J. Boye Philadelphia 12 News

From business case to roll-out: Implementing a new CMS at TD Bank

April 26, 2012 | cms, web content management | No Comments

What does it take to implement a state-of-the-art Web Content Management System in a complex international organization? Surely there is no straightforward answer to this question. The right choice of platform, the best way to migrate content, the most effective governance for the project: There are many variables to juggle and many areas where things can go seriously wrong, with expensive consequences.

Learning by trial and error is not the way to go. Before you embark on a major CMS implementation project, take the time to learn from your peers!

SharePoint – also for your external website

April 20, 2012 | cms, sharepoint, web content management | No Comments

Popularity of Microsoft SharePoint continues to rise. This is mainly thanks to a growing set of sophisticated features, making it a powerful platform not only for collaboration and document sharing but also for content management, forms processing, business process management and social collaboration.

So if SharePoint is so great for your intranet, why not use it for your website too?

CMS Selection – it’s like reading ‘War and Peace’!

April 18, 2012 | cms, CMS selection, web content management | No Comments

Are you looking to choose a CMS and getting a flashback to reading ‘War and Peace’?  You are not alone!  Just like ‘War and Peace’, choosing a CMS is long, with many characters and many names – quite a struggle!  

Marianne Kolodiy of the UK financial organization Yorkshire Building Society has been through both the CMS Selection process and has also read ‘War and Peace’ – she is well positioned to share valuable lessons to make your CMS Selection less painful than it has to be.

Break the silos: social media is everyone’s business!

April 18, 2012 | customer service, social media | No Comments

Social media is changing customer service from being a support function to being a responsibility of everyone in your organization. Customers are expecting you to listen and respond to their questions and comments, regardless of the platform. If they are happy about your product or service then they will tell their friends on Facebook. If your product drives them crazy, they won’t bother to call your support desk but they’ll vent their frustration on Twitter. Is your organization listening and reacting appropriately?

Going mobile to prevent unplanned pregnancies!

April 13, 2012 | digital marketing, mobile, social media | No Comments

What mix of online channels would you use if your primary audience are women under 30? A traditional website alone is clearly not going to be very effective to spread your message. Instead, a strong focus on mobile and on clever use of social media will go a longer way.

At The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, an American non-profit organization, the mission is to bring about behavioral change. Lawrence Swiader, Senior Director of Digital Media, is achieving this with a creative mix of old and new mobile technology to engage his audience. In a recently launched programme called Bedsider, he has integrated the mobile web, iPhone and Android apps, SMS messaging, and even (gasp!) the traditional phone.

Curious to hear how the Bedsider programme is faring, and eager to find out what you can learn from this case for your mobile campaigns? Come and learn with Lawrence in presentation on The Use of Mobile in the Bedsider Birth Control Support Network on the going mobile conference track on Wednesday May 9th.

Love or hate SharePoint? What’s the real experience of your peers?

April 5, 2012 | sharepoint | No Comments

SharePoint is hot for many intranet managers and web professionals these days. A large number of organizations are actively using it, others are considering an implementation or are in the process of upgrading to the latest version.

At the J. Boye conference in Philadelphia, May 8-10, there will be several presentations and case studies by professionals with hands-on SharePoint experience, including a dedicated SharePoint conference track.

Here are a few highlights:

• SharePoint user adoption is the key theme in the talk by Beth Baxendale from the Knowledge Resource Team at international architecture firm Perkins Eastman.
• DePaul University will share their experiences using SharePoint for much more than intranet and internal collaboration in a talk on converting externally-facing websites to SharePoint
  
• Deployment is among the top challenges faced by SharePoint project teams. You can join a session on lessons learned in a SharePoint deployment at the Smithsonian Institution
• Named one of the top 50 SharePoint Influencers Susan Hanley is one of the many SharePoint experts that will also be at the conference. Susan will speak on leveraging the social features of SharePoint.
• And you will also see great cases about SharePoint collaboration and user communities from Arkema and MySites!

Sharing is caring: Great ideas at amazing conference!

