RSG's customer research has found that traditional file shares (a.k.a., F: and U: drives) remain pervasive. And likewise email. Many employees still use their email systems and file shares to store, manage, and share documents -- even within organizations that have already invested in ECM or DM tools

As a standalone service, Syncplicity probably wasn’t lucrative enough for an EMC sales strategy that focuses on large deals. Moreover, customers who are not "EMC shops,” and others will probably find it easier to deal with a standalone Syncplicity instead of EMC

Going forward, I believe there are two possibilities in terms of how standalone, cloud-based file sharing and sync services will evolve

In a fresh advisory briefing for our ECM stream subscribers, we look at what the Oracle platform offers, how it differentiates itself from others and what are the pitfalls you should look out for.

You'll face a particularly important technical decision related to security and storage choices

One new feature that many ECM platforms (and all Cloud-based file sharing tools) provide is the ability to sync files across your multiple devices: desktop, laptop, mobile phones, and tablets. The idea is that you should be able to access your files -- and optionally complete tasks -- irrespective of your location or device type

The more customers I speak to, the more I'm convinced that cloud-based file sharing (CFS) and sync services within enterprises are increasingly getting subsumed with enterprise software from other categories, most notably the Document Management and ECM tool vendors

These segments are increasingly overlapping, as Cloud-based File Sharing (CFS) vendors build better Document Management (DM) capabilities (such as library services) and DM vendors build (or acquire) cloud-based file-sharing, sync, and lightweight collaboration services

Cloud-based file-sharing technology has emerged as an enterprise concern, with more organizations seeking to address employee needs pro-actively by licensing approved platforms.

Our just-released Cloud File Sharing and Collaboration evaluation research takes a close look at this newly emerging marketplac