contentmanagement

Marketing and IT - A Winning Team For CMS Deployments

So, it's only a month or so  until opening day of the NFL (yes, I do count the days). The only difference this year is that I will be watching in high definition with my broadband connected laptop checking out all the new rosters. Thankfully for my family, this day comes but once a year.

But... something sad in today's professional sports, especially football, is that it's much less about watching players grow from draft picks to dynasty players than it is to support your home team as "skill" players travel from team to team, looking to help them fill gaps and become champions.

This got me to thinking about a familiar challenge in today's digital marketing landscape. When we try to implement a new technology solution to solve a marketing problem we are often not operating as a team, and often avoid looking at new talent to solve a business challenge.

Even for digital marketing efforts where the website has always been a big lead generator, giving the marketing and sales team an integrated view (much less action) between the site, the CRM system, email campaigns, web analytics and SEO/SEM is like that trip to the Super Bowl--something we always talk about but never find the time to actually do.

But in today's world, making the website work for marketing is no longer something we can just talk about. The website and digital marketing has become an imperative. This challenge is only getting bigger as we begin to integrate other web content and marketing strategies such as RSS, blogs, microsites, landing pages, customer FAQ help sites-- and myriad other web content-related needs.

So, in this new "game" it's more important than ever that the marketing teams responsible for accomplishing these goals, and the technology teams responsible for reviewing and sometimes implementing these solutions, work together toward a common goal.

First, let's define the problem. It's no secret that it's shared between both groups. Marketers tend to see IT as having no understanding of how technology can support their efforts. One customer I spoke with said, "we're a services company, and when our website is down, the IT group doesn't seem to understand how ugly a 404 error really is and how it affects our brand."

On the other hand, IT tends to view those of us in marketing as failing to understand the true complexity of how technology works together-- and our unrealistic expectations of what can be accomplished given the relative budget, capabilities and skill sets of the existing staff.

In short, as Strother Martin said in one of my all-time favorite movies, "Cool Hand Luke," "what we have here, is a failure to communicate."

Most of this can be attributed to the fact that marketing and IT are typically rewarded on different financial metrics. Marketers are usually measured on revenue generation and the IT organization on cost. Marketing wants to blow the budget on the first class flight to Europe, and IT says it's just as functional in the baggage compartment. You still get there, right?

That's hyperbole of course. The reality is somewhere in the middle. So, let's throw it all out there. Let's look to integrate our website with content management, integrate it into our email campaign management system, feed our leads automatically into our CRM system and deliver dashboard reports for all the executives. Basically how will we, in the face of what seems like an overwhelmingly complex technology project, work together with our technology focused colleagues to get the job done?

1. It all about dedication.
There's a great quote that I love that says "dedication is not what others expect of you, it's what you can give to others." The relationship between marketing and IT improves dramatically when you're on the same team. Dedicating a technology focused person to marketing and rewarding them as a marketing team member can do more than just give you an advocate. It can provide you the leverage to do things that are "outside the box", or more creative than you might otherwise be able to do. If you're looking to bridge an existing gap, and can't add headcount, consider outsourcing this function (see No. 2 below).

2. Some technology vendors are people too.
Consider technology solutions that fill a knowledge gap between you and your technology team. Your IT team can't be expected to know everything that can be known about search engine marketing, email campaign management or content management (as examples). So, look to Software-as-Services where you not only get a technology solution, but a dedicated team to help you through the finer points of setting up your email campaigns, workflow, templating as well as your digital marketing strategy. Remember, unlike an installed software vendor, a software-as-a-service vendor is invested in your success.

3. Consider cross-functional decision teams
Your dedicated "marketing IT" person can lead cross-functional meetings so that deeper issues between rolling out new technology and your marketing team can be solved. This includes things like security, platforms and other more deeply seated technology issues that may need to be addressed. Again, having that marketing technology advocate on your team, can keep the IT folks from waving the magic "it can't work here" wand.

