Understanding The Use Of Enterprise Content Management Systems (Ecms) In Diversification Type Of Organizations

Enterprise Content Management Systems (ECMS) are often introduced in organizations without careful consideration of their support for organizational business processes. This paper explores the use of ECMS in a Diversification type of organization. A Diversification type of organization is characterized by low levels standardization and integration of business processes between business units. We followed a qualitative case study research approach to investigate the information sharing activities in a Malaysian oil and gas organization. The aim was to explore how this organization’s ECMS support information sharing within and across business units. Findings suggest that for organizations with low levels process standardization and integration, ECMS can be used (1) as ‘middleware’ to access centralized and shared services, (2) to manage unstructured information and (3) to share open and restricted standardized processes information. The findings are significant for business and IT managers because it may guide them with ways to use ECMS and gain more benefits from these types of systems.