New Collaboration Solutions Drive Fundamental Changes in Traditional Content Management Pricing

Feb. 24, 2009 - PRLog -- Content Circles, a leading provider of distributed content management and collaboration solutions, today announced pricing for the newly launched Content Circles, the flagship solution that revolutionizes the way people collaborate and manage content across companies.  Content Circles represents a revolutionary new approach to both the technology and pricing model for enabling distributed and mobile teams to collaboratively create, share, and manage documents within and among companies and organizations on a worldwide basis.

Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions have traditionally been expensive IT-intensive tools that require significant resources to install and support large, complex server-based software configurations. These legacy solutions require significant up front investment and training, thus creating a high Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for organizations adopting the technology. When implemented, these ECM tools were often too cumbersome to meet the needs of modern workgroups and project teams. Today’s workgroups are highly mobile and often distributed across companies and external organizations. Teams quickly assemble around key tasks and require easy, secure access to the right documents at the right time.

A Completely New Approach to ECM Pricing and Distribution
Analysts in the ECM market have long identified price and complexity as two of the biggest impediments to content management gaining broad market appeal. The focus of Content Circles is on delivering powerful software that is easy to use, virally distributable and priced for broad-based rapid adoption.

The Pricing for Content Circles now starts at $99.95 per-user per-year. The sub-$100 price point has been identified for many years as the level that could trigger rapid adoption and market share growth. To drive rapid adoption, all new Content Circles members receive a free 30-day trial of the system.

Create and Share Content for Free
The new Content Circles pricing approach adopts ideas from other successful software pricing models in markets such as distributed meetings and document sharing that have never been offered in the ECM market. Products such as WebEx and Adobe Acrobat adopted models that allow free usage of and access to a broad array of content created through their networks and those of their customers.  From the idea that anyone should be able to open a document or join and online meeting, Content Circles’ approach to ECM enables anyone to participate in a collaborative workgroup for free.

Demonstrate Ongoing Value Before Ever Charging a Fee
Content Circles revenue model focuses on Workgroup Leaders. While anyone can join a workgroup (Circle), view and contribute content to that workgroup for free, the creation of new workgroups requires a paid license. Users see the value of the application by participating in a workgroup and collaborating with other members before paying for the application. This is the essence of the recurring subscription revenue model: Demonstrate your customer value every day.

Low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
Content Circles requires no new hardware, no IT support, and no new data center requirements. Using the best elements of Peer-to-Peer technology, Content Circles members utilize their own existing networks without placing additional burden on systems. By moving files through Content Circles, customers also reduce the burden on overwhelmed email and other server-based systems, while maintaining a high-level of security that is not possible with today’s email systems.

“Content Circles is a transformational product that democratizes content management”, said Sri Chilukuri, CEO Content Circles. “We have achieved our goal of making content management accessible and affordable for an entire category of users shut out of traditional ECM systems. We also expect to attract a significant number of existing ECM users that are looking for a simpler, more cost effective approach that facilitates collaboration within and outside of individual companies.”

The new pricing model for Content Circles is effective immediately. For more information on Content Circles pricing, please visit www.contentcircles.com/subscribe or call 650.965.9901.

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About Content Circles
Content Circles is an innovative provider of secure, easy to use content management and collaboration solutions for distributed teams that span departments, divisions and companies. Content Circles is headquartered in Mountain View, CA. For more information, please call +1.650.965.9901 or visit www.contentcircles.com. Content Circles, the Content Circles logo, and the marks relating to other Content Circles products and services referenced herein are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Content Circles, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.