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This feature is by way of an introduction to the current situation in the ECM market. Techworld had a session with CYA's CEO, Wayne Crandall, and asked him some questions as we explored the ECM landscape.

Techworld: What is the current state of the ECM market?

Wayne Crandall: The ECM market continues to grow and become more focused given the consolidation that has and will continue to occur, and the reentry of Microsoft with MOSS ’07.

Gartner and AIIM predict that the growth will be spurred by vendors rounding out their product portfolios with records management, business process management, and web content management offerings, as well as with vertical applications that will sit on top of the ECM application. These vertical applications will focus on helping organizations meet specific compliance initiatives required in heavily regulated industries such as life sciences.

All in all, the traditional ECM vendors are trying to establish their systems as the standard repository while embracing the departmental deployments of SharePoint. In addition, newer ECM system versions from the leading vendors are addressing key functional needs but also creating migration challenges that will need to be overcome.

ECM systems will continue to become more complex given the blending of many different applications into a single solution, creating needs in areas such as migration services, mobile applications, and granular information recovery.

Techworld: Please compare and contrast the main suppliers in the ECM market please.

Wayne Crandall: Today the market is dominated by EMC, IBM and Open Text. IBM and EMC tend to focus on enterprise wide solutions in mission critical environments, while Open Text appears to focus on the large and mid-tier sectors. Keep your eyes on Oracle given its acquisition trail, which beefs up their total ECM product portfolio. Oracle has the muscle to impact all the players in the market, but of course the Microsoft factor is key.

Recent numbers show that Microsoft has secured more than four times the customer base of any one ECM vendor, and their revenues are twice as much as either Documentum or IBM FileNet. Microsoft’s ease of initial deployment is perceived as a possible cost savings, however this may not be the case for companies needing more customized deployments.

Techworld: What is the influence of SharePoint in this market?

Wayne Crandall: Microsoft wields significant influence when it believes there is enough market opportunity to support its investments. Early results show that SharePoint is gaining adoption rates at an accelerated pace.

How they will affect the other ECM vendors is hard to tell give the investments existing customer have made in developing their current applications. However, given the recent announced acquisition of Fast by Microsoft, they are committing to this market area, so the influence will be significant. All vendors in this market will need to formulate a strategy to support and embrace SharePoint as its use grows everyday by all levels of users.