Summary
Enterprise content management solution is of two types-on-premise and cloud-based. Here is a difference between these two prevalent types.

Main Content
Enterprise Content Management ECM is a buzzword in the corporate world. From assisting companies to find the right data at the right time to provide secure access to critical corporate data. In today’s highly challenging business scenario, content management holds a key to success for the enterprises irrespective of their size and scale. It can streamline the processes and reduce overheads while increasing productivity.

These days, we have various document management systems available in the market. We can broadly classify them into on-premise and cloud-based systems. Let’s take an example of the Alfresco digital business platform. It is an undisputed leader in the ECM domain. When it comes to large enterprises, both cloud-based and on-premise ECM services are useful to make the most of a scalable and enterprise-grade solution.

Here we are going through the key differences between on-site and cloud-based ECM solutions. This list will help you choose the most suitable one for your business.

Pros and Cons of On-Premise and Cloud-based ECM
– Set-up and Readiness
On-premise document management systems require extensive planning and a proper roadmap. Such a system includes hardware, software, licenses, security, and data backup. Therefore it takes a longer time than expected. You need to bear all the expenses for establishing an on-premise system.

A cloud solution is immediately available and does not require any provisions or planning for hardware and software. The cloud provider takes care of every aspect.

– Connectivity
On-premise ECM solutions can provide the best performance and availability because of their less dependency on the Internet and external resources. However, accessibility remains limited to the workplace or certain areas.

The cloud-based solutions are easily accessible anywhere in the world providing uninterrupted Internet access. Remote workers can also benefit from the cloud-based system. However, if Internet access is not available then the user may find it difficult to get the key data.

Related Blog – Difference between CMS and DMS

– Security
On-premise is kind of a closed system and therefore the users or customers have complete security in their hands. All the data is stored in existing infrastructure and therefore, you can remain assured of its security.

The cloud providers are responsible for the security of your corporate data. However, it remains a continuous challenge for cloud service providers to maintain high security.

– Compliance to regulations

National and international standards need to be maintained for on-premise ECM solutions. But then, it is easier to implement regulatory requirements in any on-premise solutions as compared to the cloud-based solutions. Companies can maximize their brand value while getting rid of risks associated with using and sharing information thanks to complete control.

The cloud-based solutions need a flexible yet strict approach to maintain regulatory standards. You need to define an approach to whether you want to manage the records in the apps or a repository.

– Customization options
Here, on-premise solutions are lagged behind their cloud-based counterparts. Customization is a costly affair and you have to update the software frequently for various applications. However, in the case of complex connections in the in-house infrastructure, this is helpful.

Cloud-based solutions can offer out-of-the-box features. The cloud technology has taken ECM services to the next level. What’s more, it is easy to integrate features of emerging technologieswith cloud-based solutions.

– Operational cost
Large upfront purchase of IT equipment and higher operational costs due to training and other procedures make the overall cost far more than the cloud-based solutions. Also, companies need to keep some amount aside as a maintenance cost on a yearly basis.

The cloud-based solutions are managed by the cloud services provider and therefore, these solutions are around 30% cheaper than their on-premise counterparts. No hardware and maintenance cost makes these solutions affordable even for SMEs.

Also Read: Difference between CMS and DMS

Quick Look
Okay. Let’s have a quick recap of differences in a table form.

Wrapping Up
Content management in the cloud has gained popularity swiftly across the world. Gartner has found that 39% of companies have embraced ECM via a cloud model. From the perspectives of availability, user-friendliness, and cost-effectiveness, cloud technology has many benefits to offer. On the other hand, if companies want to keep complete control in their hands without worrying about the related operating costs, then the on-premise solution is the best option.

Still puzzled about when and what to start with the document management system? With a vast experience of developing customized and feature-rich solutions in Alfresco and Liferay platforms, ContCentric is ready to assist you. We have gained fame for providing enterprise-grade Just send us an email at hello@contcentric.com and our expert business consultants will get back to you soon!

Summary
Implementation of a document management system is a herculean task and you need to keep many aspects in mind for doing it successfully. Here are some useful tips.

