ECM vendors have shifted their focus on integration

Organizations now have a large variety of options to choose from in order to integrate Enterprise Content Management technology platforms with various environments and repositories to supply enterprise-wide benefits, but cost and complexity remain major issues, according to new research done by Real Story Group which evaluates ECM products.

Most of the large enterprises now employ ECM systems for business-critical documents, but the variety of documents stored in different silos remains a challenge. Major ECM providers like EMC, Autonomy, Documentum, IBM, and Open Text, have historically taken exclusive routes, hoping that companies will consolidate all of their content in one system, inside a single repository.

That approach proved impractical, and vendors are now targeting more heavily on practical integration points with other systems. A couple of ECM sellers have just lately released:
* Support for developing repository integration standard, CMIS
* Connectors to Microsoft SharePoint and Office
* Improved inclusion with major business applications like those from SAP and Oracle
*Support for the BPM standard of next generation, BPMN 2.0

With an ever-widening range of integration tools and approaches at their disposal, enterprises thus have more selection options for applying management services like re-use, search and retention to documents present in remote repositories.

Nevertheless, customers shouldn't presume that these integration efforts will instantly bring relief. “Buyers should validate and test any integration points, demand proof of concepts, and not just take the vendors' word that they can in fact integrate at the level required”, said Principal Analyst Alan Pelz-Sharpe.

Meanwhile, the old challenges of cost and difficulty remain major hurdles. “Integration is never simple”, says another analyst, Apoorv Durga. "Any buyer should understand the implications and cost of integration work before moving forward with one of these systems, especially since many ‘connectors’ are less proven, and come at extra cost."