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Piecing Together the Jumbled Content Management Puzzle
Erika Morphy
January 03, 2002
Unlike many CRM systems that are moving toward pure Internet architecture, content management vendors still embrace different architectures and emphasize unique feature sets.
Like middleware, content management is often grouped in that cluster of seemingly boring yet essential technologies that are deployed -- or, more likely, slapped together in-house -- and then quickly forgotten.
However, the content management landscape is changing. To be more specific, the competitive pressures to improve content management are increasing. As companies deploy portals as part of their CRM strategies -- or as they simply try to develop more customer-friendly Web sites -- they are finding that they need far more sophisticated capabilities to integrate the management of their documents, Web content and digital assets.
Forrester Research (Nasdaq: FORR) calls this integrated approach "enterprise content management."
Changing Landscape
Unfortunately, no vendor currently can deliver such an integrated application, Forrester said. "Vendors like Documentum and Gauss Interprise have taken the first step ... by combining document and Web content management," the research firm noted in a previous report. But, Forrester added, vendors will not be able to provide a completely integrated product for the next 12 to 18 months.
The reality is that companies usually must deploy one application to publish Web content for an intranet, extranet or Web site; another product to store and index technical or legal documents; and yet another separate system to manage multimedia content.
Also, unlike many CRM systems that are moving toward pure Internet architecture, content management vendors still embrace different architectures and emphasize unique feature sets.
To add to the challenge, the content management market is undergoing a consolidation and shakeout right now.
What all this means is that selecting a content management vendor has become almost as fraught with difficulty as selecting an ERP (enterprise resource management) vendor.
Selection Tips
In a new report, Forrester offers companies some guidance in selecting the right package and vendor. This advice is especially useful these days, as small IT software providers are less likely than larger ones to survive the current economic downturn.
"With the content management space in flux, site teams seeking a packaged solution should mitigate risk by carefully studying vendor momentum," Forrester said.
Look at revenue. "Vendors like Broadvision and Vignette, with quarterly revenues greater than US$50 million in Q3 2001, have the legs to live through a sustained downturn" Forrester said. "Similarly, suppliers reporting year-to-year revenue growth greater than 40 percent -- like divine and Stellent -- prove that they too can weather the storm."
What is the commitment to product development? "Rather than focus exclusively on the total number of employees, potential buyers should also evaluate the number of engineers dedicated to the product line. Companies like Documentum and FileNET -- each with more than 200 enginers working on its apps -- demonstrate deep commitment to ongoing product development."
Implementation support. "Enterprise deals require vendor services. In addition to integrator partnerships, firms should scrutinize the ISV's implementation support. Interwoven draws on 200 engineers to ease customization, and Gauss offers on-site proof-of-concepts." |
