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Jan 17, 2014

This Week: Why a New Web CMS Won't Solve Your Problems + The World's Best Intranet Examined

A New Web CMS Won't Solve Your Problems
Stop looking to technology as the answer to your marketing woes. Here's a thoughtful look at marketing's situation in 2014.

Breaking Down the Marketing Tools Landscape
One way to get your head around 947+ marketing software vendors competing for your attention is to focus on one piece at a time. This week, Scott Brinker commented on the web experience part of the picture.

World's Best Intranet
How National Geographic got kudos for one of the best Intranets around.

Is SharePoint a Productive Platform?
A common question from executives to the teams and stakeholders who own and manage SharePoint is "How productive are our end users in SharePoint?" 

Building Your EIM Case
We’re seeing more openness to strategic content technology initiatives than we did during the brutal years following 2009, but it’s still imperative to demonstrate solid ROI for any IT initiative, particularly EIM.

Internet of Things Here to Stay
The Internet of Things isn't just a buzzword — and five years from now, the phrase will be as common as the words “digital” or “social media.”

Finding the Right Approach to Managing Global Websites
Three management approaches examined - find the option that works best for you.
> Download the eBook

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Source : cmswire[dot]com
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OpenText Buys GXS Cloud Integration Technology in $1 Billion Deal

OpenText Buys GXS Cloud Integration Technology in $1 Billion DealIn its first salvo in the information management space this year, OpenText says that it has closed the deal to buy GXS for $1.065 billion. The acquisition will give OpenText cutting edge business-to-business cloud integration technology, which will compliment the investments OpenText has made in cloud computing in recent years.

Expanding EIM Base

According to the statement issued about the deal, GXS will remain intact and become a wholly owned subsidiary of OpenText. It also says OpenText’s information exchange portfolio will be integrated with GXS’s cloud-based B2B integration services.

OpenText didn’t go into the whys of the acquisition, but according to OpenText CEO Mark Barrenechea the move is a strategic one that will give it more headway in the enterprise information management space (EIM). It will also expand its customer base in the EIM space quite substantially.

We are committed to leading Enterprise Information Management with the market’s best products and cloud-based services. Our combined cloud will now manage over 16 billion transactions per year, approximately 600,000 trading partners and 40,000 customers,” Barrenechea said.

Integrating Disruptive Technologies

The purchase is a timely and considered one for OpenText, given the growing importance of technology integration in the enterprise.

This is particularly true for OpenText, which has been making a series of acquisitions in the space in recent years as it strives to become the EIM top dog.

Technologies on their own, or in isolation in the enterprise, are as bad as having no technology at all, particularly given the number of disruptive technologies that are out there and which OpenText has been investing in heavily.

In particular, new cloud and social technologies, along with mobile big data and now, the Internet of Things, have changed and will continue to change the way businesses do their business. In order to keep up with this and in order to align business strategies and technology, enterprises are relying heavily on the ability to integrate all these new technologies under a single coherent business technology plan.

With the GXS portfolio, they will be able to do this. The result is that not only will OpenText be in a position to ensure all of its own technologies are tightly integrated, but it will also be able to sell on these abilities to other enterprises that are trying to integrate their resources as well.

The GXS Portfolio

GXS’s portfolio of technology is currently being used (according to GXS) by over half a million people, enabling enterprises to integrate and manage business processes across global networks, as well as cutting out the inevitable problems around do-it-yourself business technology integration projects.

It also has an interesting e-commerce integration product in its GXS Managed Services portfolio that tackles the difficult problem of managing back-end technology and providing front-end, top grade customer experiences.

There are other products too, that cover all other aspects of e-commerce such as digitized accounts payable, e-invoking and e-payment technologies.

This is just the first acquisition announcement from OpenText this year — the deal was originally agreed upon in November — but there is bound to be more on the way. Open Text will also be announcing its latest quarterly results next week, which should give us some insight into how its other acquisitions are doing.

Title image by alphaspirit (Shutterstock)

 
 
 

Source : cmswire[dot]com
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Windows XP Users: Time to Move On

move on.jpg

Millions of PC users are still running Microsoft's 13-year old operating system — around 30 percent of all users according to estimates. But with official support ending, it's now time for businesses to upgrade and move on. Despite a recent extension to support for malware, more old PCs are destined to fall by the wayside and suffer from the lack of support from new software.

We look at the positive reasons to move on and your upgrade options, as well as mark the end of a fine operating system.

The Long Goodbye

We've been saying goodbye to Windows XP since around 2011, when the drive kicked in to move to newer versions with modern security, browser support and other features. However, to this day, large numbers of users are happy running their office and email programs on XP. Alas, the operating system's days are numbered.

Weighed down by endless service packs, updates and third-party patches, increasingly complex security applications and other tools, Windows XP machines are getting slower and more unreliable, hampering productivity.

