Over the last several years, organizations have created a huge volume of unstructured content that includes documents, e-mail messages, videos, instant messages, Web pages, and more. This content often exists in a state of unmanaged chaos that prevents an organization from properly using these valuable assets for better knowledge sharing, improved customer communications, and increased process efficiency. Enterprise Content Management (ECM) from Microsoft is a key component of an organization's infrastructure, that can help companies overcome these challenges. Built on a well-integrated platform, ECM from Microsoft easily extends content management to every information worker in an organization through integration with familiar tools like the Microsoft Office system. A Microsoft ECM solution can help businesses:

Manage diverse content

The document management capabilities in the Microsoft integrated ECM solution can help organizations consolidate diverse content from multiple file shares and personal drives into a centrally managed repository with consistent categorization.

Satisfy compliance and legal requirements

The Microsoft ECM solution also includes integrated records management capabilities that give organizations the capability to store and protect business records in their final state.

Efficiently manage multiple Web sites

Integrated Web content management capabilities enable people to publish Web content with an easy-to-use content authoring tool and a built-in approval process.

Streamline business processes

The Microsoft ECM solution enables businesses to streamline content-driven, collaborative business processes by providing the tools and platform for automating the tasks of these processes.

The Microsoft ECM solution provides capabilities to manage the entire lifecycle of unstructured content from creation to expiration on a single unified platform. These capabilities include: