Frost & Sullivan: Enterprise Content Management is the Answer to Clinical Data Boom

LONDON, April 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The introduction of mandates involving meaningful use of data and various governmental eHealth initiatives across the globe are fuelling the adoption of electronic medical records (EMR) and healthcare information systems (HIS) to enable universal access to patient information. The resulting boom in clinical content can only be effectively managed by enterprise content management (ECM) solutions. Healthcare providers are upgrading their legacy content management solutions and transitioning to ECM solutions that can derive meaningful insights from complex information and hugely improve healthcare data liquidity.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan's Analysis of the Global Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Market for Healthcare finds the market earned revenue of $318.2 million in 2013 and estimates this to more than double to reach $715.4 million in 2019. While Europe and the United States will witness steady demand for ECM solutions, Asia-Pacific will experience significant growth especially in Australia and Mainland Asia.

"Attracted by the vast opportunities, traditional ECM vendors have forayed into the healthcare space - some focusing exclusively on ECM software products for this industry and others extending their product line to cater to the needs of healthcare clients," says Frost & Sullivan Healthcare Research Analyst Shruthi Parakkal. "These trends are expected to significantly boost market penetration rates of ECM, since 70-80 percent of the end user market is yet to deploy these solutions."

For the moment, however, market participants are faced with a slight shrinkage in the addressable market size of end users due to the decline in the number of hospitals through shutdowns and consolidation. This, along with the short-sightedness of health plans and EMR mandates in not including the integration of ECM solutions to manage the enormous amount of data generated, is lowering market potential.

Moreover, the fear of altering the status quo – installing ECM requires a collective organisational commitment for a smooth transition – is deterring hospitals and healthcare providers. This reluctance is also fuelled by the reduced budgets of hospitals that are currently limited to investments in EMR and HIS installations.

In this scenario, ECM solution providers for the healthcare industry must continually strive to improve their product offerings, comply with regulations, and demonstrate high return on investment in order to attain maximum penetration in the healthcare market.

"ECM solution providers are already shifting their focus from the traditional on-premise models to externally hosted solutions to improve the efficiency and lower the total cost of operations for hospitals and healthcare providers," observes Parakkal. "This will bring considerable benefits particularly to end users who are finding it difficult to concurrently manage ECM solutions in-house and optimise the costs associated with it."

For more information on this research, please email Anna Zanchi, Corporate Communications, at [email protected]

Analysis of the Global Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Market for Healthcare is part of the Connected Health (http://www.connectedhealth.frost.com) Growth Partnership Service program. Frost & Sullivan's related studies include: US Market for General Wellness and Early Intervention Technologies, US Patient Portal Market for Hospitals and Physicians, US Physician Revenue Cycle Management, and US and European Digital Pathology Systems Market. All studies included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies?

Contact
Anna Zanchi
Corporate Communications – Europe
P: +39.02.4851 6133
E: [email protected] 
http://www.frost.com

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan