Enterprise software analyst firm, Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC) recently launched its Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Evaluation Center, which helps project managers, consultants, and decision makers compare the most qualified ECM systems based on their own, unique priorities.

Software evaluation firm, Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC) has created an enterprise content management (ECM) evaluation center to help companies navigate through the demanding process of choosing an ECM software solution. Enterprise content management (ECM) allows organizations to capture, manage, store, reuse, and publish their content to support the different processes within their business (AIIM, 2005).

Forecasted by TEC and other research firms as one of the most important business drivers for the near future, ECM is on the rise. TEC has tracked significant increases in customer demand for ECM selection projects, with numbers growing seven-fold since 2004. Over the next year, projections suggest that revenue in licensing for ECM will grow from 1,280.8 to 1,861.4 (millions of dollars, USD) through 2009. “Due to current governance and regulatory compliance regulations, ECM will become more and more important in order for organizations to be able to meet the requirements of these acts”, according to Hans Mercx, ECM and BPM analyst at TEC.

So how do organizations seeking enterprise content management (ECM) software prepare before calling on a vendor for a request for proposal (RFP)?

The TEC ECM Evaluation Center (http://ecm.technologyevaluation.com/press) enables end users to match their requirements to the functionality provided by a variety of ECM solutions. Organizations can use the center to analyze vendors on approximately 1,200 criteria covering ECM functionality. Vendors presenting solutions for comparison include 80-20, AMCO, CentricMinds, Crown Peak, Day Software, Emojo, Hannon Hill, iUpload, Kentico, Numotion, Serena, SilkRoad technology, Stellent, and Snakeware. The TEC ECM Evaluation Center (http://ecm.technologyevaluation.com/press) covers a broad range of features from content acquisition, approval and syndication, to document management, record management, digital asset management, workflow, and publication of the actual content.

Research by The Standish Group shows that 52.7 percent of IT projects cost 189 percent of the original estimates. This represents $75 billion (USD) yearly that is spent on failed IT projects in the United States alone (2005). Organizations are losing billions of dollars each year because they select the wrong hardware, middleware, and software, which is due to inadequate vendor information and evaluation processes. Such losses are increasingly apparent within price-sensitive, small and medium enterprises, which require accurate IT information to be collected quickly and cost-effectively during software evaluation processes.

According to TEC, solutions for ECM, ERP, CRM, or SCM may fail to accomplish what customers want, because customers did not begin their selection processes with a good understanding of their requirements. TEC believes that problems arise when customers do not prepare a proper request for information (RFI) to evaluate the pertinent responses from their shortlisted vendors. However, TEC states that its sophisticated means for performing requirements analysis will ease customers' selection burdens.

About Technology Evaluation Centers Inc. (TEC)
Since 1993, TEC has been developing sophisticated decision support software, enabling users to evaluate and select enterprise software technology, which is best tailored to their needs. For more information, see the company's web site http://www.technologyevaluation.com/press.

About the Enterprise Content Management Software Evaluation Center
The Enterprise Content Management Software (ECM) Evaluation Center (http://ecm.technologyevaluation.com/press) is a new on-line decision support system featuring research on some of the more well-known firms in ECM. The knowledge base consists of close to 1200 criteria for analyzing enterprise content management solutions firms. For more information, see the web site at http://ecm.technologyevaluation.com/press.

Contact:

Lynne Brash, Coordinator, Media Relations
Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC),
740 St. Maurice, 4th floor,
Montreal, Quebec
Canada
H3C 1L5
www.technologyevaluation.com/press.asp