Tackle Content Sprawl: 5 Reasons Why Cloud Document Management Makes Sense
Many organizations suffer from content sprawl—possibly including yours. The unmanaged proliferation of file storage solutions across departments and processes has made content sprawl a common IT challenge across organizations. Content sprawl hampers the ability of end users to find the right content easily and for IT teams to administer it effectively. Additionally, it has an adverse effect on data security, compliance, and costs. For these reasons, cloud document management is something every organization should consider.
Top Drivers of Content Sprawl
User-Generated Content: With personal computing at an all-time high and with powerful content-generation tools in the hands of every employee, organizations are realizing a large volume of data gets created and stored by users daily. Sometimes, the files get stored on the user’s computing devices, in email systems as attachments, local file shares, online collaboration tools, etc. Content is all over the place and, in many situations, out of IT teams visibility and control, thereby posing serious data security and compliance challenges
Legacy Systems: Organizations are rapidly adopting newer and modern technologies, including content management. However, many a time, when migrating to newer solutions, legacy file storage and content management solutions are not fully decommissioned due to the need to retain historical data or because some processes are still relying on the legacy system thereby adding to the number of systems used to manage content.
Vertical Solutions and Siloed Processes: Departments and functional leaders sometimes favor custom or purpose-built solutions, which may rely on their own storage technologies for content or must have had very resource-intensive approaches to integrating with existing content solutions. Either way, such vertical solutions or functions have been known to compound the challenge of content sprawl.
Five Reasons Why Every Organization Needs to Tackle Content Sprawl
1. Simplify Governance and Compliance
With the amount of data businesses manage increasing exponentially and the growing complexity of regulations, content sprawl could be deemed the worst nightmare for IT and governance teams.
Content sprawl creates many challenges with regard to content governance and compliance. The lack of visibility into the content and uniform governance capabilities across disparate storage solutions make it impossible to enforce policies, exposing organizations to the risk of non-compliance. And to top it, failing to comply with ever-evolving regulations can lead to a loss of customer confidence, costly fines, and lawsuits.
It doesn’t have to be this hard. Modern Cloud Document Management solutions provide a uniform and centralized approach to content management and capabilities to effectively govern the content across its lifecycle – from creation to deletion. Not only do these solutions help create and apply these governance policies but also automate them. There is no time like the present to simplify your content governance and compliance program with modern cloud document solutions such as SOLIXCloud ECS.
2. Improve Discoverability and Content Management
Information is only useful when people can find the data. But discoverability plummets substantially when you have data scattered over multiple environments. After all, an unmanaged mess is not particularly conducive to finding what one needs; it’s also not good for security and governance.
Content sprawl also makes it more challenging for people in the organization to employ the data for productive ends. A lack of discoverability due to content sprawl will dissuade workers from using your data, wiping out its value. And those employees who do continue using the low-discoverability data will often find old and inaccurate versions of the information.
Instead of struggling with multiple repositories, using an elegant cloud-based solution is the best decision organizations could make. Cloud document management improves discoverability and organizing efficiency so that employees can access data when and where necessary while letting IT and governance teams maintain visibility and control.
3. Security and Associated Risks
It’s much harder to secure data when it’s dispersed. Attackers may exploit a disorganized network of data, exposing you to security risks, including data loss and financial loss.
Often employees use unapproved repositories to store sensitive data. A big reason is a confusion around where to put data since a company may have multiple silos. Without clear policies and the necessary infrastructure to organize files, content can easily fall into the wrong hands—including financial or protected health information.
Content sprawl impedes visibility, concealing risks such as unencrypted data or loose access controls. Consolidating to a single cloud document management service protects your data against security risks. It’s then simple to enforce governance policies. Employees know precisely where to store data, and multiple layers defend against breaches and ransomware, and other threats. You’ll have complete visibility into enterprise data.
4. Costs
It costs more to maintain content when it’s spread out. Companies end up paying for multiple storage solutions, supporting infrastructures, backup and maintenance processes, etc. Also, the discovery challenges lead to more reliance on IT for access leading to the waste of expensive IT time and resources. And, of course, any lost data or security failure adds a massive toll. Can you afford the cost of such sprawl?
As with the aforementioned points, cloud document management offers a straightforward solution. Uniting data in one cost-effective repository cuts direct costs, and the fast and user-friendly tools will save even more money thanks to improved employee performance. Isn’t it time to move to a modern cloud document solution that is devoid of any licensing, maintenance, or upfront infrastructure requirements? If your answer is “Yes,” it is time for you to explore SOLIXCloud
Cloud Document Management with Solix
SOLIXCloud Enterprise Content Services (ECS) addresses content sprawl by uniting data in the cloud. ECS helps you retain, share, and employ content regardless of which application created the data. With an easy-to-use web interface and powerful search functionality, ECS gives you the tools you need for governance and content management.
It includes all the features you need to consolidate your data, secure your data and enable employees to derive maximum value. It also features advanced governance capabilities such as RBAC, Retention and legal hold policies, classifications, and more.
Take your data to the cloud, and you’ll be well on your way to digital transformation. SOLIXCloud ECS is the intelligent approach to upgrading data management.
Ready to put content sprawl behind you? Start your free trial now!