4. Clearly define the roles - and don't be afraid to bring in the experts
IT is typically structured as a support organization -- so saddling them with implementing a new piece of technology that they do not understand is not only unfair -- it is destined to fail. Before you begin the project, clearly define the role (and desire) of the IT organization's ability to integrate -- and support -- the new solution. This includes both the technology aspects and the strategic aspects. For example, how will IT help optimize your new content management solution for search engine optimization? This is where No. 2 can also fit in nicely. A new technology vendor should supplement and complement the IT team-- not threaten them.

5. Consider a new mix of metrics
We've changed the success metrics for marketing at least nine times in the last two years right? So, why haven't IT's success metrics changed for the last 10 years? Their job is at least as demanding as ours, so let's get them invested in the success, not just the efficiency, of the organization. Getting IT involved in the revenue generating part of success will not only win you some converts, but might just surprise you with their willingness to "try some new cool things."

In short, it's all about being on the same team. And in today's digital marketing game, there's certainly nothing wrong by bringing in the free agent vendor who not only fills a technology gap - but also helps us become better marketers. And, in the end - when we win the game, we all get to hold up the trophy. Now if I can just get it in high def….

Why We Love Open Source

As a history buff, and kind of a TV nut, I've been intrigued that we've been getting a bunch of great new movies that are really great history pieces. I just loved the John Adams miniseries that HBO did. And I just watched Recount - which was a great re-telling of the Bush V. Gore Florida mess... I promise that's where the politics stop... One of the main themes of both of these pieces is that we should remember our history, lest we be destined to repeat it.

So, it's amazing to me how forgotten the original ideas of Open Source have become. In a classic came of telephone, over the years, people have really come to equate Open Source with "free" - as in "no money".

Long forgotten is that Open Source, or even the “Free Software movement” that preceded it was never about cost. In fact, the Free Software Movement is famous for saying "Free software" is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of 'free speech', not 'free beer'."

Even today’s Open GNU license says right in its preamble that free software is freedom not price.

Open source has always been about giving people flexibility and control. From its founding it was about giving developers the freedom to configure software however, whenever and wherever they like. Certainly in the beginning this was because there often wasn’t a commercial alternative available. But over time – this has become something that has resembled more of a movement in the sense of being able to modify, configure and customize software freely. And then share that with a larger community and have it be improved upon.

The challenge is that all too frequently, the choice of Open Source CMS software is an attempt to solve the wrong problem. The price. The choice of open source is often NOT made with an eye toward the comparison of a solution that I install, support and upgrade, vs. a system that I don't have to support, install and upgrade. It's still all too often made over which one seems "cheaper". And then, actually, the choice of Open Source CMS Software often compounds the problem it’s intended to solve which is providing a more inexpensive way of managing the web site.

With Open Source it’s freedom TO, not freedom FROM price…

And when we look at Open Source CMS systems we find that this is still the main benefit. A large, open community employs the “wisdom of crowds” theory to software development. In short, with a large productive community, you theoretically have more options, more customization capabilities and wider support options.

Now, in an Open Source CMS like Drupal or Joomla – the treasure trove of benefits are not typically in the code itself. There certainly is a community that does support the core product development. But MOST of the development is happening on the front end… With Drupal and Joomla it’s new themes, modules, front end templates that are exciting the community… Because let’s face it that’s where most of the work gets done in the real world… Especially with agencies that need to get a client up and running… Having a LARGE choice of themes and modules is what’s made Drupal one of the leading Open Source CMS’s out there…. It’s certainly NOT its ease of implementation or customization, which is legendarily cumbersome. And, it’s not in its security, or its scalability which again has been well documented.

And that's one of the reasons CrownPeak launched this community. We believe in the philosophoy of the community driven solution. We want to share frameworks, templates, best practices with our customers - and celebrate the open philosophy of software elements that can be developed and shared freely.

