The Enterprise Content Management Blog

Join Us At The Content Management Connection! Or,Here's Your Chance To Finally Blog.

  If you hadn't heard, we recently launched the Content Management Connection (CMC). It's, in our own words..

"..an online community for technology practitioners, software companies, and end users to share thoughts and ideas on the changing landscape of content management and collaboration."

 

Some of you will recognize the layout from your involvement in Social Media Today. It's built on the same platform, WordFrame, which if nothing else, is a damn good blog engine and aggregator.

And for the record, we're doing this kind of stuff because we're passionate about bringing people together and creating value from those interactions. 

So jump in if you'd like, we'd love to hear what you have to say.

Technorati Tags: content+management+connection,blog+neworks,social+networking,social+computing,blogs,online+communities

Brightidea.com Uses Social Networking To Drive Innovation

I spoke with Matthew Greeley, CEO of Brightidea.com, recently and came away impressed with its approach to delivering real value with Web 2.0 sizzle. It just released WebStorm 5.0, which uses social networking elements to capture information that companies can use to drive innovation.

You could think of it as a Facebook-like application with just the right amount of administrative flexibility to keep the IT guys happy.

A marquee client for BrightIdea.com is Cisco, which uses the platform to create custom portals that spark collaboration with customers, employees, or partners. According to Greeley, Cisco has seen impressive results using the platform, generating more than 700 ideas from almost 1,500 members in 100 countries. Try to do that with some Web-based surveys and polling widgets.

Greeley told me that many companies lack business focus when deploying a social computing strategy.

"Deploying generic social networks without a specific business objective is like putting up playgrounds at the office; it may be fun for a while, but don't expect it to improve the bottom line," said Greeley.

What I really like about Brightidea is how it has honed in on a particular business driver. By looking at how a company can manage innovation, Brightidea takes the best-of-breed approach instead of trying to be all things to all people. Greeley says once it perfects that piece, it can move on, driving deeper into the enterprise and affecting other more traditional areas of collaboration.

That focus should certainly give WebStorm 5.0 a leg up in the battles to provide social computing infrastructure to large corporations over the next few years.

Companies are finally realizing the more you can apply the fundamentals of Web 2.0 to specific business objectives, the better the chance at ROI.

Technorati Tags: brightidea,social+computing,ROI,social+networking,social+media,collaboration

5½ More Reasons That A Content Management Company Will Go Out Of Business

I seemed to have touched a nerve in my recent entry about the top five reasons a content management company will go out of business, judging by the feedback received via e-mail, tweets, IM, and the blog.

My wife helped me compile the original list based on comments that she says I've repeatedly made over the dinner table. While I'm a little surprised that she was actually listening, she was surprised that companies could make the same mistakes over and over.

The next five reasons on my list come from an ECM executive who asked to remain anonymous because he said it would be too obvious which company he's talking about, and he's already been accused of having a bad attitude. Because that was such an interesting comment, I've decided to add it in as reason 5-1/2 that a content management company will go out of business:

5-1/2: When someone suggests you have a problem, you accuse them of having a bad attitude. I know the company is your baby, your sweat, your dreams. But the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Most people do not want you to fail, especially if you're providing their paycheck. Pause, listen, count to 10 and then try to fix the problem.

The next five reasons were suggested by Mr. Anonymous:

6: You change your model, and abandon your network. One fine morning you wake up and decide that your future is in professional services, and that the partners who have built your customer base for you are just stupid little companies that no one will miss.

7: You change your model without making the appropriate employee staff increases and investment. In spite of #6, you decide that your marketing and professional services people are too valuable to spend time helping your sales force sell product. You try to convince your partners that your professional services organization really isn't a threat to them and that you need your partners to do all of your proposing and demonstrations for you. You hope that your partners won't notice the disparity between #6 and #7.

8: You decide that your ownership of the desktop is just too important to be traded away, and users aren't going to adopt SharePoint because Microsoft can't be trusted and real companies don't use SharePoint.

9: You believe that your customers are locked into your products, because so many of their strategic business processes use your tools. Your customers would never replace someone who has sent them as many Christmas cards as you have.

10: You believe all the things in your press releases, because you like the way the people who write them dress and they use real URLs inside of text.

Keep'em coming.

First posted on InformationWeek's Content Management Blog.

Technorati Tags: content+management,business+strategy,information+week,CMS,ECM

Top 5 Reasons A Content Management Company Will Go Out Of Business

Several months ago a content management vendor told me that the oncoming recession was causing it problems with revenue generation. I said perhaps, but it's also possible its problems were related to the fact that its customers were really angry and really vocal. It's too easy to blame market conditions without taking a hard look in the mirror sometimes.

