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With 20 years of business experience behind it, Merant is one of the more seasoned enterprise content management (ECM) vendors in the market. But instead of bursting on the scene within the last decade and promising businesses tighter control over their Web presence, Merant has been building its entry into the ECM space steadily since acquiring the enterprise operations of NetObjects in February 2001.

Merant's history lies in software configuration management, and the company remains the No. 2 vendor in that market. With the NetObjects' acquisition, Merant married its experience managing software and applications with content management. According to the company's VP of Development Martin Frid-Nielsen, ECM fit quite nicely.

"Web ECM is discipline that doesn't exist in a vacuum," he said. "We see increasingly that Web sites have a lot of code as they become more dynamic."

New in Collage 4.0

Users of ECM systems are looking for improvements in efficiency and workflow. They want to easily use assets in every part of their organization, not just their Web sites. For Merant, ECM, digital rights management, and digital asset management are seen as natural extensions of its business. To that end, Merant today released Collage 4.0, the latest version of its ECM product.

Most of the enhancements in this latest version of Collage seem to be aimed at increasing its flexibility. There is increased database support for Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server. As for operating systems, Collage 4.0 now runs on Linux. Even the client portion is more flexible, now supporting a MacIntosh client by popular demand from the Mac-intensive creative community.

Increased deployment capabilities in Collage 4.0 allow tighter management of content and improved integration with portal and other enterprise applications. The database deploy feature can keep content in an enterprise depository, for example. Bath/mirror deployment improves performance with multiple servers. There is also a secure FTP feature.

The user interface of Collage 4.0 features tighter permission-based workflow controls; a spell checker; Section 508 compliance; and localization in French and German. Another new feature is PDF conversion, which allows content to be output in printable PDF format.

The ECM Market: A Mess or Misunderstood?

Enterprise content management has been derided over the past several years as one IT sector that has had difficulty achieving the most fundamental goals of new IT investment — most notably saving money. Many of the products in ECM have a reputation for being costly and requiring long deployment times and an army of consultants.

According to a report from Jupiter Research, over-complicated, end-to-end packages can as much as quintuple Web site operational costs over human alternatives. The report found that 61 percent of companies who have already deployed Web content management software still rely on manual processes to update their sites. (Jupiter Research is a division of Jupitermedia, the publisher of this site).

Some might be inclined to say that the software alone is not at fault. This is true: corporate culture, training (or lack thereof), and poor decisions on what software to buy likely all share some of the blame.

For its part, Merant is trying to introduce a ECM application that acts more like shrink-wrapped software. The company offers consulting and systems integrators, but it also offers support and full documentation to its customers. Collage 4.0 still carries an enterprise price tag (costs are figured by the number of servers and seats, expect to spend $40,000 to $50,00 to get in), but says its deployment time is quicker and its cost of ownership is lower than comparable packages.

According to Frid-Nielsen, Merant also uses its consultants more productively than competitors. "We wanted them to make their living solving specialized needs, not installing software," he told Intranet Journal. Among the human problem-solving that could help customers find elusive ECM savings are the establishment of good processes for workflow and scalability.

Those looking to implement an ECM system are also more aware of what they need, and in some cases, what they had. "What we see the most are people who are aware [of ECM] enough to know they need it," Frid-Nielsen said. In some cases, it's because they had bad experiences with other systems in the past.

Another good sign for ECM vendors is a trend noticed by Frid-Nielsen that sees IT departments having a more powerful role in the decision to invest in ECM solutions. Historically, other departments within an organization have used ECM products and made many of the decisions. IT departments, in theory, would help their staff make better decisions, and choose products that integrate better.

With Jupiter Research predicting a Web content management market worth more than $2.8 billion by 2008, more involvement from IT departments is just fine for Merant. The way Frid-Nielsen sees it, Merant has spent the last 20 years establishing relationships with IT departments for its software configuration products.