IBM ECM vs IBM FileNet comparison

IBM ECM and IBM FileNet are both solutions in the Enterprise Content Management category. IBM ECM is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.0, while IBM FileNet is ranked #4 with an average rating of 7.9. IBM ECM holds a 1.9% mindshare in ECM, compared to IBM FileNet’s 10.4% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of IBM ECM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of IBM FileNet users who would recommend it.

IBM ECM

Read 16 IBM ECM reviews

617 Views
540 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

IBM FileNet

Read 100 IBM FileNet reviews

3,679 Views
2,383 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

IBM ECM

IBM FileNet

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

IBM ECM and IBM FileNet are both enterprise content management solutions. IBM FileNet appears to have the upper hand due to its advanced integration capabilities, offering a more comprehensive solution.

Features:IBM ECM focuses on document management and workflow optimization, enhancing productivity with content organization, easy document storage, retrieval capabilities, and access control features for enterprise environments. IBM FileNet provides advanced content management, seamless integration with other business applications, robust customization options, efficient data scalability, and versatile workflow management systems.

Room for Improvement:IBM ECM could enhance its integration capabilities, improve scalability for large enterprises, and offer more customization options for specific business processes. IBM FileNet may benefit from simplifying its deployment process, reducing complexity in its initial setup, and offering more user-friendly documentation to assist new users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service:IBM ECM offers a simple and straightforward deployment model that customers appreciate for its ease of setup. IBM FileNet provides more sophisticated deployment options with extensive customization, though requiring a more involved setup process. Its strong customer support is recognized as crucial to its adoption by large enterprises.

Pricing and ROI:IBM ECM generally has a lower initial setup cost, attracting businesses that aim to minimize upfront expenses. IBM FileNet, with its higher investment requirements, offers significant returns in operational efficiency and value, aligning with its broader feature set and providing a potentially higher ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM ECM vs. IBM FileNet Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM ECM vs. IBM FileNet

January 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

IBM ECM

Ranking in Enterprise Content Management

14th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

IBM FileNet

Ranking in Enterprise Content Management

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

100

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Enterprise Content Management category, the mindshare of IBM ECM is 1.9%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM FileNet is 10.4%, up from 9.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Content Management

Featured Reviews

Omar_Ismail

ECM, Archives and Digital Preservation Consultant at DataServe

A stable solution for automation with high availability

Moving to the cloud with IBM ECM is not allowed. In Saudi Arabia, the cloud infrastructure is still non-operational, potentially for the next two to three months. Static clouds are prevalent among foundational enterprises such as IBM and Oracle. IBM offers its cloud insights, maintaining its cloud ecosystem. IBM's efforts to enhance the user experience within its ECM platform are lacking compared to competitors like OpenText. Progress in implementing new technologies and features seems sluggish. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

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Emad Rizki

System integrator at Indépendant

Facilitates seamless integration for large enterprises with strong deployment capabilities

FileNet was scalable and could be implemented into big multinational organizations. However, it has become very expensive recently. Compared to low-code solutions such as Appian and outsystems, FileNet has gaps, mainly because it requires coding, which is not preferred by clients due to pricing concerns in Pakistan. We transitioned clients to cloud solutions, although FileNet has been strongly integrated with on-prem deployments.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The content management is all about you as you can make the same content for minimal purpose solutions applications."

"The vertical scalability, as we can use it across some of our applications."

"The tool is a very stable solution with high availability and no information leakage. It has built-in API integration on-site. You can integrate with other components and applications like SAP, Microsoft, Oracle, etc."

"The scalability is a valuable feature, that we're able to display our documents to so many people."

"The most valuable features of IBM File Manager are workflow, content, and process capabilities."

"The main features we find impactful are the workflow and document management along with FileNet file stores."

"Gves us the ability to create an end-to-end [document] transaction."

"One of our clients, a customer of IBM, rolled out and replaced their existing ECM system with FileNet. Their productivity has increased pretty dramatically."

"The product has helped with compliance and governance issues. There are some archiving policies which a financial organization has to keep. Our organization can keep up with them because of the IBM product."

"The most valuable feature is access control."

"We have probably cut out at least 40 percent of what the work process was by easing out that whole distribution of paper."

"The API's extensibility and new user interface are its most valuable features."

More IBM FileNet pros

Cons

"I would like to see seamless application integration."

"I would recommend not going with ECM 8 and going with FileNet instead. It seems like that is the future of the lower-volume repository. It seems like they are moving away from ECM 8.5 so I think we're going to have some challenges coming up, getting off of that technology."

"The development platform is not local. For example, you need 100 days in IBM, whereas other platforms, like ServiceNow, need only 20 days."

"I think it's already getting away from Java applets. A lot of our users struggle with keeping up to date with Java versioning, so a lot of the functions they're doing, like printing, emailing, and even some of the viewing, they're struggling with."

