Five I’s That Change the World August 6, 2010
Posted by Lee Dallas in Content Management, Technology.Tags: change, Google Wave, innovation
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Warning – the following is far more philosophical than technical so if you find it annoying remember you were warned…
We have developed a hyper-analytical mindset when it comes to change. This is learned behavior because the older and larger an organzation becomes the more management penalizes failure to the degree that we want 100% assurance of success before attempting change. We then marvel when young, new startups unencumbered by fear and cynicism race past established and essentially well run businesses. See Pie’s latest book review for a broader discussion.
Google announced the demise of their much touted Wave Email killer. Interestingly there was far more buzz on twitter and elsewhere that it was dead than there has been for the last year while it was alive. While some praised the move one of the most interesting comments I saw was an observation that the death of Google Wave was the result of innovation running ahead of an understanding of what the customers would do with the product.
This statement could not be more wrong and it is this type of thinking that stagnates technologies and organizations alike. Businesses must innovate – even when they don’t or can’t know what the outcome will be.
I have written before that only crazy people change things and I still believe it. Still it is good once in a while to ponder how real, substantive progress occurs in business and elsewhere. (more…)
Adobe Acquires Day July 29, 2010
Posted by Marko Sillanpää in Content Management, ECM, SharePoint.Tags: adobe, Day Software, ECM, SharePoint
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Yesterday’s acquisition of Day Software by Adobe should not come as a surprise. For those watching closely over the last seven years, Adobe has been trying to build their own Enterprise Content Management system. Some would argue with little success. What does come as a surprise is when. In a time where the validity of ECM may be questioned by enterprise customers, another major company invests into the technology. For the first time since IBM acquired FileNet back in 2006, a major technology vendor has said ECM matters.
Musings on Possible Autonomy OpenText Acquisition July 26, 2010
Posted by Lee Dallas in Content Management, Open Text.Tags: ECM, Autonomy, SDL, acquisition, OpenText, Kofax
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Speculation on who will buy OpenText has been a consistent pastime for content management market analysts for at least the last three years. The latest reported on some of the financial wires is that Autonomy has amassed a $1bln war chest for a large buy with OpenText offered as a possible target. Who would have thought back in the day that technologies from Open Text, Interwoven, Vignette, Red Dot, Zantaz, PC Docs, Hummingbird, Artesia, Media Bin et.al. could all end up under the same corporate banner. Yeah – me neither. (more…)
Book Review – Documentum 6.5 Content Management Foundations July 22, 2010
Posted by Lee Dallas in Content Management.Tags: Documentum
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While on vacation I finished going through Pawan Kumar’s update to his book Documentum 6.5 Content Management Foundations – EMC Proven Professional Certification Exam E20-120 Study Guide. (yes I know its sad I read this stuff on vacation) If you ignore the fact that the title is REALLY long this is a great resource. As the title implies, the intended audience is for those planning to take the initial content management certification exam for EMC but even for those not interested in the test, this book is an excellent place to get a basic understanding of the most important concepts behind the Documentum system.
One of the challenges in learning a platform as broad as Documentum is that it can be difficult to absorb the relationships between the various components and services and their role in the ecosystem. Pawan does an excellent job organizing the material in a logical manner and his descriptions of some of the more difficult concepts are very clear and approachable. The study guide accomplishes the goal for providing an overview of the topics that are covered on the exam. I should also point out this is not a replacement for formal training (no exercises) but the example scenarios are well done.
For road warriors being thrown into the fray on a Documentum project for the first time this would be the first and only book I would recommend to get started. One last point – don’t assume that just because 6.6 is out that you should wait for the next update. I could not easily identify details that are no longer valid save one reference to a now defunct forum. This edition is great resource.
What the Greenplum Deal Means to Documentum July 7, 2010
Posted by Lee Dallas in Content Management, Documentum, EMC.Tags: acquisition, Documentum, EMC, Greenplum
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There is a question that is sure to come up in Documentum circles - What does the Greenplum deal mean to Documentum. My completely personal and unofficial opinion not to be associated with the company in any way is - nothing. (more…)
Newton’s First Law of Content June 25, 2010
Posted by Lee Dallas in Content Management.Tags: Documentum, ECM, EMC, xDB
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Alan Pelz-Sharpe always has a way of getting me thinking. His latest post, ECM Coexistence and the Vuvuzela, remarks how vendors and customers alike are looking to integrate new content systems with legacy content systems rather than replacing them. Connectors and API’s and standards are all the rage. What I wonder though is why the change and why now. With apologies to Sir Isaac I propose the principal reason is Newton’s First Law of Content. (more…)
What is a case? June 9, 2010
Posted by Lee Dallas in Case Management, Content Management, Documentum, ECM, EMC.17 comments
I read a great post yesterday by Alan Pelz-Sharpe “The Case for Case Management – and Business Intelligence.” One phrase however leapt off the page that I think is critical for those of us with ECM backgrounds. Alan says.
Essentially Case Management means applying rules (either automatically or manually) to documents to ensure that they recognize their relationship with one another, as well as with the people who use them and any associated business processes.
At the risk of over analyzing this is not “essentially” what case management is. Stepping into the case management world means subjugating the idea of documents to the concept of cases. The case needs to be managed otherwise it is just case “file” management. We cannot fall into a document centric pattern as we think about the coming generation of case management applications and be successful.
So this begs the question – what is a case?
From Content to Cases June 8, 2010
Posted by Lee Dallas in Case Management, Content Management, Documentum, ECM, EMC, IBM, Open Text, SharePoint.add a comment
Check out my guest post on the case management vs. content management debate on the Fierce Content Management site. Another post on this topic comning soon title: “Just what is a case anyway?”
The Problem With “E” in ECM – Part III – Why “C” is the new “E” May 11, 2010
Posted by Lee Dallas in Content Management, ECM, EMC, cloud.Tags: cloud, ECM, EMC, SharePoint
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This is the third and final post in the Problem With “E” in ECM Series. In the first I outlined why “E” representing enterprise has lost its meaning and usefulness when discussing content management in all its flavors. In the second installment I discussed how SharePoint has captured the ECM market as we knew it. In the last I will call out the acronym that I believe will be the true successor to ECM in the content management lexicon.
AIIM Expo 2010 – Final Thoughts April 28, 2010
Posted by Lee Dallas in Content Management.4 comments
Thanks to a cancelled meeting I finally have a chance to comment on my experience at AIIM Expo 2010. On the whole it was a great week. There is a considerable amount of information from the week but these are the bits that are most likely to stick with me.
