Sitecore Blog: Industry Insight

darren guarnaccia

Industry Insight

Darren Guarnaccia, Senior VP Product Marketing

My take on industry consolidation

By Darren Guarnaccia, August 09, 2010 | Rating:  | Comments (2)

Over the last week or two, I've had several people ask for my perspective on some of the recent industry activity, including Day's acquisition by Adobe, and Fatwire's relationship with EMC.  I think overall this is a very good sign for the WCM industry as a whole, and it signals a validation of the new emergent trends that Sitecore helped to pioneer several years ago.

Specifically, I'm taking about the renewed focus on customer engagement management, experience management and several other descriptive terms that are being used.  Regardless of what you call it, the fact remains that the Web Content Management market has indeed evolved beyond the simple editing and publishing of content. What this industry is now in the process of transforming into is a platform for managing online customer interactions, and these recent acquisitions are a testament to that. Adobe first acquired Omniture and then most recently acquired Day.  This "one-two" punch is precisely what we've been doing at Sitecore.  First you need to be able to measure, then you can manage.  We WCM vendors have always been able to manage the customer environment (in this case the web channel) but until recently, the measurement part was a disjointed, 3rd party tool set.  By bringing the Omniture and Day solutions together, along with some of the other Adobe authoring tools, Adobe's moves are a validation that Sitecore is on target with our strategy of bringing together these technologies.

At the same time, I think EMC has realized that Enterprise Content Management is indeed a different beast than Web Content Management, and their alignment with Fatwire is proof positive that all the large ECM vendors are realizing they need dedicated WCM solutions. Even Microsoft contintues to struggle with public facing web solutions with their new Moss 2010 product based on feedback we get from partners and customers.  Bottom line is, Marketing and Sales oriented web solutions are a different breed, and the onesize fits all Content repository doesn't cut it.  Unless you are still operating like it's 1999, then by all means, get down with your brochureware selves.

Back to Day for a moment, I think it's an exciting time for them, but not without peril. I've been through several acquisitions, and know first hand how distracting and debilitating it can be.  It's no panacea either. You don't magically get extra resources, but you do get a lot more stuff to do and build, because of course, you have to integrate with the parent company products, and at the same time, contribute to the bottom line more than ever.  I'd be particulary watchful of their roadmap if I was a customer, and make sure they don't loose focus.  I for one wish them well. They are a great competitor in our market, and I hope to see more signs from them and others of this continued evolution of our marketplace.  Sitecore will as always also be in the forefront, leading the charge.

Tags: WCM Marketplace

Comments

  • Thanks for sharing. Yes, indeed... many interesting and somewhat predictable developments in the industry. Your post touches on some recent discussion around "experience management" and related trends over on the J.Boye blog; worth a look -- http://www.jboye.com/blogpost/experience-management-is-meaningless-vendor-jargon/

    - Erick Mott
    August 10, 2010 at 4:51 PM

  • There have been several of the more "old school" analysts who are downplaying the new market evolution. It reminds me of what buggy whip manufacturers must have thought when cars came out. At the end of the day, we're doing what our customers are asking us to do, to solve a problem. The problem isn't that they need to publish content faster, they need better business results from their websites. What we're seeing is a fundamental shift from selling buggy whips (a low level tool at the time) to an outcomes oriented solution that solves the the real problem. (getting people where they want faster, and more conveniently to continue the analogy) In our case, we're bringing together all the relevant online marketing tools to help businesses engage, service and manage their online customer interactions across the many channels they touch customers, and to understand their customers and their behaviors.

    Anyone who argues those things shouldn't be brought together just doesn't understand the business of online marketing.

    - Darren Guarnaccia
    August 24, 2010 at 4:29 PM

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