RE: Open Source CMS Solutions

What the heck, I'll throw my two cents out there...

Gartner stats - when looking at commercial software choices, if the products
your considering are on the Gartner list, they might have a greater chance
of survival (and not becoming 'shelfware'), but that's not even a given.

Commercial versus open source tools - our firm helps clients evaluate and
implement both, and we really do try to help the client find the best
solution for them, not just one from a partner of ours, which leads me to
the next point.

Ethical consultants - one thing that's very unique about our firm is that we
pass the complete referral fee from a vendor onto the client and have
references to back up that claim.  We show the client our contracts and show
them that their discount matches this.  This creates a win-win for the
client and our firm, because the client saves around 10% or whatever from
the vendor and allows us to maintain a close relationship with the
short-list of vendors whose products we believe in, whose organizations we
believe in, etc.

Without this relationship with a vendor, your implementor is less likely to
get the kind of support/care for the client that they should be getting from
the vendor.  I'm really surprised more consultancies don't take this
approach.  Our view is that we're a services company, and while we do custom
development on many projects, we do not want to be relying on the sale of
'commercialized' software for our revenue stream.  And, as has already been
pointed out, how the heck can one claim to be an impartial consultant when
helping a client evaluate different solutions 'objectively' when they are
financially inclined to go with one solution over another?  It's a very good
point, Matthew.  Thanks for bringing it up :)

Ken Wasetis
Director of Technology
SPR Inc.
312.528.2417 (office)
224.628.1665 (mobile)

Please visit our website at http://www.sprinc.com




-----Original Message-----
From: cms-list-admin-/[email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]On
Behalf Of Matthew Clapp
Sent: Friday, January 02, 2004 5:41 PM
To: 'joseph martins'
Cc: cms-list-/[email protected]
Subject: RE: [cms-list] Open Source CMS Solutions



Joseph -

I think my experience has been oddly different. I've spent most of the last
4 years in large Pharma so maybe my experience is skewed, but most Fortune
500 companies have been talked into purchased content and document
management software before they even knew what to do with it. My
recommendation is just to look before you leap. Most people wouldn't even go
see a movie without first having seen a preview on TV. Open source software
is one way to do these tests without spending a ton of money in the process.
Again, no one goes down this path - not because it's not a good path - but
because there is no incentive to even recommend these solutions.

As for Gartner stats - you really think these are useless to users? I
completely disagree. With so much noise out there these few sources of
research serve as an excellent, objective source of information for clients
and consultants. CMSWatch.com is also a great example of one the first
places I would recommend a client to turn for advise. If not objective
research, where should a client turn to on purchasing and other strategic
decisions? Consultants?

Matthew Clapp
[email protected]

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