4 - Kuwait Oil Company

Enterprise Content Management Business ValueSubmitted by: Safa Al-Nashmi, TPL Specialist I (Inf. Technology), Corporate Information Technology GroupOver the years, the CorporateInformation Technology Group(CITG) at KOC has madesignificant investments in astrong IT portfolio of innovativeand world-class informationtechnology solutions andservices that help achieve greaterefficiency and productivity whichaid the Company’s strategicbusiness objectives. In thecurrent competitive environment,the need for better managementof all the organizationalresources, especially IT, requirescomprehensive assessmentof their contribution to theorganization performance. Whilesome projects will truly generatea fiscal return on investment,others will only generategoodwill, or in other words,better service and improvedcustomer satisfaction. Whetherthe value added is fiscal orimproved service is somethingthat the Company shouldrecognize at the onset.Some of the questions thatshould be asked before makingany investment into a possibleIT project include: What valuedoes the project bring to theCompany? Should the projectbe undertaken if the cost tocreate, implement and maintainis greater than the value/savingsreturned to the Company? Is theproject true to the objectivesand overall strategy of theorganization? Does the serviceobtained from the projectsupport the organizationalSafa Al-NashmiTPL Specialist I (Inf. Technology), CorporateInformation Technology Groupmission? How can we use thisproject to reduce costs andincrease effectiveness?Looking for a way to answerthese important questionsand be effective in deliveringresponsible IT solutions andservices to KOC users, aconceptual framework has beenestablished by CITG in orderto judge the business valueoutcomes of enterprise (IT)projects. It has been developedby synthesizing the extantliterature on IT business value,IT services and process design.The framework provides a setof financial measurements andseries of tools for evaluating ITproducts, services, and supportso as to ascertain their businessbenefits. This frameworkboosts CITG ability to measureIT initiatives and facilitatesdecisions on investment thatbring the most value to theorganization.The custom-made frameworkwas used as a part of theCITG basic decision-makingprocess to evaluate one of itsmost critical initiatives calledEnterprise Content Management(ECM). The result of applyingthis framework to the ECMprogram highlights the expectedbusiness value and expectedtechnical value, associated,where possible, with realfinancial benefits, in addition tothe Return on Investment (ROI),financial benefits and cost savingof the ECM initiative. Theseresults could be used by theorganization and managementto understand and “judge” thevalue of the ECM program andwhether or not it is needed forimproving the organization’sperformance.What is ECM?Enterprise Content Management(ECM) as defined by the ECMassociation AIIM (Associationfor Information and ImageManagement) as “The strategies,methods and tools usedto capture, manage, store,preserve and deliver contentand documents related toorganizational processes.”Looking at KOC Group processesand activities, ECM can bedescribed as the bond that linksthe contents of the businessprocesses across the organizationwith the necessary controls andsecurity.16October - December 2012