April 4, 2012 | testimonials | 1 Comment

The J. Boye 12 conference is returning to Philadelphia May 8-10. We think the conference program is the best to date and combines delegates with 8 conference tracks, 50 speakers and fresh thinking and industry trends from around the world. As is usual at J. Boye conferences attendees will travel from near and far to spend 3 days together in a campus-like environment to learn, be inspired and bring home the hard-earned ideas and experiences from others.

Sharing is caring is the main conference theme we are exploring this year.  The Smithsonian Institution’s Director of Web and New Media Strategy, Michael Edson will share more on this key business trend and what it means for web & intranet professionals in his opening keynote. Here’s more on what sharing is caring means for your intranet.

Behind the scenes, we started working on the conference in May 2011, right after the J. Boye 11 conference. Our ambition is naturally to improve the conference experience year on year and as always our focus is on the content of the program. We’ve listened carefully to the feedback from the 400+ members of the J. Boye groups and our network of partners. The result is a revised program format optimized for learning and networking including 4 social events.

Leveraging the Social Features of SharePoint

April 4, 2012 | intranet, sharepoint, social business | No Comments

Are you one of the many intranet or internal comms professionals that have deployed SharePoint in your organization recently? And are you struggling to get more business value out of this feature-rich but overwhelmingly diverse platform? Rest assured: you’re not alone!

The real story on selecting digital marketing, web, and social tools

April 2, 2012 | analyst, tutorial, vendor selection | No Comments

Today, digital managers and enterprise architects alike are re-thinking their technology investments in the wake of emerging demands around mobile, cloud, engagement, and adaptability. And new waves of vendors are looking to get your attention with ever-slick demos and alluring case studies. As a customer, you have more choices than ever, in terms of feature sets, architectures, delivery and license models, functional breadth, and integration alternatives.

But can you believe the hype? In the real world, competing technology alternatives differ markedly in functionality, maturity, approach, support, and TCO.

Few people understand vendor selection better than Jarrod Gingras from vendor-neutral analyst firm Real Story Group and we’ve invited Jarrod to host a 3-hour workshop May 8 on The Real Story: Best Practices on Vendor Selection.

This fast-paced workshop will share customer research from noted evaluation firm Real Story Group (formerly CMS Watch) on leading Digital Marketing, Web Content & Experience Management, and Social / Collaboration technologies, and provide a framework for customers to assess technology choices based on their particular needs. Specifically, the session will provide a methodology for mapping business needs to technology alternatives, as well as a roadmap for evaluating vendors in each of these marketplaces. The workshop will conclude with an exploration of best practices in technology selection and implementation.

CMS Watch was founded as a vendor-independent analyst firm that evaluates content technologies and publishes research comparing different solutions head-to-head. In 2005, they first spoke at a J. Boye conference and since then has regularly shared their unique perspective on vendors and their customers at J. Boye conferences.

The state of web and social media analytics in higher ed

March 28, 2012 | analytics, higher education, social media | No Comments

How effective is your website in attracting applicants? What did parents really think of yesterday’s open campus day? How strong is your alumni network and how well do you capitalize on their loyalty?

All relevant questions that can be answered by making good use of web and social media analytics. Many marketers in universities and colleges across the world have been using web and social media analytics for a few years already. Experience is growing and therefore the time is right to review if analytics is living up to its promise.

Moving to a social intranet: the lessons from Capital One

March 14, 2012 | intranet, social business | No Comments

More and more organizations are deploying a variety of social features on their intranet. The benefits are becoming increasingly clear: better sharing of company knowledge, improved collaboration across silos, easier to discover and utilize talent across the organization. But where to start if your current intranet is stuck in release 1.0, with lots of static content and strict control over the publication process?

Are you eager to learn what it takes to transform your current intranet into a social destination where employees are connecting, collaborating and creating? Then join the intranet conference track on Thursday 10 May where Sean Winter from Capital One will talk about his experiences in this area. Sean heads up the intranet space at Capital One where he focuses on open and social knowledge sharing. He believes in conversations, collaboration and transparency and the great effects they can have in the way enterprises communicate and work.

Mass media + social media = a better user experience

March 13, 2012 | innovation, social media, user experience | No Comments

Back in the very early days of the World Wide Web, you could both read and write inside your browser. With the arrival of Netscape and Internet Explorer, the write feature went missing and for many years the Web as we know it was largely a read medium, similar to traditional mass media such as newspapers.

