Benefiting From an ECM SOA Strategy
Enterprise content management (ECM) vendors typically provide an out-of-the-box interface to enable end users access to the content management services. However, if an organization needs to integrate ECM with other applications, then the users must learn new processes to become familiar with the ECM’s new interface.
When ECM is provided as part of an SOA, end users can continue to use existing applications, thus reducing the need for training. Integration between the existing applications and the ECM system is handled via web services to perform content management functions such as storing or retrieving a record from the ECM system. Since the web service can be leveraged by multiple applications, there are also potential cost savings from per-seat software licensing savings. These may be realized because fewer users will need to use the ECM provider’s user interface.
