The Forrester Wave™: e-Forms Software, Q2 2006

Forrester evaluated five e-forms software vendors across approximately 100 criteria and found that Adobe and IBM are the clear market leaders. Once viewed as a necessary bureaucratic evil, forms are increasingly utilized as a tool to systematically capture data, serve as an interface to a process step, and bridge the paper-digital divide. The drive to replace paper with digital forms led to the emergence of e-forms software that sits at the intersection of data, content, and process. In the last few years, vendor offerings have advanced greatly, with each vendor's approach being different. Adobe is a Leader, bringing together a user-friendly forms design environment with the ubiquitous Acrobat Reader rich client. IBM is a Leader providing unparalleled XML and digital signature support. Cardiff Software and Microsoft are Strong Performers, offering e-forms products appropriate for forms-driven horizontal business processes. And FileNet is a Strong Performer with an e-forms product aimed squarely at integrating forms into enterprise business processes.