Knowing the Language

25 Mar

Knowing the Language

in Content Management, Enterprise, Natural Language Processing, Small Business

When all you want to do is find that one important document, the last thing you want to hear is a whole bunch of acronyms. Here we demystify the common terms and tell you what you really need to know about ECM and DM.

If you’ve ever had the experience of visiting a foreign country where you don’t speak the language, you probably have a good idea what it’s like searching the internet for information about the fast-growing world of enterprise content management (ECM) and document management (DM).

Unless you have a background in IT, you can quickly find yourself lost in a dense and disorienting swamp of unexplained acronyms and unfamiliar terms.

For example, say you run across the acronym NLP. If you Google it, you’ll find something called neuro-linguistic programming (a psychological self-help approach that has nothing to do with computers and content management) alongside Natural Language Processing (which has quite a lot to do with computers and content management, as you’ll see in the guide below.)

At Docxonomy, solving complex information challenges is part of our DNA. Our proprietary, user-friendly connector technology allows you to quickly find and retrieve all of your company’s digital information—documents, pictures, video, and audio—wherever it’s stored. Whether it’s on an on-premise shared drive (or NAS, short for network-attached storage) or on any number of cloud-based tools, including Google Drive, Box, DropBox, SharePoint, Documentum, and others, you can find it, use it, and monetize it fast. All for the surprisingly low monthly price.

If we can deliver all that in a way that requires minimal or no IT support, a user-friendly guide to help you understand some of the most common terms and acronyms used in connection with ECM and Docxonomy should be a snap.

ECM: On Its Own Terms

Here is what you need to know.

Enterprise Content Management (ECM) – Enterprise content management is a broad term covering virtually everything from the strategy to the tools that go into creating, managing, storing, preserving, and delivering content.

Document Management (DM) –Document management is a subset of ECM, and refers to how documents are stored, managed, and tracked in one place electronically so they are readily available when needed.

Document Imaging – Not that long ago, business offices were filled with bulky filing cabinets stuffed with paper documents, receipts, photographs, reports, and much, much more. Document imaging is a term that covers the various processes by which all of those paper documents are converted into an electronic format.

Cloud – A metaphor commonly used to describe how information is stored and accessed over the internet on a network of servers located elsewhere, instead of being kept on a hard drive on premise.

Network-Attached Storage (NAS) – Also known as a shared drive, networked-attached storage is a file-based storage platform connected to a network that allows authorized network users to store and retrieve data.

Docxonomy: Some Key Terms

Here are some terms that will help you better understand how Docxonomy enables you to find and use any document, stored anywhere, instantly:

Natural Language Processing (NLP) – Simply put, Natural Language Processing is a branch of machine learning that enables a computer to read like a human. Docxonomy’s intelligent search platform employs NLP to locate the exact file you’re looking for instantly—whether it’s a document, email, collaboration tool like Slack or Basecamp, video, or audio. With machine learning, the more your team uses the intelligent search platform, the better it understands what they’re looking for.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) – This technology allows a computer to recognize text within a digital image. So if a digital document contains a photograph that has a caption, it is able to read that text. But Docxonomy’s OCR goes far beyond that. It can look at every frame of a video, extract any text from it, and even recognize what the image in the frame is.

Connectors – Docxonomy has developed a range of fast, secure connectors that allow our platform to connect to the leading document storage and collaboration tools—whether on-premise or cloud-based—used by businesses of all sizes. And our team can develop a connector specifically for your company’s system if needed.

Validation – Certain businesses, including pharmaceutical and biotech companies, are required under Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 11, to provide validation that electronic records, electronic signatures, and handwritten signatures executed to electronic records are trustworthy, reliable, and generally equivalent to paper records and handwritten signatures executed on paper. Docxonomy will not affect any work that companies have done to comply with the validation standards.

Take Action

If your company is finding it difficult to access important documents stored in various locations both on-premise and in the cloud, read more about Docxonomy’s content management, enterprise-quality intelligent search platform, and our proprietary connector technology.