CMS vs. Implementer: TERMINALFOUR’s View

August 7th, 2011

We’ll shortly be finishing the series on the relative importance of the CMS platform vs. the implementer in delivering effective WEM (“e” for “engagement” or “experience,” whichever you prefer).  But first, let’s hear from Piero Tintori, CEO & Founder of TERMINALFOUR.  He writes:

“In truth, the CMS platform and system integrator play second fiddle to the existence of the most important factor in a successful implementation – a clearly defined strategy.  This seems so basic, but it’s so often the reason projects under-perform or fail to reach their full potential.  Of course it’s important to make sure you’ve selected a quality WCM product and a committed and capable implementer, but projects that really excel are those that let the strategy lead and not the product. Organizations need to do the appropriate groundwork – defining the scope and direction of the project – or it could be fraught with problems.

“Like any activity that an organization undertakes (growth, new market entry, or product development, e.g.), the success of the endeavor is dependent on the clarity of the ‘end game’, i.e. a clear understanding of what you want to achieve.   It’s Planning 101.  Identify where you are, where you want to be, and the steps you need to take to get there.

“Too often, organizations are so keen to get started with ‘the build’, and don’t give the appropriate time to the planning phase.  This is a little shortsighted and ultimately counterproductive.  It’s important that there be absolute clarity about the current situation so that an organization can make the most informed decisions for the web content management project.   It is essential to consider questions such as:  What are our current content challenges?  What resources are available?  What external factors may impact success?

“Next, what’s the big vision for the website(s)?  It’s important to consider all the stakeholders, along with their current and future requirements.  This vision should then be broken up into a series of clearly-defined objectives.  Then, it’s all about developing the strategy for the project.  What actions need to be taken to meet these objectives?  Are there clear timelines with assigned responsibilities?  Are there milestones on the way to project completion?  Is progress monitored, reviewed, and corrected, if necessary?

“Ultimately, a good strategy can ensure project success regardless of the quality of the WCM product or the ability of the system integrator.   Conversely, a great WCM product and system integrator will not guarantee project success in the absence of a good strategy.  The reason for this is simple.  The needs, goals and resources of every organization vary and may be unique to them.  A well-defined and scoped strategy will be mindful of all these unique factors, capitalizing on all the strengths of the organization and accommodating any obstacles. Therefore, the strategy should inform both product selection and implementation approach, and not the other way around.

“Keeping that in mind, the WCM market has a lot of players with products of varying technical capabilities, features and performance standards.  Some continuously invest in R&D and develop their products for current and future requirements.  But it’s important to note that product selection must be based on the match with your current needs.  ‘Cool’ features may be nice.  But it you won’t use them, are they relevant?

“Another important consideration:  How will the solution be implemented?  If an external systems integrator is doing the implementation, are they completely aware of the long-term vision for the site? When companies choose to implement solutions themselves, they often overestimate their internal capabilities and the availability of IT resources – two factors which themselves should inform the choice of solution.  Limited resource availability favors the selection of out-of-the-box products.  But many organizations – even those with limited IT staff, for example – are drawn to “framework” solutions.  While they may seem exciting at first, framework products require enormous implementation and maintenance resources.  When a CMS buyers make a resource-mismatch mistakes of this kind, they won’t be able to achieve even their most basic goals.

“Strategy is the keystone of a successful web content management project.  It plays the ‘lead’ role.  Product and implementation approach play supporting (albeit important) roles. Strategy is what keeps the project on track regardless of any ‘bumps in the road’.”

Kentico’s CTO: “CMS Platform 60% of WEM”

July 13th, 2011

Still on the question of which is more important in implementing a WEM strategy, the CMS or the implementer, Martin Hejtmánek, CTO at Kentico Software, weights the CMS platform at 60%.  He writes:

“This is a great question and one that we hear frequently. With Kentico CMS our goal is to provide customers and partners with a flexible platform to quickly and easily build and deploy visually compelling websites. Kentico Software is extremely partner centric – our Solution Partner network includes over 1200 partners with more than 150 Gold Partners. We absolutely see integration partners as a key criterion to the success of any WEM project. Although, if pressed to weight these two criteria, we would estimate it at 60/40, platform over system integrator. I refer here to mean value; because you need to view these two components with respect to the Total Cost of Ownership across the life of the implemented platform. Initially, the ratios may begin at about 50/50 during implementation and rollout; however through the life of the platform, due to emphasis on platform enhancements, development roadmap, platform performance and stability, the importance of the platform may shift to 70/30 over system integrators.

