Selecting a CMS vendor in today’s landscape can be an overwhelming task. Many vendors, old and new, are more than willing to show you their wares through online flash demos, brochures and web sites. All of them seem to have great features and functionality. Understanding your company’s requirements is paramount before any vendor selection should be considered. Failure to develop an integrated plan that accounts for an organization’s business, stakeholder and user requirements can ensure failure.

When choosing a CMS or any software product, functional user and stakeholder requirements must be clearly defined. A structured methodology needs to be invoked to not only ensure that the proper vendor is chosen, but that the product has a productive lifespan.

Carmine Porco will outline the necessary steps in the selection process. This includes:

• How to identify your requirements
• Functional capabilities
• Timeline and governance for the CMS

Participants will be taken through a jargon-free lesson on how execution of this stage is vital and can be done with relatively little energy and cost.

Attendees will learn:

• The value of planning ahead
• Interviewing users/stakeholders
• Creating and scoring requirements
• Meeting potential vendors

As with any new technology, an organization must understand its needs before deciding on a solution. This is even more important in the CMS field, what with all the new vendors and amalgamation of solutions there are today.

Individuals in all levels of an organization can benefit from participation. This session is geared towards a wide ranging audience including those well versed in CMS functionality and offerings, to those with little or no CMS knowledge or background. From CEO’s to IT staff, to content developers, to communications coordinators, to interested individuals, this session will be an extremely informative and valuable experience.

Participants are sure to come away from the session with not only a firm understanding of the necessary steps in the CMS selection process, but also the associated opportunities for cost savings and ROI potential. http://www.cmprosevents.org/site/program_detail/choosing_a_web_content_management_system

Social software and Web 2.0—notably blogs, wikis and social bookmarking—offer powerful business opportunities and an advantage to staying competitive on the internet. Prescient Digital Media’s VP, Client Development, Julian Mills, will outline the value of Web 2.0 technologies and their associated ROI potential. Web 2.0 refers to websites, products or services that are highly interactive, deep in dynamic data and harness collective intelligence. However, given that its proponents can’t fully define it, we shouldn’t be surprised by its struggle to enter common business parlance.

Web 2.0 offers a valuable resource for many companies. At a relatively low level of cost and effort, organizations are increasingly beginning to harness this valuable tool. Within certain circles, there is a passionate and wide-ranging discussion about how Web 2.0 technology will transform the way companies do business. While the debate won’t be settled soon, there can be no question that this technology is being embraced faster by consumers than by corporations. And that adoption pattern has significant implications, both for how technology enters the corporate environment, and for the competitive advantages early corporate adopters can gain.

This session will take the audience beyond the hype of Web 2.0 and deliver a jargon-free understanding of the concept and its enabling technology, specifically: Key technologies and applications enabling Web 2.0, including blogs, wikis and RSS; Statistics and examples of the emerging trends around Web 2.0, notably social networking; consumer generated media and enhanced communities of practice and management models required to harness the power of these new applications. In addition, the audience will leave with a concise checklist they can use to develop a tangible Web 2.0 action plan for their organization.

This session is geared towards a wide ranging audience from those well versed in Web 2.0, to those with little or no Web 2.0 knowledge, who are simply interested in what the hype is all about. Participants are sure to come away from the session with not only a firm understanding of Web 2.0 technologies, but also the associated opportunities involved with this exciting trend and how it can directly benefit your specific company or line of work.