After years of ignoring handheld devices, ECM vendors are now focusing on mobile computing needs. Information within ECM systems is typically well-secured, but becomes harder to control outside the application environment. The move by ECM vendors to develop and support applications for remote and offline environments is an important step toward dealing with that challenge.
“ECM is being brought to where people work. Where people work is changing. People are working on BlackBerries and iPhones. ECM is starting to allow people to approve documents and tag them, etc. via mobile devices. This is the newest trend we will see more of going forward,” said Jarrod Gingras, CMS Watch analyst.
Customers should recognize that mobile support among ECM vendors remains in a nascent stage. But based upon industry directions, ECM customers will see more mobile-related functionality later in 2010-2011, and this will bring new options for ambient information management to those enterprises that carefully assess their choices.
CMS Watch's ECM research also observed trends toward industry-specific solutions and SharePoint coexistence.
These findings come from the latest version of CMS Watch's ECM Report 2009, which evaluates 28 ECM vendors head to head. Vendors reviewed include IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Alfresco, EMC, Xerox, Pitney Bowes, Open Text, Newgen, Saperion, HP, Nuxeo, KnowledgeTree and Autonomy.
Valerie Valentine is senior editor for Information Management. You can follow her on Twitter @ValValentineIM.
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