findable, usable, reusable: ibm's enterprise content technology strategy for smart content
DESCRIPTION
This presentation will discuss IBM’s technology strategy for enabling content sharing and adaptive multichannel content across silos based on content discipline, product area, and source format. I will share experiences scaling and adapting approaches first developed for technical documentation to a variety of content areas including marketing, learning and training, and articles.TRANSCRIPT
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
®
Findable, Usable, Reusable:IBM’s Enterprise Content Technology Strategy for Smart Content
Michael Priestley, Enterprise Content Technology Strategist
Congility 2014
Some charts borrowed from:Andrea Ames, Alyson Riley, Ruth Kaufman
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
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Important Disclaimer
THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PRESENTATION IS PROVIDED FORINFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.
WHILE EFFORTS WERE MADE TO VERIFY THE COMPLETENESS AND ACCURACY OF THEINFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PRESENTATION, IT IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUTWARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.
IN ADDITION, THIS INFORMATION IS BASED ON IBM’S CURRENT PRODUCT PLANS ANDSTRATEGY, WHICH ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE BY IBM WITHOUT NOTICE.
IBM SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF, OROTHERWISE RELATED TO, THIS PRESENTATION OR ANY OTHER DOCUMENTATION.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THIS PRESENTATION IS INTENDED TO, OR SHALL HAVE THEEFFECT OF:
• CREATING ANY WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION FROM IBM (ORITS AFFILIATES OR ITS OR THEIR SUPPLIERS AND/ORLICENSORS); OR
• ALTERING THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE APPLICABLELICENSE AGREEMENT GOVERNING THE USE OF IBM SOFTWARE.
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
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The story so far
� Content matters
� We all want the same thing
� We have to work together to get it
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
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Content matters
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Scope creep
Information
Development Council•Product docs for hardware and software
Corporate
User Assistance•Product docs for hardware and software•Embedded assistance
Total Information
Experience•Product docs for hardware and software•Embedded assistance•Strategy across technical content providers (support, training, partnerWorld, developerWorks, RedBooks)
Enterprise
Content•Product docs for hardware and software•Embedded assistance•Strategy across technical content providers (support, training, partnerWorld, developerWorks, RedBooks) •Strategy interlock with marketing, sales, services•Strategy outreach to intranet content
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
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Technical content contributes to product success
Is your content doing its job?
� What’s your product’s first impression?
� How visible is your product?
� Are your key product messages clearly visible in the content ecosystem?
� Who’s talking about your product? Where?
� How much content do your customers have to wade through? Are they finding what they need?
� How rich is your product user interface? How smart?
� Do you have product quality or customer satisfaction challenges?
� Are you getting lots of calls to Support?
� How much traffic is your content generating for sales?
� Does your content guide clients seamlessly through each phase of the product lifecycle?
� How do you know???
The user experience is not limited tothe design of the product user interface
Content drives client success throughoutthe user’s journey and the IBM product lifecycle:
Successful, consumable products depend onhigh value, high quality content
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
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Technical content contributes to revenue
Research showsusing technical content:
Generates 50%+ of viable sales leads [Forbes]
Encompasses 55%+ of sales cycle time (vs. 21% spent talking to sales people) [Marketing Interactions]
2nd most important pre-sales activity for technology buyers[IDC]
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
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Technical content contributes to revenue
IBM clients say it’s impactful:
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culture process
content experience
technology
Content is a strategicIBM asset
� Many sources
� Many channels
� Part of a complex ecosystem
Watson
Support
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Navigating the ecosystem requires a map (example shown here)
Many user journeys Many content types Many content sources
Many content channels
Evaluate Product overviews
Technical specs
Articles
Marketing
Development
Info development
Users
Marketing
developerWorks
Brand sites
Knowledge Center
Buy Purchase orders
License agreements
Finance
Legal
Ibm.com
Learn Tutorials
Training
Samples
Info development
Trainers
Business partners
Development
Users
Courses
Knowledge Center
Online training
Third-party courses
Third-party sites (eg youtube)
Use Product usage information
Embedded assistance
APIs and code samples
Info development
Development
Knowledge Center
Product UI
developerWorks
Troubleshoot Tech notes
Messages
Tech support
Development
Info development
Support portal
Knowledge Center
Product UI
Evangelize Articles
Comments, wikis, blogs, tweets,
etc.
Users developerWorks
Comments, wikis, blogs, tweets,
etc.
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
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We ask lots of
questions
� Authoring format
� Authoring tool
� CMS and type of use (CCM, WCM, ECM, DB, Social...)
� Translation tech and type (human vs machine etc.)
� Checking/testing tech (quality, accessibility, etc.)
