Content Management Enters The Enterprise

The Meta Group is forecasting that content management will be a $10 billion market by 2004, up from $800 million in 1999.

Enterprise content management could be the next big digital revolution.

"There's been a lot of digital revolutions along the way," said Frank Modrisum, global leader of digital content services for Accenture, New York. "What's happened over the last couple of years is there has been a process of going after unstructured data."

Yet, the market's pending eruption may be partly a matter of definition. Mature document management and workflow vendors, such as Documentum and FileNet, are running headlong into purveyors of Web content management software such as Interwoven and Vignette.

"We think it [will become the same market sometime over the course of the next 24 months," said Andy Warzecha, a Meta Group analyst.

So, too, does Michael Rudy, vice president of business development for Stellent, a software developer that bridges both markets.

"Web content management at its extreme is focused on building Web sites, and document management at its extreme is focused on highly specialized documents off in the corner of a company somewhere," he said. "Enterprise content management is focused on all that content that is in the enterprise and out with partners somewhere."

Rather than continuing to invest in data-centric applications, the next wave is focusing on managing documents, images, video and other content loosely called unstructured data, said Brett MacIntyre, vice president of content management for IBM's Data Management Division, which is part of the IBM Software Group.

"We've seen this gradual shift, and it's accelerated over the last year or so," he said.

Warzecha said portals will provide the way most content is delivered to users. On the back end, enterprises will likely keep unstructured content in a single type of repository where databases that handle unstructured content such as Microsoft's Yukon, IBM's Xperanto and Oracle's XDB will come into play.

While document management vendors retool applications for the Web and embrace XML and Java standards, Web content management vendors are enhancing software to manage content locked within CRM, document management and ERP repositories.

"Certainly you can manage Web content in [Interwoven's TeamSite. That, Interwoven has done for ages," said Chris Cummings, director of solutions marketing for Interwoven. "But the best-kept secret is you can also manage code in TeamSite and documents in TeamSite."

For solution providers, the big picture looks like opportunity. Enterprise content management is more of a strategy than a single application, and vendors will need to rely on integrators to deploy tactical solutions with their technology.

"Content management as a category is becoming increasingly dependent on connecting with other systems to grow our footprint," said Documentum CEO Dave De Walt. "The channel strategy is clearly one of the most important aspects to our success. It's how we go to market."

For the most part, integrators said customers are not asking them to rip up existing infrastructure and deploy all-encompassing content management solutions. Rather, they are making tactical investments that solve discrete problems and yield a return on investment.

Brand asset management solutions that help marketing departments create, manage, source and distribute materials is one area where Accenture is doing a lot of work. Modrisum said most enterprises are spending 3 percent to 5 percent of gross revenue on such activities, creating potential for a quick return on investment.

"Those are tactical instances of how you make progress to the larger content management space," he said. "To try and do the whole shooting match [in one shot is a significant undertaking."