications
Making it easy to search and locate exactly what the users want from the vast data warehouse of the enterprise
Delivering the information to the users' workstations and mobile devices so that it can be accessed conveniently from wherever the user happens to be
Conclusion
Enterprise Reporting Systems constitute an integral part of Enterprise Content Management systems. Good reporting systems gather all kinds of content from different sources spread across the global enterprise, and provide business intelligence for excellent decision support. The information is delivered to wherever the managers happen to be.
Internet technologies are used to create an intra-business network, and Intranet, that restricts access to authorized persons. This means that worldwide accessibility is combined with security.
Business-to-Employees
Business-to-Employee - B2E - networks offer services and products to employees. It facilitates dissemination of corporate announcements and special offers to employees, as well as online requests for supplies, reporting of employee benefits and other employee-related tasks.
Business-to-Business
Business-to-Business - B2B - transactions tend to be critical for the smooth flow of business. For example, timely deliveries from raw materials suppliers are critical to avoid "stock out" stoppages of manufacturing operations.
An Enterprise Content Management system can allow a supplier to access scheduled requirements of your supply needs online. It will then be possible for the supplier to schedule their own manufacturing operations to enable timely deliveries of your requirements.
In such a situation, any variations in your manufacturing schedules will be immediately reflected in the supply schedule, and will alert the supplier to cut back or speed up deliveries.
You can also enhance your relationships with your own customers through ECM. For example, if you are a supplier of important inputs to your customer's operations, you can integrate your ECM with that of your customer to alert you about the supply needs, and any changes therein.
In both supplier and customer relationships, communication can be improved in a major way through instant messaging, bulletin boards, online meetings, and other similar devices. The ability to establish immediate, direct contact and to communicate requirements with sufficient clarity will improve relationships.
Business-to-Government
Enterprise Content Management systems can also help Business to Government - B2G - transactions, particularly in the context of Government Request for Proposals - RFPs. The company can register with the concerned government departments so that it is alerted to new RFPs relevant to its business.
Not only can the company bid against the RFPs through it ECM system, but it can also make available requested information such as its financial status, technical competence and references in a more authentic manner.
The company that uses an ECM to deal with government will also find it easy to comply with regulatory requirements by having access to the latest regulations and relevant forms and rules. Online filing of reports that can be verified by the government departments online reduces the time involved.
How ECM Works
ECM works mainly through the in-house intranet and company web portals. While the Intranet provides information access and communication facilities to the company's employees, the web portal allows outsiders, such as suppliers, customers and government, access to needed information and better-quality communication facilities.
The key advantages that are provided by Enterprise Content Management systems are:
Provides online access to information from anywhere instead of having to move paper documents back and forth
Streamlines time-consuming business processes through collaboration across both short and long distances
Improves security and audit trails that makes it possible to conduct business more confidently
Conclusion
Enterprise Content Management systems make it possible to improve information access and communications both in-house with employees (who might be spread worldwide) and with outside agencies such as suppliers, customers, and government. It's even possible to integrate outside systems with the company's own, in a secure manner, to speed up business transactions.
These lead to faster completion of transactions and streamlined business processes, which in turn lead to far-better business results.