The Forrester Wave™: Content material Platforms, Q1 2025, is now stay! We checked out 12 key distributors and evaluated them on 24 standards. 4 Leaders emerged, adopted by 5 Robust Performers and three Contenders. To study extra about these distributors and the way they serve their goal markets, Forrester shoppers can view the full report.
Get Prepared For A Extra Clever Method To Content material Administration
The enterprise content material administration market has undergone a major transformation and immediately is exemplified by AI-enabled cloud content material platforms. Generic doc administration doesn’t reduce it. Technical leaders and the enterprise roles they help need versatile, extensible platforms on which to design and deploy a spread of content-rich apps. Content material platforms are a foundational part of an total digital office, integrating with key productiveness suites and important enterprise purposes.
A Quick Tempo Of Innovation Marked This 12 months’s Analysis
Our Wave methodology ensures that we do a deep dive into the evaluated content material platforms, in depth written questionnaire responses from distributors, sitting via demos and briefings, and speaking on to their prospects. I discovered that:
- The tempo of innovation over the past two years has been unprecedented — pushed by AI. Generative AI (genAI), is remodeling how we create, eat, and govern content material. Distributors are making substantial investments in genAI, with capabilities evolving shortly as massive language fashions and agentic AI proceed to develop. This speedy iteration signifies that companies can anticipate steady enchancment, together with evolving pricing fashions to place extra AI capabilities into customers’ fingers.
- Automation alternatives abound. From easy doc approvals to complicated processes that combine with different enterprise purposes, the vary of automation capabilities is increasing. Clever knowledge extraction helps gas high-volume, document-centric workflows and automates metadata identification and tagging. Doc technology capabilities, more and more assisted by AI and integrations, continues to be an space of funding for distributors.
- Packaged apps and resolution templates can fast-track adoption and productiveness. Many distributors have mature vertical methods and have packaged apps designed particularly for industry-specific use instances. Search for predefined templates or resolution accelerators to tailor your deployment to fulfill particular enterprise wants — usually with minimal customized improvement.
Key Concerns For Consumers
Not all distributors are perfect for each content material administration use case. When constructing a shortlist for content material platforms, take into account that:
- Vertical experience issues, and never all people has it. Take a look at the distributors that perceive the nuances of your {industry} and that spend money on the options, skilled providers, and companion ecosystem to fulfill your necessities. Distributors specializing in key verticals will spend money on assembly industry-specific compliance obligations, acquire certifications, and assist shoppers meet their regulatory necessities.
- Pricing fashions are simplifying — however turning into opaque. Whereas a handful of distributors on this analysis do publish the pricing for his or her most typical subscription bundles, most don’t. Most distributors worth their cloud content material platforms on per-user/per-month fashions with a selection of some subscription tiers, akin to primary, intermediate, or superior capabilities. Distributors that also supply self-hosted or on-premises deployment choices might have further pricing and licensing fashions tied to API calls, storage volumes, or different usage- or application-based parameters. Know your use instances and your necessities whenever you attain out to distributors that don’t publish pricing/licensing fashions.
- Context issues when attempting to get worth out of genAI. Deliver AI to your content material relatively than bringing your content material to AI. Utilizing the embedded genAI capabilities out of your content material platform vendor can present an unfair benefit. Most evaluated distributors are utilizing a retrieval-augmented technology structure that shields your company content material from public AI fashions, and in addition respects current entry controls and permission buildings. Exposing a genAI assistant in a folder, a workspace, or search consequence interface can floor the AI within the that particular context — i.e., a buyer case, a undertaking folder, or checklist of incoming claims — to return particular solutions and related quotation hyperlinks to supply paperwork.
Serious about studying extra? I’ll be internet hosting a webinar for shoppers on Thursday, March 6, to go over the important thing findings from this Wave. Be a part of us by registering right here!
Forrester shoppers are inspired to arrange a steering session or inquiry to speak about our key findings and study extra about this market.
