Data governance
Increase data value and visibility with better data governance
In business today, information is more critical yet more problematic than ever. Gartner1 suggests that information alone contributes at least 20 to 25% of the value of an organization today. Companies use data to achieve better business outcomes at every level of operations, from improving customer experiences to increasing efficiency and identifying market opportunities.
Yet information is more difficult to manage today as the volume of business data continues to grow exponentially. Businesses are collectively burdened with trillions of storage and management costs for data that is redundant, obsolete or inaccessible and of no known value2.
Superior data governance is the key to gaining greater visibility of data and extracting more value from it. Traditionally, data governance has been preoccupied with managing risk. But in today’s information-centric world, businesses need enterprise data management solutions that can help ensure they’re getting the most value from their substantial investment in information.
M-Files can help. By making information easier to find, access, share and manage, M-Files simplifies data governance tasks while increasing the productivity of knowledge workers, enabling business continuity and reducing business risk.
Access the information you need instantly
From creation to disposal, see how M-Files provides a smarter way to manage documents, emails, and all your content.
The keys to superior data governance
When working with an intelligent data management solution like M-Files, there are several essential steps that companies can take to improve the effectiveness of data governance.
Establish a data governance team
Focus on helping employees better understand how managing, controlling and protecting information will improve the business while making their jobs easier. A data governance team should likely include top leadership, critical stakeholders and IT administrators.
Get better visibility into existing data assets
To extract more value from data while mitigating risk and minimizing costs, organizations need to know exactly where information is, what it is, and the value and risk it represents. Conducting an information audit can help to better understand and classify data throughout every system and repository. This process can help to identify which information assets should continue to be protected and stored and which can be jettisoned or destroyed. An audit may also uncover valuable data that has been unused to date.
Eliminate what you don’t need
Strong data governance policies will eliminate “ROT” – redundant, obsolete and trivial data that can eat up storage and bog down processes. By some estimates, fully one-third of the data owned by the average enterprise will never be useful3, and another 50% is considered “dark data” – information that is either unknown or inaccessible4.
M-Files: a smarter way to manage data
M-Files is a next-generation intelligent information management platform that helps businesses and individuals find and use information more effectively throughout its lifecycle. Built with AI-enabled technology, M-Files makes it easy to manage documents, files and records from creation to archival or deletion. Managing retention policy and securing sensitive data is easier with M-Files, and automated workflows help to maintain data quality and reduce human error. Perhaps most impressively, M-Files provides a single interface from which anyone can find any information that matters to them – no matter where it lives in the organization.
Here’s how it works. Unlike traditional document or records management technology, M-Files doesn’t create a central repository or require an expensive and time-consuming data migration. Instead, M-Files uses artificial intelligence to search for, identify and connect all documents and information on every platform and data repository, analyzing them to establish their value and context. M-Files then tags each file with metadata that makes it easier to find based on what it contains. As a result, employees never need to know where a file is stored. Rather, they can simply enter a few words about what they’re looking for into the M-Files search bar and get connected with their documents in seconds.
In addition to making information easier to find, M-Files supports data governance by automating document workflows. By automatically managing documents throughout their lifecycle, M-Files streamlines processes, simplifies compliance, minimizes human error and increases efficiency while ensuring that organizations maximize the value of their data.
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Features of the M-Files platform
The M-Files platform offers all the tools you need to govern data more effectively.
A unified view
With M-Files, you can see everything in one place. From documents, email and analytics data to customer details, order numbers and projects, you’ll get a unified view of data assets, even when they’re stored on different archives or systems.
Fast search and retrieval
At a time when many workers spend up to 30% of their day searching for the right information,5 M-Files lets workers find the documents they need within seconds.
Mobile access
All content connected to M-Files can be accessed with a mobile device, no matter what system or repository it lives in. Workers can review, approve and sign documents directly from their smart phones or tablets.
No more silos
By connecting data throughout the organization, M-Files effectively breaks down data silos, optimizing the way organizations use and gain value from information.
Superior contract management
M-Files’ contract management software can manage contracts from creation through signature, automating the process of reviewing, approving and signing documents.
Greater security
M-Files’ file management technology protects documents with enterprise-level encryption and dynamic access rights that ensure only the right people have access to any given document.
Automated workflows
M-Files automates document-intensive processes to streamline daily work, increase efficiency and enable workers to focus on higher value tasks.
The benefits of data governance with M-Files
Easier data governance
Data governance requires visibility and control of data throughout the organization. But in many companies, information lives in silos that are unconnected and not visible between departments. By connecting data to provide a single view of documents no matter where they live, M-Files eliminates the need to micromanage data governance within individual departments, applications or systems.
Tame data sprawl
As the volume of information increases, it becomes more difficult to find. The average enterprise employs no less than four content management systems,6 making it difficult for employees to remember where things are stored as they search for the documents they need. To combat this problem, M-Files uses a metadata-driven approach to document management that makes it easy to find documents anywhere in the organization based on the information they contain rather than their location.
No more duplication
Document duplication is a data governance nightmare. Duplicates inevitably lead to errors, missed opportunities, and inefficiency as workers try to determine which file is the most up to date. M-Files eliminates the problem of duplicates by establishing one copy for each document and providing a link that allows users to access it for edits, comments, approval and signature. Changes to a document are automatically recorded in historical versions, providing a full audit trail of who did what to a document and when.
Centralized document lifecycle
As documents move throughout their lifecycle, M-Files changes the metadata to update document status, execute workflows and ensure compliance with company policy and regulatory requirements.
How M-Files enables efficiency for your business?
Faster Search
What you need, when you need it. That is the way M-Files works. Fast, easy, and intuitive.
Familiarity
You can use your favorite daily tools, such as MS Teams or Salesforce to manage your documents.
Easy collaboration
Share content securely, and co-author documents simultaneously — wherever you work.
Streamlined daily work
Let M-Files suggest tags for your documents and add workflows for faster processing.
Why choose M-Files?
Thousands of organizations in more than one hundred countries use M-Files to manage information and documents more effectively. M-Files lets workers quickly find, access and share the documents they need regardless of where they’re stored, while providing access to only the people who should have it. Intelligent, automated document-based workflows help to streamline and simplify routine tasks so that workers can stay focused on high-impact work, improving productivity and job satisfaction.
M-Files is a highly configurable platform that can be easily customized to specific use cases. Integrations and APIs mean that M-Files can be used with common applications and productivity suites, so workers can take advantage of the power of M-Files while continuing to work with their favorite tools. M-Files can be deployed in the cloud, on premises or as a hybrid solution.