“Without a doubt, a client needs to select the right CMS for their project up front. Choosing the right CMS platform is a critical component of the project for the overall quality and stability of the solution. Even exceptional system integrators are essentially powerless with a poorly developed, buggy platform — this being a major reason we focus so heavily on quality and stability through our development process. Overall, the selected solution should have the required features to satisfy both the current success criteria and the forward-looking web strategy. It should also be flexible enough to allow for any customization that may be required due to unique needs. Additionally, it should have a solid product roadmap to ensure the support of long-term objectives. Further weighting the score on the side of the CMS platform is the fact that, once the CMS is implemented, it must be easily understandable and intuitive for the user; otherwise the project fails from lack of adoption by the intended content contributors and users. For this reason, Kentico CMS tries to strike a balance between intuitiveness/usability for the end-users and flexibility/breadth of functionality for deep-level technical or custom requirements by the system integrator. That being said, regardless of how complete the platform is, an improper implementation will result in a failed WEM rollout strategy. Picking an expert system integrator for the selected platform is a necessary component for success.

When talking with either customers or partners about this, I always recommend they start with answering three not-so-simple questions:

  1. What are your business goals for implementing a WEM?
  2. Can you share your strategic Web Engagement strategy?
  3. What are the key success metrics?

“Of course, these are not simple questions. They require an organization to define and adopt a well-documented strategy that encompasses both short- and long-term goals. Once these questions are answered, a client can typically find their solution. If they are not successful at this point, they may need to further refine their strategic plan to include the following:

  1. Does your strategic plan demand specific infrastructure (i.e. Windows, Unix)?
  2. Do you have an existing integration partner that you work with closely and trust?
  3. Do you have special legal or regulatory requirements?

“The answers may seem clear or obvious intially; however, we’ve seen many situations where long-term objectives actually cause the answers to these questions to change throughout the course of the project.  Accordingly, many companies realize through this process that they don’t have a clear understanding of their ultimate long-term goals. Often this is where a system integrator can provide significant supplemental value by providing recommendations and insight based on real-world experience and best practices.”

Bridgeline’s Caveats on Implementing Effective WEM

July 11th, 2011

The next response to the question on the importance of the CMS vs. the role of the integrator in creating effective WEM comes from Brett Zucker, CTO at Bridgeline Digital.  He writes:

“One thing I am known to say is that you can take the same product and the same project to three different delivery teams, and receive three very different results.You’re likely to be happy with one of them, but – despite their differences – they’re all the results from a single product and project.

“So, why such a wide variance in results?

“Ultimately, it has to come down to a lack of thoughtful, knowledgeable integration with existing systems and processes, combined with a lack of focus on the true user experience, lack of understanding in terms of customer strategy, and a lack of integration using the specific benefits the CMS will offer.

“As much as a strong, comprehensive CMS can do for a company’s WEM strategy on its own, without truly thorough and thoughtful integration, much of its beneficial functionality can go unused, or at least be used ineffectively.  Both potential and current customers come to us every day voicing these issues. My guess is that if you’re reading this you either have this issue now, or you’ve dealt with it in the past.

“Unfortunately, this situation typically leads to the creation of complex ‘workarounds’ to replace otherwise beneficial – but poorly integrated – functionality that users often find awkward or that make no sense to them. This, of course, leads to complaints about the CMS and, ultimately, an overall reluctance to use those tools altogether.

“I know that Bridgeline prides itself on iAPPS’ usability, and I know other leading CMS platforms try to focus on usability as well.  So, in our experience, if the end result of a new CMS installation seems to be a clunky experience, it’s more likely the result of poor integration than tool failure.

