The need for improvements in information management systems and practices within organisations is great. Spend half a day talking with a random selection of staff, and the list of desirable fixes and enhancements will be lengthy. Whether it is the need to log into three different applications to complete a single task, or the filling out of a poorly-designed paper form where an electronic one would work better. Staff are struggling to do their jobs, and we are not providing them with good tools or systems to help in their day-to-day tasks. So my question is: why are we wasting

One of the greatest fears when selecting a new content management system (CMS) is that the vendor will go bust, leaving the purchaser without support or upgrades. While this is certainly an important risk to manage, more careful consideration must be made beyond just selecting a 'big' CMS vendor and hoping for the best. This briefing outlines the issues, and presents some potential approaches for mitigating the risk that your chosen vendor will not survive. Will your vendor go bust? As indicated above, one risk that needs to be considered when selecting a CMS vendor is that they may not

A little while back, I wrote an article that suggested that in some cases workflow is the wrong solution within content management systems (CMS). This week I've been sitting in on four different vendor demos, as part of helping a client to select a CMS. One of the issues that came up strongly was the problems and limitations of workflow. Their needs are simple, and can be best summarised in the following scenario: There is a single centralised author who publishes content to the corporate website. Most of this information has already been signed off by legal, or publicly released

Efforts should be targeted at improving the quality of key information, while applying lower standards to the majority of intranet content.

Product costs and license terms Importance to consumers? Very important 56% Important 24% Somewhat important 16% Not important 4% How do vendor websites rate? Very good 5% Good 13% Acceptable 13% Poor 39% Very poor 30% It would seem obvious that customers are looking for prices. Our survey respondents expressed exasperation with the rarity of this simple selling point, and the way their time was wasted. "Be up-front about pricing. If you're beyond my budget, don't waste my time with information, presentations, sales pitches etc." "You have to go through the process of contacting them and getting the full sales

Product demos and samples Importance to consumers? Very important 47% Important 37% Somewhat important 13% Not important 3% How do vendor websites rate? Very good 2% Good 24% Acceptable 38% …

“They need to organise the information better so people can find what they need.” Websites, especially those produced by sophisticated content management systems, should be functional on a range of …

My second CM Briefing for June looks at the spending patterns during CMS implementation. To quote: There are three clear phases to the adoption of a content management system, of which the initial implementation is just the first step. The activities and spending patterns during these phases needs to be understood, to ensure that sufficient time and resources are made available for the project as a whole. This article explores each of the three main phases, and outlines some recommendations for the planning of CMS spending.

A website can be an impressive statement of professionalism and creativity, enhancing a company’s image with a high standard of design, graphical sophistication, consistency and attractiveness. “Why would I want …

Features and benefits Importance to consumers? Very important 48% Important 39% Somewhat important 10% Not important 3% How do vendor websites rate? Very good 11% Good 35% Acceptable 37% Poor …