ISVs: Study Shows Microsoft SharePoint Is Open To Disruption
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
A report from Software Advice surveyed employees that use content management systems (CMS) on a daily basis and found 48 percent had considerable problems integrating their CMS with their other software solutions. The findings mirror a recent AIIM report that found only 11 percent of companies experienced successful Microsoft SharePoint implementation.
Craig Borowski, market researcher for CMS reviews and comparisons business at Software Advice, explained, “For most of human history and in most of the world's economies, economic activity consisted largely of the buying and selling of goods. Now that we’re in the Age of Information, there’s a new economic driver and a new currency to match. The driver is the exchange of information and the currency is that information itself, in the form of content, data, or any type of information that holds value. Information and the content that contains it is the lifeblood of many companies. And compared to managing physical, tangible products, managing proprietary information and content is a challenge with which many companies still struggle.”
The results of this report indicate that the CMS market is ripe for disruption if a software vendor could solve the integration issues typically associated with SharePoint.
The report also found 41 percent of respondents describe learning a CMS and training others as a challenge. A majority of respondents rate their CMS as “very important” in overcoming content-related business challenges, such as distributing documents and tracking changes. The three CMS applications employees use most frequently are document distribution, reporting/analytics and content capture. In addition, 26 percent of businesses using CMS platforms have more than 5,000 employees; and 63 percent of companies with more than 1,000 employees use reporting/analytics tools daily, compared to 47 percent of smaller companies.
Researchers spoke with 110 employees of U.S. businesses whose jobs revolve around content and information management who rely on a variety of tools to manage information and all of them use some type of content management system on a daily basis.
According to Borowski, “Respondents were nearly unanimous in stating that their CMS was important or very important in performing their duties, including such tasks as locating content, tracking changes to it and organizing it effectively. However, at the same time, many reported serious issues with their existing CMS, such as inability to integrate it with other platforms and a lack of options for customization.”
The results also highlight the new opportunities that exist, Borowski explained. “While the need to manage content isn't new, it now exists on a much, much larger scale. Companies in a very wide range of verticals and industries are facing challenges finding effective solutions for content management. There’s a growing body of software vendors offering CMS solutions, but many companies have very specific and specialized content management needs. Given the importance of effective content management to a company's bottom line, the results from this survey suggest that companies should be using a CMS, but they need to ensure it will meet their customization and integration needs during their pre-purchase research.”