Enterprise Content Management Market Braces for Growth in 2013

Tools like instant messaging and business social networking, the maturity of startup firms that are saddled with an unmanageable level of data and content, and increased interest from firms in China, India, and Central and South America, will push the enterprise content management (ECM) market to double-digit growth in 2013, according to industry analysts.

In its report Bracing for More ECM Growth, The Radicati Group, Inc., of Palo Alto assesses the ECM market - those solutions that help businesses manage information from creation to disposition, and at all points in between - and its expected evolution over the next four years. According to the firm, the market will grow from $4.4 billion in 2012 to over $7.5 billion in 2016, representing an annual growth rate of 15 percent.

Radicati isn't the only research firm that's bullish on the ECM market. In an unrelated report, Frost & Sullivan predicted that the sector will reach about $7.92 billion (up from $2.75 billion in 2011) by 2017. "Across the board, the consensus is that the ECM market will post double-digit growth (of less than 20 percent) over the next few years," says Robert Nelson, a long-time Enterprise Content Management (ECM) expert and a practice director for Dayton, Oh.-based Crown Partners.

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