Market Overview: Enterprise Rights Management

Enterprise rights management (ERM) products enable organizations to provide persistent protection for valuable business documents, enhancing traditional information control capabilities. Because ERM allows data to protect itself via encryption, it is theoretically the perfect security technology for a world where the "dissolving perimeter" is an established fact. But historically, most enterprises don't use ERM on an enterprisewide basis and do not use it to protect documents shared outside company boundaries. High cost, application rigidity, and integration shortcomings have limited market adoption. Forrester expects that ERM's appeal will widen in the future. Integration with data leak prevention technology, content management infrastructure, and other risk mitigation solutions will drive adoption growth, particularly as enterprises roll out the latest versions of Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint. In this market overview, Forrester reviews the evolving market for ERM products. We evaluate products from eight key vendors: Adobe Systems, Covertix, EMC, GigaTrust, Liquid Machines, Microsoft, NextLabs, and Oracle.