Company:            SpringCM

Started:                2006

Located:               San Mateo, CA

Geography:          Global

Market:                On-demand Document Management and Workflow

Products:             SpringCM On-Demand Platform and Privia

Key Customers:   ACS, Comcast, CSC, Dresser, HealthNet, Siemens and Stratus Technologies

Website:               SpringCM


Recent News:

SpringCM Adds Eight New Partners in Most Recent Quarter

SpringCM Announces New Version Of ECM

SpringCM and XRSolutions Partner To Streamline Government Proposal Process

SpringCM Privia Helps Government Contractors Collaborate To Win Contracts

I asked Dan Carmel, SpringCM’s Chief Executive Officer a few questions about his business and his view of the SaaS market in 2009.


Did you start out as a Software-as-a-Service company?

We started out in Chicago in 2006 but we were founded a SaaS company. Because we are a SaaS company we have a different way of developing, managing, upgrading and deploying our solutions than a traditional on-premise software firm. In terms of a category we are focused exclusively on Enterprise Content Management (ECM).

Why do your customers buy from SpringCM?

One of the main reasons is because we are a true ECM SaaS company, that can offer equivalent functionality as some of the traditional on-premise players at 1/10th of the cost. For our customers it means that they can get their solution installed and go live in a matter of months, not years. Traditional ECM implementations have been complex, difficult and then hard to extend over time. SpringCM offers a more streamlined approach that provides for rapid deployment and at a more reasonable price point.

As I mentioned, traditional ECM deployments are complex and this is often because customers need to integrate different components like faxing, image scanning, email, workflow and other capabilities into their existing ECM platform. With SpringCM we have simplified this process by pre-integrating 25 pieces of functionality into our platform.

Major categories that we have pre-integrated include image capture, scanners, OCR, and faxes that can be searchable as full text and PDF’s that can be marked up using a standard browser, eSignature, email and print on-demand. Our platform also provides Business Process Management (BPM) automation; it is rules based with routing and approvals along with full workflow. SpringCM provides all of these capabilities, and more, with full enterprise security. These solutions are bundled together and can be purchased for as little as $49.99/month per seat with 5 view-only licenses, so getting started with the SpringCM platform is easy and affordable.

With all of these capabilities bundled into the SpringCM platform, we are finding more and more partners looking to work with us to create specific templated solutions for contracts management, proposal management and accounts payable, to name a few. Our Privia®

Solution was designed specifically to streamline the government bid and proposal process and provides a complete end-to-end government Contract Lifecycle Management solution.

All of these templated partner solutions are available through the SpringCM Solutions Central Marketplace, which is just like the Salesforce.com AppExchange that is available on the Force.com platform. SpringCM is a Salesforce.com partner and we offer the ability to extend their platform because although there is a lot of data in their system, they have a hard time managing content. Simple things like email and fax re-use, being able to configure and manage content-based applications like proposals.

Most of our customers typically start out as a departmental system addressing a single business challenge and then would roll-out a broader enterprise solution later. This process can be difficult and costly because it traditional ECM solutions were not modular or open, making expansion from a single application or departmental solution to a full enterprise instance a real challenge. SpringCM solves this problem by allowing multiple departmental systems to run all from a single platform. This means our customers can start with a single application, solving a specific problem and then roll out more functionality over time when it makes sense for their business. Most of our customers are using the SpringCM platform to solve anywhere for 2 to 6 different ECM challenges.

What do you see as the key trend emerging in the SaaS industry?

We clearly see the emergence of powerhouse SaaS platforms. This is because there are so many new SaaS solutions on the market and for customers it takes time to vet a SaaS provider including their integration, security and service levels. The IT organization at most large companies does not want to work with a lot of different SaaS vendors, they are looking for platforms that can make this vetting process easier for them and that is why Force.com and SpringCM are attractive.

The three phases of SaaS adoption we are seeing are that customers start with a pilot that is easy to do and you can achieve fast Return On Investment (ROI). Then once their pilot project is successful, the customer then will increase the number applications they are using and expand usage across their organization. They might have considered extending their on-premise legacy system but instead decided to try SaaS instead. The last phase of SaaS adoption is when the customer’s existing systems become end-of-life and they are replaced with newer SaaS solutions. Think of solutions like OpenText, Documentum or Interwoven and it is time to upgrade, even after paying maintenance I still need to buy new hardware and software to support the upgrade. This becomes a trigger event for the customer to start looking for alternatives. Now that they are familiar with your SaaS solution, they are already using you for smaller projects, you gain their confidence, your solution becomes a viable alternative.

These powerhouse SaaS platforms are where customers are going to start looking for their next SaaS solutions. SpringCM also helps enterprises better manage their diverse content requirements including Human Resources and business process likes like benefits administration, resume management and HR policy development. We see areas in the Finance organization that need a SpringCM ECM platform to help them with accounts payable, collections, accounts receivables, SEC regulations and business planning.

From IT’s perspective, these powerhouse SaaS Platforms, like SpringCM, provide solutions from trusted relationships, with a single set of web services that make integration of additional solutions easier. They also offer a consistent user interface, SpringCM is similar to Microsoft Office and the employees who know how to use one application, can figure out how to use all the others. This usability lowers training costs and streamlines user adoption.

With the SaaS market maturing, there is a strategic opportunity for a handful of these SaaS platform providers to dramatically improve the overall market adoption of SaaS solutions. SpringCM just launched our platform about 9 months ago and we have seen dramatic adoption by not your our clients but also new partners who are excited about the opportunity to build content applications on top of our platform.

What is your outlook for 2009?

I am very optimistic because we have seen substantial growth, even during the downturn. We believe more and more software companies will move to SaaS, and we are signing up at least one new solution partner per month. These partners are looking to leverage the SpringCM platform to actually become a SaaS company, so we can be that SaaS business enabler.

Thank you to Dan Carmel for contributing to this profile.