Is SaaS Enterprise CMS Ready for Prime Time?

By Brice Dunwoodie | Published Oct 16, 2007

Alan Pelz-Sharpe, CMS Watch's leading enterprise content management analyst, recently spoke of the SaaS ECM Dilemma.

To quote, “I have no problem telling buyers that SaaS may be worth considering, but actually going as far as recommending they pursue a SaaS option is still something of a stretch for me.”

Pelz-Sharpe notes that vendors such as Xythos for basic document services and SpringCM for a more full-featured solution are making strides, building solid customer bases and delivering solid products.

His point is not that the products have failings. No, on the contrary, they do what they do well. The problem, according to Alan, is that SaaS solutions offer limited if any customization and integration options.

Due to the limited ability to customize and integrate SaaS architectures, he claims that “realistically SasS approaches demand that you project your requirements farther out in the future before making a snap decision that you could later come to regret,” — since what you're purchasing today is inherently less customizable and thus less able to adapt to your future needs.

This is a fair point to make.

However, as enterprise architectures become increasingly distributed and increasingly services oriented, and as SaaS ECM solutions support more flexible APIs, this argument will quickly fade. SalesForce.com have made a lot of their APIs. As a natural part of the SaaS game, enterprise CMS vendors will as well.