Enter social media and the power of the “read-write web”: Recent examples of its ability to move weak networks of individuals to become stronger, organized networks that upend traditional power structures include the social media political movements of Arab Spring and Russia, news environments like Reddit that become social hubs and emerging collaborative consumption/funding environments of ZipCar and Kickstarter.

While the effects of the new user experience models of politics, news and business are exciting, a new question emerges, “what now”? How will the ability to “read-write” with other members of our community sustain and support new paradigms of our economy & civil society?

In a session on the user experience conference track on May 10th in Philadelphia, Robert Bole from the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) will share his take on how the traditional role of mass media can be renewed, in concert with the “read-write web”.  

While the Web is an essential communication network, the power of television, radio and print are still dominant, especially so in emerging markets that have a much greater cultural divergence from the predominant Western Internet culture.  The BBG is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for all non-military, international broadcasting sponsored by the U.S government. Currently, 5 broadcasting networks are supported (including Voice of America and Radio Free Europe), which collectively broadcast in 59 languages in more than 100 markets around the world.

Whether a news service covering substantial societal change, a development NGO driving community programs or a business growing its overseas markets, there is great opportunity in managing a multi-channel approach that uses the power of both broadcast and the Internet to build audience in and sustain the new community and collaboration of emerging and empowered networks of individuals.

Robert’s presentation will provide a proposed framework for building and managing multi-channel user experiences in emerging markets. There will be a discussion of how this approach leverages the capabilities of individual channels to drive reach, audience engagement and the ability for positive change to occur.  We will look at current examples of this type of multi-platform approaches, as well as suggest some opportunities for future development for journalists, civil society and businesses.

Let’s build your digital marketing strategy together!

March 12, 2012 | digital marketing, higher education, online strategy | No Comments

Marketing used to be simple. It was all about finding the right marketing mix of 4 independent ingredients, the well-known 4P’s (product, place, promotion and price). Promotion is defined as any method of communication that provides information about the product or service, but was primarily narrowed down to advertising in the traditional media: radio, TV and print. So the main challenge was to spread the promotion budget efficiently across these one-way communication channels.

Fast forward to 2012. Communicating with your audience has become a lot richer but also more complicated. Digital marketers have the challenge of integrating a myriad of online opportunities, such as corporate websites, campaign sites, social media, mobile, e-mail and video, together with the traditional channels into a new, cost-effective marketing strategy.

Sharing is caring: business model of the future?

March 8, 2012 | keynote, web strategy | No Comments

‘The only constant is change.’ Change is ceaseless, unrelenting and ever accelerating in today’s online society. From time to time we all need to step back and reflect on how to deal with this. Especially as web and intranet professionals, we are expected to be able to look into the deep future and spot the trends that will shape our businesses in years and decades to come.

One such trend, although not without controversy, is the belief that ‘sharing is caring’: The idea that by sharing assets, information or knowledge, we ultimately create better and richer experiences for more people than before. This often this leads to new opportunities and different business models.

Social brand engagement: Be smart, spend wisely

February 24, 2012 | digital marketing, social media, strategy | No Comments

In as little as 5 to 6 years’ time, social media has become completely mainstream. In a recent survey by the London Science Museum, asking 3000 British adults what they couldn’t live without, Facebook ended up in an amazing 5^th place, well ahead of a flushing toilet, a shower and fresh vegetables!

If social media are so pervasive, then surely this channel must receive prime attention in any organization’s marketing efforts. Many companies are realizing this and are pumping up budgets. But it’s not always the big money that wins the battle for the customer.

Need an app or a mobile strategy?

February 23, 2012 | mobile, strategy | No Comments

Mobile is booming. Sales of smartphones and tablets are stronger than ever. Customers are becoming more demanding about content, functionality and user experience. And organizations of all types, be it commercial or non-profit, are increasingly eager to tap the mobile potential for serving their customers and internal staff better. So what’s the right approach for tackling the mobile challenge?

Become a web leader!

