Kindle on iPhone a Call for Content Management?

The publishing industry used to look a lot like the broadcast television and music industries. A small group of publishing houses determined which author’s works would reach store shelves, just as record labels and broadcast networks decided what we would listen too or watch. While digital content distribution has begun to dramatically alter the business models for music and video, the model for publishing and consuming books has not appeared to change so dramatically.

Sure, there have been several attempts to publish books online, most notably Google’s Book Search project, but these efforts have generally not addressed the convenience factor and portability afforded by old fashioned books. Even with a laptop, reading an on online book hasn’t always been comfortable or easy.

Some of these issues were addressed with the first Amazon Kindle. Its design and use of e-ink were unique and compelling and its ease of browsing and purchasing books remains unmatched. Version 2 of the device should overcome earlier usability issues and arrives in a more compelling package. However, the market for $359 e-readers will probably still consist of truly committed book readers and gadget hounds with healthy bank accounts.

That’s why Amazon’s release of Kindle for iPhone really grabbed my attention. With ten’s of millions of iPhones already in use and millions more selling each quarter, it would seem like an instant mass market for e-books has just been created. Equally important, Kindle on iPhone and presumably, soon on other smart phones may produce a new publishing model more like the App Store than traditional book publishing.

This may provide authors with a better chance to reach their audience. Of course, that’s assuming Amazon and Apple behave more like a distribution channel for authors vs. an editorial board. It could also require authors to assume more responsibility for the development and marketing of their works. They might need to establish their own “editorial networks” to perform quality control and provide other resources once part of traditional publishing contracts. Social networking and collaboration tools could play an important role helping to establish and support these networks.

Web-enabled content management (ECM) tools could help speed the process of authoring and editing books particularly among collaborators working in different locations. The combination of online authoring, collaboration and research tools could go a long way towards replacing the safety net provided by the traditional publishing model while helping to eliminate some of the overhead costs associated with it.

These same networks could also become useful marketing tools for authors to promote their books. I suspect that many authors are already using content management tools to create and publish their work. Re-using these skills and their own content to increase awareness probably isn’t a foreign concept either. Putting a free chapter on Amazon or Google and hosting subject matter discussions on Facebook or Linkedin would not seem like a big step from there.

That’s good, because the process of gaining recognition for books probably won’t become any easier. With fewer newspapers and book reviews being published, readers may rely even more on best-seller lists and remarks posted on Amazon and other social networks. Authors without big budget publishing contracts are going to have to use all the content management and networking skills they’ve got to just get noticed on the “virtual shelf”.

As an avid reader of listener comments on iTunes, as well as buyer suggestions on Amazon, I’m optimistic. I generally place more faith in the aggregate wisdom of my peers when it comes to consuming content than I do in the so called industry “thought leaders”. I can still remember quite a few unhappy purchase experiences from the pre-sampling/networking days where a rave review in a magazine clearly did not align with my own preferences.

So, I’m excited to get more content I like in my iPhone “book” thanks to Kindle. I also hope authors will take advantage of the many great content management and collaboration tools that are now available to help them succeed in the new e-book marketplace. For those authors plagued with the challenge of exchanging large book manuscripts online I recommend using Xythos on Demand. It’s free for the first 30 days, so that aught to help get things moving.

Escape the Cold with ECM and Online Collaboration

At Xythos we sometimes joke that the popularity of online document and content management applications is directly related to an organization’s geographic location. Those closest to northern latitudes have a natural incentive to seek alternatives to personal travel, at least during half the year we laugh. After all, doesn’t that help explain the longtime popularity of ECM vendors like Hummingbird and OpenText?

As I warm my fingers above my MacBook’s CPU this February morning I can’t help but think there may be some truth to this joke. Though if we believe Punxsutawney Phil, the joke’s on us all because “six more weeks of winter it will be”. For those of us who use ECM systems, I wonder if we’re ready to change? Do we feel confident we can accomplish most, or maybe all our assigned tasks without traveling? Are we more comfortable conducting business remotely or from a home office than we’ve been in the past?

I’m not suggesting that ECM systems and web collaboration tools can eliminate the need for human interaction or attending business meetings altogether. Those of us engaged in customer-facing roles know the process of establishing relationships is key to business success. I imagine that still remains true both inside and outside organizations today. Yet, it is still cold out there …

Once we get to know our co-workers and customers and have established a degree of trust and cooperation, I think the potential for productive and potentially long distance collaboration is significant. In fact, simply doing our jobs in environments that don’t introduce myriad interruptions (possibly like the office?) has proven to significantly increase individual performance, according to analysts. Of course, that’s assuming you have access to such an oasis.

