Solutions Review’s listing of the best content management platforms is an annual look into the industry-leading solution providers. Our editors gathered this information via online materials, reports, product demonstrations, conversations with vendor representatives, and free trial examinations.

Like many of the categories covered here at Solutions Review, content management is in a constant state of change. Technically declared dead and resurrected as content services by Gartner in 2017, the change to content services marked a shift from a focus on technology to a focus on strategy. While the goal of content management platforms was to accomplish a range of goals through the use of one centralized platform, content services aim to improve efficiency by relying on multiple strategies and tools.

There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution, either, so each team must make time for in-depth research into the capabilities, strengths, and potential drawbacks that the leading content management companies offer. With that in mind, Solutions Review editors updated this list of the best content management platforms in the marketplace to consider if you’re looking for a new solution in 2023 (and beyond).

The Best Content Management Platforms

Alfresco

Description: Alfresco provides open-source technology that enables businesses to collaborate more effectively across cloud, hybrid, and on-premise environments. The provider’s content services platform can also be customized and integrated with existing applications and processes. Alfresco’s platform is built on an open-source core with support for a range of deployment options, including on-prem, cloud, and hybrid-cloud configurations. Users can also expand their solution to include Alfresco Process Services.

Ascend Software

Description: Ascend Software’s enterprise content management (ECM) product gives businesses the ability to store unlimited document types and provides a flexible solution that will scale. The provider is also known for its non-invasive integration process and quick installation. The platform requires little setup or maintenance and provides web browsing viewing to allow users easy access to their information. This ease of implementation is what puts Ascend Software above other platforms.

DocStar

Description: DocStar, an Epicor company, allows users to get control over documents, improve retention and increase efficiency through the provider’s platform. The vendor also serves organizations of any size, making their appeal widespread. DocSTAR offers enterprise content management solutions, document management system software, and accounts payable automation solutions. The provider’s ECM platform, Eclipse, can be installed on the user’s hardware or on DocSTAR’s hosted service. 

DocuWare

Description: DocuWare’s content services platform (CSP) offerings include DocuWare for document capture and management, DocuWare Workflow for business processing, and DocuWare Intelligent Indexing for metadata management and content indexing. The Germany-based company also provides both on-prem and cloud ECM solutions. DocuWare’s platform distinguishes itself from other solutions by offering disaster recovery capabilities as an optional add-on for users.

Everteam

Description: Everteam offers microservice architecture that includes a modernized application layer for building apps. The provider’s ECM platform helps organizations maximize the value of their enterprise information for improved decision-making and business impact. With Everteam’s platform, users can integrate digital and paper content sources as part of a cohesive content strategy, providing the tools required to identify, search and retrieve information, regardless of source, format, or location.

HubSpot

Description: With HubSpot’s CMS offering, marketers, developers, and IT teams can develop seamless digital experiences for their customers. Its CMS features include flexible themes, drag-and-drop page editing, SEO recommendations, contact attribution reporting, dynamic content, adaptive testing tools, serverless functions, full integration with HubSpot’s CRM, local website development, site performance monitoring, threat detection, and more. They also offer a free CMS with a full suite of free key features.

Hyland

Description: Hyland is the developer of an ECM and process management software suite called OnBase. The vendor’s OnBase software is a good choice for enterprise users looking to combine traditional content management capabilities with end-to-end content processing apps. Hyland also offers easy API-based integrations and high-quality third-party integrations. OnBase is built on a single end-to-end architecture, available to users on-prem or in the cloud.

IBM

Description: IBM’s content services suite, IBM Content Manager, can automatically capture and store high volumes of outbound statements and correspondence and offer powerful search and fast retrieval options with a web client solution for multiple browsers, mobile devices, and desktop environments. Additionally, because the vendor has such a wide global reach, its content services platform is ideal for organizations with strong compliance requirements.

Konica Minolta

Description: Based in Japan, Konica Minolta offers managed content services that connect enterprise information and establish a central collaboration platform. The latest edition of the provider’s automated document workflow application, Dispatcher Phoenix Enterprise Content Management, provides advanced batch scanning, batch indexing, and document verification features. Konica Minolta also has offices in 49 countries around the world.

