Enterprise content management

Enterprise content management (ECM) is a widely-recognized IT-industry term for software technology that enables organizations to create/capture, manage/secure, store/retain/destroy, publish/distribute, search, personalize, and present/view/print any digital content (e.g. pictures/images, text, reports, video, audio, transactional data, catalog, code). ECM systems primarily focus on the capture, storage, retrieval, and dissemenation of digital files for enteprise use and their life-cycle management. ECM systems are generally tactical and non-discretionary expenditures, but they are increasingly being viewed as strategic core investments as organizations deal with accelerating business velocities, consolidation of redundant content management systems, exponential growth of content, and compliance issues (mandated or perceived). Moreover, these systems are becoming more infrastructure than application like.

Gartner, a leading industry analyst firm, estimates that by midyear 2006, 50 percent of ECM vendors will merge or be acquired (0.6 probability). By 2008, 75 percent of Global 2000 companies will have a desktop-focused and a process-focused content management implementation (0.9 probability). ECM will continue to absorb other technologies, such as digital asset management and e-mail management. There will be further market consolidation, acquisition and separation of vendors into platform and solution providers.

According to Gartner reports, the ECM market leaders are Open Text, Documentum, IBM, Filenet, Vignette, Stellent and Interwoven.

Other companies offering some form of ECM solutions include Xerox, RedDot, TOWER Software, and Hummingbird. Oracle is due to release an ECM System code named "TSUNAMI" in mid-2005. [1]