Interwoven Pulls Accolades for Web Content Management Functionality

Gartner's MarketScope for Web Content Management 2008 has hit the press and there's an impressive list of web content management (Web CMS) vendors rising to the top. Interwoven is considered by Gartner to be one of the strongest vendors in the marketplace today. The report states that "organizations looking for capabilities to support dynamic and compelling Web sites, with the ability to deliver highly targeted content, should consider Interwoven."

Overview of 2008 Web CMS MarketScope

According to Gartner, the market for web content management has changed significantly in the last year and a half becoming much more mature in its offerings. As it has become more mature the things that vendors used to differentiate themselves are changing dramatically moving towards demonstrating the ability to solve specific business objectives.

Technology Influences the List

There are three primary tech flavors of Web CMS, including those based on Java EE, .NET and PHP (LAMP). You won't see a lot of LAMP based solutions in this marketscope however, as Gartner indicates they only make up about 3% of total Web CMS software revenue. You also won't see any Open Source solutions. Gartner has chosen to leave these vendors off this list for two reasons: the different business model and comparison to more established offerings with traditional or SaaS models didn't seem fair. They do however believe that Open Source solutions like Alfresco and Drupal are "increasing influence on the WCM market in terms of culture and technology."

Web CMS Market Strength

Gartner notes that the Web CMS market, a component of the Enterprise CMS (ECM) market, is achieving revenues of US$ 750 million with an annual compound growth rate of 15% between 2007 and 2012 -- faster than the overall ECM market.The overall market rating is positive. Some comments included:* Web CMS is being linked more to business success* Seeing a wider use of Web 2.0 in Web CMS solutions* Open Source Solutions are gaining ground, but need to switch their focus from technical to business to be successful* SaaS is gaining ground but will never overtake traditional models * Replacement of systems is generally in the realm of 4-6 years and for many organizations, that is very soon

Key Trends for Web Content Management

There are a number of key trends to discuss -- too many to list here. Notable ones include:* Move from talking about visitors to actual users - which is where all this Web 2.0, social media stuff kicks in* Move from proprietary to open source -- watch out for Alfresco and Drupal, two vendors that Gartner likes to mention frequently* From complex to uncomplicated* From global to local

Interwoven Takes Top Honors in MarketScope

There are five ratings for vendors in this marketscope including: Strong Positive, Positive, Promising, Caution, Strong Negative. Only two vendors hit the top rating: Interwoven and Ektron.Interwoven has been around for a long time and is considered one of the dominant enterprise content management vendors in the industry. According to Gartner, their ability to focus on being a best of breed content management vendor has paid off. "13.5% growth in total revenue during the last 12 months and an increase in customer base to almost 4,300 by the end of 1Q08."Interwoven was selected for their ability to create and support dynamic and compelling websites and delivering targeted content using their flagship product TeamSite. Other notable elements included:* Suite of add-on and related products for functionality like analytics, metadata management, DAM, content distribution and sychronization.* Product differentiation with a series of web-based solutions and add-ons for TeamSite and MediaBin* Multi-variable testing and web optimization techniques through the acquistion of OptimostGartner indicates that the Interwoven suite is built with "business solutions as its primary focus" and is therefore well suited to the enterprise market.And of course, Interwoven is pleased that their hard work has paid off with this recognition: “We tackle one of the toughest online challenges businesses face today – delivering targeted customer experiences that produce profitable business outcomes,” said Ben Kiker, chief marketing officer at Interwoven. “This is fueling a renewed focus on initiatives to maximize online business performance, and we are grateful that many of the brands that drive the global economy are putting Interwoven at the core of their online presence.We look forward to continuing our rich heritage of delivering innovation that unlocks the value of content.”

How Did Other Vendors Fair?

There were 17 vendors mentioned in the MarketScope. In the Positive Rating were: CrownPeak, Fatwire, Open Text, Oracle, SDL Tridion, Sitecore and Vignette. Promising vendors are strong in multiple areas and have the means to innovate and keep up with market demand. In the Promising rating were SharePoint, Clickability, Day Software, EMC Documentum, EPiServer and Percussion. Promising means they have potential but have some growing to do. They are also usually innovators, working with the latest technologies.And in the Caution we see Mediasurface and IBM (Lotus). Caution generally means the vendor has some challenges to overcome or is troubled in some other way - such as financially. We should note that for Mediasurface the caution is not exactly product related but reflects their "...core strategy and financials". Pick up a copy of the complete MarketScope -- it's a good review of Web CMS today and of a number of key vendors we talk about regularly. [Editor's Note: See our coverage of Ektron's placement in the MarketScope report here.]