Search Merging with CMS
January 13, 2010
When you have a CMS “hammer”, you have the opportunity to see an information problem as something that can be pounded with CMS. Let me be upfront. Most organizations are not in the information business. The idea that Big O’s tires in Kentucky is an information company is not just silly; it’s a financially imprudent assertion. Big O’s is a retail operation that sells tires and services. The company’s Web site is a marketing is a marketing effort, but when you need tires for your Hummer with a gun mount, you have to haul on over to the closest Big O’s, pony up cash, and get your tires mounted, balanced, and bolted on. Sure, information is important to the Big O operation, but like many other businesses, Big O’s moves tires. Information is an enabler, sort of a digital lubricant. A person dressed up in a Daniel Boone outfit holding a sign that says, “50% off Tires. Today only.” is information. But the pointy end of the business is selling tires.
Just hop right into the CMS tanning bed. It will make you look and feel great. Oh, there may be some risks, but what’s more important? Looking great or becoming a human Blutwurst.
When I read CMS Wire’s short article “MySource Matrix” I was surprised that search is becoming part of CMS. Yikes. CMS, content management systems, refers to a bunch of software components that perform integrated content operations for Web sites. There are document management systems that help nuclear power plants keep track of engineering change orders. And there are really expensive enterprise publishing systems from Hewlett Packard and StreamServe that manage and output certain types of enterprise information. I grant that when you can’t find a document, you can’t do much with any of these systems. So, search is a utility. Search in any of these three types of content systems often is not particularly good. Vendors license “stubs” stick them in CMS and related systems so when more features are needed, the vendors can turn on the taxi meter. Software cannot put an editorial sense into an organization. Humans have to do that, and humans often are not able to perceive the problem or its optimal solution when basking in the vendor’s tanning salon.
Here’s the passage from Squiz that caught my attention:
They’ve [Squiz, Funnelback, and MySource Matrix] chosen this direction because they see the lines between CMS and search blurring, where some projects may need search-based vertical applications rather than starting with a separate CMS and search library. According to Morgan [Squiz executive], this approach will reduce integration costs and increase access to data across an organization.
Note: Squiz owns the Funnelback search system. You can see this in action on the Australian Resource Centre for Healthcare Innovation or ARCHI.
Most CMS, DMS, and enterprise publishing systems are complicated beasties, and each has a contribution to make to certain organizations, the path to a functioning, easy to maintain content system can be a long, difficult one. In my experience, CMS means managing a Web site. CMS has been stretched into DMS territory, and some of the vendors with the biggest marketing horn have floundered and ended up chum for the M&A crowd. The document management systems that focus on a specific content purpose like the aforementioned ECOs work well, but one needs to have an records management specialist handy. The enterprise publishing systems are not widely known outside of certain market sectors. These cost a lot of money and suffer from one fatal flaw in my opinion. Most lack an information infrastructure service or foundation. No foundation, the structure built on it is dicey.
This notion of having everything in one place so anyone can edit, repurpose, and search is a great idea. Today, the cost of achieving that utopia can be high, both in time and money.
I can see the direction this marketing angle will lead. Thank goodness I am old and won’t have to deal with the wackiness these big marketing ideas unleash on cash strapped organizations struggling to keep their systems from breaking the bank each time those systems crash. There’s a lot of opportunity in content, but fuzzy thinking may not be what Boards of Directors and CFOs want.
Stephen E Arnold, January 13, 2010
I want to disclose to the Office of Management and Budget that I was not paid to point out the financial issues of fuzzy thinking. I bet this article was a surprise to them. Don’t Federal content and document managements systems work like spinning tops?
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