CrownPeak Technology Enhances Popular ROI Calculator

On the premise that not all content management implementations are capable of delivering measurable return on investment (ROI), CrownPeak Technology, the premier content management ASP, today released an expanded version of its popular ROI calculator

Marina Del Rey, CA (September 24, 2002) — 

On the premise that not all content management implementations are capable of delivering measurable return on investment (ROI), CrownPeak Technology, the premier content management ASP, today released an expanded version of its popular ROI calculator, in CrownPeak Resources.

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.

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

About CrownPeak

CrownPeak, the market leader in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Web Content Management and Optimization solutions, offers online marketers the easiest way to manage, target, publish, and analyze web content on their web sites, micro-sites, mobile media, or landing pages. CrownPeak's enterprise-grade SaaS operates on any web server or platform, and seamlessly integrates with other ECM systems.

Hundreds of organizations, such as Skype, Nissan, Alico, Defenders of Wildlife, EMI Music and the State of Virginia, have realized the value in CrownPeak's renowned ease-of-use, its 24x7 customer support, and guaranteed response times. CrownPeak has been named to EContent’s 100 most influential companies list, has won eWeek’s prestigious Analysts Choice Award and InfoWorld’s Product of the Year Award, and has been named a finalist for Best Customer Service from the American Business "Stevie" Awards for the last three years.

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