"I think it's to the point where there are probably too many features. Every software, as it matures and graduates, grows the list of features. What many of our customers express is that it's just too complicated. They're using maybe five or ten percent of the features but they're having to pay for 100 percent. There is room for improvement in terms of simplifying it."

"The FileNet API seems like it is very difficult and not transparent."

"Needs a better administration tool."

"The usability is fair. It could be a bit better. It could be better designed. They could put more effort into the user experience and do a better job of integrating other components, like Datacap, to be a bit more seamless."

"The most valuable features of IBM File Manager are workflow, content, and process capabilities."

"We would like to have more automation of rollout solutions."

"It would be nice if they could make it like containers are working in Kubernetes to auto-scale based on demand."

"The installation and configuration to start up needs expert level knowledge."

More IBM FileNet cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Reach out to local IBM partners."

"We use extraction. Therefore, we can see 80 to 85 percent accuracy on data extraction. This reduces the manual indexing part, which is definitely a gain on performance efficiency."

"There are lots of components to the product. Make sure before you invest that you know which components you need."

"It is still a leading ECM solution provider, however the cost to implement and maintain are higher than other solutions."

"Licensing costs depend on the size of the storage."

"The tool is expensive, and I rate its pricing a ten out of ten."

"IBM FileNet is an expensive solution."

"The physical space that we have gained back pays for the service. Therefore, it has reduced our operating costs overall. We have definitely seen ROI. I would estimate $30,000 a year."

"My customers have seen ROI. There have been productivity gains, time savings gains, and things that they have been doing much more efficiently in a more modern way than they were before."

More IBM FileNet pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

36%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

11%

Insurance Company

Financial Services Firm

23%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

10%

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM ECM?

The tool is a very stable solution with high availability and no information leakage. It has built-in API integration on-site. You can integrate with other components and applications like SAP, Mic...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM ECM?

The product is expensive and has a perpetual license.

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What needs improvement with IBM ECM?

The development platform is not local. For example, you need 100 days in IBM, whereas other platforms, like ServiceNow, need only 20 days.

See all answers

What do you like most about IBM FileNet?

The product is robust and can process a lot of documents for enterprise content management.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM FileNet?

It depends on the business partner providing the solution to the customer. We have an ESA contract with IBM which allows us to offer the solution at a competitive price, providing added value when ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM FileNet?

The setup process is very complex, and I would prefer if it were easier. A modern interface would also be an enhancement.

See all answers

Comparisons

SAP Extended Enterprise Content Management vs IBM ECM

Compared 13% of the time

Alfresco vs IBM ECM

Compared 13% of the time

OpenText Extended ECM vs IBM ECM

Compared 11% of the time

Mobius Content Services Platform vs IBM ECM

Compared 9% of the time

Hyland OnBase vs IBM ECM

Compared 9% of the time

More IBM ECM Competitors

OpenText Extended ECM vs IBM FileNet

Compared 16% of the time

OpenText Documentum vs IBM FileNet

Compared 16% of the time

SharePoint vs IBM FileNet

Compared 16% of the time

Hyland OnBase vs IBM FileNet

Compared 9% of the time

Newgen OmniDocs vs IBM FileNet

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM FileNet Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM ECM

February 2025

Download IBM ECM product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM FileNet

February 2025

Download IBM FileNet product report

Overview

IBM Content Foundation on Cloud

IBM Content Foundation on Cloud allows organizations to deliver extensive enterprise content management capabilities to their users very quickly. IBM Content Foundation is powered by the FileNet content and process platform and IBM Content Navigator user experience. This cloud offering can be leveraged for a variety of use cases including collaborative document management, imaging solutions, social content management, archiving, and more. It also offers a platform for developing Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions in the cloud.

IBM Case Manager on Cloud

IBM Case Manager on Cloud is a solution platform that engages people with business content, provides contextual insight through real-time analytics, and enhances teamwork through collaboration tools and flexible workflow. Enables Business and IT to work together to create solutions across the enterprise that enables an organization to make smarter decisions for better business outcomes, while balancing the need for security and compliance in a world of heightened risk.

IBM

IBM FileNet is a leading IBM enterprise content management product family. IBM FileNet is one of the ECM solutions that can change the way a company does business by enabling users to capture, activate, socialize, analyze, and govern content throughout its lifecycle.

There are many IBM FileNet products available, all of which are integrated and based on the FileNet P8 Platform.

IBM

Sample Customers

KeyBank, Standard Chartered Bank, Union Bank, Sistema Tecnol‹gico de Monterrey, Illinois Department of Human Services, UnitedHealth Group

Suncorp Group Limited, St. Vincent Health, Citigroup, SRCSD, and UK Dept for Work and Pensions.

Buyer's Guide

IBM ECM vs. IBM FileNet

January 2025

Free Report: IBM ECM vs. IBM FileNet

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