This is the third year in a row at this session. Mike (MT) Mohen is a smart guy who really knows what it take to make DFS work in the real world. This stuff is also applicable to EMC’s CMIS implementation as it is built on top of DFS.
SharePoint
Microsoft SharePoint, what more is there to say?
ECM in the Pantheon of Content Management
“May you live in interesting times” is reported to be a Chinese curse. Well, in the world of Content Management, we are in interesting times. In the last week, I have read about how ECM is growing in stature and read a call for the killing of ECM.
Scary thing, I think that if Peter read Carl’s post, he would state that it supports his point that ECM needs to die.
Pardon me for disagreeing.
Here is the basic problem, because we can’t agree on what to call anything, we can’t agree where anything is going.
- Is ECM Dead? That depends if you think ECM means one repository. If so, then yes. It doesn’t mean one repository though, or at least, it shouldn’t. If we can’t agree on what it is, how can anyone claim it needs to die or is already dead.
- Is WordPress a CMS? That depends on how you define the “Management” in CMS. Maybe it is a Website Management System? Maybe the WCMS is going to go away as what actually goes into a website broadens.
If we don’t agree on the terms as practioners, how can we expect the business users, and the users in the rest of the world, to understand what we are talking about?
ECM Industry Goals: Move the ECM Industry Forward
I started this on Monday discussing the importance of goals in general, using the setting of goals for yourself as a starting point. The same logic applies to a company, and its industry, as well.
Think about it, why is a company in business? Yes, to make money, but that goal will only get you so far, just ask the gnomes. You have to have something to offer and the ability to convince your customers that you can deliver and still be around in the future.
So in order to inspire your employees and your customers, you create a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG). For example, maybe you want to create the market leading ECM solution. Ten years ago, that was a challenge. No one company had all the capabilities in house and the leadership of the market was in flux. Now, to hit the same goal, you just take aim at the big boys and go forward.
But what does that really get you? Are you leading or just following the trail already blazed?
CenterStage or SharePoint? An Early Look
I recently dissected a “comparison” between Documentum and SharePoint. Karma was paying attention and I found myself performing a comparison of CenterStage and SharePoint for one of my long-time eRoom customers last week.
Setting the Stage
A little background. This client has had eRoom Enterprise since 2004. There has been some isolated success in some pockets of the organization, but not everywhere. The initial champions left during the deployment and there was no real concerted push to use the system afterwards. It had grown slowly over time, but hadn’t become a must-use system for many.
ECM and CMS Living In Harmony
So I ranted a week ago about the term CMS. I was more upset how people used “CMS” than the term itself. Assuming that the term has legs, how does it fit in the grand scheme of things, like the world of ECM?
So today, instead of tearing things apart, I thought I would try and help add to the world. This will also let people tear my thoughts apart.
ECM as a Strategy
Enterprise Content Management is not a system. You can’t install it and expect it to just work. You can do that with systems, but ECM is a little more than that. It is the strategy to managing content in the organization. Have content, need control.
I last visited the definition of ECM around the New Year. Pulling the update from the comments and adding the word Strategy gives the following.
Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is a strategy for the coordinated management of all content throughout an organization, allowing for people and systems to find and use content from within any business context using platform agnostic standards.
Dissecting a Documentum-SharePoint “Comparison”
Saw a tweet today that was pretty exciting. It was referencing a “comparison” between SharePoint and Documentum. I was initially excited. I’d love to see CenterStage and SharePoint compared. I compared SharePoint to eRoom a couple of years back and wasn’t planning on a comparison with CenterStage until the database/list functionality was ported over.
My excitement was short-lived.
I instead encountered a piece that resembles propaganda more than a fair and balanced comparison. That may sound harsh, but I will defend the charge.
CMIS is Helping Application Separation, Today
It is already happening, and I couldn’t be happier. There are CMIS-base custom clients being developed and released that are taking some of the pain out of using ECM systems. I’m not talking about open source clients, but commercial clients with dedicated teams and one goal, to make money.
I know that there is pain in the use of ECM systems, and not just because I use them. I know this because of one simple metric; In my list my most successful ECM projects, the top of the list is dominated by systems that do not use the default user interface. I’m not talking about customized clients. I’m talking CUSTOM clients.
Lessons in Product Marketing, ECM Style
Last week I went to the Drug Information Association’s conference on Electronic Document Management (DIA EDM). I was there to get my feet wet again in the pharmaceutical industry. I wanted to see what had changed and how things had evolved.
I learned a few things. The first was that the drivers are basically the same in the industry as they were a few years back. I’m still digesting the material on the conference, and there should be more on what I learned later. The most important thing that I learned wasn’t about Clinical Research Organizations or any other of the latest trends in managing electronic submissions.
It was in marketing.
Top Predictions For 2010
Everyone seems to be making a looking back post and/or a predictions post. I thought I would throw one against the wall and see if it stuck.
Enjoy…
Documentum Renewal: Identity Management
Continuing my Christmas present to EMC. I’ve talked about Application Separation and the need to Focus on the Core. Now it is time to revisit a critical piece of the puzzle, Identity Management.
This is not a new topic for me. One of my most popular posts this year is the Single Sign-On, SAML, and Authentication in Documentum post that I wrote back in 2007. I’ve talked to EMC engineers and product managers about this issue repeatedly over the years. It was one of those things that James McGovern always pinged EMC on when he was a regular blogger.
This is the reason that I feel eRoom died. This is what will stop application developers from using just any ECM platform.
Word of Pie 