“A few of the top CMS products are highly extensible and offer personalization – not just on the front end, but also for administrative needs within the tools themselves. After that, it comes down to how you use those tools.  If you look at the history, you find that many marketers complain about their CMS, loudly. Then, when you start to dig, you find out that much of the platform’s functionality has never even been used.

“Most CMS allow content admins to easily edit navigation and content in real time with in-context editing (i.e., on the pages visually).  But do the implementers then extend the same, easy-to-use right-click context menus and actions to allow for more personalized administrative experiences?  Look at the process of integrating 3rd-party data.  It’s different for everyone, but shouldn’t  you have the ability to right-click on the web page itself (in context of the visual WYSIWYG environment) and see a menu to ‘Select [insert 3rdparty name] Information’ with a fly-out menu that shows, right inline, a listing of the news articles from this data source?

“With the capabilities of today’s CMS, you can pretty easily implement that kind of functionality, but most installs only involve the front-end visitor sites and don’t deal with the UX (user experience) on the administrative side. Strategic implementers need to understand problems – both generic and specific to the customer- especially in relation to the industry overall. This knowledge always proves invaluable in guiding marketers and administrators to solve both unique and everyday challenges.

“Implementers also need to be aware of industry trends and habits that can be adopted as new, beneficial functionality, both for new installs and upgrades to current customers’ processes. Finally, they have to be able to help the customer add these new tools and processes easily to everyday tasks within the CMS, which ultimately helps build confidence and easy adoption of the system.

“Believe me, creating and updating consistently relevant content is not only the most important aspect of any WEM strategy, it’s also about the most difficult one. Making it easier to do that is the job of a good CMS, and poor integration just makes it harder.

“Good, strategic integration, on the other hand, not only results in the best, easiest and most complete use of a solid CMS platform; it also builds a stronger relationship between the user and the developer/vendor, which inevitably leads to greater adoption , as well as a quick, measurable ROI.”

WEM: CMS vs. Integrator – Thoughts from Ingeniux

July 6th, 2011

The second response to our CMS vs. integrator question comes from Nathan Eggen, Vice President of Technology, and David Hillis, Vice President of Business Development at Ingeniux.  (The question was, “Which do you believe has more impact on the CMS buyer’s ability to implement an effective Web Engagement Management (WEM) strategy: the CMS platform itself, or the system integrator who implements it? Why?”)  They write:

“Just as the carpenter is more important than the tools, a good integrator is more important than the CMS software when delivering web engagement. It has always been the case that a CMS is only as good as its implementation. When it comes to a web engagement (WEM) strategy, this axiom is doubly true because WEM almost always requires the integration of a wide range of systems.

“While CMS solutions are often marketed as complete WEM platforms, most organizations already have their core front and back office applications in place. Perhaps they use Salesforce.com or Microsoft Dynamics for CRM, Marketo or Eloqua for marketing automation, or Omniture or WebTrends for analytics. Moreover, almost any mid-size to large organization supports a handful of homegrown and bespoke applications. End-to-end WEM platforms make for cool demos, but they are rarely deployed as complete solutions.

“The system integrator needs to align the customer’s technology with the business goals and strategy. They need to deliver the design (web experience) and ensure the software works together to convert activity on the website into measureable business results: leads, quoting, direct sales, customer self-service, and other business activities.

“At Ingeniux we believe that delivering WEM should be like building with ‘digital LEGOs.’ The CMS should easily integrate with solutions that best fit the business goals of the customer. For this reason the Ingeniux CMS offers capabilities that allow customers to integrate their existing applications. The Apps Manager within the CMS, an open API, and multi-technology support (from .NET to Java to PHP) all enable users to integrate and work with third-party applications in the CMS.

“Like many CMS vendors, Ingeniux provides out-of-the-box analytics, email management, and other tools. But we are the first to admit there may be a better third-party solution depending on customer requirements. We believe flexibility is more important than WEM features when it comes to successful implementations because technology and requirements are constantly changing. Think of the changes in the last year – new mobile devices, tablets, HTML5, new social media connections.

