Mobile Content Management can’t be ignored

By Jim Lundy

The world of content management is changing and changing fast. The Mobile Content Management (MCM) era is here, and it’s going to cause disruption in multiple markets. This post talks about MCM and our forthcoming fall research agenda, which we just announced.

First, we have covered Enterprise Mobile since the founding of Aragon Research, and mobile content is part of the EMM (enterprise mobile management) story. The big shift, which many people did not see coming, is that some content needs to be managed even after it leaves the content repository – especially when it then enters the mobile domain. MCM is part of the evolution of content management, and MCM participants will come from mobile, cloud content/file share and traditional ECM markets. Next week we will publish new research on this topic.

As supporting evidence of how critical MCM can be, last week I interviewed three major enterprises about their use of mobile and mobile content at Airwatch Connect in Atlanta. They included Coca-Cola, Southwestern Energy and United Airlines. All three firms had made major moves in their respective enterprises.

United Airlines, which has deployed tablets to all of its pilots, uses MCM from Airwatch to manage its flight manuals and all of their critical content. Coca Cola and Southwestern Energy also use MCM capabilities too, with Microsoft SharePoint as a back-end repository.

Given the rise of MCM, we will continue to evaluate providers in this emerging market. These include many EMM vendors, such as Airwatch and cloud content service players like Alfresco, Box, Huddle and SpringCM, as well as ECM providers, including such heavyweights as IBM, Microsoft, OpenText and Oracle.

All in all, mobile affects far more than just BYOD. Enterprises need to get out in front of mobile, and – as many are now learning – there are multiple vectors to plan for and operationalize around it. Aragon knows mobile, and we help enterprises succeed. Check out our extensive mobile coverage here.