The Forrester Wave™: Content material Platforms, Q1 2025, is now stay! We checked out 12 key distributors and evaluated them on 24 standards. 4 Leaders emerged, adopted by 5 Robust Performers and three Contenders. To study extra about these distributors and the way they serve their goal markets, Forrester shoppers can view the full report.
Get Prepared For A Extra Clever Method To Content material Administration
The enterprise content material administration market has undergone a major transformation and immediately is exemplified by AI-enabled cloud content material platforms. Generic doc administration doesn’t reduce it. Technical leaders and the enterprise roles they help need versatile, extensible platforms on which to design and deploy a spread of content-rich apps. Content material platforms are a foundational part of an total digital office, integrating with key productiveness suites and important enterprise purposes.
A Quick Tempo Of Innovation Marked This 12 months’s Analysis
Our Wave methodology ensures that we do a deep dive into the evaluated content material platforms, in depth written questionnaire responses from distributors, sitting via demos and briefings, and speaking on to their prospects. I discovered that:
- The tempo of innovation over the past two years has been unprecedented — pushed by AI. Generative AI (genAI), is remodeling how we create, eat, and govern content material. Distributors are making substantial investments in genAI, with capabilities evolving shortly as massive language fashions and agentic AI proceed to develop. This speedy iteration signifies that companies can anticipate steady enchancment, together with evolving pricing fashions to place extra AI capabilities into customers’ fingers.
- Automation alternatives abound. From easy doc approvals to complicated processes that combine with different enterprise purposes, the vary of automation capabilities is increasing. Clever knowledge extraction helps gas high-volume, document-centric workflows and automates metadata identification and tagging. Doc technology capabilities, more and more assisted by AI and integrations, continues to be an space of funding for distributors.
- Packaged apps and resolution templates can fast-track adoption and productiveness. Many distributors have mature vertical methods and have packaged apps designed particularly for industry-specific use instances. Search for predefined templates or resolution accelerators to tailor your deployment to fulfill particular enterprise wants — usually with minimal customized improvement.
Key Concerns For Consumers
Not all distributors are perfect for each content material administration use case. When constructing a shortlist for content material platforms, take into account that:
- Vertical experience issues, and never all people has it. Take a look at the distributors that perceive the nuances of your {industry} and that spend money on the options, skilled providers, and companion ecosystem to fulfill your necessities. Distributors specializing in key verticals will spend money on assembly industry-specific compliance obligations, acquire certifications, and assist shoppers meet their regulatory necessities.
- Pricing fashions are simplifying — however turning into opaque. Whereas a handful of distributors on this analysis do publish the pricing for his or her most typical subscription bundles, most don’t. Most distributors worth their cloud content material platforms on per-user/per-month fashions with a selection of some subscription tiers, akin to primary, intermediate, or superior capabilities. Distributors that also supply self-hosted or on-premises deployment choices might have further pricing and licensing fashions tied to API calls, storage volumes, or different usage- or application-based parameters. Know your use instances and your necessities whenever you attain out to distributors that don’t publish pricing/licensing fashions.
- Context issues when attempting to get worth out of genAI. Deliver AI to your content material relatively than bringing your content material to AI. Utilizing the embedded genAI capabilities out of your content material platform vendor can present an unfair benefit. Most evaluated distributors are utilizing a retrieval-augmented technology structure that shields your company content material from public AI fashions, and in addition respects current entry controls and permission buildings. Exposing a genAI assistant in a folder, a workspace, or search consequence interface can floor the AI within the that particular context — i.e., a buyer case, a undertaking folder, or checklist of incoming claims — to return particular solutions and related quotation hyperlinks to supply paperwork.
Serious about studying extra? I’ll be internet hosting a webinar for shoppers on Thursday, March 6, to go over the important thing findings from this Wave. Be a part of us by registering right here!
Forrester shoppers are inspired to arrange a steering session or inquiry to speak about our key findings and study extra about this market.