Why Organizations Want Microsoft Office 365 Integration Support When Evaluating CCMS Solutions

What we've learned from speaking with global organizations about their enterprise content management challenges is that there are multiple drivers to adopting a Componentized Content Management System (CCMS).

Deployment decisions tend to be use case driven. For example, a pharmaceutical company could be looking to simplify its compliance documentation processes or a financial organization needs a better way to keep pace with customer investment reporting with 100% accuracy. We've also learned that most organizations rely on Office 365 as their primary productivity suite, so whatever CCMS solution they use, it must integrate with existing Microsoft applications. It's the only way your organization can truly benefit from optimized workflows and improve content management efficiencies.

Results from our recently published global survey conducted by IDC mirror what we hear from our enterprise customers. Respondents overwhelmingly agree that when evaluating a CCMS solution, tight integration with Microsoft O365 applications is a 'must have' for efficient enterprise document lifecycle processes.

Let's look at your subject-matter experts (SMEs) for example who want to focus on what they do best: impart knowledge. A typical organization has many SMEs with most working in silos. What's more, it's likely that content is being developed in multiple formats, contains outdated information, and doesn't meet regulatory requirements that vary by industry and region. Add to this, content creators are likely communicating more than just words and are getting bogged down in formatting and trying to adhere to corporate brand guidelines which impacts their time to value.

A CCMS solution that is integrated with Microsoft requires no technical skills or training. SMEs can create personalized, compliance-controlled content in one effort while using the tools they're already accustomed to. They also can easily reuse and publish any output channel instantly and without compromising accuracy, format or design.

Our survey uncovers the reality that Office 365 has become a common tool for organizations to carry out their day-to-day operations. Key findings reveal:

• 93% of respondents say that the authoring and editing of structured content using Microsoft Word is extremely or somewhat important.
• 86% say that automated publishing to Microsoft PowerPoint is extremely or somewhat important.
• 88% say that bidirectional data management with Microsoft Excel is extremely or somewhat important.

Adopting a CCMS solution that integrates with Microsoft productivity tools offers a wealth of benefits to your enterprise content strategy and your enterprise content teams. It streamlines content creation processes, boosts consistency and accuracy, and optimizes workflow efficiency to fuel faster time to value.

Learn more about how your organization can revolutionize its enterprise content management processes with the right CCMS deployment, read the complete IDC survey results sponsored by Quark here.