In a recent blog on CMS wire, "How to Select a Web Content Management System" there was some pretty interesting observations and advice:

In particular:

1 - "People are afraid they won't know what requirements to look for because they don't really know what a content management system is."

Gottlieb suggests that this is linked to the constantly evolving content management needs and awareness of what those needs are. This is a good point, needs are indeed constantly evolving, we see this all the time in projects, and this is a key reason to take a close look at the benefits of the agile methodology and also ensure that you choose a solution that is flexible enough to evolve with your needs and support business innovation.

To find out more about the Agile Methodology take a look at one of our recent seminar talks from Indigo Blue.

2 - The second point that I found particularly interesting was "Don't think about the viability of the company, but the viability of the product."

Not sure I agree with him on this one, although I do agree that the viability of the product is more important. I would also add that it is advantageous to find a company that can demonstrate a good cultural fit and the ability to support your wider business strategy, not just the implementation of a solution. Then you get into the realms of building an effective partnership and your vendor will be able to bring new ideas and innovations to the table that support your growth.

Here are my top tips from the vendor side of the fence:

• Ensure your WCM team are aware of strategic as well as technical objectives and translate business objectives into measurable non-technical objectives

• Share high level business as well as technical objectives with prospective vendors and assess their ability to add value at different levels

• Benchmark existing processes, so you can effectively build business case and sell the success of the new solution to the business

• Limit the number of vendors in round one by strong qualification, this will help limit the cost of vendor selection

• Reduce the cost of producing a RFP through repurposing content generated during the analysis

• Don't focus on immediate needs to the detriment of long-term objectives, try to balance the two whenever possible