What should I expect to pay for an ECM system?

How much you should expect to pay for an ECM system will depend primarily on the volume of documentation you process, how many users need to access the system, and what type of functionality you need.

You will likely find that the pricing structure is different for each system you look at, so apples-to-apples comparisons can be difficult. The best advice may be to select the system that you are most comfortable with and make sure the pricing is not out of line with other available products.

Hosted systems

For a basic low-volume system with the ability to store, search and retrieve digital documents, you may expect to pay about $150 per month plus some startup costs.

For a more advanced system with work flow and integration with other business systems, you may expect to pay $1,000 or more per month plus startup costs.

You could almost certainly find less expensive systems, but you will want to do some due diligence to verify things like quality of customer support, robustness of the data center where your data will be stored, etc.

In-house systems

For a basic low-volume system with the ability to store, search and retrieve, you may expect to pay about $5,000 plus installation and training costs.

For a more advanced system with work flow and integration with other business systems, you may expect to pay $25,000 or more plus installation and training costs.

Most vendors will also charge 20% or so for annual maintenance and support on in-house systems.

Other notes on costs

With most systems, both hosted and in-house, your costs will increase with your usage - generally based on the amount of information stored or the number of users, or a combination of both.

Find out if unlimited phone support is included with your software or if support costs extra.

Prevent creeping costs. If possible, put into writing how you plan to use your system and have your vendor confirm in writing that the system you are buying includes all required functionality.