content news

Content News, December 2003

Welcome to the December 2003 issue of Content News. Feel free to send this newsletter to anyone you know who is choosing a content management system, thinking about implementing content management in their organization or developing a content management system. Also, I welcome your feedback on this newsletter or my site -- send it to feedback@contentcompany.biz.

Best,

Hilary Marsh
Editor, Content News
President, Content Company

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IN THIS ISSUE:

Feature Article: Intranet Management and Governance Today -- Still a Work in Progress

Note 1. Upcoming Speaking Engagements

Note 2. Recent Speaking Engagements

Note 3. Recent updates to the Content Company website

by Hilary Marsh, President, Content Company
originally published in December 2003 Content News, the newsletter that provides solutions to your content issues

These days, almost every organization has an intranet, a website that provides information and, sometimes, business tools for employees. Many organizations' intranets are decentralized, containing hundreds or thousands of files and documents, with inadequate organization, few guidelines for updating or removing information, and little attention paid to the strategic and cultural improvements that a well-run intranet could foster.

Since intranets are private, organizations do not have the ability to see one another's intranets, and much of the information published about them is technical in nature. Organizations think they are alone in not having well-run intranets, and they do not have the ability to learn from one another.

In September 2003, Content Company released a white paper, "Intranets: Inside Worlds," that aims to break down some of those barriers by serving as a benchmark for what exists and sharing some best practices and shared concerns.

Content Company interviewed 14 Chicago corporations, associations and nonprofit organizations with employee populations ranging in size from 42 to 275,000. Surprisingly, many of the basic issues were the same for all the organizations, and the larger companies or those with larger staffs and budgets did not necessarily have the better solutions.

We found that most intranets grew organically and were/are overseen by IT, rather than communications, HR or, ideally, a multidisciplinary intranet governance committee. At many organizations, senior management has little or no involvement in the intranet.

At some organizations, the intranet has evolved. We saw the beginnings of sophisticated models: centralized governance with decentralized publishing, and knowledge sharing via the intranet.

Organizations have similar challenges for their intranets: how to continue communicating with employees who don't have frequent access to a computer, motivating employees to contribute to and use the intranet, moving beyond a "push" model of communicating with employees, developing new cultures that enable the sharing of knowledge (via the intranet and beyond), building a unified gateway to the information and software applications that employees need to do their jobs, and getting sufficient buy-in -- and budget -- for these efforts from senior management.

A governance council made up of senior-level managers would go a long way toward ensuring that an organization's intranet is a strategic internal business and communication vehicle. But that remains ahead for most organizations.

For details, download Content Company's intranet white paper.

NOTE 1: Upcoming Speaking Engagements

February 2, Society for Technical Communications, Chicago chapter, "Content Management: Implications for Publishing, Technical Writing and Software Knowledge"

February 9, Independent Writers of Chicago, "How Content and Design Interact to Create Compelling Websites"

March 29, Best Practices in Content Management for Financial Services conference in New Orleans. Three-hour workshop: "A Step-by-Step Approach to Developing an Enterprise Content Management Strategy for Financial Services Organizations."

April 22, Community Media Workshop. "Using Email to Enhance Marketing and Communications."

NOTE 2: Recent Speaking Engagements

December 2003 Content Management Conference, Chicago, presented by Lawrence Ragan Communications. I led a session entitled "Demystifying content management software: What you need to know now and what to do next." Download the presentation.

September 2003 NetContent/Chicago. I presented the high-level findings from my intranet white paper. Download the presentation from the AMC NetContent website.

NOTE 3: RECENT UPDATES TO THE CONTENT COMPANY WEBSITE

New Projects

Read about our latest endeavors in our news section.

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ABOUT CONTENT NEWS

Content News is the monthly newsletter from Content Company where we share our learnings about and insights into content management and other issues related to content, lists our latest projects and reports on other tidbits.

ABOUT CONTENT COMPANY

Content Company provides a variety of content services, from content management strategy to content development. Content Company helps organizations achieve dual goals: to fulfill their business goals and help their audiences (employees, customers, partners, etc.) meet their needs.

Our clients are corporations, associations and nonprofit organizations. Our projects have included intranets, public websites, newsletters and video scripts. If you are interested in discussing how we can work with your organization, please feel free to contact Hilary Marsh, Content Company president, at hilary@contentcompany.biz

Content News, December 2003, No. 4, copyright © 2003 Content Company, Inc. You are welcome to pass along this newsletter, as long as you do not change the content, you keep the opening and this closing material, and you notify Hilary Marsh at hilary@contentcompany.biz. Hilary Marsh retains copyright of this material.

This newsletter was originally sent to 385 subscribers on Thursday, December 18, 2003.

Read other issues of Content News
February 2004
January 2004
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003

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