Regular readers know I’m a big fan of green and an avid promoter of Enterprise Contract Management due to the many advantages it provides including reduced contract management costs, decreased maverick spend, reduced overpayments, IP management, etc., but in an even bigger picture, Enterprise Contract Management is a subset of Enterprise Content Management. If you also adopt an Enterprise Content Management Solution to manage all of the documents, and knowledge, you produce in addition to contracts, you can save a considerable amount of money each year on paper, printing, storage, and document shipping costs … which, for many larger organizations, is well into the the six figures. While small change to what an Enterprise Contract Management Solution that enforces on-contract buying (which in turn realizes the millions in savings your buyers negotiated), it’s still a considerable amount of change, as there are many good, open source, content management solutions you can use for free and save enough to retain a few more valuable employees in these tough times.
There are a number of reasons to go green with Enterprise Content Management, and a recent article in Integrated Solutions Magazine listed the top 6 reasons presented by the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM). They are:
- Save On Paper and Shipping
A large company can save 50K to 500K on paper and 50K to 200K on paper delivery and document shipping costs each year. - Increase the Effectiveness of Core Processes
Your people can find what they need when they need it. - Truly Integrate Your Field Operations
No longer is the bulk of knowledge confined to those in the main office. - Reduce Real Estate Costs
Less paper requires less filing cabinets which reduces the physical space you need just to store paper. - Improve Employee Productivity
Not only can your people access what they need when they need it, but they can access the information where they need it. - Reduce off-site storage costs.
Instead of a warehouse, all you need is a storage box that can hold a few backup tapes or hard-drives, just in case your on-line backup goes down.