Laserfiche

Description: Laserfiche offers a full set of content services platform capabilities in on-prem and SaaS offerings. The provider offers users reporting and compliance capabilities, which enable them to optimize business operations. Laserfiche’s extensive set of content services capabilities would be a good fit for clients looking to deploy a traditional content management tool with innovative business process solutions for digitization.

M-Files

Description: Based out of Finland, M-Files provides users with a metadata-driven system for organizing and managing documents and other information. This platform is a good fit for those invested in Microsoft infrastructure.  M-Files is also notable in that it allows users to edit objects in offline mode. Organizations can use M-Files’ platform on-prem, in the cloud, or in hybrid environments to improve productivity and quality, as well as comply with industry regulations and standards.

Micro Focus

Description: The Micro Focus platform is compatible with the heritage HPE ControlPoint data and content analytics product along with the HPE structured data management capability, SecureData Manager. Additionally, the provider is a good fit for large enterprises looking for content lifecycle management. Micro Focus also offers users automation, security, collaboration, data governance, and zero-footprint capabilities.

Microsoft

Description: Microsoft is an industry powerhouse with its own content management solution, SharePoint. The solution integrates easily with Microsoft Office, Exchange, and Windows. SharePoint is also scalable and meets security and compliance requirements. If you already have an investment in Microsoft, SharePoint will likely be a good match for you. The platform is available on-prem and as a cloud offering that is typically bundled with Microsoft 365 subscriptions.

Naviant

Description: Naviant’s enterprise content management solution aims to help clients gain control and visibility into the processes and paper that may be slowing them down. The provider offers real-time customer support while the solution increases efficiency and boosts productivity. Naviant’s platform includes paper and scanned documents, electronic forms, cases, emails, photos, video, audio, data streams, and screenshots in order to best serve users.

Newgen Software

Description: Based in New Delhi, Newgen Software’s ECM Suite, OmniDocs, allows knowledge workers in an organization to make contextual information available to the right people at the right time. The platform allows the management of content from creation to archival and delivers contextual information to business leaders for improved collaboration and better decision-making. Newgen’s platform is a good fit for small to midsize companies and those looking for traditional and transformative content services.

Nuxeo

Description: Nuxeo offers a content management platform that allows organizations to manage content while putting it to work. The vendor’s platform is an open-source, subscription-based CSP available on the ground, in the cloud, or as a hybrid of both. It offers digital asset management and a comprehensive API. Nuxeo is ideal for organizations that want to develop custom content services and applications. This platform allows clients to tailor it to fit their specific needs and is easy to deploy.

OpenText

Description: OpenText’s comprehensive ECM solution was designed to help organizations complete a digital transformation. The vendor aims to help clients gain the business critical insight needed to manage information on the ground or in the cloud. The provider also has an extensive partner network, and its products are easy to integrate with other applications. The platform ensures information governance to address a complex and changing regulatory landscape and the rapid growth of business information.

Oracle

Description: Oracle primarily specializes in developing and marketing database software and technology, cloud-engineered systems, and enterprise software products. The vendor consolidates unstructured content across systems to be centrally managed. The provider’s offerings are a good fit for those who already have Oracle systems, namely its ERP tools. Additionally, users looking for the flexibility of hybrid on-premises and cloud-based content services deployments would be a good match for Oracle.

Questys

Description: Questys enables organizations to deliver relevant content to users as well as eliminate processes that can expose an organization to regulatory compliance risks and security issues. In addition to this, Questys offers cost-effective solutions while enabling productivity and compliance for organizations. The provider’s platform also offers data capture, automation of business processes, and the secure storage and retrieval of user documents.

Systemware

Description: Systemware has more than 30 years of experience in content management. The provider also offers ECM solutions with scalability and the ability to integrate with any existing software applications. The platform offers flexible deployment, business intelligence, and security and compliance capabilities. In addition to providing a range of ECM software products, Systemware has a suite of applications intended to streamline the flow of documents and information through a variety of business processes. 

Xerox

Description: Xerox’s platform, DocuShare is known for its ease of use and flexibility, with a configurable user interface. Teams and individuals can add personalization, graphics, and branding, as well as customize their view of libraries. The platform was designed with usability, flexibility, and convenience in mind. It is recommended for mid-sized to large enterprises in search of a secure, user-friendly way to manage large data files across a variety of formats.