In today’s data-driven world, the exponential rise in the number of documents on a daily basis can create an unorganized administrative mess. It can make your business processes more complex and restrict the management to make an informed decision based on data analysis. There, an enterprise content management (ECM) solution lends a helping hand and enables the company to streamline the operation.

The ECM solution can store, manage, and organize corporate documents. It also improves safety and facilitates real-time access to critical data. Companies can save big bucks as the enterprise content management helps them to get rid of spending on expensive digital infrastructure. Also, the organization can support the ‘Go Green’ initiative by eliminating the need for paper.

But then, many companies find it difficult to integrate ECM at their workplace, but you can get a great reward in the long run. You can consult a document management company to ensure a seamless transition from traditional to an advanced system.

Here we give a list of ten critical steps that can assist you to integrate document management system.

1. Identification of key goals
Like any other project, you need to make a roadmap for implementing ECM. Your plan should include pain points, possible solutions, and risks or concerns. You can also plan the scope and outcome to avoid any distractions from objectives. You can identify trivial tasks that can delay the migration of critical data to the advanced ECM solution.

The content management system also enables you to determine the current content and its location. You can leverage this benefit while eliminating duplication and other issues with the proper identification of key goals.

Related blog: Why Should You Switch to New Enterprise Content Management System?

2. Measuring results
Quantification of results is also important when you implement the enterprise content management system. You need to measure the outcome from financial and practical aspects. Some of the measurable aspects include savings on infrastructure, security safeguards, improved collaboration and customer service measurements.

Quantification of results can help you determine whether your project goes in the right direction and you can take necessary action on the basis of a measured outcome.

3. Take support
This is also a necessary step to leverage the benefits of an ECM in the full swing. When you implement a document management system, the whole organization will have its impact. Therefore, while making a roadmap, you should ask representatives of various departments like a legal cell, records management, the executive board, and other experts to make the most effective plan.

4. Effective communication
You need to ensure effective communication while implementing an ECM at your workplace. If you fail to make the document management company understand your vision, expectations, and desired outcome, then you may end up having a mediocre solution. Also, it is necessary for your company to remain transparent in sharing necessary information while implementing the ECM system.

You can conduct training, discuss potential tools, and share important information to facilitate your employees to remain engaged and involved in the process.

5. Find out needs
A customized enterprise content management solution needs equally robust systems. Also, you need to make sure that which of the existing systems are useful and which are outdated to determine the infrastructural need. You can count on an ECM executive of a reliable service provider company to assess the capability of your current IT components. The service provider can align the existing and new tools to meet the desired goals.

Apart from this, it is better to define the needs of customized cloud solutions.

Also Read: Top 5 Document Management Systems for Your Business

6. Ownership
After making everything clear, you need a team of dedicated professionals who can take ownership of initiatives and help you make the ECM implementation a bit easy. ECM and IT design, system configuration, testing and support, maintenance and data migration are some of the areas where ownership is appreciable.

Taking ownership of the tasks can make the process straightforward and keep everything in order.

7. Define access policies
Data security is one of the key areas that need a top priority. If you want to make the data management system secure, you need to establish safety standards and implement access policies. For example, you can build a permission system based on a hierarchy pattern. Also, you can plan a security policy that includes data or documents to be discarded safely once their lifecycle is over.

8. Opt for testing
Now, this is important after you get an enterprise content management solution. You need to test it among a group of selected people. You can test in a real scenario before implementing the system in the entire company. Constructive feedback and suggestions can help you find out the mistakes or loopholes of the document management system, and you can resolve these issues right away.

Testing is also necessary to involve selected employees and key persons in the process to implement the ECM system.

9. Ensure flexibility
Adjustment and flexibility are necessary characteristics you need to keep in mind while implementing the enterprise-grade content management system at your workplace. The ECM system needs to be scalable and flexible to manage the entire system. Once everything gets ready, you can launch your customized ECM solution while continuing effective communication and continuous collaboration.

Concluding Lines
Are you ready to start your journey toward improved business processes and take your company to the next level of efficiency and productivity? A customized enterprise content management solution can certainly help you out while saving a lot of time and effort. All you need to find a reliable service provider.

ContCentric is a renowned document management company. We provide top-notch ECM solutions to global corporate clients using Alfresco and Liferay platforms. If you want to know more about ECM implementation at your workplace, simply send us an email at hello@contcentric.com, and our executives will get back to you soon.

