Why investments in ECM are doubling — and why that's not progress

The figures are impressive: The market for enterprise content management (ECM) and document archiving is growing. Companies are investing in cloud, compliance and AI-based document processes — and budgets are increasing significantly. But a second look shows that growth does not automatically mean progress. This is because a large part of the investments are used to convert existing old architectures into new operating models — not to replace them.

Key Takeaways

• ECM investments are rising sharply — but the benefits often do not increase because many budgets go into migrating old architectures instead of real modernization.

• “Lift & Shift” to the cloud is often just a change of location, not a structural improvement: integration complexity, redundancies and operating costs remain.

• With SAP's clean-core strategy, the role of archiving is shifting: away from monolithic ECM towards lean, service-based archives as an infrastructure component.

• An SAP-native, intelligent archive can simplify migrations, avoid redundancies, and support compliance by design—without an additional ECM system.

• Doubling spending is not progress if the goal is “more systems” instead of “less complexity.”

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1) Market analysis: growth with question marks

According to a market analysis by valantic (October 2025), the global ECM and archiving market is growing strongly and is expected to reach a volume of 14.6 billion euros by 2025 — a doubling within a few years.

Three megatrends are driving this development:

• Cloud Shift: Legacy systems are being transferred to cloud environments, data centers are being dismantled, operating models are changing.

• Regulatory requirements: Requirements relating to e-invoicing and standards such as EN 16931 increase the pressure to manage processes and documentation cleanly.

• AI in document management: Automated classification, extraction, routing and verification of documents is becoming a business case for many companies.

That sounds like a departure. In practice, however, the following often happens: A large part of the budget is spent on migration and continued operation, not on architectural modernization. In short, the market is growing — but often because companies are moving expensive legacy issues, not because they are really rethinking architectures.

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2) The problem: Old systems in the cloud are still old systems

As part of their SAP S/4HANA transformation, many companies continue to rely on ECM solutions that were originally designed for on-premises. This leads to typical migration patterns:

• Lift & Shift: The platform is “moved”, the system remains structurally the same.

• Bluefield: Technically modernized, but with many existing structures, integrations and data models.

What often persists:

• Complex integration landscapes (many interfaces, individual adapters, connections that have evolved over time)

• Redundant data storage (documents/metadata are stored in parallel in ERP and ECM or in several repositories)

• High operating costs (monitoring, updates, licenses, interface maintenance, incident costs)

The effect: Although you achieve cloud operation, you do not automatically achieve cloud benefits such as reduced complexity, better scaling through services or easier lifecycle management.

Note: Cloud migration is only progress if the architecture improves — not just the infrastructure.

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3) Structural change: The migration to ERP

At the same time, SAP is consistently pursuing the clean core strategy: standardization, decoupling, fewer modifications, clearer interfaces, and an ERP core that remains upgradable.

This has a direct impact on content and archiving architectures:

• Functions that used to be “in ECM” are migrated back into the ERP process flow or are connected via certified interfaces.

• The role of archiving is therefore shifting significantly: away from monolithic systems with their own database, towards lean, service-based archives that act as an infrastructure component — not as an additional application world.

This changes the evaluation criteria: Not “which ECM can do the most,” but: Which architecture reduces complexity, prevents redundancy and remains S/4HANA upgradeable?

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4) Architecture answer: Intelligent archive instead of complex system

When the trend is towards less complexity and clean ERP integration, the result is a clear goal: An archive should not be “just another system,” but an archive infrastructure that fits in with SAP and supports the process flow.

One such approach is an SAP-native, lightweight archive that:

• does not generate redundant data storage,

• does not require an additional ECM as a mandatory component,

• integrates with SAP via standards and certified interfaces (e.g. ArchiveLink®, ILM, CMIS)

• supports hybrid and cloud scenarios.

Outcome effects of such a target architecture:

• No replication between ERP and separate ECM database

• Lower migration costs with SAP S/4HANA (fewer interfaces, less legacy logic, fewer data copies)

• Reduced operating costs due to a leaner system landscape

• Compliance by design: traceability, storage, access and verification are included in the architecture

tia® — the intelligent archive has made exactly that a principle. Here find out more.

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5) Conclusion: Doubling is not progress

The fact that ECM investments are doubling is primarily a signal of how great the pressure has become from cloud transformation, regulation and AI. But: More budget doesn't automatically mean better results. When companies move billions to operate old structures in new environments, growth occurs — but not progress.

The future does not lie in “more systems,” but in:

• less redundancy,

• less integration complexity,

• clear interfaces,

• and archiving that functions as a lean, ERP-related infrastructure.