Inside Hyland: Putting the Content Innovation Cloud to Work

[Sara_Zenner]

Inside any organization, content drives work. Policies guide decisions. Documents trigger processes. Information shapes how teams respond, comply and move forward.

As organizations look to apply AI more broadly, one reality becomes clear very quickly — AI is only as effective as the content and data behind it. Content already lives across systems. Processes are already in motion. Governance already matters. When information is fragmented, inaccessible or inconsistently managed, even the most advanced AI struggles to deliver meaningful results.

At Hyland, we apply the Content Innovation Cloud™ across our own enterprise to address that challenge directly. By federating content and data across systems, strengthening governance and preparing information for intelligent use, we make the content we already manage easier to find, easier to connect and easier to put to work in everyday operations — without moving or rebuilding what already exists.

That internal experience matters. It allows us to see firsthand how AI-ready content improves decision-making, accelerates work and supports the complex, regulated environments our customers operate in. It also helps us identify practical use cases and clear starting points for organizations looking to apply the Content Innovation Cloud within their own operations, building on what they already have rather than starting from scratch.

Why We Use the Content Innovation Cloud Inside Hyland

AI only delivers value when it is grounded in trusted, well-governed content. That reality applies to every organization, including Hyland.

By running the Content Innovation Cloud in production across our business, we experience the same realities our customers face — including compliance requirements, integration complexity and the need to balance innovation with operational stability.

This internal adoption gives us a clearer view of what works in practice. It allows us to test and refine real-world applications, turning internal outcomes into repeatable patterns that customers can adopt with confidence.

The Content Innovation Cloud in Action at Hyland

Across Hyland, the Content Innovation Cloud supports real, high-impact processes. While each use case is different, the pattern is consistent. Governed content feeds intelligent services and agent-driven experiences that sit close to where work actually happens.

Below are several examples of how these capabilities are already improving operations across our organization.

HR and Employee Experience: Modernizing Open Enrollment

Open enrollment is one of Human Resources’ (HR) most time-sensitive and content-heavy periods. At Hyland, nearly 1,800 U.S. employees navigate benefit changes, eligibility details and plan options during a short enrollment window.

Benefit information primarily lived within Hyland’s internal HR portal, where employees were directed to find the resources they needed. However, the volume and complexity of the content made it difficult for employees to quickly locate answers and for HR to deliver consistent guidance at scale.

Using Knowledge Discovery and governed content stored in OnBase, Hyland’s HR and Information Systems (IS) teams built a single Open Enrollment Agent and deployed it within the HR portal.

Employees can now ask questions in natural language and receive clear, accurate answers in seconds. As a result, HR spends less time responding to routine inquiries and more time focusing on complex or sensitive cases. HR can also update enrollment content each year without engineering support.

“The agent removed the repetitive work from open enrollment. Employees get instant answers, and our team gets time back in their day.”
— Laura Tuttle, Director of HR Operations, Hyland

This same model is now expanding to broader HR policy support and agent-driven triage for employee requests.

Cloud and IT Operations: Automating Software Updates

Keeping OnBase environments current and secure has long been an important responsibility for Information Systems teams. Updates often require careful planning, coordination and downtime considerations, which is why many organizations approach them cautiously.

Hyland faces those same realities. To simplify how updates are managed internally, our Information Systems team uses capabilities delivered through the Content Innovation Cloud, including Cloud Update Service.

This approach modernizes the administration of OnBase by reducing the hands-on effort traditionally associated with applying updates. Instead of relying on manual server monitoring and one-off update processes, the team now has a more streamlined and predictable way to manage updates across environments.

Infrastructure visibility improves, updates are validated internally and applying new features or bug fixes becomes far easier to manage over time.

“From the moment we started using Cloud Update Service, we had better visibility into our OnBase infrastructure and an easy, reliable way to take advantage of new features or bug fixes, all from a single interface.”
— Tim Gartman, IS Solution Engineer

IT Service Delivery: Improving Project Estimation with Agents

Estimating effort for Information Systems (IS) requests has always required more than structured data. Project descriptions often contain nuance, intent and context that cannot easily be captured in predefined fields.

As a result, teams typically relied on follow-up conversations to clarify scope, complexity, urgency and priority before an estimate could begin.

With the introduction of Agent Builder, that dynamic changed. Instead of manually interpreting every request, the IS team now uses an agent that analyzes OnBase WorkView objects and associated request details to evaluate effort and complexity automatically.

For example, the agent reviews description fields and evaluates questions that previously required human judgment, such as assessing how complex a request appears on a scale of one to five, where one represents a relatively simple change and five indicates significant effort. Based on that information, the system can estimate the level of development work likely required — without the IS team having to build or maintain custom estimation logic.

This capability also enables broader use cases beyond project estimation. The same agent-driven pattern can be applied to service tickets and requests where important context is often buried in free-text fields.

For HR or IT help tickets, the agent can evaluate whether a request appears urgent, recommend a priority or flag items that may require faster attention. In each case, the agent extracts insight that was not explicitly captured in structured data.

The result is a more efficient and consistent intake process. System owners gain earlier visibility into scope and effort, while the IS team spends less time interpreting requests and more time focusing on delivery.