For this top 5 list I won't name any names, but I encourage everyone to try to clean their own closets occasionally. Maybe these items will add up to survival in either a recession or peak market conditions. The top reasons a content management company will go out of business:

• No. 5: You forgot to eat your own dog food. I'm amazed at the number of companies that offer content management options while their own Web content and marketing materials haven't been updated since 1997. If you have the teams that can deliver for your customers, let them practice on your real estate first. Would you buy a suit from a man wearing rags? Maybe, but many people wouldn’t.

• No. 4: Your customers hate you. The best technology in the world won't save you if your own customers tell everyone that you're a jerk. Please don't ever tell your customers that it's their fault if they can't figure out how to use your products. Yes, content management is not rocket science, and yes, some people are amazingly nontechnical. That doesn't excuse elitism, and if the words "The customer is just stupid" have ever come out of your mouth, you may deserve to go out of business. It sounds like I'm making this up. I'm not.

• No. 3: You try to develop everything in-house. The market is moving fast, your R&D teams can't always keep up. This isn't necessarily a weakness -- sometimes you need to pick your differentiators and source the other items. If you find that you're missing release deadlines again and again on items readily available from other vendors or as open source, please evaluate your business model. You're burning cash for fun, not profit.

• No. 2: You disregard trends. I'll say it again. The market moves fast and what's on the horizon sometimes seems just plain silly at first. But we've all heard the famous miscalculation that the world only has need for about five computers -- the smartest people have made mistakes. For those who have told me that "Green is just a fad" and "Blogs are overrated," (both of those are direct, recent quotes) be careful of what you dismiss. Don't fall behind your competitors because you personally drive a Hummer and wear polar bear fur earmuffs (that's a green reference, people). Fads and trends have a way of catching on, becoming important, and filling real business needs. Be open to change, and maybe your revenue will grow.

• No. 1: Your employees turn over faster than the toilet paper is changed in the corporate restroom. Whether the job market is tight or technology workers seem a dime a dozen, employees are the face of your company. If they're leaving in droves, or you're replacing them quarterly, it's a morale killer and your customers sense it.

Send me your reasons for part two and we'll post them next week.

Cross-posted on InformationWeek's Content Management Blog.

Technorati tags: content+management, open+source, business+strategy, information+week, CMS

CMS Haters To Gather in NYC

OK, the headline's a little strong, but it did grab your attention.

While I was scanning Twitterville, I noticed CMSWire was microblogging about the upcoming "I Hate My CMS" event in New York City. I'm fairly confident (like you) I could personally sign up a few hundred folks for this one.

The promoters actually nailed it:

"While CMSes are among the most vital systems in digital businesses, they are also among the most cursed due to their limitations and idiosyncrasies."

Most of us know how important content management systems are to serving our markets, but unfortunately there's just as many of us that would rejoice if we never had to touch a CMS toolset again.

According to organizers, the panel will address CMS issues from customer and vendor viewpoints in addition to commentary from a technology analyst. The "tales from the trenches" part should alone be worth the price of admission.

Panelists include:

* Kyle McNabb, Principal Analyst, Forrester Research
* Tim Peters, Managing Director, Leading Hotels of the World/LHW.com
* Albert Lee, Director of Technology, New York Magazine

The Society for Information Management (SIM)and the Internet Strategy Forum are hosting the event.

If someone Twitters the event, send along details and I'll be sure to tune in.

 

Technorati tags: content+management, internet+strategy+forum, SIM, technology+events, twitter, microblogging, CMS

First posted @ Information Week's Content Management Blog

I'm Blogging at Information Week

Just in case you think The ECM Blog has become just a glorified link site, I wanted to let you know I've also started blogging for Information Week. So if you're inclined, I'd love to welcome you over there for content management (and information management) news and commentary.

Now, if you're a vendor, make your PR pros earn their money by sending along story ideas and vendor news. If you're a client and want to get some pub on your company and your team, you can also drop me a line.

Here's some of my latest posts..and as always, thanks for reading.

• Top 5 Content Management Trends For 2008
  
• Oracle’s BEA Acquisition Makes Things Interesting
  
• Oracle Captures A Key Component To Its ECM Strategy
  
• Clickability Clicks On All Cylinders
  
• How Web 2.0 Affects Content Management
  
• IBM Hints At FileNet 2.0
  
• Open Source Funding Signals CMS Shakeup
  
• Engineering Content Management For A Web 2.0 World
  
• Are Enterprises Finally Waking Up To RSS?
  
• SaaS Trendwatching With Clickability
  

Technorati tags: information+week, content+management, information+management, cmp+media, information+week+blogs, dearing+group

 
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