Culture is defined as - the art and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively. Technology is changing the recording and dissemination of collective information. There is no better representation of this than the online Enterprise Content Management System. Because of the collaborative nature of these systems it is much easier to update content and keep your message current and valid; but it is also much easier to have conflicting content and incorrect versions of your content.

As a project manager I orchestrate the implementation of Enterprise Content Management Systems for a living. I have managed builds from the ground up and I have managed implementations of third party solutions. Every system out there is unique and each have strengths and weaknesses but there are certain issues that run across all of them. These issues aren’t necessarily flaws in the application but rather, they have to do with the intricacies of deploying information about an organization on a company-wide scale.

The different content management systems cater to different needs. If a system is easier to implement it is usually more limited as to what it can do. If you want lots of customization, so you can shape the system to your exact needs, it will probably be more complicated to plan and implement. The scenario that is always very tricky is when an organization wants to save money so they decide to implement an out of the box solution and then adapt their business needs to fit that solution. This rarely ends well on an enterprise level because if you can’t get user adoption, content won’t be updated and if a system doesn’t fit your business process you won’t get user adoption. In the end, this usually costs a large company more than it saves them in loss of productivity, lost opportunity and redundant systems.

When an organization implements a system that doesn’t quite meet their needs it usually ends in one of three ways, either 1) the system gets scrapped and the organization opts for a new system that may or may not solve their issues, 2) the organization will hire an outside company to make updates to their content in which case the content management system becomes an unnecessary tool or, 3) you have one group, like the IT department, that ends up owning the website and control of the content and information that gets posted to the site. In my opinion this third option is the scariest because there is typically a disconnect between the technology and the message that is supposed to drive that technological need. I have seen many systems in which the implementation has so many technical requirements that it misses the mark for the business need that originally drove the necessity of that technology. This often means that a sales or marketing team doesn’t have access to the tools that they need to generate revenue because those tools don’t adhere to the technology standards that have been specified by the IT department.

I have also seen many creative implementations of miss-matched technologies that are a solution for an organization because they meet the business need and are easy for the users to implement and make updates. The down side of this type of implementation is that there are no standards, documentation or support and expansion of these systems is usually very painful. This becomes more of an issue as organizations get larger and the number of users gets bigger. If the person who implemented that system leaves, it is often times very difficult for someone else to come along and pick up where they left off.

This type of implementation can also cost an organization time and money because in today’s society very little online information is backed up as a hard copy. There is no repository outside of the content management system that houses all of the current versions of the content. If you don’t have content backed up and you have multiple people stretching the intended purpose of a tool, there are chances for error, lost content and users not knowing which content is current or accurate. If multiple people have the same level of access to change files, then you can run into version problems where no one knows which version of a document is current or accurate. If multiple people are working on the same file at the same time you run the risk of overwriting newly updated information with an older version of content. For example, if someone makes an update to a file, but doesn’t push it live because they are waiting for a specific promotion date and someone else edits that same page in a different section, they may unintentionally push the promotional offer out before its intended time.

Although enterprise content management systems can be complex they can be very beneficial if properly implemented. There are steps that you can take as an organization to help with your implementation:

• Take the time to analyze your organization’s business needs. Don’t only look at a system’s workflows but take into account how they apply to your business process
• Make sure to get feedback from all departments
• Get feedback from all of the stakeholders because if the system doesn’t work for them they will not use it
• Make sure the workflows that you create allow for easy updates, proper versioning and the proper amount of control that your business hierarchy requires
• Talk to a company or consultant that is familiar with enterprise implementations and listen to what they have to say
• If your production environment will be affected by the implementation, make sure that everything is well planned out so you can minimize downtime
• Make sure you have the necessary resources to do a proper analysis and implementation
• If you have a complex implementation, segment and then prioritize your deployment. Make sure the plan is well thought out and will accommodate the future expansion and implementation

If an organization puts the necessary time into choosing and implementing a content management system it can meet their needs allowing for easy update and management of the most easily accessible marketing message, their website. Be sure that your company’s “culture” doesn’t get impeded by the technology and vehicle in which it is delivered.