When it comes to business management systems, it seems like there is one for every possible challenge and keeping them all straight can be tricky.
Since it has been around longer, document management tends to get more attention, but what about content management? What is the difference between CM and DM? How do they compare, and how can you benefit from both?
Defining the Basics
Document management is a software-based computer system for storing, organizing, tracking, and securing files and data so that it can be easily searched and retrieved when needed.
Content management is broader since “content” is a broad term — it is any information that exists within your business. CM is a centralized place, sort of like a massive digital library, that stores and manages documents and information, enabling you to distribute it as needed, whenever and wherever. DM exists within content management.
Structured Versus Unstructured
One way to distinguish DM and CM from one another is this: think of content as unstructured data, which includes everything from images, branding, and social media to emails, video, audio content and more. These are all items that are difficult to search for and located without a system in place. Everyone has wasted the better part of the day searching for a particular photo or video that they need.
On the flip side, DM is better suited to structured data, such as things will numbers, dates, currency, and letters, such as receipts, invoices, text files, and the like. These items are inherently more searchable, which makes them better suited for a content management system.
Capture and Access
Unstructured data is difficult to organize and access, which is why data capture is critically important. Capture and content management solutions enable you to extract information from any item and store that data so that you can locate it later. PSIGen, leaders in secure, efficient automation software, have created document capture solutions like PSIsafe or PSIcapture. The best way to ensure success is to properly set up your capture criteria within your CM or DM solutions so that you can locate and access items when needed.
Contact us for help with document management or capture and content management.