#cmsconnected – Message received loud and clear

As a deafened person, I am celebrating the latest format CMS Connected is using for its webinars. For those who haven’t seen one of these events yet they are run using TPN’s Webinar 3.0 solution which delivers high quality real-time video, excellent digital sound, contribution via Skype and Twitter for interaction.

As mentioned elsewhere on this site about hearing difficulties, I hate noise and crave clarity. Also, as my hearing continues to worsen, I rely more and more on lip-reading – so being able to see someone’s face and lip movements helps tremendously in giving clarity to what is being said. Beyond that, I enjoy being able to participate but unfortunately as many CMS/IT related discussions and debates are held in very noisy locations like bars, restaurants and exhibition halls I often forgo the opportunity to do this as I know from past experiences that it will be frustrating and stressful trying to follow the topic of discussion and contribute relevantly and meaningfully.

So, from the comfort of my home office, with the video displayed in a comfortable size in one window, Twitter in another, my favourite noise cancelling earbuds in place and the volume turned way up, I sat back to enjoy the latest CMS Connected offering – 2011 Year in Review with Scott Liewehr and Seth Gottlieb (AKA The Unpronounceables )

(20)11 content technology lessons learned

The more traditional ‘weblog’ post I did last year on lessons learned in the content technologies arena during the preceding 12 months proved popular and as 2011 has been pretty eventful, I guess it’s worth giving it another shot …

1. In times of uncertainty be very wary of over-buying software solutions…

There’s a website I still visit from time to time that saddens me somewhat. In some ways it was one of the more successful web projects I have been involved in over the last 15 years or so, and in others the least successful.

The requirements gathering and evaluation process was smooth, with the preferred CMS solution and implementors ticking all the boxes and jumping through the hoops relatively easily. The design phase went very well with great buy-in from all stakeholders and a lot of positive feedback on the direction it was all going. The implementation was progressed expertly by the project manager, technical architect and development team and delivered within the agreed timescales and budgets. The content migration was fast and accurate and provided the main mastersite and complete framework for 5 additional languages within 2 weeks. So, with everything lined up and ready to roll, we waited…and we waited…and we waited.

Unfortunately, the product range this new multi-lingual, web marketing platform had been implemented for (as a pilot for a much wider deployment) never materialised and, to my knowledge, is still not launched over two years on from its original planned debut. It was/is a potentially great product but, realistically, there was always a relatively narrow window of opportunity to get the new range launched and established with resellers and consumers successfully.

Without the revenue stream this new product range was designed to generate, there was no budget available for expanding the new web platform further and so it remains like an iceberg – with a fraction of its capability visible above the waterline and a massive potential capability hidden passively beneath. What a sad waste of everyone’s time and efforts for something that is now being used just as a basic (and expensive) email marketing tool but also a reflection of how tough it is to develop and market consumer electronic products efficiently and effectively   Based on the same requirements I’d probably stick with the original recommendation but with the benefit of hindsight I would certainly have recommended directing the money elsewhere … 

How to Select a Web CMS Solution – CMS Connected Event

Back in September I attended an excellent CMS Connected webinar that essentially debated the pros and cons of proprietary software versus open source.  I wrote a running commentary on it that received some good feedback and also a suggestion I do similar for other such events.

The original 'round table' on display in my home county of Hampshire UK

Today’s event was a round table discussion in a sparkling new format – a live video stream and Twitter ( #cmsconnected ) as the back channel. As I was transfixed by the folks in the virtual studio (which I assume was a very ‘green’ room/box for the participants) and following the Twitter hashtag stream I didn’t take many notes and this format rather negates the type of commentary I did for that previous event.

So… for the second time this year I’m finding myself somewhat redundant Awwwwww

What I will say however is that it was great to see these folks whose written commentary I have followed in recent years talking live. Scott was as clean-cut and sharp suited as I imagined and Irina was – well how do I put this … razor sharp, with some wonderful quips about workflow and training -  (together with fabulous outfit and hairdo too of course). I found myself relating most to the Skype participant Carmine Porco from Prescient Digital and the useful role they can play in proceedings as ‘bad cop’ – asking those awkward questions that might make the real difference between a good choice and a not so good one.

