Blog - Contentions

The C in WCM is not the problem, it's the M. Content Marketing vs. Content Management

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Vendors and analysts are all racing to replace the "Content" from the Web Content Management (WCM) acronym. Whether it's CXM, OCO or others, C now stands for Customer, Channel, or in WEM there's no C at all. Yet Content is what gets you found, Content gets you leads. It's the M for Management in all this that needs to be changed.

Percussion CM1 Version 2: One Step Closer to WCM Product Freedom

Tue, 6 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The real news about Percussion CM1 Version 2: Percussion is finally, at long last, and unlike any other vendor or open source community, offering an enterprise class true WCM Product.

Forrester learning an old lesson: you can't eat prestige.

Tue, 9 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Forrester Research faces a deeper problem than blog policy; in the conversation economy, "prestige" isn't what it used to be.

Time for agile Web Design

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Web and UI designers, as well as many usability experts, seem to preach that good design comes from a solid understanding of the content and functions to be presented. So what happens when the content and functions are unknown? If we live in a mashup world where content and functions come from many sources, what is a designer to do?

Avoiding "Too Big to Fail"

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Now that we're officially out of a disastrous decade, we can make fun of one it's signature expressions "too big to fail." But with "too big to fail" now imprinted on our psyche, maybe we can finally realize that success usually means doing just the opposite - going small. Really small. As in, as small as you can possibly make something.

A Web CMS Trend that Won't Happen: Strategic Adoption

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

When it comes to technology, it seems that "strategic adoption" is always the prediction. For Web technologies, including WCM, it's just not happening. The Web is about constant change, even with what works. The only thing to strategically adopt on the Web is a mentality that embraces change.

Get the most out of a WCMS Trial, Test, or Proof of Concept (POC)

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Burned by a WCMS? Here's a few tips on how to run tests, trials, or a Proof of Concept before you buy a replacement. Done correctly, test cases can get you the information you need to make the right decision.

ZL's amusing Gartner lawsuit, is it too late to matter?

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Every vendor has felt like suing the big analysts like Gartner at some point, now email vendor ZL Technologies has actually done it. As a publicity stunt, it might work a bit too. As for the law suit, Gartner has nothing to worry about. What Gartner should fear is the changing ways consumers get "expert" opinion these days.

Top Ten WCM Implementation Mistakes - Business Stakeholder Edition

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400

You got the budget approved, purchased the right Web Content Management (WCM) system, and the implementation team is ready to go. Now it's easy, right? Not so much. Here are 10 mistakes frequently made by business stakeholders during a WCM implementation. These are human issues. No vendor or product can prevent them (though some make them much worse). By my count, we made six of these mistakes ourselves on Percussion.com last year. We're correcting them of course. But remember, perfection is a goal.

Does the venue make the event? Socializing at IMS 09

Fri, 9 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Sitting here at the Inbound Marketing Summit 09 down at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA. The room is so wide that side conversations can go on easily all day without really distracting those around you. Combined with the twitter feed displays on the monitors showing everyone what anyone else is tweeting about #ims09 at any given moment, and you have quite a social setting. Not bad for a social media focused event. I have to say, actually conversing all day is truly unique for a show like this.

Feature pidgeon holes and WCMS - example SEO

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400

When a customer asked about SEO recently, we showed - Twitter? Yep. More proof that a WCMS is more than the sum of its feature checkboxes.

WCM and Social Media - Time to Cross the Streams

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Tony Byrne of CMS Watch has an interesting post on the relevance of WCM and social media, but when it comes to WCM, "publishing" is only half the story.

Eating our own dog food

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0400

CMS vendor Web sites often come under scrutiny. How well do CMS vendors "eat their own dog food?" With the new Percussion.com, we decided to take eating our own dog food to the next level, by making our live site our demo site. It's required some trade-offs, but being open is worth it.

Email - dead or alive?

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The death of Email is how some would describe a recent survey. While I certainly don't argue with the trends, there's only one problem - the emergence of these "new" forms of communication only validate that the purist original form of email had it right all along. Will Tweets and Blogs and Facebook meet the same fate?

It's alive!

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0500

The new Percussion.com is here, but it's just the beginning! Percussion.com isn't our new site, it's yours. It's here to allow you to participate with Percussion, to find out what we do and tell us what you think...

Percussion.com 2.0 is getting close!

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Earlier this year I was tasked to "overhaul the Web site." You might think, as the CTO for a leading CM vendor, I'd simply dig into our bag of tricks and out pops a new killer Web site. Well, I had the experience not to be THAT naive, but I have to admit I got a bit caught up in what we can do these days. It was exciting to think about using our new Solutions for Personalization, Community Marketing and Analytics. They deploy fast and can dramatically improve the interactivity and general appeal of a site. And you know what? Just two or three of us got together and actually built a prototype "Percussion.com 2.0" in a few weeks that had all those bells and whistles blazing away. To my technical eyes, all we needed to do was "add some better graphics" and we could be live by the end of Q2!

Well, when we presented it to the rest of management...

Spacer.gif - a lesson in effective Web mentality

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0500

We're now in full force Web site re-design mode at Percussion. I've been hinting at this for a while now, but today made it official - the project is under way. I've taken on Percussion.com personally in this, not just a manager. So for the first time in a while I've been down in the trenches of Web site design, reviewing assessments of the current HTML, CSS, and other site functions in preparation for (thankfully) throwing most of them out. It was refreshing but also telling. ...

Is Your Internet Blinking "12:00 AM"?

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Some years back, folks my age all laughed at the "12:00 AM" blinking on our parents VCRs. Here these folks had a great piece of technology, and they couldn't even set the clock!?! (Today, even knowing what a VCR is probably dates us.) Well, today it's our turn to be laughed at - because all too often, the corporate internet is a giant blinking 12:00 AM blaring away for all to see. Only today, it's blaring at our customers and prospects. ...

The Web Is Us

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0500

The mantra today is how the Web is being embraced and integrated into every aspect of the business -- no longer some separate "other thing" that marketing departments do along side of their other campaigns and initiatives. Sounds good on a PowerPoint slide right? But like so many changes, this is both subtle and profound. Sometimes you just need to see it to really get it. ...

Web Optimization: Stops and Starts

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Just got back from Percussion's UK User Group meeting. It was a great meeting, and I'll have more on that in a bit, but first, this important nugget that emerged from one of the discussions. The theme of the day was on how much the role of WCM is changing - from automating and streamlining site updates (circa 2004), to today's role as the central tool for optimizing the Web presence to improve customer experience. ...

The death of the Press Release - Demo at least