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Analyst house Gartner, Inc. recently announced its

Peer Insights Customers’ Choice does not include an expansive vendor listing or proprietary graphic to help organizations select the best tools. Rather, it provides reviews that go through a strict validation process to ensure they are authentic and professional. Gartner Peer Insights are meant to be a complement to its expert-led research reports. At Solutions Review, we read the reviews, available here, and pulled out the key takeaways.

Laserfiche Earns the Highest Average Score

Laserfiche’s Content Services Platform (CSP) received 129 verified reviews, with the highest average rating of 4.7 stars. 76 percent of its reviews were 5 stars and 22 percent were 4 stars. Laserfiche’s closest competitors are Adobe and Microsoft, which both earned an average score of 4.6 stars. Laserfiche was also named a challenger in the 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Content Services Platforms.

Microsoft Received the Largest Number of Reviews

Microsoft’s Office 365 earned 704 verified reviews, netting an average of 4.6 stars. 63 percent of those reviews were 5 stars, while 34 percent were 4 stars. The solution is recommended for those who have an investment in Microsoft, but some reviews say that clients have to use products in addition to SharePoint to round out its CSP features. The solution is enabled via a unified cloud-based platform that includes AI capabilities for content insight and process automation. Adobe received the second most reviews with 309, followed by Laserfiche at 129, and Box at 106.

Gartner Recommends Using Customer Reviews to Supplement Vendor Evaluation

Where Gartner’s Magic Quadrants are aimed at helping organizations identify vendors to keep tabs on in the overall marketplace, peer reviews are driven only by customer feedback based on specific experiences relative to unique technology environments. That’s where the disconnect can sometimes come from when comparing analyst resources to individual reviews. In this way, it is best to utilize all the tools at your disposal when assessing data center backup and recovery solutions.

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Gartner has officially released its 2018 Magic Quadrant for Content Services Platforms. According to Gartner, content services platforms (CSPs) are defined as, “a set of services and microservices, embodied as an integrated product suite and applications that share common APIs and repositories, to exploit diverse content types and to serve multiple constituencies and numerous use cases across an organization.” The definition and functionality for content services have been updated this year by Gartner.

In this Magic Quadrant, Gartner evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of 18 providers that it considers the most significant in the marketplace, and provides readers with a graph (the Magic Quadrant) plotting the vendors based on their ability to execute and their completeness of vision. The graph is divided into four quadrants: niche players, challengers, visionaries, and leaders. At Solutions Review, we read the report, available here, and pulled out the key takeaways.

This Magic Quadrant for Content Services Platforms features some changeover, as a couple providers from the past year were dropped, and a new vendor was added. GRM Information Management made its debut in the niche players section of the graph. Both Comarch and iManage were dropped, however. Comarch didn’t meet the 2018 geographic inclusion criteria, while iManage’s focus on the legal sector was outside the scope of this years report.

The leaders of the Magic Quadrant are relatively unchanged, with the exception of IBM, which moved up from the challenger section. This jump may be due to the vendor’s focus on digital transformation. The other leaders, Microsoft, OpenText, and Hyland maintain approximately the same placement as they did in the previous year.

The placement of the challengers displays more change than those in the leaders section. Oracle, Alfresco, and Laserfiche all retained their challenger status from the past year. Newgen Software is also a challenger this year, after being named a niche player in 2017. This shift could be a result of its platform, which offers users an integrated set of services that are bettered via continual investments. SER Group, a visionary last year, is also now a challenger. This change may be caused by positive reviews on Gartner Peer Insights regarding configurability, deployment, and time to implement.

There are fewer niche players in this year’s Magic Quadrant. Only Micro Focus, Fabasoft, Everteam, and Docuware remain in this section of the graph, along with new addition, GRM Management. Fabasoft improved in both its ability to execute and its completeness of vision this year. This jump is possibly due to the vendor’s focus on flexible and rapid deployment. Docuware, however, dropped slightly in its completeness of vision. This could be the result of integration challenges with the provider’s solution.

Rounding out this Magic Quadrant are the visionaries. The vendors in this section of the graph remain largely the same, with the exception of the loss of SER Group and the addition of Objective. Objective made the shift from being a niche player to a visionary, possibly because of its plan to bring its content services to bear on other prominent repositories in its target market. The placements of Box, M-Files, and Nuxeo remained mostly the same, aside from Box’s improvements in its ability to execute. This jump could be caused by the provider’s support for application integration and development.

