EMC Documentum to the Cloud
November 3, 2011
I read “EMC Pushes Documentum into the Cloud.” EMC Documentum is a big dog content management system. On premises installations can be complicated, expensive, and frustrating to procurement professionals. Just ask some of the folks in the US Senate whom I overheard grousing several years ago at a fast food joint.
The cloud allegedly solves the on premises obstacle course. For me, however, the most interesting passage was this one:
We have heard more and more about user dissatisfaction with our user front-ends,” Devenuti said on stage. “It was a ‘build versus buy’ decision, and today I’m pleased to announce we’ve acquired the technology assets of C6, which has been a great partner of ours for a number of years. The C6 technology is designed to let customers quickly configure and modify EMC’s software, rather than having to write a plethora of extensions. The first fruit of the arrangement is the interface for the Documentum D2 web app.
My take on this interface issue strikes at the core of the challenges enterprise applications are working to resolve. Users don’t want to learn complicated interfaces. In the US, workers under 23 often cannot learn complicated applications. The reason the iPad apps are surging is a reminder that among some users, simplicity is next to godliness.
But will a shift to the cloud and a snazzy interface make EMC Documentum the content management system that nukes the open source crowd, the silly little blogger systems, and the other wild and wonderful commercial content management solutions?
I don’t think so. Four reasons:
First, slapping a clown face on a lecturer in finite math does not make the subject “easier” for the person who cannot figure out d=rt.
Second, the on premises complexity comes from the system and the nature of content. Moving one part to the cloud leaves the nasty content bit. Some call it governance, but I call it a problem that the cloud cannot easily resolve.
Third, Federal regulations give Documentum a baked in market. In a sense, these folks have no choice, so interfaces, clouds, whatever. You want an approved drug, figure it out. For other markets, there is lots of competition.
Fourth, until one pushes around big chunks of enterprise content in a regulated environment, the notion of parking content “out there” may not be too appealing. It is not cost. It is not complexity. It is the downside of muffing the bunny on a multi-million dollar investment. For pharma and a handful of other industries, there might be some upside to having data down the hall.
Here in Harrod’s Creek, we don’t have much in the way of clinical trials work. In fact, we don’t know much about content management. We leave that to the “real” consultants, many of whom have deep expertise in modern poetry, baking cookies, and flip flopping about the value of the cloud.
One hopes the use of open source search will deliver results more relevant than those output from the Fast Search & Transfer technology, which we thought we had heard was once used in the Documentum system.
Net net: Interface does alter complexity. A change in interface evidence that change is needed. Keep pushing.
Stephen E Arnold, November 3, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Comments
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