In summary, the key takeaways for me …

1. The importance of describing scenarios that transcend yes/no checklists and getting hands-on with the tools to test these scenarios for yourself

2. It’s more about selecting the right implementation partners than the tools, particularly with the breadth of offerings available today

3. Don’t just take up the references provided by vendors and implementors, go through their client lists and talk to others about their experiences

4. You need a project sponsor with some authority and also the support of the IT folks to ensure what you select for business objectives plays nicely in their patch too

5. Never underestimate the time it will take to migrate content – automation is not all it’s cracked up to be  (although I’ve personally had some good experiences recently with Drupal Commerce )

Finally, I think it would be useful to get some clearer answers on budgeting as I found the responses today somewhat skewed towards proprietary based projects with the ‘three times licensing cost’ model.

Well done to all participants – Looking forward to the next one

SDL Tridion takeover of Alterian – just meeting expectations

When I returned to Twitter the other day after giving it a rest for most of 2011 there was some expectation that I would be commentating on the recent takeover of Alterian by SDL Tridion. I presume this is because I have been quite challenging on occasions about how things have evolved in the UK content management space since the acquisition of Immediacy by Mediasurface a few years back.

To be honest I don’t really have that much to say about this latest acquisition other than following up a comment I made back in October when I felt Alterian would be making a big mistake if it continued to reject SDL and offering a bit more explanation to the comments I have made on Philippe Parker’s recent insightful post – much of which I agree with based on similar evaluation and implementation experiences.

The Alterian CEO’s resignation in mid 2011 really just underlined the issues that were already apparent to outside observers in the direction the company was going. It was only a matter of time before something had to happen. Unfortunately it meant the remainder of the original Immediacy folks losing their jobs when the company cut almost half its workforce recently.

You never really know what happens behind closed doors before takeover bids become public knowledge but it wouldn’t surprise me if Alterian hacked off a big chunk of its Web Content Management operations in anticipation of an offer being made from the likes of SDL. WCM was clearly the most disposable part of an organisation that at one time had three separate offerings and had the unenviable task of trying to make some sense of this after taking on Mediasurfaces’s dubious ‘three bears’ strategy.

(20)12 predictions from the CMS frontline

Around this time last year, I wrote a predictions piece about how the content technologies arena might develop during 2011 from the perspective of a CMS practitioner. I called it (20)11 predictions from the CMS coal face and it received some encouraging feedback.

Back then I was writing from the relatively comfortable position as an employee and approaching the Christmas break knowing that I had a job to go back to in the New Year and that the bills for the ‘present mountain’ and over-consumption of food and alcohol would all be covered.

This year is different …

BT – super fast, super efficient !

hmmm – these are not words I have associated with our national telecoms behemoth in the past and much as I enjoy a rant over poor customer service and corporate inefficiencies I have to say that on this very rare occasion I write in praise of my recent experiences.

After many years of pedestrian home broadband service, frustratingly right on the edge of the Virgin Media network but seemingly too far for them to shift a bit of dirt in my direction, I am now enjoying ‘superfast’ BT Infinity.

By way of an instant example of the difference, my wife recommended I watched a particular sequence of Ice Road Truckers: Deadliest Roads the other evening before the Infinity install. The bit she wanted to show me was about half way through the 45 minute episode and she had to wait at least 10 minutes for it to load from the Demand 5 service. Contrast that with the BBC iPlayer demo the BT engineer gave after install where a 1 hour programme loaded instantly and he was able to play the beginning, middle and end of it in a matter of seconds.

Not only am I delighted with the service speeds, and have almost doubled my Drupal development activities during the morning , but the whole experience in ordering the service, receiving the equipment and getting it installed has not only been fast but also ‘super efficient’!

BT has made excellent use of the web, email, text message, phone and post to keep me informed every step of the way from switching my lines back to them from ‘Talk Crap‘ (a not so pleasant telecoms experience where they shot themselves in the foot spectacularly by phoning me relentlessly to get me to buy new stuff), to arranging the engineer’s visit and then following everything up.

Well done BT!

Alterian cuts itself in half to show us what it’s made of

Unprostituted image courtesy of Gleenz Tees http://store.glennz.com/

Sad news and a reflection of our times as Alterian announces a workforce reduction from 441 to 260 .

It’s at times like this that some age-old wisdom used with reference to the Web Content Management sector in the past seems particularly prescient.

