Closer look into content management: Why invest resources in document management?

The digital content companies have to handle is increasingly large. Any company and their workers now face a problem where documents accumulate in unstructured ways. This causes relatively large waste of workers’ time and ultimately companies economic losses. A solution to this problem was required by the Detection Technology company and this thesis aims to present the problem at hand a possible solution. This thesis defines the problem of increasing amount of digital content to manage in a company. It also presents a solution in Enterprise Content Management and more specifically in Document Management Systems (DMS). Both concepts are defined, and their activities explained in the theoretical frame. More detailed descriptions of the components of a DMS are highlighted in order for the reader to be able to grasp the most important parts of a DMS. The choice and implementation of a DMS in a company can be beneficial in many ways. However careful attention has to be paid to the research for the most suitable DMS for one particular company. This is discussed in the section on Return On Investments and limitations of a DMS. To help the reader understand in a practical way what the research for the best DMS entails, a practical example was performed in this thesis, for the specific needs of the DT company. Their needs are described. A selection process for suitable DMS is demonstrated along with their testing. Finally, the tested DMSs were weighted. This thesis is encompassed in the following research question: How can the right choice of content management and especially of DMS significantly enhance the efficiency of a small and medium size enterprises