The Role of AI in a Modern Enterprise Document Management System

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing how businesses organize, manage, and store content. And if you haven’t already integrated AI into your enterprise document management system, there’s no better time than now to modernize your content operations and ensure you’re making the most of current advancements. 

An enterprise document management system, or enterprise content management (ECM) system, refers to the tools, strategies, and best practices that businesses use to collect and store their content, as well as disseminate it for analytical and operational use. These systems are inherently rules-based and, as such, well-suited to automation. 

AI for content management is nothing new. In fact, these systems have long made use of tools like optical character recognition (OCR), which automates how data in images is captured. But as we enter a new frontier in technology, the rules of the game are changing for ECM modernization – and so are the potential benefits. 

Here’s what to know about how AI can be used within your ECM, including applications, benefits, and the potential it unlocks. 

The evolution of enterprise content management systems

Businesses have always had data. As businesses increasingly came to rely on computers, the need arose for digital content management software that could reliably store data and allow convenient access to it. 

Enter electronic document management systems, which first gained steam in the late 1980s. Early ECMs were usually one-trick ponies that focused on a single area of utility – for example, organizational workflows or document management. These systems became more comprehensive over time, eventually resulting in multimodal software that supported operational efficiency and reduced costs associated with content management. 

Still, there was one glaring gap. While traditional ECM systems were useful for managing content, they required a lot of manual oversight. The emergence of AI for content management provides a solution to this problem, ensuring enterprise businesses have a simple way to store and search for data, as well as a designated tool for unlocking the potential within it. That’s great news for any business using an enterprise document management system, regardless of industry, scope, or long-term objectives. 

ECM modernization: integrating AI into content management

AI is no longer just a perk of digital content management software – it’s a mainstay. 

Today’s ECMs are either built with AI from the ground up or updated to include AI features. That makes integration a cinch since it’s all about AI enhancements to ECMs rather than attempts to reinvent the wheel. 

Key ways that AI is applied to modern ECM services include:

• Automated data extraction
• Smart content categorization
• Predictive analytics
  

Use these and other tools to bolster existing ECM practices. And while you’re at it, consider how these features can not only better organize your data – but also how they can put data to better use on your behalf. 

Benefits of AI for content management

Let’s look closer at the major benefits of AI-enhanced ECMs, particularly when it comes to using and securing the data in your system. 

Enhanced efficiency and automation

AI ECM enhancements offer end-to-end document processing improvements, from streamlined classifications to the automated grouping of unstructured data, such as information gathered from emails or videos. Find what you need faster, and accelerate each step in the workflow for overall better efficiency. 

Enhanced Data Security and Compliance

AI adds an additional safeguard to ensure your data (and your customers’) stays protected. Automatically flag sensitive information for redaction, such as credit card numbers. You can also use AI to standardize workflows and mitigate the risk of compliance-related errors. 

Improved decision making

AI-generated insights from data can facilitate informed decisions in real time. Use AI tools to pull out relevant patterns in customer behavior to guide marketing decisions. Or, look for trends in employee offboarding surveys to figure out where you can make improvements to retain top talent. You’ll do a lot less guessing, all while making more impactful, more purposeful decisions for your business. 

What Does the Future of AI in ECM Look Like?

The sky’s the limit for the use of AI in content management. In the future, expect to see more custom ECM models that use AI to tailor your content operations to your enterprise expertly. You’ll get hyper-specific recommendations, plus even more protection of your most sensitive data. You’ll likely also see AI enabling advanced content understanding within your ECM through sentiment analysis and context-aware processing – both of which will become more essential as your data store grows. 

Transform your ECM with AI

If efficiency, productivity, and security are the goals with your content, then AI is a must in your ECM. The Systemware platform is designed with these needs in mind, and features innovative AI tools that help you move your company forward. Browse our site to learn more about our enterprise document management system and solutions, and contact us to find out exactly what we can do for you.