Summary
The outdated Enterprise Content Management system may not provide all the necessary features for modern companies. Here are the limitations of traditional ECM.

In a data-driven business scenario, no enterprise can ignore the importance of an advanced document management system. We witness radical changes in the type and volume of content generated in the corporate sector, and it is mandatory for enterprises to change the content management system accordingly. The outdated ECM (Enterprise Content Mangement) system can pose a great threat to modern enterprises and become a roadblock to success.

As per a research report of AIIM, an outdated ECM software solution is not capable to meet the requirements of modern business. It can harm your enterprise rather than benefit it and cause a big increase in the cost over the period. Here are a few noteworthy risks and limitation of outdated enterprise content management system.

Limitations of Outdated ECM System
Unwanted delays and difficulty in managing enterprise-grade content are two big setbacks of the legacy ECM system. Such a system prevents your company to evolve and make the most of useful data to ensure growth. Frequent downtime incidents, an increase in operational cost to keep pace with growing content management needs, and reduction in overall efficiency are common with outdated ECM systems. Many companies find functionality issues and a lack of data sharing ability in such systems as well.

Your employees, stakeholders, suppliers, and customers may face troubles because of an outdated document management system. It is because of the difficulty of integrating the system with core business applications. Finally, your company’s confidential data is always at stake with legacy ECM systems because they are like ‘soft target’ for hackers. These are major problems and you need to deal with them effectively to prevent any damage to your company.

How does New Enterprise Content Management System help?
Modern, open architecture in a robust content management system can assist you to overcome all these difficulties. Let’s take an example of an Alfresco content management system. This reliable, open-source platform can enhance efficiency and productivity by enabling you to organize a workflow and data management in a better way. The Alfresco framework provides a facility to develop integrated solutions.

Today, advanced document management software can offer the following benefits:
– Tagging facility
You must have experienced a tagging facility on several social media platforms. As a powerful and effective search tool, the tagging feature enables you to find important documents and crucial information rapidly. It enables you and your employees to get rid of reviewing each and every related document to gather necessary data. In a way, you can enable to search anything faster as compared to outdated ECM systems.

– Faster search
The advanced enterprise content management system enables the management to find the necessary document quickly. Be it metadata-based search or proximity search, the ECM system excels its legacy counterpart in every type of searching functionality. Also, these days, ECM services can integrate the feature to search for various content types including audio and video. In a way, you can have a comprehensive content management system in the workplace.

Also Read: Top 8 Reasons Why You Need Alfresco Document Management System

Better metadata management
As mentioned above, a metadata-based search is possible with the new ECM system. This is one of the most important features of the ECM system. Metadata description includes the name of an author, the customer’s name, business type, and other necessary information to enable the users to find the documents with ease. Proper metadata management can make the management and document system more organized. You get the positive results in the form of more accuracy and efficiency in the search functionality.

Customized workflow
Modern ECM system is designed to bring automation and enhance convenience at the workplace. An outdated ECM system follows only pre-defined workflows, and there is a little room for customization. In contrast, the corporate sector undergoes massive changes when it comes to business and customer requirements daily. There, you need to switch to new ECM services to customize the workflow and get an optimum outcome.

A drag-and-drop functionality enables you to change the workflow as per project requirements and resource allocation. It can save a lot of time and effort of the management that directly reflect into higher efficiency.

Reduction in cost
The alfresco content management system is an open-source framework. When you deploy Alfresco CE (Community Edition) on your company’s server, you need not spend money on purchasing a license. Even startups and SMEs can also leverage the benefits of open-source ECM frameworks. ECM services remain cost-effective thanks to such open-source frameworks.

Simply put, you should switch to a new ECM system from the existing system. You can consult an ECM services provider to get customized and advanced enterprise content management system for your company and stay ahead of the curve.

Concluding Lines
Outdated or legacy ECM systems are harmful to your enterprise. Though you may find the migration process from an outdated to a modern ECM system costly or complicated, it is always beneficial for your company in the long run. Today, you can have many reputed document management system developers who can build integrated solutions to meet complex content management needs.