If you haven't reviewed our code library for best practices or templates, that's a great place to start - and as we grow the community we hope the trade and our own submissions of templates, themes, frameworks and best practices to the community will be valuable to you.

Why CMS Projects Fail

We've been in this business a long time and have seen a lot of companies implement and use their CMS successfully, but unfortunately this is not always the case:

5. You'll pull a Frankenstein:  You'll attempt the unholy mix of document management, business process management, e-commerce, and web publishing.  Each solution is for different projects and teams with different requirements.

4. You'll make a token gesture at training: You won't train the end-users well.  You won't create a custom how-to manual for your project to use for new users over time.  You won't have somebody to answer user questions and help them when they paste something nutty into a form and break a page.  And - your people will hate the CMS.

3.  Your UI will be poor.  And nobody will use it. 

2. You will launch a system based on requirements and not change it based on user feedback after launch.

1. You won't have a service to make system modifications after launch. Every time you need a new type of page, a new layout, a change to workflow, a simple integration, somebody needs to modify the system. Have a service or have a CMS that stinks to high heaven within 12 months.

Your challenge is to not make these mistakes, but are there others you've experienced other challenges in your CMS implementations.

The Difference Between SaaS and a "Hosted" Solution

If you work with an ASP or another version of a "false SaaS", you are likely to wind up in trouble because critical things that an SaaS does naturally won't be included.  A true SaaS provides upgrades, support on the application itself - not just the hardware and network, troubleshooting, documentation on the product, an SLA guaranteeing service levels on everything - not just the network, a commitment to the product, and most importantly - adjustments to the CMS when changes are needed -- over years or even decades of a relationship.  There are easy ways to tell the true SaaS from a false one.

Back in the late 90's and early 2000's there were a number of companies who were called "ASP's", or "Application Service Providers".  Some of them are still around.  IBM bought one of the remaining ones last year.  These companies took commercial software, installed it in a data center and managed it - to a point.  They typically made sure the application was running on hardware and a network and that the database was operational and the disc space wasn't filled up and they patched the OS to make sure there were no OS-level security issues.  The basically did everything except implementing and customizing the software.  Vignette and Interwoven had ASP partners for about 5 years there.  They all failed.

Like the end of a horror film, the ghoulish hand of the ASP has reached up from the grave once again to grab unsuspecting customers.   Commercial software vendors and open source tools have established, "hosting partners" and are selling in competition with SaaS vendors, claiming that it's the same thing.  It's not!

A "hosting partner" will still have the same difficulties in managing an application anybody will have.  Custom code isn’t supported – is there an upgrade path?  Upgrades will be expensive.  Who pays?  The hosting partner won’t have people sitting by the phone waiting to make adjustments to the application when a new page type is required or a new mini-site needs to be launched.  They don't have content management experts on staff - they have network management people.  They won't know how to troubleshoot an issue, fix a template bug or train a new user.  They won't even know when bugs happen in the application - every SaaS knows when there is a user error and looks into it.  They simply can’t.  Likewise, they won't know when a publishing error happens and look into that.  If there is a publishing error, who is going to fix it?  If you need a new template or to adjust the look of the homepage, who is going to do that?  How soon?  At what cost? 

Even more seductive is the web design shop or internal development group who will use an open source tool to build a custom system.  The issues are the same as an ASP has - only the application is less likely to be stable and reliable.  It's also unlikely to be built by content management experts - web shops and IT organizations are generalists by necessity.  Who is looking into SEO?  Who is looking into lead capture optimization?  What are the search engine integration plans?  What about analytics?  What about navigation management?

So, here are some questions to ask any prospective vendor for content management.

Can you describe your customization and launch process?  How much work will you do after launch to “tweak” the system once the users are in there?  How much will that cost? 

What company is doing the system implementation, configuration/customization, and training?  Are they available to work with once the system is live?  How does that work?

Can we see the API documentation? 