So, how can ECM help fight off the winter doldrums and maybe keep us warmer too? Why not test your system and discover how much it can help you get done without visiting the office every day of the week? If you live in a colder climate, that might be one less day of stepping outside and being miserable. If you live in a warmer place use your ECM system to enjoy it a little bit more. Get out on the patio and do some creative project planning. Just don’t brag about how nice it is, or you might get the next consulting project in Duluth.

The combination of ECM, Web 2.0 collaboration tools, and pervasive web connectivity not only helps reduce travel costs, it can limit our impact on the environment as well. The cost of transportation and exchange of documents can migrate from the physical to the electronic universe with consequent benefits. According to the US Energy Information Administration, transportation accounts for 33 percent of carbon dioxide emissions. That’s far greater than the 2 percent that Gartner estimates suggest information and communication technology contributes.

If your ECM system isn’t Internet compatible, it might be time for an upgrade. Web-enabling your system can truly expand the benefits your organization experience’s by multiples. Not only can it support remote access and more enjoyable winters, but it can also become a first step towards better integrating your customers and partners together with your business. That’s probably a smart move in any economic environment.

If you don't have access to an ECM system, but want to get a quick understanding for how this could work, try out Xythos on Demand. This software as a service (SaaS) ECM solution will get you started in minutes and it’s free for the first 30 days. That might be an easy way to avoid the cold.

Have it Your Way ECM

We’ve begun to see an interesting change among visitors to our web sites seeking to learn more about ECM and Xythos technology. While we have offered evaluation versions of our software products and free trials for our SaaS solutions for years, visitors have usually selected just one option to begin testing our solutions. However, recently that behavior has begun to change. Prospective Xythos on Demand customers as well as individuals employed by enterprise customers (I’ll come back to that item in a minute) have begun requesting access to both our on premise and our on demand ECM solutions.

We couldn’t understand why, so we decided that we should talk to several of them and try and find out what was going on. Were they uncertain which technology delivery method would work best for them? Maybe they were still considering the relative merits of leasing vs. buying software? Perhaps they didn’t believe it was possible for an on demand ECM solution to perform as well as a traditional on premise application?

After several phone calls and email exchanges with these evaluators a common trend began to emerge. I guess the best way to describe it would be a focus on business continuity. What we learned was that the evaluators wanted to confirm that investments they might make in Xythos technology today could be preserved in the future regardless of how they chose to consume the technology. This focus on preserving investment value included options beyond Xythos, so content and metadata portability was a key selection criterion among this group.

The other key factor we discovered was service vs. application feature parity. Evaluators said they were not satisfied being offered “watered down” versions of on premise software. One argued that the practice was common among vendors not really committed to SaaS who hosted limited function services mostly to coax customers into their enterprise applications where they could better control them. What a history of trust we’ve built!

Participants in this ad hoc study were mostly from smaller to medium-sized businesses primarily investigating their first ECM solution, so most were considering beginning with SaaS and possibly migrating to an on premise application in the future. Yes, they wanted to make sure that both solutions worked similarly and offered the same core features. They also appeared to care equally about data portability and skill portability. As one reviewer replied, “I only want to have to learn how to use this stuff once!”

What have we learned from this experience? Customers want choice and the ability to decide what’s right for their business on their own. Having a proven service to safely manage and store documents certainly appeals to smaller-sized organizations who don’t have staff to do this, but they don’t want to get locked into anything either. They appear willing to try SaaS solutions that can meet their security requirements, but they must be convinced they can get their data back whenever they want it.

So, what about those enterprise evaluators I mentioned? The couple that we contacted simply didn’t want to wait for IT help to get their hands on a potential ECM solution. These rogue departments were willing to look at both SaaS and on premise options because they were readily available to test and, as one said “at least we can tell the IT guys they can run it themselves if they want to”. For ECM vendors seeking a way to compete with SharePoint this is a pretty strong argument for SaaS!

In the end it would seem that offering easy web access to on demand and on premise options makes sense for both vendors and their customers, which has me wondering why don’t more business software vendors provide this option? Of course, if you're curious about how we actually do this at Xythos check out our "Test Drive" campaign for yourself at:

http://www.xythos.com/testdrive/index.html