Content Matters

If a Tree Falls in the Woods …

Posted by: Neil Marshall on 8/19/2010 | 0 Comments

I was fortunate enough to spend several days in Oregon’s Willamette National Forest this past week.  As I wandered through the old-growth woods, my mind wandered as well.  Amongst the topics … how much paper can be produced from just one of these trees?

Upon return to civilization, I ran a quick check for the answer (thank you Google!).  Conservatree, an environmental consultancy whose name defines their mission, estimates that a typical tree used for paper production generates 8,333 sheets of paper. 
 
During the same web surfing session, I came upon this story from the LA Times about what is believed to be the first paperless medical convention.  At this year’s American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) meeting, each of the 3,500 attendees were issued iPod Touches.  All of the conference content, including the Program, was pre-loaded on the devices.  According to conference organizers, going digital saved more than a half a million pages of paper.
 
So, how many gorgeous trees did this one effort save?  Well, with the help of Excel to crank the calculation (back of napkin calculations not allowed in this effort), we find our rather shocking answer.  By going paperless for this 3 day conference, the AANS saved 60 trees.
 
So how many trees did it take to support your last product launch?  Your last run of printed product brochures?   It’s easy, but perhaps unnerving to calculate.  This simple equation will give you the answer:   [Pages Printed] / 8,333 = # of Trees Consumed.   

 

Content Wins Deals … Some Evidence

Posted by: Neil Marshall on 7/14/2010 | 0 Comments

If you’re looking for “hard evidence” to build your case for the importance of great content, here’s a good find. Aberdeen Group’s recently released benchmark study on sales effectiveness: “Optimizing Lead-To-Win: Shrinking the Sales Cycle and Focusing Closers on Sealing More Deals”identifies those practices common to companies with shorter sales cycles and higher closing rates. 

Among the sales enablers … a content management solution that provides quick and easy access to your best selling content. Analyst Peter Ostrow and his team surveyed 472 organizations, and found that top performers utilized technology enablers like contract management, electronic signatures, sales playbooks, and content management to improve sales effectiveness. 
On the topic of content, the report finds that 56% more of the “Best-In-Class” companies utilize sales content repositories when compared to “Laggard” companies.   Content management solutions help “reps take the guesswork out of determining what to say, send, or do regarding their prospect at each defined milestone or sales stage”.  Thanks Peter for digging in on this topic. A free copy of the full report is available here (registration required).

Top Takeaways from Enterprise 2.0 Conference

Posted by: Neil Marshall on 6/18/2010 | 0 Comments

One of the fun things about my job is staying current on the latest in software and content trends for the enterprise.  Two days in Boston at the Enterprise 2.0 conference was a bit of a sprint, but well worth it.  My initial takeaways:

 
·         The big guys are moving on social software, with bold goals to flatten the organization and match the way people communicate in real life.  IBM, Cisco, Microsoft, Sony and others showcased some cool internal apps.
 
·         Cisco continues to lead the way in championing the use of video.  They announced a prosumer video app that leverages the Flip phone, along with several other collaboration apps.  Make no mistake, at this show, Cisco looked a lot more like an enterprise software company than a network gear provider.
 
·         People continue to struggle with the SharePoint user experience.  Emotions ran high in sessions on this topic, as attendees all but pleaded with Microsoft to make SharePoint "feel" right.  The consensus was that the 2010 version makes only incremental progress at best.
 
·         Jive Software was one of the clear stars.  Rock star CEO Tony Zingale gave a fantastic speech, providing evidence that social software in the enterprise is a must have.  He also grabbed attention with one of the better entrance videos I've seen --  a standard-setter for a b to b marketing video.
 
·         I only wish that I could have taken classes from Andrew McAfee, author and principal research scientist at MIT. A bright, energetic speaker, and recent author of Enterprise 2.0.  McAfee outlines how the principles of Web 2.0 are helping companies compete.  The message is delivered with clarity and a strong dose of realism.

 

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