<p>This topic has to some degree been a theme in many of my posts over the last 18 months, but given how often I'm asked to speak to this in my day-to-day travels and given the amount of churn it causes among us pundits and prognosticators on both sides of the fence I figured I'd address it head on here in a single post. In a Nutshell</p><p>The short answer for why SharePoint will almost never be your sole enterprise content management (ECM) system is that, simply put, the vast majority of organizations have ECM needs that go beyond what SharePoint on its own can deliver. Full stop.</p><p>I know this is going to inspire a lively debate, so let me try to frame that debate ahead of time by explaining in more detail just what I mean. SharePoint's ECM Shortcomings by Industry</p><p>First let's consider some of the more advanced ECM needs that go beyond what SharePoint can do grouped by industry: Financial Services, Banking, Insurance: high-volume transactional workflow, e.g., account opening, claims processing, billing, underwriting, etc., high-volume scanning and indexing Energy and Natural Resources: engineering drawing management, construction project management, supply chain management, asset management Manufacturing: engineering drawing management, supply chain management, asset management Construction: engineering drawing management, construction project management, supply chain management, asset management Pharma: clinical trial management, regulatory submission, quality and manufacturing Government: DOD compliant records management, high-volume scanning and indexing SharePoint's ECM Shortcomings in General</p><p><a href="http://www.cmswire.com/cms/information-management/sharepoint-will-almost-never-be-your-sole-ecm-system-022826.php">Keep reading...</a></p>