In preparation for our panel on Content Globalization Workflows on Thursday November 30th at our Boston conference, we have created a survey to gauge how organizations are dealing with increasing market demand for localized content.

We hope to see you at this session. But whether you join us or not, contribute to it by answering our survey questions. We’ll publish the results in a blog entry after the conference, including the results from our audience survey. Give us your input and you’ll be eligible to win a free conference pass for one of our future conferences!

Here is a short URL to the survey you can share with others: http://tinyurl.com/yjy694

Here’s what we’d like to know:

1. Which issue is your most pressing business driver for providing localized content to your customers?
2. Who is responsible for purchasing translation software in your organization?
3. What is the most difficult challenge within your localization processes?
4. Do you have one or more content/document management systems in house?
5. Do you have one or more translation management systems in house?
6. If you do not have a translation management system in house, who do you work with to manage your translation processes?
7. If you have both a content/document and a translation management system in house, are they integrated?
8. If the systems are integrated, select the most appropriate description of the integration.

In preparation for our opening keynote at our Boston conference in a couple of weeks, we have created a survey to help fuel the debate on the future of content management. The list below is what we are starting with. Of course we won’t have time to address all these questions. That is why we want you to tell us which of them are the most interesting to you. To vote, simply go to the online survey. There is also a spot on the survey where you can add questions we haven’t listed. One lucky voter will win a free conference pass to one of our future events. By the way, you don’t have to attend the event to vote, and we, and others, will be blogging about the results of the questions.
Here is a short URL to the survey you can share with others: http://tinyurl.com/uo3f8

1. What are the top 3 technologies that must be considered in any content management strategies in the next 12-24 months?
2. How will the new SharePoint Server’s CM capability affect the CM market?
3. Are search "platforms" going to replace CMSs as the primary user entrance to content repositories?
4. Is there such a thing as "Web 2.0", is there a Content Management 2.0"? If so, what are they?
5. How will Blog and Wiki tools be used in enterprise content applications? How are they being used today?
6. Does social software tagging or "folksonomy" have a role to play in enterprise content applications?
7. What is the number one advantage, and the number one disadvantage of each of the approaches represented on the panel (ECM suite, CM application, infrastructure CM, hosted CM, open source CM)?
8. How is widespread adoption of RSS/Atom going to affect content delivery? And what does this mean to enterprise content management or publishing strategies?
9. If we had this same panel next year, which of the companies on the panel would not be here? Why?
10. Which other technologies associated with Vista and Office 2007 are important for enterprise content or publishing applications?
11. Are there authoring tools on the horizon that are both user-friendly and capable of authoring for both electronic and print output?
12. How will Oracle’s acquisition of Stellent change Oracle’s approach to CM solutions and their relationship with their CM partners?
13. What is the future of software as a service, and is it appropriate for enterprise content applications like content management, authoring, etc.?
14. How are translation and localization requirements affecting content management strategies and what changes in technology and strategic direction can we expect in next year or two?
15. Is there any breakthrough search technology on the horizon that will affect intranet or extranet applications in the next 18 months?
16. How will the tension between content control and collaboration be resolved? Or will it?
17. Are there any breakthrough classification or metadata tagging technologies on the horizon that will significantly impact content management strategies?
18. Is there a future for stand-alone BPM products? Or will they be integrated into ECM and other enterprise applications?
19. What infrastructure technololgies might we see in the next 18 months that will affect enterprise content applications?

Cast your vote!

A story on page 1 of the Nov 10 Wall Street Journal reports that the SEC is re-evaluting interpretation of Section 404 of the SOX rule, which dictates internal review and external auditing of financial reporting systems.
Citing pressure from “the nation’s business lobby,” the SEC is taking steps to allow a “more flexible reading,” and intends to “propose guidance . . . to help companies and auditors interpret Section 404 in a way likely to save them time and money.” The new guidance is expected next month.
See “Business Wins Its Battle to Ease A Costly Sarbanes-Oxley Rule” for details.

I know I’m not alone here when I say that content management projects are HARD to do right. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this subject – particularly around the project management aspect of it. All is rosy at the beginning when you put together a master project plan, but it seems that within a very short time, you’re heading towards scope creep, over budget, way over schedule, and stress! There must be a better way.

Over the span of my career (the last 15 years or so), a project manager has become standard fare for any corporate IT project. As I’m sure many of you recall, however, there was a time when having a person dedicated as a “Project Manager” was seen as an unnecessary frill. Thankfully, that’s changed (in most places).

When you embark on something as complex as a major content management initiative, not only do you need a dedicated project manager, you need a highly skilled and experienced project manager. That’s another issue.

The good news is that organizations like the Project Management Institute (PMI) have their PMP certification, which I believe sets a really good foundation for project managers. But even PMP certified individuals who have managed other types of system implementations or software development projects may struggle with a content project.

So what’s different about content management projects?

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$25 billion.
That’s the cost of compliance in the U.S. Securities Industry for 2005 according to the Securities Industry Association (SIA).

59 percent.
That’s the percentage of respondents to a SearchStorage.com poll that did not know if they were in compliance because they could not figure out what they have to do.

$15 million.
That’s the amount Morgan Stanley was fined for failing to produce tens of thousands of e-mails during SEC investigations from December, 2000 through through July, 2005.

No wonder compliance issues today = fear. They don’t have to.

Compliance is about recordkeeping. The core issue is surprisingly clear — focus on the lifecycle of paper and electronic communications – how information is created, routed, managed, accessed and archived.

Join us tomorrow, November 9, 2006 at 11:00am EDT for my panel discussion with Omtool CTO Thaddeus Bouchard and HP Financial Services Solutions Manager Joseph Wagle to discuss how to make compliance practices a seamless part of your business processes. Register here.

$25 billion.
That’s the cost of compliance in the U.S. Securities Industry for 2005 according to the Securities Industry Association (SIA).
59 percent.
That’s the percentage of respondents to a SearchStorage.com poll that did not know if they were in compliance because they could not figure out what they have to do.
$15 million.
That’s the amount Morgan Stanley was fined for failing to produce tens of thousands of e-mails during SEC investigations from December, 2000 through through July, 2005.
No wonder compliance issues today = fear. They don’t have to.
Compliance is about recordkeeping. The core issue is surprisingly clear — focus on the lifecycle of paper and electronic communications – how information is created, routed, managed, accessed and archived.
Join us tomorrow, November 9, 2006 at 11:00am EDT for my panel discussion with Omtool CTO Thaddeus Bouchard and HP Financial Services Solutions Manager Joseph Wagle to discuss how to make compliance practices a seamless part of your business processes. Register here.