The core of what is now known as Enterprise Content Management (ECM) has been a part of organisations for the longest time. The idea that the information inside any organisation needs to be managed is a fundamental part of any productive entity, be it an army, a company or even a religious organisation. As long as people and things needed to be coordinated, there has been a requirement for systems.

The evolution of the modern organisation has made that requirement even more pressing as the fields of document management and workflow systems have converged into what is now seen as ECM and morphing into its next acronym iteration, Enterprise Information Management.