Best Enterprise Content Management Platforms

Finding the best enterprise content management platform is not easy. These solutions can vary greatly, and what’s important to one company may not be as important to another. But there are key performance indicators that evaluators can use when looking for the right solution.

There are a number of review sites where actual ECM users comment on their likes and dislikes, and rate their experiences in areas that include:

  • Ease of use
  • Features and functionality
  • Customer support
  • Value for price
  • User interface and experience

We recently looked at reviews found on G2 Crowd, Capterra, Software Advice, IT Central Station, and GetApp to get a sense of how DocStar rates with users as compared to how the users of other platforms rate their experiences. We looked at all the scores and tallied these, using a scale of one to five, with five being the highest score. The results are shared here. These aren’t our opinions, but reviews from real users.

Ease of use.

Ease of use is a great indication of how various providers solve for making the complexity of enterprise content management manageable.  Ultimately, if a platform isn’t easy to use, user adoption will be lower and slower than desired, and efficiency will be impacted, leading to a low return on investment.  The scores for ease of use were as follow, from highest to lowest:

  • DocStar – 4.2
  • PaperSave – 3.6
  • DocuWare – 3.5
  • DocuPhase – 3.3
  • MetaViewer – 2.5
  • Altec – 1.9

User interface and experience.

The overall user experience (or UX) differs from ease of use, but it’s often related. A great UX is user-centered and shows an in-depth understanding of the context of use – the business processes and desired outcomes.  The scores for user interface and experience were as follow, from highest to lowest:

  • DocStar – 4.2
  • DocuWare – 3.4
  • PaperSave – 3.2
  • DocuPhase – 3.1
  • MetaViewer – 2.4
  • Altec – 1.9

Features and functionality.

Areas such as workflow management, forms, approvals, routing, capture, retrieval, and auditability all go into features and functionality. Look for platforms that not only score well on ease of use but have the features needed to support the goals of the business. The scores for features and functionality were as follow, from highest to lowest:

  • DocStar – 4
  • DocuPhase, DocuWare, and PaperSave – 3.5
  • MetaViewer – 2.9
  • Altec – 2

Customer support

When a problem does occur or an issue arises, you need a partner that will be there for you. Regrettable, many users of these platforms give poor marks for customer support with one notable exception.  The scores for customer support were as follow, from highest to lowest:

  • DocStar – 4.1
  • DocuWare – 2.8
  • PaperSave – 2.5
  • DocuPhase – 2.3
  • Altec – 2
  • MetaViewer – 1.7

Value and price

The ultimate test of the best enterprise content management platform is its value relative to price.  In this context, the price is more than the initial cost – it’s the total cost of ownership. The scores for value and price were as follow, from highest to lowest:

  • DocStar – 4.4
  • DocuWare – 3.9
  • PaperSave – 3.8
  • DocuPhase – 3.6
  • Altec – 2.5
  • MetaViewer – 2.1

When you add these all up, here’s where each of these platforms land, from highest to lowest:

  • DocStar – 4.1
  • DocuWare – 3.5
  • DocuPhase and PaperSave – 3.3
  • MetaViewer – 2.4
  • Altec – 2.09

These aren’t our opinions, but scores based on reviews from real users.  If you’re looking for the best enterprise content management platform, there’s no better place to start than with the experience of those using these platforms today.