ContCentric is your reliable ECM services provider. We provide customized document management solutions based on leading platforms like Alfresco and Liferay. Feel free to contact us for enterprise content management consultancy or development. Just drop us a line at hello@contcentric.com, and our experienced executives will get back to you shortly.

Summary
Alfresco HRMS system enables you to make the most of an HR department. Here are the top benefits and importance of Alfresco for the human resources department.

When it comes to enterprise content management (ECM) services or document management system, the Alfresco platform stands firmly on the top. But, do you know, this robust framework can manage your HRMS as well efficiently? You may not get convinced, but here we explain how Alfresco-based HRMS system can work wonders at your workplace. It offers a plethora of benefits and works better than many prebuilt HRMS solutions.

Before going through some of the noteworthy benefits of Alfresco HRMS system for your company, let’s find out the role of the Alfresco platform in HRMS. Alfresco is a customizable and scalable platform that can easily manage a document management system of your company. Sooner or later, every department of your enterprise, including the HR department, has to deal with a plethora of documents, and there, Alfresco-based HRM system remains handly.

Here are the top benefits of Alfresco HRMS for your HR department and company as a whole.

1) Powerful Document Management System
Unquestionably, Alfresco is a great choice for a document management system. If we look at the HR department, a large number of documents related to employee details are required to be stored, analyzed, and linked to the HRMS solution Be it contact details or license details of employees, every information should be managed professionally with fewer efforts.

Alfresco enables the HR department to accomplish this task with a paperless approach. Even if your company has a workforce of more than 300 people, Alfresco HRMS solution can easily meet all the document management requirements.

2) Easy and Quick Integration
Alfresco is a Java-based platform, and experienced developers can easily integrate it with any customized business solution to work as an HRMS solution. In today’s cloud-driven age, you can count on Alfresco for the workflow-related functionality in a web-based portal solution.

Let us take an example of the HR department once again. The workflow of this department starts with the shortlisting of profiles and ends with the selection of the right person. Now, the entire process is documented and the prospective employee’s complete details are saved for future reference. There, Alfresco ECM services can lend a helping hand in integrating document management features.

3) Better Workflow Management
Alfresco goes beyond than just an ECM framework. It offers advanced workflow management capabilities irrespective of the company’s size. The complex and lengthy workflow of the HR department can also be managed effectively with the help of Alfresco. Be it induction-related documents or performance documents, all sorts of documents have a specific workflow, and Alfresco can manage it with ease.

Related Reading- Top Reasons Why Enterprises Prefer Alfresco for Enterprise Content Management

4) Secure Access
Data security is one of the biggest concerns of SMEs and established enterprises alike. Authorized access can help companies address this issue. Alfresco can efficiently manage access based on the company’s hierarchy. Simply put, managers can get information about their subordinates as and when necessary and the top management can access to the manager’s information. In a way, any unauthorized access is prevented by Alfresco and your data can remain in the right hands.

5) Auditing Facility
Alfresco provides the status of each document across all versions. When it comes to the HR department, it deals with a plethora of documents and needs audit regularly. The Alfresco HRMS system can assist the management in auditing and delete non-essential documents after a certain time. Also, it is possible to archive important documents for a future reference.

6) Paper Documents Storage
Alfresco HRMS system is smart enough to store scanned documents and other documents in predefined folders and on the cloud. HR people can also add tags to stored documents to make their search easier. The Alfresco framework can store and organize any sort of documents and content like images and files in user-configurable folders or structure.

Whenever there is a need to go through the profiles of experienced candidates and freshers, reimbursement bills, or annual appraisal documents, the Alfresco-based HRMS helps the HR department and the management alike.

Concluding Lines
Enterprise Content Management is essential for ensuring all-round growth of your company over the period. You may not feel the need for a customized ECM currently, but as your enterprise grows and business expands beyond borders, you may feel the need. Therefore, it is better to integrate Alfresco-based ECM in your business system early. Alfresco HRMS system can be your first move toward giving your business an Alfresco advantage.

At ContCentric, we have in-house teams of Alfresco ECM consultants and Alfresco developers. If you want to manage human resources department through a robust Alfresco system for increasing productivity of your company, just send us an email at hello@contcentric.com or contact us here. Our business consultants will approach you shortly to discuss the advantages of Alfresco HRMS system.

