Manager’s Checklist: Get the Support You Need to Succeed with ECM

An enterprise content management (ECM) implementation is more than just a solution to inefficiency, a way to address unique business challenges, or a chance to get ahead of the competition. It’s also a relationship between you and your vendor’s support team. Unless you have a highly skilled and underutilized IT support team in house, the quality of that relationship will be a determining factor in your long-term success with ECM. If you’ve conducted a painstaking evaluation of solution providers and are making an investment, why wouldn’t you choose a partner who you’re confident will help you to succeed over the long haul?

An ECM system should serve you well for many years. After all, your business information is vital to business continuity, and you need to entrust it to a system that will manage it well. As you evaluated your options, you probably scrutinized multiple vendors, narrowing the list to those whose products suited your requirements. Yet what you need from your ECM solution today may differ from what you will require in a few years. Your software must be adaptable, and your support team must be able to respond to every inquiry with the expert guidance you need. Products are only part of the equation; quality, timely support is critical to success as your company grows and your needs change.

Asking the right questions at the beginning is crucial. These guidelines and the ensuing checklist should help you to get the answers you need so you can march on with confidence.

Criteria for evaluating your vendor’s support team
1. Customer references that verify the quality of support services

There’s no substitute for recommendations from customers who have used your preferred vendor’s services. Ask your ECM vendor – ask several, if you haven’t yet chosen – for references of customers in your industry and clients with needs that are similar to yours.

Suggestion: If you work for a large company that’s planning to use ECM to store and process large volumes of information, make sure the solution provider references customers who have done so successfully. Verify vendor claims with customer experiences. Every customer deserves prompt, top-quality service. Managers of smaller organizations should feel confident that the vendor’s service will not be dependent on the size of the installation or amount of the sale. The bottom line: you should feel confident your needs will be met, no matter what size company you represent.

2. Live, personal support whenever you need it

Sometimes online convenience and phone messages are distant choices to discussing a challenge in person. Make sure your vendor’s support team has a reputation of being available when they’re needed. Beware of automated messages that apologize for delays due to unusually high call volumes. When you need service, those messages will not be reassuring.

Suggestion: Call the customer support line. Can you reach a real person?

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