IT management
Quality
January 30, 2026
September 4, 2025
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ECM vs Record Management tools, what to choose?

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record management ECM choice Efalia

What is RM “Record Management”?

The Record Management (RM) is a process that organizes and manages all documents from creation to disposal. This includes legal preservation and the removal of archives.

The concept of RM encompasses the organization, administration, and management of all documents in an organization, regardless of whether they are in various media and forms. The aim is to facilitate access to these documents over time and to protect them.

Record Management has various objectives such as:

- Reduce paper

- Put an end to lost or misclassified documents

- Better control risks

- Search and find documents easily

- Guarantee authenticity

- Optimize archiving space and management and processes

It is easy to understand how Records Management therefore creates added value for an organization.

ECM definition

ECM is the acronym for:  Electronic content management

One ECM allows you to store, manage and share your documents and other content in various formats (email, PDF documents, papers, digital documents...). A complete ECM allows: the collection, classification, storage, storage, management and finally the archiving of your content, in complete security.

Reflection on electronic content management

First, let's take stock. Numerous tools are available on the market to “manage” content and archiving. They meet various business needs and offer different functionalities and functions.

Simple questions

It is important to be able to assess, at first, what your needs are by asking yourself simple questions.

— What do I need?

— How much data do I need to store and manage?

— How many people will use this tool and how often?

— Do I need it to be customizable?

— Do I need ranking automation?

— What is important to me?

I need to prove the value of a document, connect it to my business solutions, collect documents easily and file them in detail.

In summary

As you will have understood, this choice must be considered, because it has a direct impact on your organization. This choice is part of a project approach, with an adapted methodology that can be summed up in 3 main essential steps:

Audit the existing

Define a repository, guaranteeing the archiving policy  

Define processes for identifying, sorting, scanning, and managing information

To do this, you can of course consult dematerialization experts to assist you in this reflection.

The question then arises about the family of solutions to be taken into account. To make progress, we compared ECM solutions for content management to pure collaborative tool solutions.

Tableau Comparatif - ECM vs Outils Collaboratifs
POSSIBILITIES PURE COLLABORATIVE TOOL ECM
Management of users and their permissions for different documents or document types YES, but with a complicated configuration. Affirmative, in a straightforward and clear manner.
Indexing documents with metadata YES The quantity of metadata is restricted. YES
Managing GDPR compliance with document expiration dates YES Configuration will be executed as part of a policy to be implemented by the organization/community. YES Streamlined button configuration
Manage all regulatory requirements (signature, SAE payment, storage, faithful digitization, etc.) NO Possible with various external integrators Yes, directly within the application.
Ensuring the probative value of a document, its integrity, and its authenticity YES for documents lacking specific features. NO for documents with significant probative value; electronic certificates may be integrated into the tool and provided by third-party publishers. Each document is assigned a unique number to facilitate tracking and ensure its integrity and authenticity within the ECM.
Track consultations and ensure a reliable audit trail to eliminate paper documents YES for documents lacking specific features. NO for documents with significant probative value; electronic certificates may be integrated into the tool and provided by third-party publishers. YES
Document scanning and indexing No need for a variety of third-party tools. YES Directly within the application and from various types of documents
Workflows and flows YES with upstream configuration YES Management and the automation of processes

Our dematerialization expert warns us about some key points that must be integrated into your thinking. Collaborative tools are useful for working in teams and storing documents. However, they are not a substitute for document management or records management systems.

If you need electronic management of your documents and content, this requires specific “record management” skills. Most specialized partners in collaborative tools don't have these skills.

Collaborative tools are very powerful toolboxes. Collaborative tools are very powerful, but it is important to know how to use them. In addition, they require a complex configuration that requires the use of other tools, especially for archiving.

To get a collaborative tool Complete that answers all regulatory requirements, you will need to contact several editors and integrators. This means that you will have several interlocutors and a large internal team to manage the project. Therefore, this type of tool is more suitable for larger businesses. That is why this type of tool is more suitable for large companies.

In conclusion

Choose the ECM Efalia means choosing a partner who masters all aspects of electronic document and file management. This partner meets standards throughout the life cycle.

Collaborative work tools are not ready to use for electronic cotent management or records management.

Some leaders in collaborative work solutions offer a modern experience and an easily accessible user interface. This is made possible thanks to their collaborative and intranet aspect.

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