� Publishing tools
� Delivery formats and channels
� Analysis: roadmap to adoption of content standards for interchange/reuse, adoption of reuse hub and other common tech
� Facets
� Sources/taxonomies
� Metadata syntax
� Granularity (collection, chapter, page, section, element)
� Analysis: gaps and roadmap to alignment with key facets, common source, and page-level granularity
� Current roles
� Types of content (collections and pages) and data
� Value metrics and criteria
� Quantities
� Degree of structure
ClassificationContent Technology:
Content Types:� Granularity of source
� Standards and governance
� Product- or brand-level coordination
� Analysis: opportunities for reuse - across deliverables/formats, within/across
teams/products/disciplines, granularity
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Build relationships and buy-in over time
� What we do:–Drive agreement on strategy–Align taxonomies and content
models–Validate tech direction–Build PoCs–Pilot capabilities–Invest to fill gaps–Coordinate investment to target
common requirements
� Working with (just in past year):–developerWorks–partnerWorld–ITSO (RedBooks)–Training–Marketing–Sales–HR–Engineering–All at different stages
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
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We all want the same thing
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But we use different words
Smart content
(Gilbane)•Granular•Semantically rich•Useful across apps•Meaningful for collaborative interaction
Intelligent content
(Rockley)•Structurally rich•Semantically aware•Discoverable•Reusable•Reconfigurable•Adaptable
Chunked
Omni-channel
Content
CollectionsClassification
Structured
Modular
Semantic
Adaptive
Dynamic Enriched
Re-usable
Personalizable
Structured
Semantic
Adaptive
Structured
Semantic
Dynamic
Adaptive
Structured
Semantic
EnrichedDynamic
Adaptive
Structured
Semantic
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
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Example: summary of our requirements for marketing content
Optimized for:
– Findability within search experiences
– Usability in the context of personalized, adaptive experiences
– Re-usability among compositions, channels, devices
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
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Example: summary of our requirements for marketing content
Additional goals:
– A framework for content governance – a clear picture of what we need to govern
– A content strategy language to use across technical platforms, editors, experience designers and content creators
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
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Usable
Reusable
Findable
Common
standards, processes,
and tools
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Client viewContent matters
Usable
Reusable
Findable
I can search for
content based on
what I need, not
where it came
from
I want content that
helps me with my
goals
Content that
doesn’t matter to
me shouldn’t be
cluttering up the
screen
I can create my
own views and
collections
I find content
before I need to
search – right in
the interface of
the product
I can easily create
and share content
with others
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
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Client challenges
�Providing adaptive content delivery with support for runtime
filtering and variable substitution
�Ensuring reused content doesn’t confuse search results –knowing when to reuse at publish time versus runtime
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
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Employee viewMake it easier to reuse content than to write from scratch
Usable
Reusable
Findable
I can find relevant
content from other
teams before
authoring starts
I use a common
design approach
and share assets
across disciplines
I optimize content
based on usage
metrics and
feedbackI use common
standards that
allow content to be
shared across
channels
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
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Employee challenges
�Managing content lifecycle across social/formal stages
�Coordinating planning and design across disciplines
�Applying cross-repository standards for content, search, metadata
�Creating incentives for creating reusable content for cases where reuse crosses team boundaries
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We have to work together
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Challenge: Requirements change when scope changes
Department Company
Why should I coordinate with other teams when it’s cheaper
and easier to go it alone?
When teams create duplicate or overlapping content it’s bad for the company (inefficient) and
for the user (confusing)
Why should I pay extra to create
reusable content when some other team gets the benefit?
Let’s bring the cost down by making authoring
and publishing capabilities separately orderable, with scalable features
Why should I use a standards-
based solution when a proprietary one works better out
of the box?
Proprietary content creates format-based silos –
barriers to reuse. They also create vendor lockin, which creates a dependency on the vendor. This
reduces your future options and puts your
content at risk.
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
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Why can’t we all just get along?
Tutorials
API docs
Trouble-shooting
Prodoverviews
Tech comm
Training
Development
Support
Marketing
LCMS
WCM
CCM
KB
Usage
Learningsite
Marketingsite
Supportsite
Developersite
Coderepo
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
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What are the options?
1. Build a
bigger silo
2. Conten
t as a
platform
3. Conten
t as a service
4.
All of the
above
1. Centralize where possible to provide a hub for
reuse
2. Use content standards so content can cross silo
boundaries
3. Provide content services to ease assembly of new content deliverables and applications
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
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Let’s try that again…
From any source, to any channel
Content reused across applications, applications reused across content
LCMS
WCM
CCMKB
Coderepo
Learningsite
Evaluatingsite
Troubleshooting
site
Developingsite
Tech comm
Training
Development
Support
Marketing
Reusehub
Deploy new channels as neededby role, industry, goal, etc.
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
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Can we apply standards across formats?
Wiki
Word
markdown
Full DITA
HTML5
XDITA
HDITA
markDITA
WorDITA
WiDITA
Lightweight DITA:Coming soon to a format near you
Marketing
Tech comm
Development
SupportTraining
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
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If you love your content set it free
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Backup
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Client viewContent matters
� Findable– I can search for content based on what I
need, not where it came from - across channels, filtered by my context and goals
– I find content before I need to search – right in the interface of the product I’m using
� Usable– I want content that helps me with my goals
(learning how to X, doing X with Y, troubleshooting…)
– I want content filtered to match my context– I don’t want content that doesn’t matter to me
cluttering up the screen
� Reusable– I can create my own views and collections– I can easily create and share content with
others
� Challenges– Providing adaptive content delivery with
support for runtime filtering and variable substitution
– Ensuring reused content doesn’t confuse search results – knowing when to reuse at publish time versus runtime
Usable
Reusable
Findable
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
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Employee viewMake it easier to reuse content than to write from scratch
� Findable– I can find relevant content from other teams
before authoring starts– I apply common metadata to enable cross-
repository faceted search– I measure SEO heuristically at authoring time
� Usable– I use a common design approach and share
assets across disciplines– I optimize content based on usage metrics
and feedback– I ensure consistency with predictable
structures based on content type– I measure quality heuristically at authoring
time
� Reusable– I use common content standards that allows
content to be shared across channels– I use link, variable, and metadata indirection
to separate content from context
� Challenges– Manage content lifecycle across social/formal
stages– Coordinate planning and design across
disciplines– Cross-repository standards for content,
search, metadata– Create incentives for creating reusable
content for cases where reuse crosses team boundaries
Usable
Reusable
Findable
© 2010, 2014 IBM Corporation
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