Summary
Do you want to develop a customized Alfresco-based ECM system for your enterprise? The blog answers why you should hire Alfresco developers from India.

In today’s technology-driven age, a seamlessly performing ECM (Enterprise Content Management) can make a difference. You can accomplish the tasks readily through easy and secure data sharing with an effective content management system. You can count on Alfresco, a leading open-source framework, as a document management system or an ECM system. As an enterprise-friendly platform, it offers flexibility in defining roles and authorization for the users.

The Alfresco-based solution enables users to manage any sort of content from anywhere and anytime. You can hire Alfresco developers to meet your content management-related and business needs efficiently. But then, you may come across many Alfresco developers around the world and get baffled about the selection. Here we give some noteworthy reasons why it is beneficial for you to hire certified Alfresco ECM developers from India.

• Cost-efficient Process
  This is one of the biggest reasons why you should hire Alfresco developers from India. The hourly rate of Certified Alfresco developers in India is less compared to that in other countries. As a result, the entire ECM development process becomes cost-effective.
• Timezone Advantage
  If you are based in the USA or the UK, you can get a timezone advantage in a way that Indian developers work on your project during the closing hours of your company. You can readily communicate with your team regarding the project and implement all the changes quickly. It gives you complete control over the process.

Related Reading- Top Reasons Why Enterprises Prefer Alfresco for Enterprise Content Management

• Flexible Hiring Packages
  India-based Alfresco development companies offer flexible engagement models for Alfresco developers. You can readily scale up or down your team of developers to meet the changing project requirements. Also, the hourly rate of developers is reasonable in India which can help you keep the development cost lower as compared to countries like the US and the UK.
• Quick Time-To-Market
  When you hire Alfresco developers from India, you can remain assured of excellent performance and quick TTM. In brief, you can get a competitive edge over peers with a feature-rich Alfresco-based document management system.

Because of these reasons, India has become a preferred destination for Alfresco enterprise content management. All you get is a high-quality Alfresco-based for your business.

ContCentric is a leading Alfresco development company headquartered in India. We have a team of dedicated Alfresco Certified Engineers (ACE501). We have made it mandatory to certify new employees before assigning them a project. As a result, our team is capable of handling any size project without compromising on quality and creativity. If you want to get a tailored ECM solution in a cost-effective manner, just send us an email at marketing@contcentric.com

Summary
Liferay development has started gaining popularity in the corporate world. Here are the top ten business benefits of Liferay development services.

For seven years in a row, Liferay has held a top position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Horizontal Portals. As an open-source enterprise software development platform, Liferay has set many milestones while delivering robust and reliable web application solutions. As a result, many companies have preferred Liferay development for building customized software with desired features.

Liferay DXP (Digital Experience Platform) is highly scalable and flexible to make elegantly interactive websites and robust enterprise portals. As a business-friendly framework, it has the potential to give a higher ROI at the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO). A vibrant community of more than 45000 active members and a robust support system make this platform even more useful.

Liferay Related blog: Create A Custom Post Login Action in Liferay DXP 7.1

Here are top business benefits of Liferay framework from the perspective of Liferay development company.

1) Communication
Liferay development services assist companies to provide comprehensive and interactive digital experience. As a result, customers can readily stay in touch with the enterprises and resolve their queries with ease. What’s more, user-friendly features of Liferay platform also enable entrepreneurs to attract more people toward websites and apps.

Content customization feature and easy communication are two big business benefits of the Liferay platform. It is easy for the customers to get the necessary content on mobile devices so that they can go through the content on the move.

2) Easy Customization
Ease of use and many customization options are other noteworthy benefits of Liferay portal. It offers a complete range of customization options that fit for specific requirements of modern business. What’s more, you can readily address the ever-changing requirements in the future with easy customization and modification.

Also, it is easy to provide an intuitive and yet simple user interface in the enterprise software in Liferay development. You can hire Liferay developers to modify the software, and they can come up with the desired solution by repositioning of tools and elements of the Liferay portal.

3) Lowest TCO
As mentioned above, as an open-source platform Liferay is known for offering the lowest TCO. The commercial license of Liferay Portal Enterprise Subscription is business-friendly and cost-effective. Liferay platform is flexible and offers over 60 different tools and 20+ different themes with the license.