“There are also tradeoffs that need to be considered. The CMS with the most powerful WEM tools may prove too complex for administrators and developers. The most engaging aspect of any website is always the content. If people do not want to work in the CMS, content becomes stale. Moreover, a very complex system will become expensive and difficult to support after the integrator has launched the site. While an integrator cannot necessarily make software easier to use or support, they can help select a CMS, based on its usability, which will fit the customer’s capabilities. And then they can connect the marketing solutions as part of the WEM strategy.

“When planning for WEM it is better to think of the CMS as the digital hub responsible for supporting all of the communication channels and managing the core content. The spokes to that hub can be a mix of solutions provided by the CMS and best-of-breed third-party applications. While WEM and digital marketing features are important, usability and flexibility are far more important. It is better to save the money you would spend on a big ticket WEM platform and invest those funds in an implementation that aligns the software with your current needs, existing systems, and future goals.”

Web Engagement Management: CMS vs. Integrator

June 30th, 2011

The first question we asked of the CTO’s (and their peers) was, “Which do you believe has more impact on the CMS buyer’s ability to implement an effective WEM strategy: the CMS platform itself, or the systems integrator who implements it?”

Our first response comes from Lars Nielsen, Co-Founder and Senior Vice President of Technical Marketing at Sitecore.  He writes:

“An effective Web Engagement Management strategy requires three strong pillars:

  1. Commitment
  2. Resources
  3. Tools

“Commitment comes from top management, where the goal is to have digital channels aligned with core business objectives, like growing revenue and saving money.

“Resources are about having the right smart people, internally or externally, on the WEM strategy task, [key elements of which include]:

  • analyzing the business
  • getting the right insights for recommendations on WEM strategy
  • identifying the highest value strategy components for implementation
  • aligning the implementation roadmap

“Tools are about having the right software available to implement the WEM strategy on … but the tools also influence the WEM strategy, by offering new possibilities for leapfrogging what was previously possible!

“They all go hand in hand.  While an application might be the world’s best, the most accessible, and the easiest to get insight from, etc., without resources who understand fully the possibilities for using the application, it will end up being just a fancy tool … put to rest, unused in the corner.

“A poor WEM systems integrator can create poor WEM solutions, on great WEM platforms.

“A great WEM systems integrator can create great WEM solutions, on poor WEM platforms!

“So does this mean that you as a potential WEM solution buyer should focus on getting a great WEM systems integrator and forget about the platform?

“No.  A great WEM systems integrator will be able to leverage poor WEM platforms, connecting the dots by integrating several tools with each other (analytics, personalization, customer intelligence, automation etc.).

“But it will be a big effort.  It will require lots of hours (and budget).  It will be difficult to maintain or change.  And such systems will often present usability challenges.

“Of course the best solutions come from the combination of a great WEM platform and a great WEM system integrator!

“By using a tightly integrated WEM platform, you’ll spend less spend on integration, shorten time-to-market, reduce project risk, and increase the possibility that your own internal staff can maintain the WEM solution — without having to call the WEM systems integrator for every little change and adjustment.”

Welcome to Our New CTO Blog!

June 28th, 2011

Tony White

Welcome to the Ars Logica CTO blog!  We are excited about this new forum, where chief technology officers from leading CMS vendors will discuss their perspectives on current hot topics in the industry.  We’ve invited CTO’s from a wide range of software manufacturers to participate – their companies ranging from the small-but-technologically-important to the best-known in the industry.  The rules of engagement for participating in this blog – as all of the participants are aware – prohibit any marketing or sales pitches.  Ars Logica is vendor-neutral and will remain so.  We have invited vendor participation in this blog simply because we believe it is important for potential buyers of CMS products to understand the technological vision behind the platforms they might purchase.  In this spirit, we invite you to visit our blog often to see how CTO’s from the leading CMS vendors respond to the thorny questions we ask them.