Can we see the other developer documentation?  What other documentation do you provide? 

Do you offer developer training

Do I have access to my own HTML to modify in the templates if I want?  How about the template code itself?  Can we modify that

What type of end-user training to do you provide

Can we see an example of your user manual?  Do you customize this for every customer or is this a standard thing (Note: you want a customized user manual - every CMS implementation works differently)

Can we see your SLA (Service Level Agreement)?

Who will be my services representative?  Do you guarantee response time for basic services?  For critical services? 

What is your service escalation path?  Is that just for the machines and network and hardware, or does that also apply to the application? 

What happens if the CMS starts publishing broken pages at 2:00 AM?  Do you have site monitoring devices (would you know about a broken page)?  What would you do if a page were broken?  Would you charge us?

How long will it take you to adjust a workflow step?  How much would that cost? 

How many customers do you have live on this software?

What version are they running on?  How many versions of the system are operational?  (The answer should be "one".  Web shops will use a base of code and write customizations for every customer, which is custom software, not a product.  Every version is different.  There will be no documentation or upgrade path.  There will be no security management.)

What are your security management procedures?

How much will major upgrades cost us?  Are they included? 

What will be the annual price increase?  Can you guarantee that in the contract?

Just remember there are many reasons to buy an installed, commercial product - or install an open source product.  And just as many reason to go with a SaaS.  But just remember that installed is installed, no matter where it's installed - and if you're interested in the SaaS model - ensure you're getting a true software service.

TCO and the SaaS Model for a CMS

Basically the TCO equation should be a "no-brainer", when comparing a software as a service against an installed application or an open source tool.  Owning software is like owning a boat.  The cheapest part is buying it. 

In brief, the cost comparison goes this way:

A SaaS like CrownPeak costs $3k/month for the software and all of management, maintenance, upgrades and support of the software.  We include a service level agreement guaranteeing all of our services and performance levels plus a few hours of services per month for changes and adjustments to the software (for when you change a page layout, add a new type of page, change a workflow element, etc.)  

The customer is charged between $10k and $20k to configure the system and do any customization you require.  That includes basic training on the system.  We are typically live with a working prototype of the system in 3 weeks or so.

Compare that to a traditional application or an open source tool.  In that case, the customer pays upfront for any licenses.  The customer buys the hardware, sets up the network and firewalls, installs the database, installs the application, and works to get it going.  That often takes a few months.  Then the customer customizes and configures the application.  That takes another few months, typically.  Then the customer does training and the system is live.  The time and cost for all of this can be very significant.

After the system is live, somebody needs to manage the hardware, network, and security.  That is expensive, but it often not calculated - it's just part of the IT budget.  Somebody also needs to modify the templates, workflow, publishing rules, database and integrated components.  Every time you need a change to a page layout, add a new type of page or a new site section, or modify a workflow step or publishing rule, you need to have a developer make that change.  This is also often not counted - and unfortunately is often not done.  If changes to the CMS aren't made, the CMS can get in the way of web site changes.  Said another way, it is imperative to calculate and plan for the cost of ongoing adjustments to templates, workflow, publishing, page layouts, etc. 

Of course, with an installed application, there is a maintenance fee, which often is 20% or more of the cost of the software – this also applies with open source tools.  Then, 12 to 24 months after the system is live, the software vendor requires that you do a system upgrade.  A commercial vendor will charge you the entire upfront software fee again - and you get the fun task of upgrading and rewriting any customizations you have made on the software.  This is very expensive and time-consuming.

In other words, managing, upgrading, and maintaining software systems is very expensive - it often costs 4x to 5x the initial cost of the software product.  Reference Gartner's research in this area.  CrownPeak does all of that for the customer.  We do all of the upgrades.  We guarantee the templates and system won't break.  If it does, we fix it, free of charge. 

CrownPeak estimates that a SaaS costs between 1/4 and 1/5 the cost of commercial or open source software