Information Today
Volume 19, Issue 7 — July/August 2002
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Survey of Publishing Industry Sheds Light on Content Management

Really Strategies, Inc. has announced publication of the market study, The [Bracket] Report—Publishers' Adoption of Content Management Systems and Technologies. The focus of the report is content management: how publishers use processes and technology to move content from manuscript to distribution on multiple media platforms. A team of graduate students from the Center for Publishing at New York University cooperated in the execution of the survey.

Results of the study suggest that while there are tools to help publishers streamline work flow and move products to market faster and less expensively, publishers remain skeptical about the ability of commercially available products to meet their needs. Many of the publishers interviewed indicated that they implemented a content management system during the last 1 to 2 years. Most said that their content management systems are "doing what they are supposed to." However, they told the researchers, "we're doing it as we go," or "it's time-consuming and may not even work when it's done," and "it must work flawlessly or we're out of business—but our vendor hasn't kept promises regarding upgrades."

The study is the result of comprehensive telephone interviews conducted in March and April by the Center for Publishing with publishers, editorial directors, and chief information officers. Each interview lasted 15 to 30 minutes. All but two questions were multiple choice. One hundred eight publishing professionals were contacted. In 4 weeks, 54 interviews were completed.

According to Bennett Zucker, vice president of Really Strategies, this report focuses on one category of publishing: scientific, technical, and medical (STM).

"Publishers in the STM market typically need to produce highly structured, complex packages in both traditional and new media," Zucker said. "In future reports, we expect to broaden our audiences.The STM publisher's early-adopter experience offers excellent guidelines for those in other segments."

In April, Really Strategies and the Center for Publishing announced that they are working on research projects dedicated to helping inform the publishing industry about opportunities and challenges with new systems and technologies. The [Bracket] Report is the first study to evolve from this collaboration. It is a benchmark for publishers to measure themselves against others like them who are faced with big investment decisions in otherwise uncharted territory.

The [Bracket] Report—Publishers' Adoption of Content Management Systems andTechnologies is available for $295 from Really Strategies, Inc. For more information, see http://www.reallysi.com/report.htm.

Source: Really Strategies, Inc., Lansdale, PA, 215/631-3107; http://www.reallysi.com.

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