AI Is Rewriting the Rules of Enterprise Content—Aragon’s 2025 iECM Report Maps the New Terrain
For years, enterprise content management (ECM) sat in the back office—critical, but rarely exciting. That changes now. According to Aragon Research’s 2025 Globe™ for Intelligent Enterprise Content Management (iECM), ECM has entered its AI era, and it’s moving to the front lines of digital strategy.
The report evaluates 12 key players leading the transition from static content repositories to AI-infused intelligent content platforms—including Microsoft, IBM, Box, OpenText, Oracle, and Hyland. At stake: not just operational efficiency, but competitive advantage in a world run by intelligent content assistants and real-time insights.
From Digital Filing Cabinets to Content Intelligence Engines
“Enterprise content is no longer just a storage problem—it’s an untapped well of strategic value,” said Jim Lundy, CEO and Founder of Aragon Research. “Companies still clinging to legacy systems are not just outdated—they’re vulnerable.”
The 2025 iECM Globe makes it clear: Generative AI and intelligent content assistants have permanently altered the content game. Leaders in the space are leveraging AI to unlock insights, speed up decision-making, and automate knowledge work across departments.
The result? Content management is no longer an IT function. It’s a strategic imperative.
Key Themes from the 2025 iECM Globe™
1. The Content Renaissance
Content is more valuable than ever before—if you know how to use it. With the rise of content AI, enterprise documents and records can now be mined for trends, risks, and opportunities that were previously buried in PDFs and shared drives.
From speeding up legal reviews to surfacing compliance gaps, intelligent ECM platforms can turn content into action—and in some cases, into revenue.
2. Generative AI Assistants Are Here—and Getting Smarter
AI-powered content assistants are no longer theoretical. They’re live, deployed, and helping enterprises automate everything from document creation to summarization and insights generation.
The report also predicts the rise of specialized AI agents tailored to specific functions (HR, legal, customer service), giving businesses targeted tools to act on their vast stores of unstructured content.
3. Modern iECM Is a Business Enabler
Companies still treating ECM as an administrative necessity rather than a digital enabler are falling behind. The report urges CIOs and business leaders to reframe ECM as a gateway to AI transformation, particularly as new tools integrate seamlessly with existing enterprise workflows and systems.
The Vendors to Watch
Aragon evaluated 12 standout vendors based on performance, innovation, and ability to support AI-driven content management at scale:
AODocs, Box, Hyland, IBM, KnowledgeLake, Laserfiche, M-Files, Microsoft, Newgen, OpenText, Oracle, and RPost.
These vendors are pushing the envelope on AI integration, user experience, and intelligent automation. Some, like Microsoft and IBM, bring deep AI infrastructure to the table. Others, like M-Files or KnowledgeLake, are making waves with domain-specific innovation and cloud-native agility.
Why This Matters Now
In a post-GPT world, enterprise content isn’t just something you store—it’s something you mine, automate, and learn from. And with mounting pressure to increase productivity, reduce risk, and unlock new efficiencies, content platforms that fail to evolve will hold companies back.
Enterprises that act now to modernize their content infrastructure—particularly with AI and intelligent assistants in mind—can transform everything from compliance and customer service to product development and go-to-market speed.
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