Companies can need most of the common requirements like administration, collaboration, and web publishing with the help of built-in features. Altogether, your company can get benefit from reduced TCO and higher scalability of Liferay.

4) Security
This is one of the biggest benefits of Liferay development for SMEs and large companies alike. Data-sensitive sectors like government agencies, BFSI, defense, and retail can remain the biggest beneficiaries of enhanced security. Liferay follows the OWASP and other standards to maintain the utmost security of the portal while safeguarding the enterprise software against any cyberattacks.

As mentioned in the Liferay portal security overview, it offers complete protection against

• CSRF attacks
• Open Redirects
• Uploading dangerous files
• Content Sniffing
• Clickjacking
• Local File Inclusion
• Path Traversal

It is fair to mention that enterprise software solution built by Liferay is capable of preventing several common attacks.

5) Enterprise Solution
The Enterprise edition of Liferay provides extensive technical assistance to the companies. You can readily manage the web portal related activities with such robust support. Also, the enterprise app is developed without coding thanks to drag-and-deploy modules and features of Liferay, which makes the modification process swift and easy.

Portlets and add-ons also make the developer’s job easy. As a result, you can get a customized enterprise solution in a short time without spending more bucks.

6) High Flexibility
Liferay DXP has portlets that offer support for many available programming languages like C++, Java, PHP, .NET and the like. This is one of the reasons why enterprise software developed by Liferay is highly flexible and customizable. Liferay development company can build the application by integrating various resources available in the market as the platform is based on Java.

Also, Liferay can easily integrate with almost every popular ERP and CMS systems. It has the flexibility to integrate with old and new technologies. In brief, Liferay application developers can easily change settings and configuration to meet the client’s needs in the best possible way.

7) Better UI/UX Compatibility
UI and UX play a vital role in ensuring the success of web and mobile applications. Liferay offers better UI and UX compatibility. The platform is supportive of CSS, HTML5, and other prevalent design technologies. Such compatibility enables developers to come up with engaging and interactive software solutions.

8) Personalized Experience
Users can personalize web pages and portals with the help of Liferay framework. These personalized web pages can give more pleasant and rich experience to customers. The ECM (Enterprise Content Management) system can be managed and maintained with ease through Liferay DXP. You can add, edit, or remove the content as and when necessary as Liferay platform enables it. This feature makes Liferay one of the most preferred platforms for developing enterprise-grade web applications.

9) Unique APIs
Liferay possesses out-of-the-box workflow APIs, which are responsible for providing an excellent user experience. These APIs can save time and efforts of developers and users. They are also useful for avoiding development glitches. APIs are also customizable to modify and create workflows as per the user’s needs.

10) Excellent Modules
Modules are useful to integrate desired features and functionality. Liferay development services can utilize the excellent modularity of this platform to meet the diverse needs of business. For example, instead of developing a large application, it is possible to build small modules while ensuring the seamless performance of the application.

Over 60 modules enable the developers to manage installations and maintain the software with ease. All these modules are in drag-and-drop form and therefore, they are easy to deploy.

How about contacting a reliable and reputed Liferay development company to know more about more benefits of Liferay development?

Related blog: How Document Management System Benefits Shopping Malls and Retailers

Parting Shot
Liferay development services aim at delivering rich apps with engaging customer experience. It can help you improve the customer journey through the seamlessly-performing web app and software solutions. Many enterprises rely on Liferay DXP to improve customer experience and enhance brand engagement. Summing up, Liferay framework can bring digital transformation and drive the growth of your business.

ContCentric is an emerging Liferay development company that provides the best-in-class services in the domains of Liferay DXP upgrade, portal development, Liferay consulting, and technical assistance. If you want to get robust and reliable software solutions in a cost-effective way using a Liferay platform, just send us an email at hello@contcentric.com. Our experienced consultants will contact you soon.

Every business depends a lot on documents. In today’s digital age, it is necessary for enterprises to have documents in electronic form. The reason is simple- the paper documents are hard to store and retrieve as and when necessary. The paper-based data can be stolen, leaked, or misplaced easily, and as a result, the company may have to face the consequences.

