Hot Vendors in Content Management, 2014
Author: Jim Lundy
Date: June 30, 2014
Topics: Content Management
Research Note Number: 2014-24
Issue: How can enterprises leverage mobile ecosystems to gain a competitive advantage?
Issue: Who are the content management providers and how will they evolve?
Summary: The demand for content management isn’t slowing down. In 2014, content management providers offer newer and more creative ways to get the right content to the right people.
The world of work is all about content. In 2014 the demand for content is greater than it has ever been. This is due partly to the rise of the tablet and partly to the fact that documents are being created faster and need to be managed in a digital lifecycle – part of a new category we call digital transaction management (DTM).
Content Management
In content management, the shift has fully tilted toward the business user, with mobile enablement becoming a must-have. Cloud content management is the accepted way forward, with the exception of firms wanting content stored in countries where they reside. New ways of authoring are also emerging, as are extensions to legacy offerings, particularly those that add to and extend the capabilities of Microsoft Office.
Today people want content delivered or presented to them based on what they are doing. Predictive content is emerging, as providers get smarter about embedding machine learning into their solutions.
Today users want more than just to store content in the cloud and access it from anywhere. First, whatever they do, they want to do it from their mobile devices, no matter where they are or what else they are doing. They also need quick, easy and transparent ways to connect to anyone they want to share the content with, whether inside or outside their enterprises, with access and authentication set up so that teams can be flexible and respond to the real world in real time.
The rise of tablets and the demand to share content have led to the growth of cloud file sharing and cloud content management. Many consumer-focused services have grabbed the attention of business users. That said, the need to provide more business-ready content management solutions – in the form of content-enabled business applications (CEBAs) – is a trend. Akumina and NextDocs, two of the hot vendors named in this report, are good examples.
On top of that, the growing number of SaaS (software as a service) applications that need content integrated with them is creating a significant opportunity for cloud content management providers that integrate with those offerings. Two of the Hot Vendors mentioned below do just that.
This research note is not intended to be a complete list of vendors in the markets being discussed. Rather, it highlights vendors with interesting, cutting-edge products, services or technologies. For 2014, we highlight four Hot Vendors in content management:
- Akumina
- Egnyte
- Hightail
- NextDocs