We announced yesterday that the Percussion CM1 web content management product was named a KM World Trendsetting Product for 2011 and we couldn’t be more thrilled. (You can read our press release here.) The team has put a lot of time and energy into our products over the years and it’s great to be recognized as an innovator in the market. 

And we aren’t done. In the coming weeks we will be continuing to launch new and exciting products and features as we continue on our mission to productize web content management. We know that in the race for the next new thing, systems are only getting more and more complex, and require more and more services to customize the technology platforms rather than focusing on your own business innovation.

Today’s model is fundamentally broken and we decided to do something about it. Two years ago our Board, Executive Team, and Technology leaders said “Enough is Enough”  Users want a product that just works, that they can get up and running quickly, that allows them to innovate and stay flexible to take advantage of whatever comes next on the web.  The “Web Rate of Change” doesn’t allow for lengthy roll out cycles that require massive customizations. By the time you are done, everything has changed and you have to start all over again.  

Its exciting times for our customers here at Percussion, stay tuned as we continue to push the envelope!

It was a busy week in the content management world this past week. In particular, the discussion of what to do with Federal Government websites continues. I found the following articles interesting and compelling. 

Time to Pull the Plug on Government Web Sites?

Gartner analyst Andrea Di Maio chimes in on the US Federal Government web site consolidation plan. It’s interesting that one of Gartner’s lead government analysts is based in Italy, but he brings some good perspectives from around the world. As is often the case, the comments may be more interesting than the actual post.  A great deal of debate about this here and elsewhere on the web

Time for the Government to Plug into One Platform?

More on the one single government web site debate here from Luke Fretwell. As we wrote in this blog at the end of July, we agree completely with taking a standardized CMS platform approach. Personally I would be fine with the government using a Facebook page to provide basic information about where to find services, similar to what they put on the web. We should expect that the Government will use whatever communication means their constituents would like to ensure open and transparent citizen engagement. That said, Facebook (or Google +, or MySpace or...) shouldn't replace their efforts on the public Internet either, and I highly doubt that I would conduct any government transactions over a commercial community platform, but Web Speed being what it is, never say never! 

Keeping Your Content Strategy Real

Ron Miller over at FierceContentManagement posted a fine call to arms for content strategy. It’s not enough to generate content, but rather to get people involved. He writes:

“Customers are no longer innocent bystanders absorbing your words. They are full-blown participants with opinions and the ability to generate content and you absolutely should be encouraging them to do just that. The more your customers are involved with your site, the more engaged they are with your products. The more passion they have, the better for you."