The new ROI tool factors in savings that accrue when a well-implemented content management system (CMS) is in place at the time of a site redesign.

The upgraded tool -- which enhances the ROI calculator first unveiled in November 2001 -- enables companies to determine the return on investment of content management initiatives, and provides a framework for evaluating and correcting the balance between content management and content development. Increasingly, most large companies find themselves spending far more to manage content than to create it. The original CrownPeak ROI calculator was the first tool to address the return equation for content management.

"Return on investment is clearly the mantra of every organization that outsources services, and the recession has only increased the importance of quantifying ROI," said Jim Howard, CEO, CrownPeak Technology. "Companies need a proven, objective framework with which to determine how much it costs to manage content. Our analysis tool accurately calculates that cost and can serve as a valuable decision tool in saving time, money and energy.

"The fact is, many CMS implementations don't provide ROI at all," Howard said. "The big culprits are homegrown systems and larger systems that are being used as Web publishing tools, when they aren't really intended for that use."

According to Howard, every organization with a Web site is managing content in one way or another. The challenge is to do so cost effectively, to achieve ROI though a high level of automation -- and not just identify costs, but actually reduce them.

"We have found that companies achieve a real return from well-implemented CMS," Howard said. "In this vein, the term ROI may be a misnomer, especially when considering the software rental model. When there are no switching costs, and the costs to own an improved solution are actually lower than the cost of owning the existing solution, we're really talking about a 'return from switching' or an immediate cost savings through outsourcing."

According to Howard, many companies with a CMS in place may not be achieving ROI because the CMS isn't solving some of the most expensive business problems -- most notably, the labor-intensive process of managing the CMS itself, which potentially negates the impact of the process automation elements of ROI.

Underscoring the value of the ROI calculator, he noted that redesign costs can be cut when a well-implemented CMS is in place, for a host of reasons:

• The CMS eliminates the need to recode pages as part of the redesign
• Navigation elements can often be adjusted via the CMS, and don't need to be recoded
• A content "freeze" isn't required during the redesign
• A "preview" site can be published and adjusted through the system, without a major recode for changes
• A CMS can enable a site to live much longer, so that redesigns occur less frequently
• A CMS can "clone" sites, so that the creation of new sites or new site sections can be automated -- rapidly
• A CMS can enable new site "layers" in different languages to be created automatically

Even with a well-implemented CMS, Howard added, certain tasks remain. Organizations continue to be responsible for creating new designs, embedding these designs into templates, and re-working templates to incorporate navigation structural changes.

About CrownPeak Technology

Based in Marina del Rey, Calif., CrownPeak Technology is the first company to provide world-class content management as a service, so that secure, feature-rich, enterprise level technology can be made available economically. As the premier hosted application provider, CrownPeak offers in Advantage CMS a feature set that is helping to redefine the content management space. The company's comprehensive developer environment, industry-leading service levels and "risk-free" outsourcing options have made CrownPeak one of the fastest growing companies in its sector.

Press contact:
Erin Lumley
SHIFT Communications
elumley@shiftcomm.com
415.591.8414