Detailed product descriptions Importance to consumers? Very important 64% Important 24% Somewhat important 10% Not important 2% How do vendor websites rate? Very good 5% Good 29% Acceptable 37% Poor …

At-a-glance product summary Importance to consumers? Very important 42% Important 37% Somewhat important 18% Not important 3% How do vendor websites rate? Very good 8% Good 36% Acceptable 37% Poor …

The CMS marketplace is undergoing a substantial transformation, and vendors must update their websites to reflect the new environment. With consumers increasingly relying on vendor websites during their selection processes, …

A while back, we published a report titled Benchmarking CMS vendor websites, which looked at how effectively vendor websites communicated the strengths and capabilities of their products. This was a report targeted specifically at vendors (rather than consumers), with the twin goals of: helping vendors better sell their products; and as a consequence, helping consumers to get the information that they needed. This was a good report, based on a large consumer survey and expert evaluations of a wide cross-section of vendor websites. In all honesty, however, we didn't make many sales. While vendors could see that they could gain

My KM Column article for this month explores the topic of CMS interoperability. To quote: While the goal of interoperability between content management systems (CMS) is an important one, it is limited by the lack of standards relating to content management. At present, there are a range of narrowly-focused specifications in the marketplace, but these address only specific aspects of system interoperability. A number of initiatives are under way to address CMS interoperability, but these are in their formative stages, and it is expected that at least several years will be required before widely-accepted CMS standards are developed.

The Content Management HandbookMartin White The best thing about the Content Management Handbook is that it provides something that has been missing for some time: a simple and clear overview of the whole field of content management. While other books have delved in-depth into specific aspects of content management, Martin White's book aims to provide a 10,000 foot view of everything that goes into a successful content management implementation. Martin is one of the leading vendor-neutral intranet and CMS consultants in the UK, and his experience shines through in this book. This is not just the "sales pitch" for all

The unspoken truth is that workflow often doesn’t work well in practice, leading to the question: is workflow the wrong metaphor?

The second CM Briefing for February asks the question: is workflow the wrong metaphor? To quote: While workflow is a key component of content management systems (CMS), the unspoken truth is that workflow often fails (or is only moderately successful) in most organisations. This briefing explores the reality of workflow in organisations, identifies a number of problems and issues, and asks the question: is workflow the wrong metaphor?

The first of February's CM Briefings explores how staff look for documents. To quote: In the earlier article Rolling out a records management system, three critical success factors were identified: the software, classification scheme and message. This briefing focuses on a specific aspect of document management, records management and intranet projects: how staff look for documents. Understanding that there are a number of distinct situations in which staff look for documents sheds light on how to develop suitable software, and design useful classification schemes.

The issue Tenders are a life-or-death process for most vendors. Either you win jobs, or you don't. Now, I've been spending a lot of time reading tender responses and sitting in on vendor demos recently, and I've seen a lot of the same problems arise. They include: Written tender responses from vendors that are confusing, or don't provide the information that is being looked for. Written responses that are too long, or too short. Pricing information that is incomplete or confusing. Demonstrations that are too complex or technical, leaving the audience feeling drained and overwhelmed. Vendors who rush through demos,