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Interview : Alan Pelz-Sharpe Principal and leadAnalyst on The ECM Suites Report at CMSWatch
Hello readers!Today I continue interviews around the ECM ecosystem. After a CEO, a Vice President, anArchitect, a Consultant, a founder and bloggers... I have the great opportunity to interview anindependent Analyst.
Remember : The subjects I focused on for these interviews are1. To introduce men and women playing a role in ECM environment 2. To discover the ECM community3. To explore ECM Solutions4. To learn more about technologies and content management practices.
So today, I interview
First of all, many thanks for the time you are spending to share your knowledge about ECM.
First of all, let's present yourself, what's your role at CMSWatch and what are youdoing day after day ?
I am a Principal Analyst and Partner at CMS Watch. I research the ECM market, and writetechnical evaluations of the leading tools for our customers. I also consult directly and spenda lot of my time talking to buyers and users of ECM technology. At CMS Watch we never work with or for vendors - all of our work is for buyers and users - I travel a great deal andspend a lot of time on the road either consulting, researching or speaking at conferences.
I read recently an old article from you about the relationship betweenVendor/Analyst/Buyer... It's incredibly hard to be neutral in your job. Could youresume and present those relations? How it works? What's your tips and tools to beneutral?
It is very difficult indeed, and frankly it is a lot easier to make money if you work withvendors. That is a sacrifice we make, and I think it is the right one to make. Being neutral,writing what we believe to be true and staying free of ethical conflict is central to our work atCMS Watch, but that does not mean that we have bad relationships with vendors. Mostvendors like what we do and are very supportive of our work, one or two do not - and that'sok. Remember that for vendors, the craziness of paying an analyst firm to write afavorable/independent report is not something they like to do. The whole machine of analystsconsulting to vendors, vendors paying the same analysts, and the analysts then trying to givehonest and bias free advice is a broken model, but its a very profitable one!
Interview : Alan Pelz-Sharpe Principal and leadAnalyst on The ECM Suites Report at CMSWatch
By the way, Could you present CMSWatch ?
Certainly, at CMS Watch we cover what we call 'Content Technologies' so that is everythingfrom Document Management to Web Content Management to Web Analytics to Digital AssetManagement and Search - and all things in between. Our goal is to give detailed technicalevaluation advise to buyers of technology - and we feel that we offer real value. Value in thatwe save people many weeks of time in selecting the right product, and value in that we help people avoid major mistakes in their projects - ECM projects are notorious for falling short of expectations. We all do this because we have all been there before, we are long term practitioners - I myself have been in the Document/Records/ECM space for 20 years.
Let's back to the past... in 2008-2006. What was the main trend of ECM Market?
Difficult to say to be honest - on the one hand we could argue it was consolidation (IBMacquired FileNet, Open Text bought a bunch of companies, HP acquired Tower etc) - but Ithink really the main trend was SharePoint. Both SharePoint as a toolset in its own right, andSharePoint as a threat/opportunity/partner for the established ECM vendors.
and in 2009 ? What will the main trend? (CMIS Adoption, Vendor Consolidation, OpenSource Explosion, Web2.0 style...)
I think the big trend in 2009 will be a return to basics - document processing, the web as self service - in other words projects that realize a solid return on their investments. Clearly in arecession price is an issue and Open Source and SaaS will have their role to play but I don'tsee an explosion. CMIS though I think will start to become more important, we are alreadyseeing buyers adding this requirement to RFP's.
I want to buy an ECM solution. Is there a methodology to make a choice between allECM products? Is it really possible to compare ECM solutions?
Yes there is a methodology, and it is perfectly possible to compare ECM solutions - but youhave to buy our report to know the secret ;-) But seriously you must compare ECM solutions- and accept and be aware that there are wide differences between them. You need the onethat is the right fit for your needs, not 'the market leader' or best known name. Factors such astheir industry specific expertise, regional support etc are just as important technicalconsiderations.
Based on your experience, do you notice a difference on content management betweencountry(Europe, US, Asia...)? Is there a different way to manage contentdue to location?
Interview : Alan Pelz-Sharpe Principal and leadAnalyst on The ECM Suites Report at CMSWatch
Oh there are huge differences - I have been blessed to live in the US for 8 years yet I am aEuropean and spend lots of time there - in addition over the years I have travelled regularly toAsia, so this is in fact an area that I find particularly fascinating. If I were to summarize (andstereotype) in the US there is a tendency to swap technology out on a regular basis (and addmore technology to the mix), in Europe investments tend to be long term, and in Asia there isa tendency to custom develop.
Do you make a difference between Open Source ECM solution and Proprietary? Why?
Yes I do, and I do so simply because buyers and vendors alike make that distinction. At CMSWatch we are followers not market leaders - we leave the crystal ball gazing to our friends atGartner and Forrester (who do a very good job at market predictions). So if the market makesa distinction we will follow. That being said it is a very common conversation for me to havewith buyers - explaining to them the differences between different open source options, someare true community supported and developed, some are very proprietary and only open sourcein terms of some vague licensing terms....
Is it really important for buyers to know this difference in the open source solution? Themost important thing is not simply support?
Yes its important - and I say this as somebody who often recommends open source options tohis clients. Its important because cultures have to resonate. Some firms are just not going to buy into the open source way and are never going to be comfortable with reliance on thecommunity - they want (and need) the support of a major software firm. Though this isdifficult for many in the open source community to swallow, its nonetheless true. Converselythere are many who thrive with open source solutions. But my bigger concern these days isnot in pointing out the differences, but more the similarities. There are some good true to thesource open source solutions out there (particularly in WCM) but more and more 'opensource' solutions are simply proprietary solutions that don't charge an up front fee for software but simply rely on maintenance fees for their livelihood, nothing wrong with that - but its notthe open source ideal I first encountered circa 1999....
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Open Source ECM - Interview ENG - Alan Pelz-Sharpe - CMSWatch
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