Gartner also named seven honorable mentions across four categories. The analyst house defines these vendors as “vendors that did not meet [their] 2018 inclusion criteria yet have content services qualities and capabilities that clients may find valuable.” In the category of Software as a Service (SaaS) content services, ASG Technologies Group was named. AODocs (G Suite) and SpringCM (Salesforce) were categorized as honorable mentions in SaaS content services with strong product alliance. Comarch (EMEA) and d.velop (EMEA) were listed in the regional focus category. Finally, iManage (Legal) and NetDocuments (Legal) were named in the industry vertical category.

Read the full Gartner Magic Quadrant for Content Services Platforms here.

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Gartner has officially released its 2018 Magic Quadrant for Content Collaboration Platforms. According to Gartner, “content collaboration platforms can transform how individuals and teams work. Inside or outside organizations, they add structure and insight when collaboration involves unstructured data.” Content collaboration platforms (CCPs) are focused towards individuals and teams, outside or inside a business. CCPs also support lightweight workflow and content management use cases.

As a strategic planning assumption, Gartner believes that 50% of midsize and large businesses in mature regional markets will make use of a CCP to enforce document workflows and enhance productivity and collaboration by 2022. This speaks to the growing popularity and more consistent use of CCPs across the market.

In this Magic Quadrant, Gartner evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of 14 providers that it considers the most significant in the marketplace, and provides readers with a graph (the Magic Quadrant) plotting the vendors based on their ability to execute and their completeness of vision. The graph is divided into four quadrants: niche players, challengers, visionaries, and leaders. At Solutions Review, we read the report, available here, and pulled out the key takeaways.

This Magic Quadrant for Content Collaboration Platforms features some changeover, as a few providers from the past year were added and dropped. Accellion and Intralinks by Synchronoss no longer meet Gartner’s inclusion criteria and were removed as a result. The three new vendors, CodeLathe, ownCloud, and EISOO make their debuts on the niche players and challengers section of the graph, respectively.

The leaders of the report remain relatively unchanged, with the exception of Egnyte, which dropped down into the visionary category. This seems to partly be because of the vendor’s small size, creating limitations for users that are not present with the larger powerhouse providers, such as Microsoft or Google. Of the current leaders, Microsoft had the most positive movement by increasing its completeness of vision.

The most successful of the new vendors, EISOO, debuts as a challenger. The provider’s solution allows for the integration of multiple content repositories through connectors and also offers security capabilities such as remediation for malware, ransomware, and viruses. In addition to this, Gartner’s reference customers rated the provider’s file analysis, open APIs, and integration capabilities positively. Also a challenger this year, BlackBerry has improved its ability to execute but lost out on its completeness of vision. This could be due to the fact that BlackBerry’s CCP is typically deployed within the BlackBerry Enterprise Mobility Suite, while this Magic Quadrant is more focused on the stand-alone CCP offerings of vendors.

In the visionaries category, HighQ made an impressive jump from its previous classification as a niche player, increasing in both its ability to execute and completeness of vision. In addition to typical CCP features like synchronization, project management workflow, and content sharing, HighQ offers a unique capability that allows users to manage structured data and metadata within a user interface similar to a spreadsheet.

Rounding out this Magic Quadrant are the niche players. CodeLathe and ownCloud make their debut in this portion of the graph. CodeLathe is a small organization, but it has the potential for growth, as it offers users the ability to run their CCP as an own-branded service with their internet domain and reference customers reported having great experiences with the vendor. Based out of Germany, ownCloud is the largest open-source provider in the CCP market, meaning that there is a good chance they can expand outside the EU and convert fair-use users into paying users in the future.

Thru and CTERA remain niche players, with their placements in the Magic Quadrant staying relatively unchanged. Though CTERA has a consistent network of distributors and channel partners, its small size limits its resources and presence in the CCP market. Thru’s lower placement is also in part because of its size, but seems mainly due to its lack of ability to invest in its products as a result of financial troubles.

Gartner also named 10 vendors as honorable mentions, which the analyst house stated, “are worthy of consideration,” though they were not included in the Magic Quadrant for Content Collaboration Platforms. The vendors identified were AeroFS (Redbooth), Amazon, Boole Server, Datto, Egress Software Technologies, Huddle, IBM, TeamDrive, Tresorit, and Vaultize.

