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SaaS: On-Demand Content Management
On-Demand Content Management is gaining momentum. At the end of March Salesforce.com purchased Koral, a nine-person content collaboration company. Based on that acquisition, last week Salesforce announced their intention to introduce two new products that focus on the management of unstructured data called Apex Content and Content Exchange. Both products were built on top of Salesforce’s new on-demand platform called Apex.
Salesforce cites the exponential growth in unstructured data and the need for companies to get that data under control as the reason for their decision to begin diversifying from CRM into the content management space. They feel that their on-demand Web 2.0 approach to content management will appeal to many users that are frustrated with complex traditional software offerings from companies like EMC Documentum and Microsoft’s new SharePoint 2007.
Apex Content consists of a document and file management framework. ContentExchange is designed to let users publish, tag and share their content with others.
Apex Content is light-weight in features, but in some ways that works to its advantage for users who are looking primarily for simplicity and reliability. Apex Content supports very basic file check-in/check-out, locking during edit, and full text search. Salesforce suggests that this capability could be used for companies looking for solutions related to regulatory compliance or clinical trials, although with the current feature set, that would probably be a stretch.
ContentExchange provides some collaborative capabilities like integration with email notification to create alerts when a document is updated. Users can also comment on documents and rate and provide recommendations about them.
Other companies are also getting recognition in the on-demand Content Management space. SpringCM was in the news last week after being selected as a Top Software Innovator by the Sand Hill Group.