“The real power of the solution is giving our System Owners insight into estimates during their review process.”
— Matt Sullivan, Manager, IS Service Delivery

Finance and Accounts Payable: Automating Invoice Workflows

In Accounts Payable, speed and accuracy are essential, but manual review often slows both.

At Hyland, a large volume of supplier invoices arrives through a shared inbox. Previously, the team needed to manually review emails, identify valid invoices, route them to the ERP system and investigate duplicates.

Roughly 80% of incoming emails contained invoices that required processing, while duplicate submissions added cleanup work and affected downstream data quality.

To streamline this process, Hyland implemented Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) through the Content Innovation Cloud.

The solution automatically monitors the invoice inbox, extracts and classifies invoice attachments and routes valid invoices directly into the ERP system. Only true exceptions remain for manual review.

The approach continues to evolve. Future phases will further strengthen the workflow by identifying duplicate invoices earlier and introducing a procurement agent to support defined spending policies and processes.

“The team no longer needs to review every email to determine next steps and now only sees items that require their intervention, allowing their skills and time to be applied to higher-value activities.”
— Suzanne Lyon, Manager, Accounts Payable

Customer Experience: Enabling Self-Service with Confidence

Community AI is one of the most visible ways customers experience the value of the Content Innovation Cloud.

Using Knowledge Discovery, Hyland has unified product and technical documentation into governed repositories and made that information accessible through a simple question-and-answer experience on Hyland Community.

Each Hyland product has its own dedicated agent built on approved product and support documentation. Customers can ask natural-language questions directly on the Community site and receive accurate, relevant answers without searching through manuals, release notes or knowledge base articles.

Behind the scenes, each question is securely routed to Knowledge Discovery, which evaluates the request and returns an answer grounded in authorized, versioned content. This approach ensures responses are accurate, explainable and consistent across products.

Today these agents support many Hyland solutions and have answered more than 22,000 customer questions, helping users find information faster and with greater confidence.

“Community AI gives customers the tools to find solutions on their own, saving time and simplifying their experience.”
— Mindy Hamilton, AVP, Customer Support Operations

Unlike general-purpose AI tools, Knowledge Discovery generates answers only from trusted sources. Every response is grounded in approved content and respects permissions, metadata and compliance requirements.

Rather than acting as a standalone chatbot, it functions as a governed intelligence layer that delivers reliable answers at scale.

The same approach supports internal teams and event experiences such as CommunityLIVE.

What We’re Learning and Why It Matters for You

Using the Content Innovation Cloud across Hyland has reinforced an important truth: organizations do not need to start over to realize value from AI and intelligent experiences.

The strongest outcomes come from building on what is already in place.

When content is governed, organized and connected to the processes people rely on every day, intelligence becomes more useful and more trustworthy. Agents deliver the greatest impact when they meet users where work already happens. And the fastest progress often comes from high-volume, repeatable processes that benefit from clearer answers and fewer manual steps.

As the Content Innovation Cloud becomes more deeply embedded across systems and workflows, it stops feeling like a separate capability and starts functioning as an intelligent layer across the enterprise — helping organizations move faster, make better decisions and scale with confidence.

For customers already working with Hyland content management solutions, this creates a meaningful advantage. You are not starting from zero. You already have the foundation needed to begin.

A Practical and Confident Path Forward

Our experience inside Hyland points to a straightforward way to get started.

Begin with processes where content already plays a central role and where teams would benefit from faster access to information or reduced manual effort. Look for workflows that rely heavily on documents, follow repeatable patterns and generate frequent questions or handoffs.

HR benefits enrollment, internal policy questions, security incident documentation and procurement workflows are all common starting points.

From there, focus on strengthening what you already have. Ensure content lives in governed repositories with the right access controls and metadata. Then introduce intelligence where it is closest to the work — inside existing portals, collaboration tools or line-of-business applications — rather than asking users to learn something new.

As confidence grows, expand gradually. Add automation around surrounding workflows. Introduce agent-driven assistance for triage, prioritization or guidance. Connect additional systems as needed. Each step builds on the last.

This is the same approach Hyland uses internally and the same approach we recommend to customers.

Start where you are. Build on what works. Grow at a pace that makes sense for your organization.

Looking Ahead

The examples shared here offer a glimpse into how the Content Innovation Cloud is being applied across Hyland today. At CommunityLIVE, we’ll take you deeper.

In the Inside Hyland: The Content Innovation Cloud in Action session, you’ll hear how Content Innovation Cloud capabilities are being used across Hyland’s own business functions, including HR, Accounts Payable, Legal, IT, and customer-facing experiences. We’ll focus on the outcomes these efforts are delivering and the practical patterns that help teams unlock value without disrupting the systems they already rely on.

Beyond this session, CommunityLIVE brings together customers, experts, and peers for a wide range of conversations shaping what’s next for enterprise content, intelligence, and automation. It’s an opportunity to learn, exchange ideas, and explore how to take your next steps with confidence.

If you want to understand what’s working today, how it was built, and what that means for getting started in your own organization, CommunityLIVE is where it comes together.

Register Today