Re: What/why is the CMS failure rate? (WAS: RE: ask for he lp)

On Fri, 2004-01-02 at 01:52, Michelle Heizer wrote:
> I think the major problem with CMSes is not so much the
> software but the attitude people have about the
> software. A CMS will not solve all your Web problems. It
> is merely a platform for producing a Web site. For the
> site to be high quality and truly dynamic, a company or
> organization needs to embrace the product and learn to use
> it. I think companies and organizations want a system that
> is so easy that they can just drop it in and think it
> should produce this great Web site.

Requiring organizations to, by virtue of deploying a CMS,
find the discipline to use it is a recipe for
underutilization/failure.

In most organizations _direct_ responsibility for a website
is limited to small number of people.  A CMS will, almost
always, improve the life of this small group.  As a result,
you'll get good buy-in and utilization in this group.

The real roi doesn't come from this group.  The returns come
when line-of-business employees can use a CMS to improve
their *own* work practices.  Human nature suggests that
people will always help themselves before they "buckle down"
to help others or their organizations as a whole.

There are a LOT of capabilities in contemporary CMSes that
benefit the website AND line-of-business activities.  Why
not use a CMS to provide internal/intranet document
management, workflow, archival services that benefit nearly
everyone at a company?

Maybe it happens that Press Releases end up being published
on the web.  If the departmental budget spreadsheet doesn't,
so what!?  At least you have it under version control with
workflow audit trails, etc..

In my opinion, the line that divides internal content
management from external content management (i.e., the
intranet from the internet) is gets fuzzier every day.

<snip>


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