Mid-Market Enterprise CMS Thrives, SharePoint Suffers

By James Mowery | Published Sep 18, 2008

CMS Watch ECM Suites Report 2009

SharePoint suffers, as mid-market Enterprise CMS (ECM) vendors excel, a report from CMS Watch reveals. After an evaluation of 30 leaders in the ECM industry, everyone seems to be happy except the Microsoft people — which seems to be becoming a trend. Ironically enough, it is Microsoft SharePoint that is propelling the industry forward.

The SharePoint Sacrifice

In an interesting twist, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server might be a victim of its own success. Microsoft's Enterprise CMS solution has been capturing the attention of enterprises and smaller businesses, and people are realizing that SharePoint is something that can actually help a business to be more efficient and — potentially — help lead to success. However, SharePoint is believed to be overly expensive, and Microsoft has shown little to no initiative to change that.

In addition, Microsoft lacks functionality in the areas of imaging, capture and retention. Other vendors have taken the opportunity to expand SharePoint to include some of those capabilities, but users would likely prefer an all-in-one solution for convenience.

So, if Enterprise CMS is becoming desirable, but Microsoft isn't keeping up with demand, the most likely event to happen is that the market will correct itself. That is why an impressive amount of new and competitive ECM solutions has been developed. Granted, some can't compete with SharePoint, but a select few are viable alternatives. Some might argue that there are even better alternatives.

Mid-Market Enterprise CMS Expands

CMS Watch found that many mid-tier ECM vendors are in a transitional phase towards a service-oriented structure. Solutions like IBM, Microsoft and Oracle are having industry-specific modules created for them by vendors to fill in the gaps.

Other companies like Nuxeo and Alfresco are attempting to appeal to those buyers, who desire a platform approach to ECM, and offer robust solutions that can be installed and modified to a user's desires.

The rest of the world is catching on as well. Beyond North America, expansion of ECM demand is prompting vendors to supply worldwide markets with solutions that are better suited for those locales.

More information is available in CMS Watch's full ECM Suites Report 2009.