There, the document management system comes into the picture.

Companies, irrespective of their scale, size, and nature of business, can leverage the benefits of customized document management solutions. Though such solutions lend a helping hand to every industry sector through bringing automation and convenience to the system, here we will see how they help shopping malls manage the growing data efficiently.

Related blog: How Alfresco Document Management System is Useful for Education Sector

Seven Business Benefits of Document Management System for Shopping Malls

Customized document management software or system is designed to provide swift and secure access to the company’s valuable documents.

1. Requires less storage space

   Let’s face it. Your shopping mall or retail business generates a plethora of data on a daily basis. The data can be of diverse nature and keep on changing in line with the change in market trends and the customer’s demands. On the other hand, if you store the data in paper form, it is not possible to save the papers in limited space for a long time. Here, the document management system can reduce the necessities of cabinets, boxes, and storage space for your shopping mall. You can save all sorts of digital data on a cloud-based platform.

2. Improved security
   

   Shopping malls or retail business face tremendous competition nowadays. Though digital solutions and campaigns can enable them to get valuable data regarding the consumer’s behavior and competitors’ moves, it is a big headache to safeguard the data. As compared to paper-based data, cloud-based data is much more secure. What’s more, you can give them access to data on the basis of hierarchy. The enterprise content management solution also enables you to check who has viewed a document and whether it was modified. In other words, you can readily trace the documents and keep the access secure.

3. Enhanced compliance

   Shopping malls have to comply with regulatory provisions that are kept on changing with time. It is necessary for the retailers to keep all necessary documents ready for checking and other official reasons. In the instance of non-compliance, it is possible to pay a hefty penalty or the license can get canceled.

4. Quick and easy retrieval
   

   One of the biggest benefits of enterprise content management is you can access the necessary data as and when necessary. For example, you own a shopping mall and want to open a franchise in a distant city or another country. Now, all the necessary documents are available even on your smartphone if you have a proper data management solution in place. As per the PWC survey, organizations spend over $20 in the filing, $120 in finding a misfiled document, and over $220 in remaking the lost documents when it comes to paper documents. The tailored document management solution can assist you to retrieve the necessary documents through a word or phrase in a short time.

5. Increased collaboration
   

   The document management system makes data sharing and collaboration easy and simple. Necessary documents can be retrieved from different sources in multiple locations. Also, the data in audio, video, or text form can be readily accessed. You can also monitor who is modifying the data and who has got access. Taking an example of a retail business again, it is possible to giving sharing, viewing, and editing access of critical documents to sales managers and other management members through enterprise content management system that enhances the collaboration among key executives while making decisions.

6. Anytime access

   Thanks to the integration of ECM (Enterprise Content Management) with the cloud technology, anytime access to important documents of your mall or retail business is possible through smart devices. You can retrieve and share the data as you want that increases the overall efficiency of your business and productivity. Anytime access to necessary documents also enables your employees to show the products, services, and important business activities to the customers in real time. As a result, the trust factor in your retail business enhances manifold.

7. Backup and Disaster recovery

   Can you imagine a backup or recovery of paper-based documents after any disaster? Well, digital classification of your business documents makes it possible when you opt for enterprise document management solutions. Data backup and disaster recovery plan is a part of such solutions. Paper documents are digitalized and archived in the system. In a way, they can remain protected from fire or any related disasters. Also, ECM can protect confidential company documents from hacking and other cyber-attacks through in-built security features.

Wrapping Up
It is fair to mention that the document management system is a sophisticated and robust approach to maintaining documents. It offers benefits like flexibility, competitiveness, better customer relations, and security to your shopping mall business. It also saves your time which directly reflects in higher productivity and sales. In other words, if you want to meet the ever-changing business requirements, you should go for the document management system.

ContCentric is a leading enterprise content management company that offers customized document management solutions across various industry sectors including manufacturing, utility, retail, and real estate. If you have any queries or business requirements, just send us an email at marketing@contcentric.com, and our ECM consultants will contact you soon.

Summary
Alfresco content management has gained fame since its inception. Here are top features that make Alfresco the most suitable platform for document management.

