Note: You can now view a recording of the Webinar on SharePoint and ECM.
I wrote a couple of days ago about the growth of SharePoint licensing and the impressive footprint it has in terms of end user licenses. One of the other intriguing things about SharePoint is how it has evolved in functionality. True to form, Microsoft first launched SharePoint as a sturdy but not overwhelming offering. Since then, they have built more and more functionality into the product, all the while bringing partners and developers into the mix to create a formidable ecosystem for the product.
Category: Content management & strategy (Page 169 of 479)
This category includes editorial and news blog posts related to content management and content strategy. For older, long form reports, papers, and research on these topics see our Resources page.
Content management is a broad topic that refers to the management of unstructured or semi-structured content as a standalone system or a component of another system. Varieties of content management systems (CMS) include: web content management (WCM), enterprise content management (ECM), component content management (CCM), and digital asset management (DAM) systems. Content management systems are also now widely marketed as Digital Experience Management (DEM or DXM, DXP), and Customer Experience Management (CEM or CXM) systems or platforms, and may include additional marketing technology functions.
Content strategy topics include information architecture, content and information models, content globalization, and localization.
For some historical perspective see:
https://gilbane.com/gilbane-report-vol-8-num-8-what-is-content-management/
Microsoft SharePoint is a force in the content management market. For the year ending June 2007, Microsoft reported $800 million in revenue for SharePoint, a figure that dwarfs most stand-alone ECM vendors and is nearly twice as large as Filenet’s annual revenue before it was acquired by IBM. Consider also that the other ECM vendor revenue includes substantial support dollars, and the SharePoint revenue is for licensing only. Even more impressive is the number of licenses–more than 17,000 companies have purchased 85 million licenses. That is one impressive foothold. Are all 17,000 companies using SharePoint for ECM? Of course not. Many are likely using SharePoint for basic document management and many for Web content management, and a significant number of the licenses are likely dormant or very lightly used.
Indeed, at different times in SharePoint’s product life, Microsoft has had to work hard to establish the value proposition for SharePoint to ensure enough reason for customers to renew their volume licenses. But each version of SharePoint has become more functional and has enjoyed deeper penetration into large organizations. SharePoint 2007 is now a significant ECM platform with a great deal of functionality and well established partnerships with key complementary vendors.
But the exact ways that people are using SharePoint today are not as important as the foothold it already has, and the determination organizations seem to have for making SharePoint work as a platform for myriad applications. Our discussions with users point to exactly this kind of thinking on the part of many organizations–they may have licensed SharePoint for a specific application, such as document sharing, or for a general need, but they are now looking at how the platform can support any number of other applications. This includes ECM applications, including ones with demanding scan and capture requirements.
View our recent webinar on how SharePoint is impacting the ECM market. The webinar is sponsored by KnowledgeLake.
Globalisation and the spread of information technology allow the creation of unexpected and disruptive business models. Many executives feel the heat is on and that they must innovate faster just to stand still. “Revving up,” from the Economist, October 2007.
That about says it all. Innovate faster just to stand still. One of the reasons for our research back in February was that we believe globalization innovation from a technology perspective will include the integration of content and translation management. SDL’s acquisition of Tridion in May sparked a bevy of commentary in the press and analyst blogs, including our own. What would “Under One Roof” mean for the industry’s approach to globalization demands and challenges? Our answer? Various approaches, but ones focused on bringing these disparate software markets much closer together. You know, the “i” market.
Since then, there’s a lot more brewing — and it all has to do with one of our favorites topics. In fact, we’re hoping that recent trends enable us to expand our definitions of integration levels in a big way. Hint: more 360-degree business process management than fundamental workflow integration. Given the events to date in the translation and localization market, we’re optimistic that it will. Consider the list:
- Clay Tablet Technologies, with its “seamless integration solution” is coming on strong since a major launch in 2005. Since September, the company has announced integrations with translation management solutions and service providers such as across systems and SDL, adding to a roster that includes Language Weaver, TRANSLATED, and content management provider DocZone.
- Idiom has teamed with both EMC and Astoria in recent months to promote the benefits of “an integrated, state-of-the-art content management and globalization management solution.” The company announced an integration with XyEnterprise’s Contenta back in April.
- Lionbridge has multiple content management providers in the “CMS Provider” section of the company’s Globalization Alliances description.
- Sajan has content management integration on its agenda, making impressive progress with the release of GCMS 4.0 and more specifically, its X-Content Integration framework in March and June respectively.
- SDL has taken the Tridion acquisition a step further, describing the October content and translation management implementation at Atlas Copco as an “off-the-shelf integrated solution.”
These trends are signs of what is sorely needed for organizations to strategically — and successfully — more toward global expansion. However, a favorite question of ours in in this brave new world of integration is: “Who’s the buyer?” In reality, it is unfortunate that in many cases, content and translation management professionals do not collaborate and even worse, may not know that technology integration is possible.
If you are a buyer that’s interested in this trend, come to Gilbane Boston 2007 to find out what’s next for the “i” word and more importantly, what kind of technology approach is right for you. We think the entire Globalization track is pretty impressive, but for integration fans, “GCM-2: Integrating Content and Translation Processes: Managing Global Customer Experience” stands out.
Attention, buyers and users of content and globalization management solutions! Wondering about the right integration approach for your company?
