What’s Next for Content Management?

In a number of previous posts -- but most particularly the two below -- I've begun to unpack some thoughts about the impact of consumerization, mobile and cloud, and changing patterns of work on how we think about enterprise IT systems.  In this one, I thought I would get a bit more focused on the impact on the content management space. I would welcome thoughts and feedback.

Managing the volume, variety, and velocity of information and content from the three disrupters (consumerization, mobile and cloud, and changing patterns of work) -- as both a valuable business asset AND a source of cost and risk -- is THE business challenge of the next decade. By combining content and processes in new and unexpected ways, organizations can dramatically mitigate risk, reduce process costs, better engage with customers, employees, and partners, and transform information into insight.

The intersection of content and process over the past twenty years was best summarized by this continuum:

Capture -> Manage -> Store -> Deliver -> Preserve

In this world, much of the following was true...

• The focus of IT was on cost reduction.
• Senior executives were largely technology oblivious, and IT was something whose cost needed to be minimized.
• IT job security was found in system complexity.
• As mobile and social entered the world of systems of record, initially just their sheer existence was a source of competitive differentiation.
• System implementations were long and paid for by capital expenditures (CAPEX).
• Technical skills in and of themselves had value.

As a result of the disruptive power of consumerization, cloud and mobile, and the changing nature of work, there is now a massive migration in progress. The intersection of content and process in the world we are moving into is best summarized by this new continuum.

Capture -> Analyze -> Engage -> Automate -> Govern

In this new world, much of the following will be true:

• The central mission of IT is value creation.
• Senior executives are now technology aware.  (Note this is different from technologically-competent, but that's another story.)
• The coin of the realm is now simplicity rather than complexity.
• We have quickly moved into an environment in which mobile and social are becoming table stakes rather than differentiators in an enterprise IT strategy.
• The desired purchase mode is by the drink rather than by the gallon -- OPEX instead of CAPEX. Oh, and also don't talk to me about implementation cycles longer than a quarter.
• The really desirable technology players are those with domain/technical skills but in a business context. Technology staff who can think more like engineers ("How can I fit the pieces together for systems that we didn't necessarily invent here?") have increasing value.

As we shift our frame of reference to the world that is ahead, four major questions emerge for information professionals and the organizations they serve:

1. How do we manage the RISK of growing volumes of content?
2. How do we TRANSFORM our content-intensive business processes?
3. How do we use content to better ENGAGE customers, employees, and partners?
4. How do we get any business INSIGHT out of all the information we are gathering?