“Unified content management” – the generation beyond classic document management

Relatively few law departments have document management systems (the likes of iManage, PCDocs, WorldDox, and Documentum). I was therefore surprised to read a consulting-firm executive (James Veraldi, EVP of Micro Strategies) observe that “within corporate counsel, we are seeing a transition from classic document management systems which enable efficient searching and management of documents, to unified content management systems which control ALL of the electronic content surrounding a matter or deal” (Met. Corp. Counsel, Vol. 13, Dec. 2005 at 56).

The preceding paragraph, by an attorney at Legal Technologies Kroll Ontrack, states that “approximately 93 percent of all information is created electronically and 70 percent of that never reaches paper,” so controlling ALL electronic content is a tall order.

Querulous I may be, but there’s a besmirched record of legal technologists over-touting the capabilities and penetration of wares and services (See my post of today on contract management software and of Dec. 21, 2005 on spruiking.). The exaggerations make general counsel feel backward, but unjustly, and spend lavishly, but unwisely.

The author needs to back up his perception of this transition by several examples of law departments successfully installing “unified content management software.”