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While most people will think about friends, family, or that special someone they’re going to kiss when the ball drops on New Year’s Eve, I’ll likely find myself reminiscing about what transpired in the ECM industry in 2007 when the clock approaches midnight. How sad is that? Anyway, all in all, it was a pretty exciting year for the ECM industry. Below are a few of the trends I followed with great interest — all of which I feel will continue to impact the ECM industry in 2008.

Microsoft SharePoint

The third iteration of Microsoft SharePoint was finally released in early 2007 after almost a year of marketing hype surrounding the platform’s content management capabilities. Since then, SharePoint 2007 has gone on to become the fastest selling product in Microsoft history, with more than 85 million licenses being sold to date. The marketing push behind SharePoint is introducing the masses to the concept of ECM and its benefits, which is great for the industry. However, this marketing push has also created a great deal of confusion in the business community regarding the actual ECM capabilities of SharePoint and the costs associated with accessing these ECM features. Businesses considering SharePoint as a component of an ECM solution should fully educate themselves on the SharePoint platform and carefully evaluate their options. Some interesting SharePoint and ECM software integrations exist on the market, but no one solution is a fit for all business needs.

E-Discovery

In December 2006, new amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) were announced that made a broad array of electronic content (e.g. images, multimedia, instant messages, wikis, blogs, VoIP [voice over Internet Protocol] data streams, mobile phone messages) subject to legal discovery protocols. That means this electronic content must be able to be located, retrieved, and delivered to a legal entity upon request within a specific time period. These rules apply to businesses of all types and sizes, which led to an explosion of e-discovery solutions into the market in 2007. These e-discovery technologies are designed to allow businesses to properly index, store, and retrieve all types of electronic content based on metadata. These solutions are still in their early stages of release and adoption, so buyers should beware. Not all e-discovery solutions are created equal.

Vertical Specialization

In 2007, ECM hardware and software vendors alike ventured deeper into creating specialized solutions and software modules for specific vertical industries (e.g. healthcare, government, insurance, etc.). This is clearly an area where ECM vendors hope to differentiate themselves from the competition. In particular, small and midsize vendors are using this strategy in an effort to survive in an industry now dominated by a handful of large ECM conglomerates.

Vendor Consolidation

In 2006, IBM bought FileNet, Open Text bought Hummingbird, and Oracle bought Stellent. 2007 was a much quieter year in terms of vendor consolidation, largely because fewer big players remain on the market. However, just when you thought the ECM consolidation wave was settling down, Captaris closed the year with the announcement that it has agreed to acquire Océ Document Technologies. This is evidence that vendor acquisition isn’t only limited to the largest enterprises — midsize ECM companies are trying to round out their ECM capabilities through acquisition as well. You better believe that the ECM consolidation trend will continue in 2008.

To all readers of Integrated Solutions, I wish you a happy and prosperous 2008!