RESEARCH NOTE. Workplace Service. Hot Vendors in Content Management, 2014

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1 Author: Jim Lundy Hot Vendors in Content Management, 2014 Summary: The demand for content management isn t slowing down. In 2014, content management providers offer newer and more creative ways to get the right content to the right people. The world of work is all about content. In 2014 the demand for content is greater than it has ever been. This is due partly to the rise of the tablet and partly to the fact that documents are being created faster and need to be managed in a digital lifecycle - part of a new category we call digital transaction management (DTM). Topic: Content Management Issue: How will enterprises take advantage of new ways to share and manage content? Issue: Who are the content management providers and how will they evolve? Content Management In content management, the shift has fully tilted toward the business user, with mobile enablement becoming a must-have. Cloud content management is the accepted way forward, with the exception of firms wanting content stored in countries where they reside. New ways of authoring are also emerging, as are extensions to legacy offerings, particularly those that add to and extend the capabilities of Microsoft Office. Today people want content delivered or presented to them based on what they are doing. Predictive content is emerging, as providers get smarter about embedding machine learning into their solutions. Today users want more than just to store content in the cloud and access it from anywhere. First, whatever they do, they want to do it from their mobile devices, no matter where they are or what else they are doing. They also need quick, easy and transparent ways to connect to anyone they want to share the content with, whether inside or outside their enterprises, with access and authentication set up so that teams can be flexible and respond to the real world in real time. The rise of tablets and the demand to share content have led to the growth of cloud file sharing and cloud content management. Many consumer-focused services have grabbed the attention of Copyright 2014 Aragon Research Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Aragon Research and the Aragon Research Globe are trademarks of Aragon Research Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. This publication may not be distributed in any form without Aragon Research s prior written permission. The information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Nevertheless, Aragon Research provides this publication and the information contained in it "AS IS," without warranty of any kind. To the maximum extent allowed by law, Aragon Research expressly disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information and shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in such information. This publication consists of the opinions of Aragon Research and Advisory Services organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice. Although Aragon Research may include a discussion of related legal issues, Aragon Research does not provide legal advice or services and its research should not be construed or used as such. Aragon Research is a private company and its clients may include firms or financial institutions that have financial interests in entities covered by Aragon Research. Further information about the objectivity of Aragon Research can be found at aragonresearch.com

2 business users. That said, the need to provide more businessready content management solutions in the form of contentenabled business applications (CEBAs) is a trend. Akumina and NextDocs, two of the hot vendors named in this report, are good examples. On top of that, the growing number of SaaS (software as a service) applications that need content integrated with them is creating a significant opportunity for cloud content management providers that integrate with those offerings. Two of the Hot Vendors mentioned below do just that. This research note is not intended to be a complete list of vendors in the markets being discussed. Rather, it highlights vendors with interesting, cutting-edge products, services or technologies. For 2014, we highlight four Hot Vendors in content management: Akumina Egnyte Hightail NextDocs 2014 Aragon Research Inc. and or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Page 2

3 Akumina Note 1: Akumina, Inc. at a Glance Akumina focuses on web content management for SharePoint and Office 365 Location: Nashua, NH CEO: Edward Rogers Key Offering: Akumina InterChange Availability: Available on a global basis Figure 1: Akumina InterChange Dashboard Akumina represents a new way forward in web content management (see Note 1). By leveraging the growing Microsoft cloud-based SharePoint platform, Akumina focuses on the needs of the business user especially the marketing professional who needs a compelling website to deliver a great web experience. Akumina s WCM suite, InterChange, installs as an application on top of SharePoint Online. This is becoming a common way to deliver business apps, and a major trend in business applications. Akumina is no stranger to web content management: CEO Ed Rogers was at Ektron for many years, and he co-founded the company with Steven Sherkanowski, another Ektron veteran. What makes Akumina hot is its ability to deliver persona-based experiences both to web content editors and site visitors using SharePoint Akumina allows business users to take advantage of SharePoint s powerful search capabilities to display profile-driven dynamic content content that is displayed based on the user or what the user is doing. InterChange uses these same underlying systems in SharePoint to create a personalized content and site management experience for subject matter experts and web marketers. Dynamic content is a high-end WCM feature, and by making SharePoint 2013 a viable option for WCM, Akumina makes it attainable for businesses of all sizes that have SharePoint licenses. Enterprises with other types of WCM should consider a shift to a more engaging experience Aragon Research Inc. and or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Page 3

