So why is it that most Documentum professionals do not use
Documentum products to manage their own content? Wouldn’t you think using the
products that they tout as superior for their own use would be a no brainer? Even
EMC doesn’t exclusively use its own software for content management! What’s the
deal?
If we can understand the reasons why, then we might be able
to figure out some core issues with the product suite. Using only DCTM software
should be requirement to becoming an EMC/Documentum partner, but isn’t. What’s
wrong with this picture?
Time is money
It takes “non-billable” time to build out the
infrastructure, install the content server, application server, applications,
then to configure the applications, users, roles, security, and so on. Management
of partner resources is based on greed, not product enhancement. The focus is
on exacting value from client’s basic content management needs, not leap
frogging the product flaws, by building great products.
No Rules, no need
If partners and consultants had strict rules and were
regulated, they would think twice about not using DCTM products. They would weigh
the options of not using DCTM and realize that maybe compiling to its inherent
rules in not a bad idea.
The carpenter’s house
Like a carpenter’s roof, consultants are notorious for not
taking care of their own back yards in terms of using the tools and knowledge
to fix things where they live. They build palaces for clients and come home to
trashy trailers.
Sharepoint
The configuration and ease of use of Sharepoint is a huge
and obvious issue. But do consultants create an uproar about this? Not really,
most build both solutions and some have even switched to all SP. This is sad.
Share drive comfort
The share drive mentality is still strong in most companies.
Why switch if the options are not compelling enough? For records retention just
hold onto the content 8 years from when it was last modified. Done.
xCelerators
There is hope with the xCelerator movement that Documentum
might be trying to focus on a few right things. One is stressing the “product”
on top of the product for solving specific vertical business problems. But you
can only go so fast in a Maserati when the road is curving and has cracks.
Conclusion
It’s time to consolidate the product talent and build a
completely new stack (not 7.0: 1.0 again, this time leapfroggin). This stack
should revolutionize the creation and management of content. Make the
partnerships with other companies, use the cash reserves, get in the game!
2 comments:
Being a bit overly simplistic in my view, I think "partners" (who mostly operate in a consulting model) work in a faster-paced world than their clients. Enterprise solutions tend to move slowly due to budgets, planning, approvals, training, etc. This gives time to put processes in place and train people on how to use the system.
Consulting is fast; time is money. Documentum fails to integrate easily with the simple desktop software (not just "Office" but also OpenOffice and LibreOffice). Documentum also did away with the Desktop Client which was, perhaps, the most useful desktop integration they ever had.
Box.net is easier to use. That should be a wake-up call right there.
The Documentum products need to break out of their browser-only technology and get back into integration with the user desktop. I should be able to open a document, with a simple link, and save it back to the repository. I used to be in this world. I remember the standard links which were ugly and didn't go to the CURRENT version. The MS Office connectors were dodgy and a CIFS integration would have been far more useful -- and usable on Windows, Mac, and *NIX!
This is all a huge deterrent when time is money. It is a waste of time to mess with a clunky browser-based system which resembles the use model of an old source control system than it does a modern content management system.
Seamless user desktop integration should be a standard feature, not a line-item broken out for maximum profit. Win people with feature richness.
It's a great tool-kit, but the end-user experience is often painful. That's where Sharepoint wins. Even Alfresco wins there! Documentum needs to take that head-on. That would make it more usable for everyone, including partners.
Thanks for your comment. You are right that I simplified my view to say that I'm willing to bet that most partners do not use the software that they pitch day in and day out, except maybe the open source guys and Microsoft. I don't profess to know the full answer as to why this is so, but the next killer app will solve it.
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