By 2008, organisations worldwide will be spending more than $7 billion annually on document and content management software. According to IT market research firm InfoTrends/CAP Ventures, growth in the sector over the next three years will run at an average of 18.1%.
Factors such as increased interest in compliance and records management, and the need to make information available through multiple media sources have contributed to the market's significant growth.
InfoTrends says that a fundamental shift is underway in the sector. Enterprise content management (ECM) accounted for only 9% of the total market in 2003, with traditional document management technologies taking the lion's share. But by 2008, the ECM proportion will rise to 32%.
"While many of our industry competitors view ECM as a superset of the other market segments, this forecast views the buying behaviour for ECM as cannibalising the other individual segments' market opportunities," says Michael Maziarka, an analyst at InfoTrends.
Remarkable growth of over 60% is also projected in the hosted services category, which is expected to become a $500 million segment by 2008.
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