4 Egnyte Note 2: Egnyte at a Glance Egnyte provides enterprise file sharing built from the cloud down to enables businesses to access, share and control 100% of their files from anywhere. Location: Mountain View, CA CEO: Vineet Jain Key Offerings: Egnyte Cloud File Server Egnyte Storage Sync Egnyte Storage Connect Availability: Available on a global basis. Figure 2: Egnyte Folder Structure Egnyte, based in Mountain View, CA, is cashing in on a trend, as enterprise file sharing shows no sign of slowing down (see Note 2). This is part of a movement by business users to acquire their own tools, and file sharing is one of the more popular ways to move content across teams. What makes Egnyte hot is its focus on doing this securely. Theft of content by focusing on users is one of the new ways that enterprises are being attacked. Egnyte helps to alleviate this. Egnyte is also expanding globally, and recently announced its expansion into Europe, with a London headquarters office Aragon Research Inc. and or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Page 4

5 Hightail Note 3: Hightail, Inc. at a Glance Hightail focuses on secure content sharing and collaboration. Location: Headquarters in Campbell, CA, with offices in the US, London, Paris, Munich, Australia, Singapore, and Toronto CEO: Brad Garlinghouse Key Offering: Content and file sharing, collaboration. Availability: Available on a global basis. Figure 3: Hightail App on an ipad Hightail, formerly YouSendIt, has been transforming itself into a provider of secure content and file sharing with a growing feature set around collaboration (see Note 3). It features deep integration with SharePoint, Salesforce, NetSuite, Outlook and many ECM apps, cloud storage apps and pure network drives. Hightail was one of the pioneers of file sharing and with its new management team, it has been aggressively growing its presence outside of the prosumer space. What makes Hightail hot is that it has successfully transitioned to a full enterprise offering, combining the original ease of use of YouSendit with solid policies for security and control that make it easier to validate compliance. This positions Hightail well for the emerging mobile content management market, which is the new way forward to manage content outside of a repository. Hightail is now being led by veteran CEO Brad Garlinghouse. His success at Yahoo and AOL, as well as his additions to the team, bode well for Hightail s shift into the enterprise Aragon Research Inc. and or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Page 5

6 NextDocs Note 4: NextDocs at a Glance NextDocs focuses on enterprise content management solutions for life sciences companies. Location: Conshohocken, PA CEO: Zikria Syed Key Offering: Enterprise content management Availability: Available on a global basis Figure 4: NextDocs etmf Solution. NextDocs, based in Conshohocken, PA, is focused on the growing need to manage content in regulated industries, such as pharma and biotech (see Note 4). These are industries that went with solutions from EMC Documentum years ago. What makes NextDocs hot is its unparalleled performance, scalability, and flexibility in automating document management throughout the therapy development lifecycle. They provide an enterprise content management platform that provides clinical trial document management support (etmf) along with solutions focused on both the regulatory document submission and quality management processes, such as SOP s, CAPA s and deviations. These content-enabled business applications are complex to develop, and NextDocs focus on these industries, as well as its diversity of deployment options (Compliance Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and on-premises) are unique differentiators. NextDocs SharePoint-based platform is available in Microsoft s cloud, Microsoft Azure, and allows an enterprise to leverage existing investments. It is common in many enterprises to have multiple content repositories Aragon Research Inc. and or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Page 6

7 Aragon Advisory Enterprises looking for business applications that help them get work done should evaluate these new vendors to see the fit. Enterprises should look for content management solutions that help them get their work done in the context of their business processes. Predictive capabilities are key. Look for roadmaps on where these and other vendors are headed. Ask vendors for product roadmaps, paying keen attention to the frequency of updates. It is not uncommon for a SaaS provider to offer spring, fall and winter releases. Bottom Line Business users want better outcomes for their firms, and they are looking for solutions that deliver. Our 2014 Hot Vendors in content management represent the new generation of services that do that. Enterprises should evaluate how these approaches can augment or replace current approaches to managing content Aragon Research Inc. and or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Page 7