Business Drastic Overspend On Content Management
Businesses are drastically overspending on digital content management systems, according to research by Jupiter Media Metrix.
Overly optimistic predictions for Web-based business initiatives have led companies in some cases to spend a hefty $25,000 per non-technical employee per year to manage simple content on a Web site.
In many cases, customization, integration and deployment costs can rise as high as six times the basic licensing fees.
Analysts have found that businesses with Web sites that do not operate at scale (e.g. scores of users, tens of thousands of assets) are better off evaluating lower-cost solutions, sometimes
even homegrown systems.
Companies overspending on online content management systems mainly because they don't know how to properly solve their own content management problems, suggests the firm.
"The majority of the first-tier content management platforms are only cost
effective at a very high scale. Despite the maturity of broad solutions, businesses need to be vigilant about matching their content management requirements to the appropriate solution and its cost."
High Costs and Risks
Despite the prevalence of costly, failed content management systems, most organizations still view content management as the key to operating their Web sites and increasingly, their enterprise.
Content management systems provide value by limiting the efforts of technical personnel required to support the productivity of non-technical content workers. According to a April 2002 Jupiter Executive Survey, 53 percent of companies will have deployed new document, content or media asset management systems by the end of 2002.
Moreover, nearly one-fifth of Web site managers (19 percent), said they will be involved in content management consolidation projects as they unify systems to manage multiple Web properties.
Spend at the Right Scale
Although just under one-third (31 percent) of companies surveyed have developed homegrown content management systems, Jupiter analysts expect the number to potentially double by 2004 as companies recover from - and react to - expensive, failed systems. Jupiter analysts advise companies to consider a homegrown system if the content management initiative applies to a single Web
property, the parent company has no desire to manage content across the organization, the number of contributors is fewer than 20 and the workflow is no more complicated than a few steps. Longer term, Jupiter analysts expect that decisions about the scale and scope of content management systems will be extended to include the broader needs of the enterprise, and not simply for
Web site management.
"Web sites with specific content management needs often focus on the platform that will 'do it all,' rather than match specific problems to
specific, often lower-cost, tactical solutions," said David Schatsky, Jupiter research director. "Jupiter's new Content Management Service, created in response to client and vendor feedback, will help businesses make opportunistic decisions about how digital content is created, managed, distributed and monetized."
The High Value of Content Management
With nearly one-quarter of executives surveyed complaining of sparse adoption of content management systems, and Web site managers frequently railing against the high costs of managing complicated content management software, it's clear that existing deployments are often weakest where they should provide the most strength. Prior to vendor evaluation, Jupiter analysts recommend a thorough review of existing process to determine to what extent, if any, a formal content management solution will enhance overall
employee productivity.
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