Read the full Gartner Magic Quadrant for Content Collaboration Platforms here.

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An ECM solution is utilized to create, store, distribute, and manage unstructured content to analyze and deliver it to users whenever and wherever necessary. On the other hand, a CSP refers to a set of services and microservices that use various content types to serve clients and their use cases. This kind of platform can be delivered as an integrated product suite or as separate applications that have similar APIs and repositories. The changes in this space represent a shift from self-contained systems and repositories to open services.

According to Gartner, it’s predicted that 20 percent of major EFSS and ECM vendors will change their existing offerings into CSPs by 2020. In that same time period, 15 percent of enterprises are expected to leave their legacy ECM vendor for a provider that offers content services.

Whether you plan to implement an ECM tool or CSP, here are some vendors to keep an eye on for the remainder of this year:

Alfresco

Alfresco is headquartered in both the United States and the United Kingdom. The vendor offers the Alfresco Digital Business Platform, which features various services for content, process, integration, and more. It’s an open and secure platform that accelerates business flow, according to the company. The platform simplifies building, integration, and extension for digital transformation. It features an application development framework, open extensions and integrations, process services, content services, governance services, and easy deployment.

Click here for more information.

DocuWare

DocuWare is headquartered in Germany. The provider offers DocuWare for document capture and management, DocuWare Workflow for business processing and DocuWare Intelligent Indexing for metadata management and content indexing. All of those products are available either on-prem or in a multitenant cloud built on a Microsoft Azure infrastructure. The vendor’s document lifecycle management tool offers fast and transparent processes from capturing to archiving, according to the company, and documents are available for authorized users at any time and from any location.

Click here for more information.

Fabasoft

Fabasoft is headquartered in Austria. The vendor offers two on-premises CSP tools including Fabasoft Folio and Fabasoft eGov-Suite. They also provide a Europe-based cloud offering, the Fabasoft Cloud. The vendor’s platform is an integrated solution and it pertains to every stage of the document lifecycle. It also supports broad integration with content and data systems for certain use cases.

Click here for more information.

Nuxeo

Nuxeo is headquartered in both Paris and New York. The global software company offers a content management platform that allows organizations to manage content while putting it to work. The Nuxeo Platform is an open-source, subscription-based CSP available on the ground, in the cloud or as a hybrid of both. It offers digital asset management and a comprehensive API. Clients of Nuxeo are able to customize the platform to meet their specific needs. The company typically works with mid-to-large size enterprises.

Click here for more information.

If you’d like details on additional vendors, check out our Buyer’s Guide!

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According to Gartner, content services platforms are the “next stage of enterprise content management, representing a shift from self-contained systems and repositories to open services.” By 2020, about 20 percent of major EFSS and ECM providers will transform what they currently offer and provide content services platforms, the report stated. In that same time frame, 15 percent of enterprises will have switched from a legacy ECM vendor to a provider that “offers consumerlike content services.”

A content services platform is “a set of services and microservices, embodied either as an integrated product suite or as separate applications that share common APIs and repositories, to exploit diverse content types and to serve multiple constituencies and numerous use cases across an organization,” according to the report. 

Nineteen vendors were included in the quadrant and then placed into four different categories based on various criteria including ability to execute and completeness of vision.

Leaders

• Microsoft
• Open Text
• Hyland

Visionaries

• M-Files
• Nuxeo
• SER Group
• Box

Challengers

• IBM
• Oracle
• Alfresco
• Laserfiche

Niche Players

• Newgen Software
• Micro Focus
• iManage
• Fabasoft
• Everteam
• Objective
• DocuWare
• Comarch

There are seven newcomers in this report including Box, Comarch, DocuWare, Fabasoft, iManage, Micro Focus, and Nuxeo. Three vendors included in the last Magic Quadrant for ECM were dropped from this report: Dell EMC, Lexmark and Xerox.

Let’s take a quick look at all the vendors that were included:

Alfresco

Alfresco is headquartered in both Maidenhead, U.K., and San Mateo, California. The provider offers an open-source approach and extensive APIs to help clients easily customize content services.

Box

Box has been around since 2005 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California. The public company offers two products: Box, a suite of CSP features and user interfaces along with Box Platform, a cloud-native API for transferring content services to enterprise systems.

