Off-the-shelf intelligent automation beats custom ECM monitoring

The accumulation of digital information is overwhelming, and the reliance on increasing access must be recognized. The danger in this climate is that storage capacity can be quickly consumed if structured and unstructured data are not adequately managed. More storage can lead to more costs and complexity - especially regarding compliance mandates. On top of that, more time is also needed for backup processes and recovery efforts. Understanding how users interact with the content services applications becomes a critical mission. Getting a usage perspective helps make better storage location, retention, disposition, and security decisions.

Avoiding costly pitfalls: Why off-the-shelf intelligent automation observability beats custom-built ECM monitoring systems

Exacerbating the unstructured content growth that is choking the IT infrastructure, companies turn to a plethora of applications and toolsets to help manage the unstructured data storm. These tools range from IT Operations Management (ITOM), Security Information and Event Management Systems (SIEMs), Incident Management Systems, Cloud Hypervisor monitoring systems, and various data visualization and analytics tools.

Most document management tools need more capabilities to solve the problems mentioned above. What's needed is a way to know what unstructured content is essential, who is accessing it, where it is being accessed from, and what device is being used when. Intelligent Automation Observability, as part of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) based solutions, has been  an answer for content management difficulties, solving issues with:

• User Transaction Information 
• User Access
• Transaction Volumes
• User Count Trends
• Availability Information
• Response Time Performance
   

Managing ECM user activity matters

Without good ECM management and monitoring, you can experience costly consequences; minor problems can become big problems and hit your bottom line when interruptions and decreased productivity become a reality. You need to be able to manage, monitor, and receive reports on user activities to avoid increased costs and other headaches. The reasons why managing ECM user activity matters are:

1. Knowing Your Business Performance and Planning - Users who have to deal with slow content retrieval will get frustrated. For example, managing and understanding the transaction times for processing payments and loan documents, accessing design specifications, and viewing lab reports are critical for business. User response time impacts Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Seeing real-time user responses to document context allows organizations to identify and resolve service-level issues quickly.

2. Dramatically Reducing MTTD (Mean Time To Detection) - The IT team aims to identify document access issues quickly. Having a snapshot of the ECM user, repository, and infrastructure when a threshold is passed dramatically reduces the time needed for investigation.

3. Insider Threat Detection - Security is a primary concern for all organizations. Insider threats and identifying the location of malicious activity are crucial. Understanding when documents are being improperly accessed, how users consume them, and whether irregular login patterns are occurring is vital for sensitive content.

Build or buy an off-the-shelf platform?

ECM provides a comprehensive monitoring system for the application stack, ensuring the smooth operation of business-critical processes and workflows. However, the question lingers: How will this environment be continuously observed, managed, and provided with ECM context-sensitive information for IT and business management? 

One solution is to build your own ECM monitoring solution. However, there are significant costs to consider before making that choice. In addition, IT operations can be challenged when developing and maintaining monitors that offer deep visibility and context. So, let's examine the specifics to understand the cost and risks of building in-house ECM monitoring capability:  

1. Development Knowledge Gap and Costs: Building your own ECM monitors in-house requires considerable investment in development resources. You must have developers who understand ECM system architecture and can design and implement monitoring functionalities. Obtaining this expertise means salaries, benefits, recruitment expenses, and the necessary hardware and software infrastructure. In addition, developing the software is one of many issues; staff must produce and maintain monitors. You'll need a team with specialized knowledge of ECM systems and monitoring best practices. In addition, you will also need to invest in training programs to keep the IT staff concurrent with ECM platform technologies, monitoring techniques, and emerging industry trends.

2. Development Time and Effort: The complexity and scale of the monitoring system are factors because the development timeline can range from several months to over a year. The requirements for building an effective monitoring system for ECM include:

a. Obtaining Software Development Kit(s) (SDK) for each ECM platform.

b. Developing or obtaining developer knowledge of SDK(s) for each ECM platform.

c. Developing detailed requirements & project plans.

d. Developing or obtaining developer-level knowledge of ECM platform stack, interfaces, and operating behavior.

e. Assigning a Project Manager.

f. Moving through a DevOps process to the production state.

g. Designing, building, and implementing quality assurance for: 

• Tests 
• Monitors 
• Conditions/Thresholds 
• Displays 
• Dashboards 
• Reports 
• Remediations/automation 
• Notifications
   

3. Ongoing Maintenance and Updates: Maintenance and updates must align with changing ECM systems or organizational requirements once the ECM monitors are deployed. This action requires assigning resources to monitor the monitors, fix issues, and introduce enhancements. All this work can strain IT budgets and siphon needed personnel from core business activities. As the ECM applications are updated with new feature capabilities, API interfaces, and expanded platform support (such as OS, databases, and application services), the ECM monitoring needs to maintain pace, or your monitoring blind spots will reappear.

4. Scalability and Risk Challenges: As organizations grow, ECM must evolve to support digital transformation initiatives, scalability, and adaptability. In-house ECM monitors may need more flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances. Intelligent automation technologies require support that you may not have. Scaling a custom monitoring solution most often calls for modifications, which can be complex and costly. Adding new features, integrating with other systems, or accommodating increased user demands can require additional development efforts and resources. The development cost, deployment time, routine maintenance, and architecture flexibility increase the risk profile of the custom ECM monitoring solution compared to a proven 'off the shelf' solution.

Don't build, buy

Taking on the ordeal of building in-house monitoring capability will give you control, but the costs and risks are significant. They come right up front and also hit you over a multi-year period. Creating an effective in-house ECM system is no walk in the park when considering development costs, time and effort, maintenance, risk, and scalability. To eliminate the drain on the bottom line, the added time and personnel required to build and monitor effectively, as well as the ongoing training and updating, the solution is to buy, not build. Purchasing a reliable Intelligent Automation observability  solution will save you recurring problems of complexity and provide you with a dependable, smooth operation that will give you the organizational view and cost savings to help users navigate a swelling sea of documents smoothly.  

About Brian DeWyer

Brian DeWyer is the CTO and Co-Founder of Reveille Software. With more than 25 years of experience in technology, Brian DeWyer provides product strategy and technical leadership in his role as Reveille CTO and board member. Brian leverages his extensive knowledge from his tenure as a senior IT leader at a large financial services company  and his previous role as a process consulting practice leader for IBM  Services, delivering on-premises and cloud-based solution implementations for Fortune 1000 commercial and government clients. He has led process change efforts within large organizations, building on content-driven solutions for high-volume transaction processing applications. He is a past board member of the Association of Image and Information Management (AIIM) industry association. Brian graduated from Virginia Tech with a BSME and holds an MBA from Wake Forest University.