When they go wrong, it might be quicker to upgrade than restore, and they are also under greatest threat from vulnerabilities as a recent security report highlighted. Apps, browser and hardware updates are also focused on later systems, leaving XP in its own shrinking island of resources.

Most importantly, Windows XP support officially ends in April, but Microsoft has added an extra year of anti-malware updates to protect laggards. Does that send out mixed messages? Perhaps, as businesses really should be upgrading now.

On the plus side, since most Windows XP applications will run on later versions of Windows — perhaps in compatibility mode — so unless you have hardware not supported by later version, there is less reason to hang on. Which leaves the question of how businesses should upgrade? 

Upgrade Options

Windows users, even those with little interest in IT, will have read much comment over the suitability of Windows 8 for the office and business. General sales of Windows 7 stopped last October. But many enterprises are — even as we speak — still in the process of upgrading to that OS.

Smaller businesses can still buy copies of Windows 7 while they last, and Microsoft still offers volume licenses for larger companies. Companies that are buying new PCs will likely find that it will ship with Windows 8 by default. However,  most vendors have an option to supply Windows 7 as an alternative, often with a Windows 8 license for possible updating later. 

As far as what kind of system to buy, we're gone a long way from the days when the choice was a vertical tower or a huge slab under a hefty CRT monitor. From desktop all-in-ones to desktops the size of a sandwich box, there is a huge choice. Notebooks range from the ultra-chunky desktop replacement to supermodel-slim, yet still with decent power. Add in Surface and other tablets (most of which are Windows 8 or Windows RT only), and there's a world of choice for upgrades.

Beyond the Desktop

Outside of the office, there are also millions of devices running embedded versions of Windows XP. It simply isn't practical to update the world's ATMs or the endless slot and arcade machines, cash registers, set-top boxes, network attached storage, time clocks and other devices out there. 

Those will have to phased out slowly leaving little sign, except for crashed machines waving an error message or login screen that Windows XP ever existed. Share your memories of XP as it moves into history, or let us know where it's still in use, and what its doing. 

Title image by iQoncept (Shutterstock).

 
 
 

Source : cmswire[dot]com
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IBM Pumps $1.2B into the Cloud, With SoftLayer at the Core

IBM Cloud Commitment .jpg

When IBM called the SoftLayer acquisition a really big deal last year, it wasn’t talking about the price tag. But until now, it was unclear how all the pieces would fit.

Today, IBM answered many of those questions. It's pumping $1.2 billion into its cloud computing business — and putting SoftLayer at its core. It even brought out IBM SoftLayer CEO Lance Crosby, shown left, to "examine servers" at the IBM SoftLayer data center in Dallas today.

Spotlight on SoftLayer

What about IBM's SmartCloud, you ask? Well that’s a little bit unclear at the moment, and IBM didn’t even address it today.

Instead, it announced that it will be establishing SoftLayer as the basis of its entire cloud portfolio and that the infrastructure it bought with SoftLayer will provide a scalable base for the secure delivery of cloud services spanning IBM’s middleware and SaaS solutions.

Big Blue is also betting on SoftLayer to enable faster development, deployment and delivery of its mobile, analytic and social solutions. Again, where’s SmartCloud here? And again, no mention of it.

However, the SoftLayer news was offered almost as an aside to the announcement that it is investing $1.2 billion in its cloud business over the coming year. Agreed that is quite a lot of money, but the SoftLayer news deserves more than an after-thought.

That said, with $1.2 billion you could buy … well another company, if you wanted, and IBM has shown itself to have a huge appetite for accusations over the past few years.

Network of Data Centers

IBM is betting big on the cloud: It plans to build a network of local cloud hubs worldwide. It expects to open another 15 cloud centers in the coming year, on top of the 12 centers it has already and the 13 it got with the SoftLayer deal (the $2 billion price tag doesn’t look that expensive now, in light of all this!).

This brings the total to 40, with key centers planned for Washington, D.C., Hong Kong, London, Japan, India, China, Canada, Mexico and Dallas. Next year, it is planning a big push in the Middle East and Africa.

All this, IBM executives said, will offer clients greater flexibility, transparency and control over the way they manage their data. This looks set to be one of the big considerations in expanding cloud businesses as tighter, and tighter regulatory regimes are demanding that enterprises keep data within specific geographies. But that’s a story for another day.

And we’re back to SoftLayer. One of the things that SoftLayer brought with it was this very ability — that is the ability to place data in whatever center, in whatever location an enterprise wants that data to inhabit.

It also offers them the choice of the cloud environment and location that best suits their business needs, as well as transparency into what is being stored and used, which is particularly interesting for enterprises with large compliance burdens.

Growth of Cloud Computing

By some estimates, the global cloud market is set to grow to $200 billion by 2020 driven largely by businesses and government agencies deploying cloud services to market, sell, develop products, manage their supply chain and transform their business practices. Erich Clementi, vice president of IBM Global Technology Services, said:

Last year, IBM made a big investment adding the $2 billion acquisition of SoftLayer to its existing high value cloud portfolio. Today's announcement is another major step in driving a global expansion of IBM’s cloud footprint and helping clients drive transformation."