Unstructured and poorly distributed corporate data can create a big hurdle in the path to growth for your business. Also, a lot of paperwork can impair the productivity and efficiency of the workforce. Here, enterprise content management lends a helping hand and enables the company to store and organize all sorts of valuable business information. Read on to know how the Alfresco platform enables companies to manage critical corporate information.

Before going through key benefits of Alfresco content management, let’s have a brief introduction of Alfresco.

Alfresco- Brief Introduction of Excellent Document Management System
Since inception in 2005, Alfresco has remained a popular open-source ECM (Enterprise Content Management). Easy customization, easy extension, and a seamless integration capacity make this platform a choice of developers and entrepreneurs alike. Irrespective of size and nature of the business, companies can readily leverage its benefits by managing the content.

Also Read- Top Business Benefits of Contract Lifecycle Management System using Alfresco

Today, Alfresco offers two editions- Alfresco Enterprise Edition and Alfresco Community Edition. Businesses can select the most suitable version for their document management requirements. The Enterprise Edition of Alfresco further divides into four packages namely ACS (Alfresco Content Services), APS (Alfresco Process Services), AGS (Alfresco Governance Services), and Alfresco Digital Business Platform.

Let’s go through nine top features of Alfresco that stand it apart from other platforms:

1. Collaboration is easy
   One of the biggest benefits of Alfresco content management is it provides an easy and seamless collaboration. Alfresco Share acts as a collaboration tool and provides a rich environment for web-based collaboration. It is useful for managing documents, calendar, wiki content, blogs, and the like.
2. Simplifies business process
   Alfresco has an integrated workflow engine to validate the content before adding to the repository. What’s more, it enables the team to define approval processes for content validation. In a way, this workflow capability can simplify the business processes and manage the content efficiently.
3. Offers secure access
   The content repository has a pile of data in different types. Also, users are of different types like content creators, reviewers, customers, and team members. Based on their requirements and authorization, there is a need to allow them secure access to the data stores in a repository. Alfresco has robust permission modeling to achieve this objective with ease.
4. Provides effective search mechanism
   Alfresco has an effective search mechanism to enable users to access the content on the move. The searching capability of the Alfresco platform is based on the content’s metadata and the body of the content. It makes the users easy to find the right content in relatively no time!
5. Integrates with external apps
   A reliable and reputed Alfresco development company can readily integrate external applications with the Alfresco platform. On the other hand, it is also possible to integrate Alfresco as a repository of a front-end business application. Technical architects prefer Alfresco for its seamless integration capacity with external systems and applications.
6. Easy transformation of content
   When it comes to the contract management system, the contract document remains in the word format and various teams review it. In the end, the contract becomes active and editable word document is converted into non-editable PDF. Alfresco makes it possible through its robust content transformation abilities.
7. Higher versioning capability
   Usually, enterprises have a well-defined workflow review process in place. Various departments review the content and necessary modifications are based on their inputs. Alfresco has a versioning capacity to create new versions of the same content or keep the record of existing versions.
8. Identifies business rules
   Business rules play a vital role in ensuring your company’s seamless document management and auditing of reports. Also, they can provide actionable insights to the management. For example, the contract status is changed as we move the content from one folder to another. If teams are reviewing the contract details, then the document remains in the Review folder. But once it moves to Active folder, the status Active is shown in front of the contract detail. Alfresco can easily define such business rules.
9. Audits the content
   The content is passed through three major stages- access, review, and edit. Alfresco not only offers secured access to the corporate documents but also give information about the users who access specific documents. It is necessary to find any malicious attempts and loopholes in the content access mechanism. Auditing of content is possible thanks to the Alfresco platform’s content auditing functionality.

Wrapping Up
Enterprises witness challenges like real-time monitoring, productivity-related issues, and regulatory compliance. Alfresco services are aimed at addressing all these challenges and providing higher security at reasonable costs. These are major reasons why Alfresco is a preferred choice of modern businesses worldwide.

As a leading Alfresco development company, ContCentric has delivered robust enterprise content management solutions globally. Our experienced Alfresco ECM developers can readily address the complex requirements of modern business. If you want to manage critical documents efficiently and meet the business objectives with ease, just drop us a line at hello@contcentric.com, and our expert executives will get back to you shortly. Or you can Contact Us here.