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DocuShare vs IBM FileNet vs SAP Extended Enterprise Content Management comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Enterprise Content Management category, the mindshare of DocuShare is 0.6%, down from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM FileNet is 8.2%, down from 10.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Extended Enterprise Content Management is 1.1%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Content Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM FileNet8.2%
SAP Extended Enterprise Content Management1.1%
DocuShare0.6%
Other90.1%
Enterprise Content Management
 

Featured Reviews

RW
The new releases incorporate significant advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and language processing capabilities
Version control interface is very good. The new releases of DocuShare incorporate significant advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and language processing capabilities. For instance, when you upload a document into DocuShare, you no longer need to set up templates to identify and extract important fields. The system automatically reads the document and identifies key information. For example, in a contract document between two entities, it can recognize the contract start date, end date, reference number, and other relevant details without manual intervention. This automated process streamlines document management. You should know your requirements and understand your environment, as well as the goals you want to achieve. Try out the demo first to see if it fits your needs and objectives before making a decision. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.
ARTHUR BRUNO - PeerSpot reviewer
Has provided robust content management but requires simplification in configuration and usability
We almost do not utilize the automation capabilities of IBM FileNet to streamline our business processes. The process automation and business automation features are barely used. Currently, we primarily use it to store content. We are now trying to use all of the functionalities of IBM FileNet, but we have not yet utilized the full capacity of the system. We are trying to reduce redundancy with IBM FileNet by enhancing our business rules. However, we still have significant redundancy. IBM FileNet can help us reduce redundancy, but we need to understand the tool and use all the functionalities to accomplish this. Ease of use with IBM FileNet is a disadvantage of this tool. It is complex and hard to use. When we try to set up IBM FileNet, we have many questions. We do not understand what we need to do in IBM FileNet. There are many configurations we must make but do not know how to implement. While IBM FileNet is very reliable, it is very difficult to set up. When reading the documentation about IBM FileNet, it appears to be very reliable and secure, but setting up configurations, access rules, authorization, and authentication seems to be very challenging.
MukeshGiri - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers advanced search capabilities, integrates seamlessly with SAP and efficiently stores non-essential business content
Consider you have some use cases. For example, something for your accounting or procurement department. And you purchase equipment, machines, and plants for plant-related operations. Essentially, there will be manuals and basically anything and everything related to your particular equipment. So, where do the equipment entries go? They go into SAP. Depending on your SAP deployment, it can go into some database. Most companies these days are talking about SAP HANA and stuff like that. So it will be stored in SAP HANA. But, these documentation, drawings, manuals, and help files for these big pieces of equipment, where do they go? That’s where Extended ECM for SAP comes into the picture. All these integrations are through a one-way push, essentially, but with two-way access. So as a user in the procurement department or the accounting department, or an engineering department where you are using SAP for asset management entries inside your system. All those related documents, drawings, manuals, and files have to be stored somewhere. If you store them in SAP, it will be a costly implementation going forward. After maybe a couple of years, you will realize that it’s too much to deal with because HANA database will be too costly. There will not be much business value because you cannot utilize a lot of search and cool features inside your application from an SAP perspective. That’s where you will integrate SAP. For example, SAP Extended ECM for SAP Plant Maintenance. One of the modules SAP provides is SAP Plant Maintenance. So what you will do is deploy Extended ECM for SAP, then try something called SAP Plant Maintenance, Extended ECM for SAP Plant Maintenance. The content maintenance, manuals, files, drawings, and related stuff, its details or tags, or any kind of stuff is stored in your SAP. But anything and everything else is pushed through this integration into Extended ECM platform. So now it is available to be utilized by your business user who knows nothing about SAP. They only live and breathe in a different management system. They can look into these details depending on what kind of integration has been done for that company. So that’s one use case. Second use case will be in SAP itself. Now, if you are an SAP user, you have this information readily available at your fingertips. Anything goes wrong in your maintenance or any kind of management, you can look into these details, which are readily available because this documentation lifecycle is being managed by Extended ECM for SAP. It will give you extended storage capabilities within your SAP application. So it will be a two-way integration, essentially. Similar, wider features will be available within Extended ECM platform. Within SAP, you have these extra features called business attachments or business content retrieval. Those business contents are stored inside Extended ECM, and those features will be available within your SAP GUI from an SAP perspective. So it’s a win-win situation for both worlds.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The software development kit can be customized."
"It has given us a whole new environment to do document management and document storage."
"The document collaboration is very good. There is something called Pink Note where departments can collaborate within the document. It has a built-in viewer to see any type of document."
"The most critical benefit has been ease of use. It speeds along our development helping us go to market a lot sooner."
"IBM FileNet has improved our organization with its single collaboration space."
"We have probably cut out at least 40 percent of what the work process was by easing out that whole distribution of paper."
"It has the ability to mix document management and process automation."
"FileNet is highly scalable and suited for implementation in large multinational organizations."
"The application, in terms of durability, has been able to withstand the usage, given that it was installed in 2003 and it's still working."
"All these integrations are through a one-way push, essentially, but with two-way access."
"The integration capabilities of the product are pretty good."
 

