Document Management News

The New Year will see enterprise content management providers re-focus on internal facing services and software like document management platforms, rather than customer facing online data platforms, says analyst CMS Watch.

CMS Watch founder Tony Byrne said, "After a recessionary period where many content technology investments focused on customer-facing systems, in 2010 we will see a renewed focus on internal applications."

CMS makes a number of detailed enterprise content management predictions for the New Year. As well as predicting a vendor focus on document management in general, CMS Watch says there will also be a greater focus on mobile enabled document management and cloud-based platforms.

On the predicted vendor focus on document management, CMS says, "Enterprise content management and document management will go their separate ways. ECM as a marketing and technical concept has great validity. But the idea of having a single overarching platform to manage all sources of content management only works well in those enterprises that follow a unified and services-oriented architectural approach to IT."

Instead, says CMS, most firms keep their focus on specific business processes such as accounts payable, customer acquisition, case and matter management, and so on. The need for similarly specific software solutions has not abated, and document management vendors fill this requirement well, it said.

In 2010 "we will see more vendors returning to core document management and workflow requirements, and becoming bolder about their lack of interest in embracing broader ECM, at least not in an integrated platform", CMS said.

In a blog post CMS Watch detailed twelve predictions:

• Enterprise content management and document management will go separate ways
• Faceted search will pervade enterprise applications
• Digital asset management vendors will focus on SharePoint integration over geographic expansion
• Mobile will come of age for document management and enterprise search
• Web content management vendors will give more love to intranets
• Enterprises will lead a thick client backlash
• Cloud alternatives will become pervasive
• Document services will become an integrated part of ECM
• Gadgets and widgets will sweep the portal world
• Records managers will face renewed resistance
• Internal and external social and collaboration technologies will diverge
• Multi-lingual requirements will rise to the fore