Comarch

Comarch is headquartered in Krakow, Poland. Comarch CSP was unveiled in 2008 and includes a wide variety of content-related capabilities and solutions for various verticals. It can be deployed on-prem or in the cloud.

DocuWare

DocuWare is headquartered in Germering, Germany. It boasts several CSP tools including DocuWare for document capture and management, DocuWare Intelligent Indexing, and DocuWare Workflow for business processing. All three can be deployed on-prem or in a multitenant cloud built on a Microsoft Azure infrastructure.

Everteam

Everteam is based in Lyon, France and has a U.S. regional headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts. Its CSP suite features everteam.document, everteam.capture, everteam.case, everteam.records, everteam.archive, everteam.process and everteam.analytics. It can be deployed on the ground or as a SaaS-based cloud service.

Fabasoft

Fabasoft is based in Austria and offers two on-prem CSP tools, Fabasoft Folio and Fabasoft eGov-Suite, along with the Fabasoft Cloud, a Europe-based cloud product. The Fabasoft platform is an integrated solution that can help with the entire document lifecycle and the management of digital records, according to the report.

Hyland

Hyland is headquartered in Ohio and is privately owned. The company’s flagship product, OnBase, provides various content capabilities. The vendor also offers ShareBase, which streamlines internal and external collaborations. OnBase is available as on-prem server software or SaaS.

IBM

IBM is headquartered in New York and offers a variety of global content services products, including Content Foundation, Content Manager OnDemand (CMOD), Datacap, Enterprise Records, Connections Enterprise Content Edition, Watson Explorer Enterprise Edition and Case Manager. All of their products can either be deployed on-prem or in the cloud.

iManage

iManage is based in Chicago, Illinois and focuses on marketing its iManage Work 10 product to law firms, corporate legal departments and professional services firms. The vendor also provides iManage Govern for managing records, iManage Share for external file sharing and collaboration, and iManage Insight for enterprise searches.

Laserfiche

Laserfiche is headquartered in Long Beach, California and provides various CSP products, including Laserfiche Quick Fields, image processing, Laserfiche Records Management and Laserfiche Forms workflow. The company also offers Laserfiche Cloud, a SaaS offering hosted on AWS.

M-Files

M-Files is based in Finland and has a headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Its CSP product can be deployed on-prem or as a public or private cloud. The platform was created with a variety of Microsoft components and is integrated with the Microsoft end-user experience.

Micro Focus (HPE Software)

Micro Focus (HPE Software), is headquartered in Newbury, U.K. The Micro Focus and heritage HPE Software spin-merge combines the content offerings into a single CSP: Micro Focus Secure Content Management (SCM), according to the report. The tool is able to work with the heritage HPE ControlPoint data and content analytics product.

Microsoft

Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington and offers collaborative content management capabilities as part of its SharePoint offerings. SharePoint Server can be deployed on-prem and SharePoint Online is a cloud-based multitenant offering that is usually bundled with Microsoft Office 365.

Newgen Software

Newgen Software is headquartered in New Delhi, India. Its CSP tool has five components: OmniDocs for end-to-end ECM; OmniFlow iBPS for BPM; OmniScan for document capture, digitization and delivery; OmniAcquire for on-demand information capture from a wide variety of endpoints; and the Newgen Enterprise Mobility Framework for building and managing secure, configurable hybrid mobile apps, the report said.

Nuxeo

Nuxeo is based in New York and unveiled the Nuxeo Platform in 2008. It’s an open-source, subscription-based CSP is available on the ground, in the cloud or as a hybrid of both.

Objective

Objective is headquartered in Sydney, Australia and offers Objective ECM, which includes traditional document management, content collaboration, records management and workflow modules. Objective Trapeze for image and drawing processing and Objective Keystone for document collaboration are just two of the many solutions that go well with Objective ECM.

OpenText

OpenText is headquartered in Ontario, Canada. They have a large content and information product portfolio that includes content services, BPM, analytics and customer experience management. The company provides two CSPs, including Content Suite and Documentum, which it acquired from Dell EMC earlier this year.

Oracle

Oracle is headquartered in Redwood City, California and offers a set of content management capabilities as infrastructure. The company offers the on-prem Oracle WebCenter Suite Plus including WebCenter Content, WebCenter Portal and WebCenter Sites. The company also provides a SaaS-based Oracle Content and Experience Cloud.

