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UNDERSTANDING ENTERPRISE CONTENT MANAGEMENT (ECM) AND HOW IT BENEFITS LAW FIRMS — 1
One of the biggest challenges facing the legal profession is the large number of paperwork involved in creating, editing, processing, and storing. From affidavits to warranty deeds, there are many types of legal forms and documents to deal with.
Additional forms of content are now emerging, including video, audio, and social media. When you have a large amount of structured and non-structured content that is a core part of your business, you need a solution that allows you to take chaos seriously.
Enterprise Content Management (ECM) provides businesses with the means to better manage all of their digital content in one central repository for its entire lifecycle. Content may include electronic documents, photos, videos, web content, and more.
Many businesses, including law firms, have begun using off-the-shelf products to meet their digital needs. Choices like MS Word and Google Drive are often helpful. However, as more digital content and paperwork grows, the work process begins to slow down because the information is no longer accessible so quickly. Having the right information at your fingertips when you need it creates the need for a better content management system (CMS).
Both CMS and Document Management System (DMS) support the purpose of content management and storage. Using a choice of tools and strategies, these systems allow for efficient management and control of documents throughout the organization.
However, DMS software is best suited for Minnesota law firms because they offer content-based organization, manipulation, and archiving of documents and email. This system can also be used to manage website content and databases.
Some of the helpful tools that DMS provides to legal entities include:
Document version management to review and compare different modified versions of the same document.
indexing and searching information within and within all documents.
control Document checkout functions to control who can access and edit documents.
Create metadata that allows data about the document to be added to the system without modifying the document itself.
Email management allows you to organize and search emails by substance or project file.
Upgrading your ECM system to include such functions and tools provides several benefits for law firms in Minnesota.
Benefits of ECM for Legislation
Improved workflow
As mentioned, with a lot of paperwork, it can be difficult to find what you need. Digitizing files and using ECM allows easy data mining. Users can quickly narrow down their search to find the necessary documents. Classification of documents by substance is important in ensuring that all relevant documents can be found and clustered together.
Data breach prevention
Full-function ECM systems are well-protected, helping to reduce the risk of data breaches. Given the highly sensitive nature of legal work, the ECM should be considered at the top. Information leaks can be devastating to the business and affect the firm’s reputation. Even within the organization, document security can be further enhanced by restricting access to specific files and folders set by the department.
