Enterprise Content Grows -- As Does the Need to Manage It

Data here, data there, data, data, everywhere. That phrase describes many companies' information systems. Information is housed in databases, documents, forms, images and Web content. Recently, the government instituted new laws that transformed information management and records retention into top executive concerns. These changes have been a good fit with enterprise content management (ECM) systems, which consolidate data collection and provide companies with tools, so they can manage information more effectively.

Because of the potential benefits, these products have garnered the interest of many of the industry's leading suppliers, such as EMC, HP, IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle. "It may not seem like it, but there are a few dozen companies selling ECM systems," says Alan Pelz-Sharpe, a principal at CMS Watch. Open Text has made this market its focal point, and ECM suppliers such as Alfresco, Digitech Systems, Hyland Software, SpringCM, and Xythos Software are taking different approaches to grow their customer bases.

ECMs are popular because they can break down the barriers evident among various content types, so enterprises can manage their data with one product rather than several. The systems have the potential to reduce IT costs, ensure data consistency, speed up application development and enable companies to use corporate resources more efficiently.

Once information is stored in a central repository, corporations can develop new business processes that streamline information flow. That's because ECMs include workflow functions, so data can move in an efficient manner. If information, such a payroll form is entered, it can automatically be routed to the appropriate individuals for approval, so processes that took multiple steps and a lot of time to complete are finished more effectively.

While ECMs are gaining a lot of attention, they are not a panacea. Many of the products work with only specific types of information. Initially, these systems were designed to automate the collection and management of paper documents. Since then, many new data types have arisen. As a result, vendors have found that content management has been a moving target with numerous new requirements emerging. Email has been an area of growth, and companies also have to monitor other various collaboration vehicles, such as instant messaging and Voice over IP calls. Web content has been area of growth, so products need to work with items, such as Flash and video.

The mishmash of data types creates a few challenges for customers. On paper, vendors have all of the pieces needed to deliver integrated content management, but the simplicity, functionality and elegance found in the different modules can be uneven. As a result, the tools often do better managing some types of data than others.

Another consequence is companies, especially larger ones, often have more than one ECM. In some cases, firms have multiple versions of one document, so users may unwittingly work with outdated data. In other cases, employees sometimes need to complete a series of complex steps to aggregate information stored in email messages, Web reports, Microsoft Word documents and video clips.

In addition, these products have been complex and difficult to deploy. With the volume of data on the rise and the variety of data formats growing, the deployment of these products can be challenging. Integrating a firm's content represents a significant -- in some cases gargantuan -- effort.

The end result is these systems are often quite expensive. Traditionally, deployment prices have started at the $100,000 mark and often cost more than $1 million for large companies with tens or hundreds of terabytes of information.

However, pricing may come down for a couple of reasons. Microsoft shook up the market with its delivery of SharePoint. "Microsoft came in with a much lower pricing model than traditional ECM suppliers," says Pelz-Sharpe.

Also, vendors such as Alfresco and Nuxeo have taken an open source approach to ECM product development. By offloading the engineering costs, these companies think they can deliver full functional ECM at lower prices than the traditional suppliers. However, these companies will have to overcome users' reluctance to rely on open source models for key products.

In addition, a few software-as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud options have emerged. Hyland Software, SpringCRM and Xythos Software are some of the companies taking that approach. These vendors will need to demonstrate that they can support large, complex ECM deployments.

In effect, the ECM market is a bit of an enigma. On the one hand, it is quite mature. "At the beginning, we did not even know what to call the product category," says John Newton, now the chief technology officer and chairman at Alfresco and founder of Documentum, which was launched in 1990.

However, the market is not demonstrating the signs typically associated with a mature sector. With the volume of data companies generate growing and regulations pushing corporations to purchase robust data management tools, the ECM sector is growing, attracting new suppliers and changing as companies try to manage their data more effectively.

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