SER Group

SER Group is based in Bonn, Germany and offers the Doxis4 CSP suite. It’s a set of integrated, modular components for capturing and managing content. The product can be deployed on-prem or in the cloud.

To read the entire report, click here.

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In a recent blog post, Konica Minolta’s Director of Enterprise Content Management Hugo Palacios addressed this topic, saying, “Businesses today are challenged to find new ways to streamline processes and enhance experiences for both staff and customers. Competitive pressures mean businesses must become more efficient, agile and responsive and, at the same time, ensure compliance with standards for governance and security.”

He went on to say that companies are successful if they’re able to go with the flow of these forever changing circumstances, be it new customer requirements, regulatory standards, market climates, or another facet of the space.

“True transformation is about doing things differently, not about doing different things,” Palacios said.

Those who adopt that philosophy are forward-thinking and look “outside of the box to disrupt the rules of the game,” according to Palacios, and ECM “disrupts the rules of business.”

ECM tools aim to improve work flow, reduce costs and manage content more efficiently. They ultimately change the way enterprises are creating, managing and using content from creation to archival.

https://twitter.com/KM_ECM/status/827215630743044096

Palacios listed the following benefits of ECM in his post:

• Management’s burden on day-to-day tasks can be reduced
• Insight and visibility into key business processes
• Eliminate paper-based processes to shortened cycle times
• Process handling can be improved and often automated
• Information flow is improved and collaboration is enabled
• Interdependence are clarified and refined
• Time for strategic work is gained
• Tasks and responsibilities are defined
• Seamless integration with line of business applications
• Transformation for staff and end users can lead to more satisfied customers and productive employees.
• Mobile access to business information for today’s mobile workforce

Konica Minolta’s ECM solutions provide value to their customers by enhancing their business processes and allowing them to better “capture, retrieve and retain data,” according to Palacios’ post.  And all of that happens in one place, whether on-prem or off-site.

If you’re looking for a new ECM tool, check out our complimentary Buyer’s Guide for a market overview, vendor profiles and much more.

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ECM is gaining momentum as a data solution that can help enterprises take control of their content. 

The ECM category is subject to a rapidly changing landscape, and Gartner recognizes that these shifts in the market will affect clients strongly- and not just regarding their MQ positioning.

“Consolidation in the market continues, with ever more tools that once belonged in the realm of specialist vendors now being part of the large ECM suites. These include enterprise file synchronization and sharing (EFSS), video content management and asset management. The ECM vendors build out these functionalities or acquire them through partnerships or direct acquisition of the technologies.” These acquisition of tools and tech are what play a major role in this year’s MQ, ‘Heave, Ho!’, as Gartner raised most vendor scores in ability to execute, topped off witha  slight push to the right: advancement in completeness of vision.

If you’re unfamiliar with the MQ, Gartner evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of 15 vendors in 2016- that’s a slight drop from the 20 vendors featured in MQ 2015.These vendors are considered most significant in the market, and Gartner provides a graph (the Magic Quadrant) to plot the vendors based on their ability to execute a product or service, sales and/or pricing, etc and by a vendor’s completeness of vision. That graph is divided into four quadrants: Niche Players, Challengers, Visionaries, and Leaders.

[Compare the Top 24 Enterprise Content Management Providers with the 2016 Content Management Buyer’s Guide. Download Here.]

This is the thirteenth iteration of the ECM Magic Quadrant report, and as you might expect, there have been massive changes in the ever-evolving ECM market since Gartner’s first MQ report, in 2004. In the last year alone we’ve seen considerable shifts in positions on the MQ. At Solutions Review, We read the 38 page report, and pulled a few of what we consider the most important takeaways and key changes from the 2015 ECM Magic Quadrant.

What is Enterprise Content Management? 

According to Gartner, the term “enterprise content management” (ECM) is described as a set of services and microservices, embodied either as an integrated product suite or as separate applications that share common APIs and repositories, to exploit diverse content types, and serve multiple constituencies and numerous use cases across an organization. As a strategic framework, ECM can help enterprises take control of their content.

“It can contribute to initiatives around transactional processes, compliance and records management as well as sharing and collaborating around content and documents. As a technical architecture, ECM can be delivered either as a suite of products integrated at the content or interface level or as a number of separate products that share a common architecture.”

I’ts no wonder that this year, research firm MarketandMarkets reported that the Enterprise Content Management market is expected to see revenue grow from $28.10 billion in 2016, to $66.27 billion by 2021.

