Get the real story via our monthly newsletter

Search

    2
    0

rss

Send to a colleague

Home > Commentary > Trends Archive > The challenge of change

Browse TrendWatch Blog

Recent Blog Entries

The Complete Archive

Trends by Vendor


TrendWatch by Channel

Web Content Management Trends

Enterprise Portals Trends

ECM Trends

Web Analytics Trends

Enterprise Search Trends

SharePoint Trends

Digital & Media Asset Management Trends

XML & Component Content Management Trends


Report Excerpt

The Enterprise Portals Report 2008 looks at... Oracle Portal 10g

"By default, the portal comes with a simple Web search engine called UltraSearch. It's not pretty out of the box and you'll probably want to spend time updating the user interface. UltraSearch can also only search and index public content. In other words, secure content will not be indexed at all. "

(p. 175)

More about The Enterprise Portals Report 2008

 

TrendWatch Blog

The challenge of change

29-Jun-2007

The Spring 2007 content technology conference circuit finally wound down earlier this month. I really enjoy the interaction with technology customers and consultants, and had some wide-ranging conversations around various buffets. But the ghost at every conference banquet is "change management." Most technology investments pre-suppose organizational, process, and informational change to yield the intended return. Yet, almost no one welcomes change. So how do you do it?

I believe change management is 80% art and 20% science. The science part almost always begins with the classic consultants' response: "recruit an executive champion." Without it, you're dead in the water. And the way you get leadership on board is by aligning your project with the strategic direction and goals of your enterprise. That means, as Alan points out, avoiding faddish rationales and sticking to improving core capabilities. Unfortunately, in all too many enterprises, executives themselves are not aligned with the overall corporate strategy and may be focused totally on their nearest personal or tactical goals. If that's the case for you, and you want to spearhead a complex content management project, reconsider your bearings.

On a more promising note, a recent conference attendee shared with me her success in fostering change by engaging her human resources department early on in her document management project. They were obviously an enlightened HR team who saw change management as an important part of their job. Seems worth exploring.

In general, though, I'm rather suspicious of specific change management techniques. I've seen the same approach succeed in one project and backfire totally in another. Hence my conviction that change management is highly situational, and involves more localized artistry and improvisation than structured process. If you're a new project manager, find even a reasonably successful IT project in your enterprise and figure out why it worked.

In my experience, successful projects tend to revolve around a certain type of project manager or coordinator. Someone who really knows the organization, is respected, collects chits constantly, listens well, doesn't personalize disagreement, remains flexible, and generally wraps a friendly persona around a persistent pursuit of project objectives. In short, someone who is good at community-building. Ultimately, any project manager will need sticks as well as carrots, to bring recalcitrant non-adopters in line, and to pull this off she needs the collective authority of a team, rather than the power of an individual executive or department. Remember, even enterprise-dictated technology projects require genuine community adoption at the employee level to be successful. Good outside consultants can facilitate change, but real leadership starts from within.

- Submitted by: Tony Byrne, Analyst

All Portal Channel Trends

Join the conversation

Digg This! Search Technorati Tag it on Del.icio.us



Get a Free Sample

Wondering about CMS Watch research? Sign up to receive free samples of any of our products.




What we do

CMS Watch™ evaluates content-oriented technologies, publishing head-to-head comparative reviews of leading solutions. What makes us special?

  • Our critical analysis exposes product weaknesses as well as strengths
  • We deliver unrivaled technical depth and comprehensive project advice
  • Our research is led by international topic experts
  • We only work for buyers -- never for vendors

Contact us

CMS Watch

info@cmswatch.com

18113 Town Center Drive, Ste 217

Olney, MD USA 20832

1 800 325 6190 (N. America only)

+1 617 763 5336 (customer service)

+1 301 585 7004 (editorial)

Fax: +1 214 242 3048