Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

There are Places for Enterprise Content Management Systems

Author:Dave Aiello
Posted:12/13/1999; 9:11:08 PM
Topic:There's more than One Way to Market Content Mgmt Software
Msg #:13618 (In response to 13612)
Prev/Next:13617 / 13619

I wouldn't call a company "stupid" if they buy Vignette for the right reasons. There are a number of good reasons for a CIO-type to buy a solution like Vignette:

1) You have total control over the Web Publishing environment in a Fortune 500 company and price is of little concern.

2) You are attempting to webify the documentation process for a business with extensive regulatory filing requirements, and you have enough money and corporate commitment to take legacy document repository issues off the table.

3) You are in charge of Web Publishing at a business that defines itself as an on-line news organization, and you don't want to build the system in-house.

OTOH, there are obstacles to implementing solutions like Vignette in ideal environments like these. Chief among them is a problem which afflicts one of my clients: although they are big enough and have enough financial resources to qualify under number 1, they have several divisions with enough autonomy to implement their own Web Publishing solutions.

Companies like this are trouble for someone like Vignette or Interwoven because they have to pursuade departments one at a time to adopt a Web Publishing strategy which lends itself to their tools. If most divisions within a large firm do not do this, the smooth-running content management system that Management thinks it bought never comes together.

The problem is magnified by the burn rate associated with the integration that Vignette or Interwoven's professional services must provide in order to get their systems to work anyware.

Eventually, the senior managements at smart Fortune 500 companies will say, "Wait a minute, I thought the Web was supposed to reduce costs and increase productivity. Why isn't that happening here?" These corporate management folks will not wait indefinitely.

I think Content Management is where Supply Chain Management was four or more years ago. At one point, it looked like SAP was going to take over the world. Then gradually, people realized that they had to completely remake large portions of their businesses to take advantage of the great benefits of Supply Chain Management.

A few were able to fully re-engineer their supply chains and a few failed. But, a number of businesses found other ways to achieve cost savings that were almost as dramatic, without going through all the pain.

The big question is, with respect to Content Management, who will provide such solutions?

Dave Aiello
Chatham Township Data Corporation

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