With more content in the world than ever before, how enterprises manage that content is becoming more important by the day
Analyst firm IDC has predicted that by 2025 there will be 175 zettabytes of data in the world. That’s an almost impossible figure to visualise – a mind-boggling volume of data, content and information, that is only going to increase. And while this information is critical to most businesses, few are prepared to effectively manage this increase.
The value of content should certainly not be underestimated. 2020 research from Nuxeo has revealed that more than half of consumers (54 per cent) would switch to a competitor if the digital customer experience did not measure up. This digital experience includes the right product info, personalisation, good product photography and interactive digital media – all key elements of content.
Content is important for all industries, and financial services is a good example of a sector shifting to more digital models that rely on smart and agile use of it. Further Nuxeo research showed that almost three-quarters of insurance customers have requested certificates or supporting documents via digital channels, and there is also a growing demand to digitally share photos, videos and reports relating to claims.
Content in its many and varied forms is already integral to businesses in most sectors. The projected growth in content volume, therefore, will raise important questions about the best way to manage all this content for digital transformation and improving customer experiences.
The difference in business performance between those that are prepared to manage this increased volume and those that do not is vast.
Using content services to increase productivity and reduce costs
There have been technology platforms around for years that help businesses to file, store, manage and get value from the content they hold. Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is probably the best-known example. ECM helps firms gain control of their content, automates process workflows, increases productivity, and in doing so reduces costs.
A good ECM platform collates all an organisation’s content in a central repository, providing immediate access to the critical information employees need to make informed decisions. It reduces paperwork, helps improve compliance and becomes essential technology for many firms. Yet as the volume of enterprise content began to grow so sharply, the limitations of traditional ECM were laid bare.
As content became more important, people began to use it differently and content services emerged as a more strategic approach to meet those changing needs. Most productively deployed via a cloud-native platform, content services encompasses a much broader spectrum of technologies. This includes enterprise file synchronisation and sharing (EFSS) tools, content federation, enterprise search, artificial intelligence and machine learning, which all create a powerful proposition – more agile, more contextual, easier to use and delivering far greater value.
Covid-19 and digital transformation
If content is what we use to share information, content services allows us to have a much richer digital representation of content, capture greater detail and context, and work with this information at extreme scale.
This has become more important than ever as the world recovers from a global pandemic. While Covid-19 didn’t create the need for companies to digitally transform, it accelerated trends that were already underway. Many companies were forced to look much closer at their digital customer experiences, and how they shared information and sustained business processes when knowledge workers were no longer in the office. Accessing content services via the cloud, for example, has enabled knowledge workers to manage the content they need, irrespective of their location.
The result has been a renewed focus on digital transformation, delivering better digital experiences and accelerating time to market for new products and services. It’s also about empowering knowledge workers with better information and greater automation to make businesses more efficient and informed.
Content plays a critical role in all these aspects of digital transformation and content services is the key that unlocks the value and potential within that content.
Content services and the future
Content is intrinsic to successful business. Organisations need to find better ways of connecting workers to the content they need to do their job effectively, and consumers to the content they need to consume services or buy products. Content must be at the heart of what smart enterprises are trying to do. They need technology that allows the design, collaboration and capture of rich content, thus enabling new ways to do business, improve the digital customer experience and drive innovation.
This is content services. Without it, enterprises may struggle to find their way in a digital world – with it, they can look to the future with confidence.
To learn more about content services, read Nuxeo’s whitepaper, “Six reasons to Adopt Content Services in the Cloud”. To find out more please visit www.nuxeo.com
by Eric Barroca, CEO, Nuxeo