It’s no real surprise that IBM is making this move now. Cloud computing has well and truly become mainstream and vendors that don’t react, or respond to that reality are going to get left behind.
In this respect, IBM is posing a direct challenge to the likes of Amazon Web Services, for example, whose strategy is to introduce a range of services into a new geography before it brings the rest of its portfolio in.

IBM, however, is throwing everything in at once so that once these data centers open users will be able to benefit from all the different services that IBM is offering on the cloud.

It also building on a cloud strategy that it has been developing since 2007. Since then, it has bought 15 companies in the cloud space to build up its business. By 2015, it wants to be turning $7 billion from cloud computing.

But this is only cloud computing per se, and it other areas of development will be feeding into this in the coming years, not least of which will be the Watson Group, which IBM launched last week and which will develop and commercialize cloud-delivered cognitive and big data innovation on SoftLayer.

(Title image by Ron Jenkins/Feature Photo Service for IBM.)

 
 
 

Source : cmswire[dot]com
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My Recipe for a Perfect Intranet

How to Build the Perfect IntranetIs it possible to build the perfect intranet? Like any project, there will be a unique set of requirements that dictate the exact nature of the solution — things like integrating with line of business systems or mimicking a corporate website look and feel. But intranet design is now a mature enough discipline that I think it is possible to break down the "perfect" intranet into a number of key areas.

1. Content

The World Wide Web gave us the first versions of HTML, and ways to link pages of information together. The browser wars of the early 90's added audio, video and more advanced formatting courtesy of the emerging CSS standard. Pretty soon the web was a platform for content rich websites, anything from online magazines to more interactive "nu-media" destinations. Inevitably the world of enterprise IT followed, and the Content Intranet was born.

Content intranets are very similar to content managed websites. They consist of pages of nicely laid out content, often include video and audio, and are intended to be browsed and read by users. Content intranets contain useful information about the company that built them: Things like how the business started, who runs it, where to find the various offices and what's on the lunch menu. More useful examples include "how to" guides for common process and training materials.

SharePoint has worked hard in recent years to improved its CMS features, but tools like Sitecore and Atlassian’s Confluence (which is at heart a wiki) offer alternative approaches.

2. Documents

The intranet has always been tied to documents, and many intranet projects are first brought into being when users finally get sick of confusing and outdated file shares. The Document Intranet is an example of the enterprise market addressing its own needs, rather than mirroring the web.

A document management system improves on the file share (or the dreaded "My documents") in a number of ways. A good version history feature is now accepted as standard, as is some kind of formal "check in/out" process. Metadata and search tend to go hand in hand on many feature lists. With the advent of cloud computing many document management systems often win over businesses simply because files are backed up off site and available to users anytime on a number of different devices.

SharePoint is again strong in this area, but finds itself under increasing pressure from the likes of Huddle and Box. Google Docs offers persuasive experience, and clearly inspired Microsoft's own cloud offering — Office 365. Dropbox, who have recently moved into the enterprise market, are attempting to reinvent the file share by marrying it with the best of modern technology.

3. Social

Back to mirroring the web, and the final key intranet area. The Social Intranet is all about users. Just like Facebook, LinkedIn and even Twitter, social features put users and the content they generate front and center of everything. These types of intranet are about interactions, messages and status updates. Taking a different tack to the first two elements we have looked at, which deal with very precisely defined content, the social intranet deals in tacit knowledge.

Yammer is attempting to drive the agenda for social intranets, and Microsoft liked what they were doing enough to buy them. Huddle recently teamed with Tibbr to do something similar, and companies like Jive Software offer their own dedicated social platform.

The Right Blend

So back to building the perfect intranet. A system needs to consider each of the three areas we have examined, and apply just the right amount for its own user base.

Some organizations will scale back on social. It might not be a good fit culturally, or their small size might make it redundant. They may want to go all in, but need to phase it in to avoid scaring off those less used to such features and functions. This all comes back to fine tuning and specific requirements.

But experience teaches me that content and documents will play a huge role in any incarnation of the perfect intranet. Get those components right, and sprinkle in enough social magic to top things off, and there you have it — a recipe for the perfect intranet.

Title image by iluistrator (Shutterstock)

Editor's Note: Chris has tackled the topic of intranets before in 3 Steps to a Great SharePoint Intranet

About the Author

Chris Wright is the founder of Fifty Five and Five, a consultancy dedicated to combining technology with clever thinking. Fifty Five and Five advises on Intranet and collaboration systems, and offers communications and copywriting services. Chris writes extensively about Intranets, collaboration and document management systems, and the Microsoft enterprise stack.

 
 
 

Source : cmswire[dot]com
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