When Search and Content Management Collide

"When Search and ECM Collide" was the title of a tutorial I ran in New York this week. It's an important topic to explore as both Search vendors and ECM vendors both seem to believe that either

A. They can do without the other, B. They understand the other fully and see the opposing technology as simply a minor supporting or interfacing toolset.At present too many Search vendors cling to the nonsense that search is in someway a replacement for content management, while at the same time enterprise content management vendors refuse to get serious about working deeply with search vendors.

Search is not just an added piece of functionality, but potentially a powerful analytics tool that can fully integrate and make use of the rich management information that ECM systems produce and hold. At present, though, no ECM vendor has a strong enterprise search strategy, and no Search vendor really understands ECM. The result is disappointed buyers with emptied pockets.

Alan Pelz-Sharpe is a principal analyst at CMS Watch. Write him at [email protected]"When Search and ECM Collide" was the title of a tutorial I ran in New York this week. It's an important topic to explore as both Search vendors and ECM vendors both seem to believe that either A. they can do without the other, or B., they understand the other fully and see the opposing technology as simply a minor supporting or interfacing toolset.