February 20, 2012 | leadership, web strategy | No Comments

The changing role of web and intranet managers continues to be a hot topic at the J. Boye conferences. This year, Mark Greenfield, Director of Web Services at University at Buffalo, will address how to move from a web manager to a web leader
Managing an organization’s web presence is becoming increasingly complex. It’s no longer good enough to have a popular web site or a solid e-commerce platform. Web managers also need to leverage the possibilities of social media platforms and engage with customers in different, richer ways than before.

The traditional web manager often comes from one of the following two backgrounds:

1. Technology: These managers have a strong technology background. They know how to build and operate a professional web platform. But they often miss the business perspective to align their web strategy with organizational goals.
2. Marketing: These managers know how to reach target audiences and convert them into customers. They understand the business but often lack the technical skills to execute.

In his presentation on the web strategy and governance track at the J. Boye conference in Philadelphia, Mark will argue that neither of these two skill sets in isolation are enough to succeed in today’s complex web world. Successful managers need a combination of both but also need excellent leadership skills.

Could you win the 2012 American Web Idol?

February 14, 2012 | web idol | 8 Comments

Do you have a great software solution to an enterprise problem? Are your users simply stunned when they use your latest release?

Once again software vendors will have the opportunity to participate in the J. Boye Web Idol competition to be held next in Philadelphia on Conference Day #2, Wednesday, May 9th 2012.

We are looking for innovative vendors from across the entire marketplace; semantic web, enterprise portal, search, wiki, analytics, blogging, CMS, mobile, social media or something else.

J. Boye Web Idol is loosely based on “American Idol” and is a fast-paced, entertaining set of competitive demos. If you prefer succinct, comparative demos to long-winded presentations, this is the session for you.

The 5 competing vendors will present 6-minute innovative demos showing how their solution can solve a business problem. It could be a software solution, an application for mobile or even a service delivery concept in relation to for example an implementation project. After the sessions, the audience will vote for the winner – who will take over the legendary (and grotesquely large) trophy for a year.

As always, we will have a distinguished panel of judges who will provide some pithy commentary and feedback and at the end, the audience will vote for their favourite idea and select the winner.

The rules are simple: Introduce what you have got that can help solve a business problem or improve a task or work process – and sell it to the delegates using a live demo. Demonstrate the benefits of your offering and convince the audience that your entry is the most impressive and valuable at this year’s show.

The judges will be judging the demos on:

• Relevance and importance of the business problem you are addressing
• Innovation
• Originality
• Ease of application
• Practicality

Are you up for the challenge? If you wish to enter, you must submit a brief proposal in the comments box below: Let us know what the problem you are addressing is and how / with which solution you are going to solve it.  

UPDATE: Deadline for submissions has passed

Award-winning mobile intranet at UK Houses of Parliament

January 20, 2012 | intranet, mobile | No Comments

Imagine an organization with highly skilled knowledge workers that are almost never at their desks… And where almost 40% of the workforce is changed overnight… How would you design this organization’s brand new intranet?

Welcome to the UK Houses of Parliament!

In the ramp up to the UK’s general election of May 2010, Sharon O’Dea, responsible for the intranet of the UK Parliament, faced quite a few challenges. She had to redesign an ageing intranet and deal with the expected arrival of more than 250 new Members of Parliament. MPs are highly mobile and also highly skilled. They spend much of their day debating in the chamber, meeting their constituents and interest groups, and working in committees. This means they’re rarely at their desk for long stretches of time. Clearly a mobile intranet is the only solution.

Social intranet features at Wells Fargo

January 9, 2012 | intranet, social business | No Comments

Organizations are increasingly deploying a variety of social tools and features on their enterprise intranet. Advocates claim that a social intranet will stimulate internal collaboration, increase employee engagement and ultimately contribute to the bottom line.

In practice, many of you are probably still struggling to clearly define some of the industry buzzwords and translate them into measurable objectives that are meaningful for your organization. Many companies are also trying to get a grip on the rapidly changing space of social software vendors, unsure whether or not to invest in some shiny, brand new social business platform.

The typical questions that arise in this context are:

• How do I measure collaboration or engagement in a meaningful way?
• How do I build a business case for introducing social features? What are the hidden costs, and what are the unexpected benefits?
• Which social features should I prioritize? Should I launch discussion forums first, or introduce commenting and rating of corporate news articles, or maybe implement a microblogging solution?