SpringCM is offering a two year free trial of their SaaS ECM solution for qualified customers. The market for enterprise software is going to be challenging for the near term so this is a good time to get organizations familiar with the product. Another challenge facing SpringCM is Gartner’s decision not to include SpringCM in the annual ECM Magic Quadrant which just came out for 2008.

SpringCM is adding customers and winning acclaim (KMWorld’s Trend-Setting Products of 2008); however, SaaS ECM is still a very minor part of the overall industry and major players are entering the market. Gartner estimates SaaS and open source solutions combined account for less than 5% of the software license revenue for ECM. One reason for the slow penetration is the need to integrate ECM solutions into existing infrastructure which can be difficult with SaaS. However, with Google, Microsoft, IBM, EMC, and others entering the market, SaaS ECM may get some legs. For now, SpringCM will continue to differentiate itself through departmental and industry vertical solutions.

SpringCM just released version 4.5 with some new features, notably in the process mangement and security areas. To get a feel for their product you can sign up for a live demo or watch a number of their canned screencast demos available on their website.

Overheard:

  • Dan Carmel, CEO

    • “As economic conditions have deteriorated, companies are challenged with improving business productivity without sacrificing compliance. Software-as-a-Service is a proven model for these times because it enables companies to deploy software solutions faster and at dramatically lower cost than traditional, installed software.” (Source)
  • CMSWatch ECM Suites Report 2009
    • “If you were to believe the marketing hype that surrounds SpringCM, you would start to believe that the likes of EMC and IBM were quaking in their boots…” (Source)

Website: www.springcm.com

Management: Dan Carmel, CEO

Funding: $20M (latest: $10M, April 2008)

Investors: North Bridge Venture Partners, Foundation Capital