SharePoint and the Document Management Industry

We are talking denial, and I ain't talking about a river in Egypt (Sorry for the bad joke)

I see it every day, and the misinformation out there about Microsoft SharePoint is just crazy.  First off, let me establish my position.  SharePoint has mapped to the typical Microsoft pattern from a product perspective.  Version 1.0 is usually lacking, causes great pain, and sours many IT folks.  2.0 starts to really get some traction, and people start taking notice, early adopters (also known as gluttons for punishment) go all in, and they continue to gather information for Version 3.  Version 3, they knock it out of the park, address needs, and most IT jump in after service pack 1.  This probably accounts for the slow adoption rates (Some interesting SharePoint Stats here)

SharePoint 2010 and all its wonder is taking business by storm.  It is an incredible tool, when used correctly, as a collaboration tool, document repository and overall business automation tool.  Depending on the business size, structure and industry, what I am finding is that it solves pain points.  Take for example the document capture implementation we just finished.  The customer was looking to eliminate Xerox DocuShare from their organization as they were having too many issues, and could not get adequate support from the vendor.  As a large mining company operating in several large countries in South America, they were having a hell of a time dealing with all their paper invoices, and were looking to automate their scanning and invoice processing. They took a leap, and the pilot project was designed to capture and process invoices within their Chilean AP department.  The project was an absolute success, and implemented within a weeks' time.

Simple.  Effective.  Done.

Now if you were to talk to a traditional Document Management Reseller, or perhaps a vendor, they would have instilled the customer with great fear and doubt:

"SharePoint is not a real document management system."
"The resources required to manage SharePoint will kill any ROI you can glean from automating a process."
"SharePoint cannot handle high volume of documents."

I find the attitude is pervasive, and I think it just comes from a lack of understanding, and truly a lack of effort to research the competition.  Is SharePoint for everyone?  No.  Just as Documentum or FileNet is not for every organization.  But the momentum is absolutely mind numbing.  Watch for profits to fall in the Document Management segment...

Do you think SharePoint is the DM industry killer?