The globalization track at Gilbane Boston 2007 includes a session entitled “Integrating Content and Translation Processes: Managing Global Customer Experience.” The panel brings together two content management vendors, two providers of translation technology and services, and one middleware company that connects multiple CM and GM systems. Our goal is to explore the different options that you have when integrating the two technologies to create solutions supporting the global content life cycle.
In the session description, we promise to use “real world scenarios” to drive the panel. We’re issuing an invitation to our readers to submit suggestions for the scenarios that we’ll use for discussion. Do you have CM and GM practices that need to be streamlined? Are you planning to acquire and deploy CM/GM in the future, but not sure how to best fit the technologies together? Need fresh ideas for outmoded processes? Then think about proposing a scenario for the integration session at Gilbane Boston.
We’ll arrange a call with you to discuss your scenario and its context. If your scenario is chosen for use in the session, you’ll help us write up a description that we’ll share with the panel participants prior to the conference. Whether we choose your scenario or not, you’ll have the benefit of a little free advice from the Gilbane Group in the course of discussing your situation, constraints, requirements, etc. Please note that you need not register for Gilbane Boston in order to submit a scenario for possible use in the session. But if you do plan on attending the conference, you’ll have the option of presenting your own scenario to the panel.
Send scenarios or questions about the session to me or to my colleague Leonor. We’d welcome the chance to speak with you about this unique opportunity.
Records management provider Iron Mountain is a company that has intrigued me for some time, as I’ve watched it morph from a regional to a global player in outsourcing services as well as one of the top best-of-breed RM players amidst the ECM suite and platform providers.
The company appears to have always placed great value on user education and sharing best practices as demonstrated via a continuously expanding Knowledge Center, complete with an “Ask the Expert” section. User interfaces and content breadth/depth within this area is impressive, as is the series of quarterly, role-based newsletters on various topics. Incorporating multimedia into this strategy via the Tour Center has clearly been a major investment.
So, when I ran across the latest campaign featuring one of my all time favorites, John Cleese, I figured I would check out the Friendly Advice Machine. I did not however, count on an inability to tear myself away from it.
Frankly, it is one of the best examples of customer experience techniques I have ever seen. (Adweek agrees.) Targeting mid- to senior-level IT and legal professionals, it is creative, usable, informative, and hilariously funny. It uniquely incorporates “next step” offers and calls to action that quite literally spurs your hand towards the mouse to find out “what’s behind that icon?” It bolsters the brand management strategy rather than dilutes it.
Update: Yesterday’s Stratify acquisition should help in the “bolstering” department as well….
Check it out — especially the Dreaded Whitepaper offer — and stay tuned. I’ll be interviewing the company next week about the objectives and techniques that make this campaign stand out. In terms of global customer experience, I’ll find out if Cleese has attempted to deliver it in Chinese.
PaperThin, Inc. announced the release of CommonSpot Version 5.0. This latest release introduces a new authoring interface; RSS feeds, Blogs, and Wikis; and XML publishing and rendering capabilities. Business users can now get their message out by delivering content to any news reader, Web browser, or email program as an RSS, Atom, or Podcast feed without writing any code. Users can also create live bookmarks on a page so visitors can subscribe to feeds of interest through CommonSpot’s Feed Index Element. The listing is automatically generated, displayed, and updated based on filtered metadata criteria. With this release PaperThin has made available four open source applications: a Blog, Wiki, RSS Reader and multi-view Events Calendar, each built using the Custom Application Development Framework. The browser-based rich text editor includes enhanced editing features, wide browser and platform compatibility, improved standards-based support, and Microsoft Word-like toolbars. New image editing functionality allows users to easily edit and manage digital assets, such as: images, photos, and other graphics directly within the system. http://www.paperthin.com
Got quality?
Join Mary, Shannon Zimmerman from Sajan, and myself on Wednesday October 24th for a discussion of quality in the Global Information Age, in which mere information availability no longer suffices. Today’s customer expectations demand relevant information that is culturally acceptable, appealing, and most important, understood. Delivering contextual, multilingual information – communications that make sense in the customer’s language of choice – is fundamental.
Any company with a multinational revenue profile knows that fusing quality and translation is a significant part of the formula for success in a global economy. In and of itself however, the act of translation provides no “certificate of excellence” or “seal of approval” for its quality quotient. So, the obvious question is: What is quality translation and how will organizations know when they achieve it? What is a quality quotient?
Join the discussion as we offer our take on improving, maintaining, and measuring the quality quotient of information products for the Global Information Age. Register here.
We’re moderating a session entitled Successful Processes for Selecting a Content Management System: How to Become an Expert in Technology Acquisition at DocTrain East 2007, Thursday, Oct 18, 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm.
The session begins with a discussion of why technology acquisition is not about tools, but about assembling capabilities that lead to competitive advantage for your organization. We walk through two scenarios that draw on our recent experience helping users acquire XML publishing and web content management technologies. The fun begins when we turn to a panel of experts who will share what they’ve learned about making a business case, distilling requirements, crafting great RFIs and RFPs, developing the short list of suppliers, and scoping a successful proof-of-concept. We’ll also look at acquiring software as a service and how the acquisition process is different from acquiring licensed software solutions.
The goal of the sesson is show attendees how to develop the skills to lead a successful technology acquisition process. If you’re interested in the topic but can’t make it to the conference in Boston this week, send us email and ask for our presentation materials. We also welcome comments from readers who’d like us to address a specific question during the session.
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