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Hyland Perceptive Content vs IBM FileNet comparison

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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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Hyland Perceptive Content
Average Rating
6.6
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Document Management Software (13th)
IBM FileNet
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
104
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Content Management (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Content Management solutions, they serve different purposes. Hyland Perceptive Content is designed for Document Management Software and holds a mindshare of 3.0%, down 3.0% compared to last year.
IBM FileNet, on the other hand, focuses on Enterprise Content Management, holds 5.5% mindshare, down 8.2% since last year.
Document Management Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Hyland Perceptive Content3.0%
Alfresco8.5%
Box - Intelligent Content Management6.3%
Other82.2%
Document Management Software
Enterprise Content Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM FileNet5.5%
SharePoint11.8%
OpenText Documentum Content Management6.7%
Other76.0%
Enterprise Content Management
 

Featured Reviews

it_user588597 - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Accountant at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Once a document is scanned, you can neither edit it nor change its location.
I would like it to have more functions, like Bluebeam. It can be improved so that we can edit the file that got scanned into the system. If we scan the document to the wrong place, we can’t change it. As an example, if something was scanned as a reference, but should be an invoice, you cannot change it afterwards. I think it should have more functions that will allow us to edit the file in ImageNow -- such as adding pages, deleting pages. I also think it should have more hot keys (maybe I just don’t know there are) for easier “route forward”, “view next item”, so I don’t have to use my mouse. There is also a question that came up when I was using it recently, why do we need both “properties” and “forms”? If we index the document in Forms, it will take a long time for it to move to another queue and show the info. If we index it in Properties, it will update immediately. My question is why do we need both? Can’t we just put info in Forms and it will work just like Properties? It is time-consuming to put info in both pages. If the invoice is out of balance, maybe there should be a function that stops it being routed forward. If we route it by accident, it takes time for the approver to reject and routed back. If we can catch it in the first place and fix it when there is a warning sign. I know that there will be a red message saying “out of balance”, but it doesn’t always show up. Is it possible for us to “recall” the routed item? Just like recalling an email that you accidentally sent out. Can we make the Notes section working like a sticky note so it shows name/date, shows the most recent message on top. Sticky note is hard to read (too small) and easily get missed as people put it anywhere. We use notes section for every invoice. We often put a lot of messages there and it gets messy.
Shankar-Kambhampaty - PeerSpot reviewer
Consulting CTO at a tech consulting company with 1-10 employees
Business workflows have been automated and document processes are streamlined at large scale
I believe IBM FileNet could be improved or enhanced in the future, specifically the user interface development support, which, despite all the improvements, still feels from the 2010s or 2000s. The current state of the user interface development support and the ability to customize it leaves much to be desired. The backend engine, process engine, and object engine are fantastic. However, the user interface, which is required to provide an impressive experience to the user, is difficult to build. IBM will need to do something about this area. Over time, IBM has made improvements with enhancements through CP4BA and other tools, with which user interfaces can be built. But there is much more is needed. The initial setup process for IBM FileNet requires specialists. IBM FileNet is not a click-click-click deploy kind of product. It has several components that need to be installed in different versions and in a particular order. Additionally, IBM Cloud does not provide a proper experience. The problem is I cannot use IBM Cloud easily. I cannot even get a membership easily. With AWS, I just use my credit card, sign up, and I am done. With IBM Cloud, that is not how it is. They go through all validation processes, and it is a nightmare at times. There are problems around IBM FileNet, not exactly with IBM FileNet itself, but the point is that it is not a click-click-click deploy either on the cloud or on-premise. It requires specialists, and there is a big learning curve toward deploying and managing the whole infrastructure as well as the software. I communicate with the technical support of IBM frequently. I have communicated several times, and frankly, there is much to be desired on that side. When you raise a ticket, it takes 24 to 48 hours for them to respond. We live in a time where business moves at the speed of light. Twenty-four hours is a very long time. You need to be able to get technical support instantaneously. It is not like the more contemporary support models where you get turnaround in minutes, not days.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"If you want to go paperless, this is a great product."
"Customizability that the product gives to make the end user happy."
"I like the ability to have workflows."
"There are no lost documents, and everyone can see them based on security clearance."
"The most valuable feature is seamless storing and retrieval of documents irrespective of the format of the document."
"For a large company, for the robustness, stability, performance, and the growth — that you can grow it within seconds — I would advise using FileNet, without any doubt."
"The solution has increased productivity; it has reduced operating costs and saved us time, turning processes that used to take weeks into tasks that are now completed within days."
"It has a very broad market share and a lot of people know about it."
"If we run into problems, which is inevitable (and we run into problems all the time), we get quick responses and good solutions back from the technical support."
"The best-scaling ECM solution now comes with a beautiful, extendable UI."
"The most valuable features of IBM File Manager are workflow, content, and process capabilities."
"FileNet provides a compact solution for midsized companies."
 

