Comments on: Why Content Management Fails? http://blog.gagankaul.com/2005/09/13/why-content-management-fails/ Gagan explores thoughts and ideas on technology and business. Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:47:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Mike Levin http://blog.gagankaul.com/2005/09/13/why-content-management-fails/#comment-43 Mike Levin Fri, 16 Sep 2005 14:15:20 +0000 http://blog.gagankaul.com/2005/09/13/why-content-management-fails/#comment-43 Changing a mindset is no easy task. I've implemented content management in the guise of Sales Lead Management at a company that was full of Word-using hold-outs. The clincher was that they had no way to respond to sales opportunities without going through the system, which effectively forced them into a blogging environment. Imagine one-to-one private blogging, almost like a message board with two participants and one discussion. But even with this, most "documents" got handed back and forth as Word or Excel documents (attached in the discussion). The company had the bad habit of not responding to any sales opportunities, which is why the system was made in the first place. Making the lackadaisical attitude towards sales leads visible to management resulted in half the sales force being let go. That got content management used. Were I running the IT department, I might even have used a system like this to replace corporate email, and to correlate every phone-call to one of these one-on-one blog discussions. It takes sweeping changes and the elimination of choice for peoples' habits to change. Changing a mindset is no easy task. I’ve implemented content management in the guise of Sales Lead Management at a company that was full of Word-using hold-outs. The clincher was that they had no way to respond to sales opportunities without going through the system, which effectively forced them into a blogging environment. Imagine one-to-one private blogging, almost like a message board with two participants and one discussion. But even with this, most “documents” got handed back and forth as Word or Excel documents (attached in the discussion). The company had the bad habit of not responding to any sales opportunities, which is why the system was made in the first place. Making the lackadaisical attitude towards sales leads visible to management resulted in half the sales force being let go. That got content management used. Were I running the IT department, I might even have used a system like this to replace corporate email, and to correlate every phone-call to one of these one-on-one blog discussions. It takes sweeping changes and the elimination of choice for peoples’ habits to change.

]]> By: Gagan Kaul http://blog.gagankaul.com/2005/09/13/why-content-management-fails/#comment-40 Gagan Kaul Wed, 14 Sep 2005 11:00:32 +0000 http://blog.gagankaul.com/2005/09/13/why-content-management-fails/#comment-40 This is irritatingly true, but such mindset needs to be changed asap. The new technologies are changing the paradigms at work; adoption and openness have become the new buzzwords. Even though people can resist such change for sometime, yet success in the longer run would only come by putting the new technologies and ideas into practice. What Blogger has done is to address this issue, but in a subtle way so as to make sure that blogging and Blogger keep attracting users. However, these only seem to be temporary solutions, or rather shortcuts, which can help bloggers opt for one of the many plugins and tools available to post their content online. But to spread the idea of blogging to non-bloggers, the picture becomes bigger. I feel that there is still a jump that has to be made in the coming years for the concept to be realized and understood. Till then, let the 'ancient' systems and modus operandi prevail. This is irritatingly true, but such mindset needs to be changed asap. The new technologies are changing the paradigms at work; adoption and openness have become the new buzzwords. Even though people can resist such change for sometime, yet success in the longer run would only come by putting the new technologies and ideas into practice.

What Blogger has done is to address this issue, but in a subtle way so as to make sure that blogging and Blogger keep attracting users. However, these only seem to be temporary solutions, or rather shortcuts, which can help bloggers opt for one of the many plugins and tools available to post their content online. But to spread the idea of blogging to non-bloggers, the picture becomes bigger.

I feel that there is still a jump that has to be made in the coming years for the concept to be realized and understood. Till then, let the ‘ancient’ systems and modus operandi prevail.

]]> By: Mike Levin http://blog.gagankaul.com/2005/09/13/why-content-management-fails/#comment-39 Mike Levin Tue, 13 Sep 2005 19:32:50 +0000 http://blog.gagankaul.com/2005/09/13/why-content-management-fails/#comment-39 Content management fails for one word: Word. People want to use Microsoft Word to write, and then send it around as email attachments. It's comfortable. That's why Blogger just put out the Word plug-in for blogger. They intuitively know that the biggest barrier to usage is the fact that Blogging is not Microsoft Word (what a lost opportunity for Microsoft). It's too difficult to change peoples' long-established habits to even try. It's better to make the tools seamlessly let your content slide into the CMS system. Slippery slope is more powerful than forcing technology adoption. Content management fails for one word: Word. People want to use Microsoft Word to write, and then send it around as email attachments. It’s comfortable. That’s why Blogger just put out the Word plug-in for blogger. They intuitively know that the biggest barrier to usage is the fact that Blogging is not Microsoft Word (what a lost opportunity for Microsoft). It’s too difficult to change peoples’ long-established habits to even try. It’s better to make the tools seamlessly let your content slide into the CMS system. Slippery slope is more powerful than forcing technology adoption.

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