AIIM coined the term Enterprise Content Management in 2000. Over the last eight years the scope of ECM has grown. ECM has grown so big that no one company does every category of ECM well and companies like IBM and Oracle are on a buying binge to secure as many category checks as they can.
It’s gotten so bad that Interwoven vice president James Murray says that ECM is so broad that, as a term or category of software, it has become useless. “ECM is poorly understood and our [part of it] is poorly understood — it’s time for ECM to be blown apart into its constituent parts because it’s confusing for customers,” Murray argued.
It’s interesting that the Content Group has recently set up a group of panelists to help determine standards and best practices around ECM.
They are working closely with BSI British Standards. The groups has industry members from EMC Documentum, Vignette and AIIM.
Industry analyst Alan Pelz-Sharpe of CMS watch has also signed up.
The Content Group will have their work cut out for them. Just picking their battles will be tough since the landscape is so huge.
