With the evolution of almost every part of technology, there has been a growth of several trends, but simultaneously, a lot of experts in the industry have questioned the importance of document management in today’s world. There are even some people and companies that have stated that content management systems (CMS) have become outdated. However, OpenText turning one of its flagship product’s name back to include “Content Management” demonstrates a validation that these types of solutions are not going anywhere and have a robust future especially with the growth of artificial intelligence.
The assumption that content management – some people still use the term Document Management – is of a lower importance stems from the growing rise of automation and AI. Most people believe that AI can do away with traditional content governance and organization without breaking a sweat. This theory is incorrect in my opinion. AI excels on well-managed data and is engineered to operate on structured high-quality data. Without a proper CMS, AI does not have a sound basis to carry out tasks effectively.
A well-designed CMS guarantees easy access to information, effective categorization, and the absence of redundancies. An organization files and stores an immense volume of content daily including documents, images, videos and other structured data types. A weak CMS makes data retrieval complex and nearly impossible, which renders the data much less useful for AI applications.
Particularly self-learning AI systems require large volumes of information to be accurate. This information should also be relevant, structured, and systematic. A content ecosystem that is not well managed will not only make the AI make inaccurate but will also provide misleading insights.
AI tools depend on diverse categories of high-quality data. Such data can easily be obtained from well-managed CMS. Such platforms enable effective organization, indexing, and structuring of data which goes on to allow AI systems to develop more accurate insights. This is pivotal in fields such as healthcare, legal, and finance, where more and more content is needed for the AI system to function properly.
One of the most significant advantages in the era of AI is the ability to analyze volumes of content. Metadata offers supplementary information about the content like when it was created, who created it, its relevance, and how it can be categorized. Indexing and classifying content properly ensures that AI models rapidly and accurately identify and extract information resulting in much more precise information.
Additionally, taxonomies apply to AI as the system resources enable it to understand content by splitting it into meanings. Without organized taxonomies, AI will not be able to tell apart similar but different ideas which will result in errors in interpretation of the data. An organized and elaborate CMS strategy ensures that data can be accessed analyzed by AI in a sophisticated way.
With the continuous growth in data privacy and compliance, CMS functions serves to help sustain mandatory lawful regulations and ethical practices defended by organizations. An AI solution should always have limits on what data is accessed and what the data is used for. Security and compliance policies always need to be enforced, and a strong framework of content management will help organizations achieve this.
It is critical for businesses in healthcare, government, and financial services to comply with regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2. If AI systems lack proper content governance, they risk content and sensitive information exposure. With a proper CMS, risks can be managed by limiting access, tracking usage, and providing visibility.
Content management will never die – once again my opinion – but will change with new technological advances. Maybe some of my points here help explain why OpenText has decided to place more importance on “Content Management.” The continued transformation of industry by AI means that the content will have to be structured and controlled, so the demand will only grow.
To effectively harness the power of AI, a robust content management strategy is vital.
Those organizations willing to build a strong content management strategy are bound to win. Data needs to be abundant, but it also needs to be in a reliable and accessible, compliant state. In this age of digital transformation, the relationship between a CMS and AI is not that of competitors, but rather partners working to drive innovation and success together.