“A rising tide floats all boats”

It was Warren Buffett I believe who added the more graphic punchline to this …

“It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked”

As a long-term participant and observer in this area of business I must admit I have always struggled to understand Alterian and find the substance behind the facade. There’s been far too much ‘talking the talk’ rather than ‘walking the walk’ with regard to its social media developments and it seemed to get carried away on the wave of unsustainable hype. Meanwhile, the web content management offerings became de-emphasised and increasingly confused at a time when alternative solutions have been moving on at a pace.

For the sake of old colleagues from the Immediacy days I had hoped Alterian would use recessionary opportunities to get bigger rather than contract, because that would seem to be the wrong direction to be going in an increasingly commoditised market space.

Time will tell but I believe, personally, that the company is currently making a big mistake in rejecting SDL …

Drupal vs Sitecore – a points win in the 10th round

Ahhh – there’s nothing warms the heart of an old europhile and CMS veteran more than listening to three Americans debating the pros and cons of web solutions that were created in that other world across the pond from them .  And so it was as Drupal went head to head with Sitecore during 10 rounds of bruising questions for the latest CMS-Connected event

Drupal had the much greater reach but Sitecore was able to land some low punches

In the blue corner we had Bryan House from Acquia representing Drupal. In the red corner Darren Guarnaccia from Sitecore. The referee was Scott Liewehr from Outsell Inc and the delightful compere was Veronica Cooper from CHEK TV.

Early in round one it became clear that this wasn’t a straightforward product bout but more a philosophical battle between open source and proprietary web platforms in which the names could be swapped out across different levels of  competition by any number of commercial and GPL offerings.

However, taking the Real Story Group’s recent re-classification of Sitecore as an upper-tier solution and the growing reputation of Drupal as an enterprise capable platform then I would pitch this as a heavyweight title match.

Before entering the ring, a quick review of the competitor’s stats had Sitecore talking thousands of implementations and Drupal talking millions so the relative sizes giving open source an immediate advantage in terms of reach but perhaps the smaller fighter being more nimble, agile and packing a stronger punch? On stats alone this looked a little like a David and Goliath scenario…  

WoW ! It’s the Web on Wheels

I wrote recently about my delight at finding a new monthly car magazine that focuses on efficiency and sustainability while still pressing hot buttons of style and performance. The second edition of iCar has several articles on ‘in-car Internet’ and the different ways it is currently possible to access the Web on wheels.

You could say that the Web passed its driving test a few years ago with the arrival of high bandwidth mobile access. However, now that smartphone ownership is starting to pass the 50% mark in some countries, access and use of the Mobile Web is growing exponentially and ‘in-vehicle’ capabilities are improving steadily in competency and sophistication. The major challenge remains the speed with which smartphone technology is changing and the comparative slow development lifecycles of automotive technologies, restricted as they are by a myriad of safety legislation and complex supply chains.   

Fad, Fashion, Fun and Fear at the NEC Autumn Fair

Since first starting work on digital projects for high street retailers a few years back, I’ve attended the massive Spring and Autumn Fairs at the NEC from time to time to keep in touch with product developments and e-commerce requirements. It’s always interesting to see how these events develop and what trends are the focus of the moment.

The Autumn Fairs are about a third the size of the Spring ones as most big retailers need to be making big purchase decisions early in the year if they stand a chance of making the most of the Christmas retail surge, so it is a more about looking for opportunities that smaller operators can respond to quickly.

As we appear to be teetering on the edge of a double dip recession, the nervousness was palpable at this year’s Autumn event with stands calling for people to ignore the ‘doom and gloom’ messages and take faith in this or that offering to earn much needed revenue.

Thinking back a few years as financial crisis hit and recessionary fears started growing, I saw the trend for wartime memorabilia first emerging at the Spring Fair with the arrival of designs based on the classic ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ Government posters. Since then, in true capitalistic style, the original design and a myriad of copies and variations can be seen on an increasing range of items in many shops around the country. Indeed, if the exhibition stands at the NEC are anything to go by, there is going to be even more of this stuff  before the ‘fad’ subsides.

In one of a few ‘laugh out loud’ moments as I walked the aisles this year, I spotted the wonderfully irreverent offerings from ‘Modern Toss’ and the design featured on the picture above. As crude as it is, the message hits at the heart of the issues we are currently facing in our societies, which on a slightly more intellectual level was examined recently in a BBC article about the ‘prophetic’ views of capitalism and its potential weaknesses by Karl Marx.