Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Maturity Models

A maturity model in the enterprise content management (ECM) sphere serves to evaluate an organization's performance against an assessment framework, and to determine roadmaps for optimizing that performance. Such tools are developed typically by academics, informed by considerable research, or by consulting firms that use their maturity model tool to promote the sale of their own products and services. Therefore, the experience of practitioners with using ECM maturity models is underrepresented in the literature. Practitioners require tools that are quick to implement whilst providing useful insights. This chapter explores two case studies in which the author conducted quick assessments using a maturity model as a guide. The case studies indicate that while quick assessments are useful, they need to be included as part of a maturity tool to ensure that the implementation method is repeatable and the results consistent.