Cons

"The user interface could be improved."
"The most valuable features of IBM File Manager are workflow, content, and process capabilities."
"We do have some individuals that do need to come up to speed on it technically, and the only onsite training for Case Manager is in Europe, there is not a lot of US-based training. So they have to do all their training online rather than being able to go and have a good bootcamp-style training somewhere nearby."
"FileNet and similar enterprise-level tools require substantial costs, starting in the millions, which limits their use to large enterprises."
"It was complex. There were a lot of dependencies depending on the product. It had to be compatible with the Windows matching."
"There is room for improvement in the file management. It's very complex."
"I think some of the technical pieces, when implementing it ourselves, were something of a roadblock until we discovered the Concierge. Those are some things they have to work on."
"I know it took them seven months to convert, so the initial setup was, probably to some degree, complex."
"However, the configuration does take a long time. Every company needs its own configuration design. It depends on how many applications are connecting to FileNet. It can take a long time, depending on the application count."
"The deployment could be costly because of resource availability."
"The product's price is an area of concern where improvements are required."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Yearly, we pay for the maintenance, which is $20,000."
"Licensing costs depend on the size of the storage."
"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."
"FileNet is not cheap, but you absolutely get what you pay for. ​"
"IBM FileNet is an expensive solution."
"The tool is expensive, and I rate its pricing a ten out of ten."
"The licensing cost of FileNet is comparable."
"The cost is about $40,000, plus yearly maintenance."
"I rate the product price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
9%
Insurance Company
9%
Energy/Utilities Company
22%
University
14%
Government
8%
Performing Arts
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise74
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with DocuShare?
The user interface could be improved.
What is your primary use case for DocuShare?
We use the solution for electronic document filing.
What advice do you have for others considering DocuShare?
Version control interface is very good. The new releases of DocuShare incorporate significant advancements in artific...
What do you like most about IBM FileNet?
The product is robust and can process a lot of documents for enterprise content management.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM FileNet?
From the company's perspective, the licensing cost for IBM FileNet is still affordable. Though the license cost is so...
What needs improvement with IBM FileNet?
We almost do not utilize the automation capabilities of IBM FileNet to streamline our business processes. The process...
What do you like most about SAP Extended Enterprise Content Management?
The integration capabilities of the product are pretty good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Extended Enterprise Content Management?
The prices can vary depending on the customer, region, and domain. I rate the product price an eight on a scale of on...
What needs improvement with SAP Extended Enterprise Content Management?
Improvement could be more about training because it is one of the giants in this market. Nobody can be exposed to SAP...
 

Also Known As

No data available
No data available
SAP Extended Enterprise Content Management by OpenText, SAP Extended ECM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Lincoln Public Schools, West Orange School District, Tulane University, Niagara Catholic School District, Arig, Co-operative Financial Services, Mizuho Capital Markets Corporation, Volksbank Romania and Iron Mountain, Hammersmith Hospital, Holman Insurance Brokers Ltd., Kaiser Permanente, Convergys Inc., Honeywell, Universal Pictures, McGraw Hill Construction Information Group
Suncorp Group Limited, St. Vincent Health, Citigroup, SRCSD, and UK Dept for Work and Pensions.
Metropolitan Utilities District, MAN Diesel & Turbo
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, OpenText, IBM and others in Enterprise Content Management. Updated: September 2025.
869,095 professionals have used our research since 2012.