Cons

"Bar Code OCR ICR."
"Too many companies/products have been purchased by Perceptive over the past few years with what feels like little development on currently owned products."
"It will stop working if you are in the system for too long."
"From my understanding, ImageNow licenses are not compatible with laptop computers (at least not with the one that I have). Therefore, if I have a PDF on my screen, in order to get it into ImageNow, I have to either email it to someone with a license, who can print directly to ImageNow, or print it out and have someone at a scanning station, scan it in and then link it to a student’s record."
"We know that they're looking at documents, but we don't know what documents they're actually going and finding the most, or where the bottlenecks might be. It would be nice if there was some interconnectivity back into Bluemix to say, "Ok, you've got a workflow problem here." That would be a neat feature moving forward because we've got a lot of users that would just say, "The system is not working." We had a few threads would get hung up because they were just constantly banging on these few documents. If that were the case, if we knew that ahead of time, then we could fix that, change the search sequences to make it more efficient. But we were blind to that until the users said it's not working."
"The complexity of installation can also be improved. They should re-imagine the way that they install products."
"The area of migrations to new versions must be made easier."
"The new user interface is not easy to set up, so some improvements along these lines would be good."
"In Content Navigator we want to see the ability to view different types of video... We are using HTML 5 but it's very limited... We definitely want to see support for most types of video formats in the market."
"The one feature or direction I would like to see IBM move the tools, is to make them more tolerant for or lend itself more to continuous integration, continuous delivery; the DevOps model that most organizations are adopting."
"It may be a little complex to implement and take some effort, but with the integration the way it is, it is worth the effort."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The licensing cost of FileNet is comparable."
"The cost is about $40,000, plus yearly maintenance."
"It is still a leading ECM solution provider, however the cost to implement and maintain are higher than other solutions."
"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."
"Licensing costs depend on the size of the storage."
"The solution saves time and money. It helps us to be able to accomplish the goals of our business, as opposed to being tangled in the weeds of what we could do."
"When it comes to pricing, IBM needs to make an effort to improve the cost. That's the main issue regarding use of FinalNet in Columbia."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Healthcare Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
11%
University
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Construction Company
7%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business32
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise74
 

Questions from the Community

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM FileNet?
The pricing and licensing of IBM FileNet is high. We are living in a world where the minimal license from IBM costs anywhere from seventy-five thousand to one hundred thousand US dollars, depending...
What needs improvement with IBM FileNet?
I believe IBM FileNet could be improved or enhanced in the future, specifically the user interface development support, which, despite all the improvements, still feels from the 2010s or 2000s. The...
What is your primary use case for IBM FileNet?
My usual use cases for IBM FileNet involve three primary areas. The first is document management. For instance, if you have an insurance application, you can store all the documents required to pro...
 

Also Known As

ImageNow
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Suncorp Group Limited, St. Vincent Health, Citigroup, SRCSD, and UK Dept for Work and Pensions.
Find out what your peers are saying about Hyland, Conga, Box and others in Document Management Software. Updated: August 2026.
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