How has the market changed? Ability to Execute

Ability to Execute measures how well a vendor is able to sell and support its ECM products and services. The vendors are also rated on their financial viability, which is done by a standard Gartner methodology that does not equate size with financial stability. Feedback on the current installed base, customer support, customer satisfaction and information about migrations is also taken into consideration. 

“In addition to the core components of ECM software, vendors receive recognition for extended components, such as those for EFSS, enterprise search, digital asset management and web content management, which are critical to ECM. They also receive credit for supporting other functionalities, such as output management and archiving, messaging and email management.“

Content management investments, while having a natural ebb and flow, continue to expand. As vendors work to enhance these capabilities they are able to offer more intelligent, fast, and homogeneous software to consumers who are looking for a content solution. These capabilities are the thing of an MQ leader.

Quadrants

Niche Players

In 2016, Vendor, Laserfiche hover slightly over the line of Niche and Challengers quadrant, leaving only a slight push in ability to execute to make the challenger’s cut. Gartner explains it’s on-the-fence stance:

“Despite improvements, the technical support offered by smaller Laserfiche resellers is not always to the satisfaction of their clients. Customers should look for Laserfiche Gold resellers and Laserfiche certified partners with demonstrable product knowledge.”

Niche players are plentiful in this year’s quadrant described as, “Niche Players typically focus on specific categories of ECM technology (such as transactional content management technology), midmarket buyers, or supplements to the offerings of business application or “stack” providers.”. This year’s Niche vendors also include, Newgen Software, Xerox, Objective, SER Group, and Everteam.

Visionaries

Gartner’s guide describes Visionaries: “Visionaries typically show a strong understanding of the market and anticipate shifting market forces. They may lead efforts relating to standards, new technologies or alternative delivery models, but they have less Ability to Execute than Leaders.”

Visionaries are typically smaller companies but have a very good awareness of how the market will evolve. Gartner uses “market understanding” as one of the evaluation criteria in positioning a ECM vendor’s completeness of vision, along with offering product strategy, and innovation. Vendor, M-Files which is based in Tampere, Finland is noted for M-Files’ native mobile app which lets users access documents offline, and was complimented for its support features like the ability to scan directly from tablet or mobile phone, inclusion of electronic signatures, and its reviewing and approving capabilities. M-Files is the only vendor in this year’s Visionary MQ.

Challengers

Challengers are characterized as not possessing all of the essential functional components of ECM software as the Leaders do, and also for the tendency to leverage third party partnerships to fill out their offerings. This year’s MQ features four vendors, Oracle, Lexmark, Microsoft, and Alfresco, who is making it’s mark on the market in recent years with a growing collection of ECM offerings. Alfresco’s open-source-based platform is described by Gartner as a great solution for technology buyers who want to customize and optimize their ECM implementations in a variety of deployments and cloud implementations.

Leaders

And finally, to this year’s leaders, defined as ECM software providers that, “Are perceived in the industry as thought leaders, and have well-articulated plans for enhancing recovery capabilities, improving ease of deployment and administration, and increasing their scalability and product breadth.” Wouldn’t you know, the leader quadrant is saturated with vendors that fit the bill, including IBM, OpenText and more.

Market Overview

Gartner reports that the ECM market grew by 9.4% in 2015 to a worldwide revenue total of $5.9 billion in constant currency. That compares with a 2014 growth rate of 6.2% and a worldwide revenue total of $5.4 billion. The top-three vendors lost market share in 2015, while their smaller rivals gained. More notably, best-of-breed, local and multicountry vendors accounted for 33.8% of the market in 2015, up from 27.9% in 2013. 

“Vendors are also responding to the new market dynamics. In 2015, several of the larger ones announced strategic plans and actions to recast their ECM approach, including buyouts, spinoffs and a willingness to sell off software assets. A restructuring of the market is therefore likely.” Gartner predicts for the new year ahead for the content management market.

For the full report, grab your copy of the new 2016 ECM MQ HERE, and for more Content Management vendor information, including profiles, and product feature reviews, download our completely free 2016 Enterprise Content Management Vendor Buyer’s Guide.

For more about Gartner’s news and reports, follow us on Twitter, and Linkedin and stay current on the most up-to-date news and trends in information governanace.

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