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ROI for the online channel The business drivers for you investments in WCM technology
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ROI for the online channel
© SDL Tridion 2008
Executive summary
For organizations, the Internet is an integral strategy and a fundamental consideration when meeting
business objectives. In fact, it has revolutionized how organizations do business. More than just a
source of corporate information, the Internet is now an extension of business processes and
communication strategies. As we have moved into the era of the customer, new requirements are
forcing customer-facing organizations to rethink how to engage and inspire online audiences.
However, in an economy where every investment needs to be balanced against cost reductions and its
effect on executing business objectives, it is essential that the projected return on investment is known
prior to making any purchasing decisions.
Industry-leading companies have achieved large-scale reductions in the total cost of ownership by
gaining control over communication complexity through Web Content Management. This leads to
increased revenue streams through the execution of a targeted customer engagement strategy and
improved internal efficiency through alignment of processes and people. The three main dimensions
discussed and corroborated with real-world customer examples and experiences are:
Managing communication complexity
Reduction of costs can be achieved through consolidation of content assets. The effort to launch new Web sites and maintenance effort for a constellation of Web sites can be cut dramatically by SDL Tridion BluePrinting functionality. Translation costs will be further reduced through reuse of translated content and automated work processes.
Operational alignment
Task- and workflow management can optimize your processes, and engage your internal stakeholders. Implementation and monitoring of Web standards will ensure compliance with integrity, accessibility and governmental requirements.
Customer engagement
Your time-to-market can be reduced and different market segments targeted with a relevant and personalized message. Take advantage of Web 2.0 technologies to turn visitors into users and participate in social communities to create awareness and interest around your offerings. Develop a strong brand value by enforcing consistency across all channels, such as Web, e-mail, RSS, mobile etc.
This document provides you with the knowledge you need to make the connections between the SDL
Tridion Web Content Management solution and its effects on your business.
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Table of contents 1 Introduction
2 Managing complexity 2.1 Consolidating content assets ....................................................................................................................... 2
2.2 Launching new Web sites ............................................................................................................................ 3
2.3 Maintaining a constellation of Web sites ...................................................................................................... 4
2.4 Reducing translation costs ........................................................................................................................... 7
2.5 Implementation costs ................................................................................................................................... 7
3 Aligning your organization 3.1 Engaging your stakeholders ......................................................................................................................... 9
3.2 Process efficiency ...................................................................................................................................... 10
3.3 Consolidating IT resources ........................................................................................................................ 11
4 Engage your customers 4.1 Time-to-market ........................................................................................................................................... 13
4.2 Targeting market segments ....................................................................................................................... 16
4.3 Explore Web 2.0 technologies ................................................................................................................... 16
4.4 Developing brand value ............................................................................................................................. 17
5 Conclusions 5.1 Doing the math ........................................................................................................................................... 20
6 About SDL Tridion
1 Introduction The rapid growth of internet communication has a massive impact on how organizations
interact with their online audiences. Not only is the internet used for many different types of
communication – including corporate communication, marketing campaigns and customer
interaction – the number of individuals within organizations that actually contribute to this
content has also drastically increased.
As a result, organizations have been ramping up their investments in the online channel over
the last few years. In order to make the right investment, organizations need to understand the
main business drivers for the online channel, and directly relate these to the upside and
downside of their business. To justify investments, organizations need insight into the cost of
extending and evolving their online marketing strategy and the potential extra revenue that the
online channel can generate.
The main business drivers for the online channel fall into the following categories:
Communication complexity – manage the complexity of the “any time, any place” nature of the online channel and control the costs associated with this complexity for multiple sites, channels, brands, languages and audiences;
Organizational alignment – manage and create efficient and effective internal alignment to achieve operational excellence through processes, collaboration, quality control and IT infrastructure and resources;
Customer engagement – manage online customer engagement to drive revenue, influence the customer buying cycle, improve conversion rates, conduct campaigns and increase market share.
This white paper discusses several business drivers in each of these categories, and explains
how the SDL Tridion Web Content Management platform contributes in either lowering the cost
of your online operation, or in improving your bottom line through a compelling online
presence.
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2 Managing complexity For many organizations, communication strategy has become much more complex. The
proliferation of new channels (such as RSS, email, mobile), the increased demand from
customers for new, relevant and targeted information, and globalization demands all have led
to manageability issues for online communication.
Today, organizations need to deliver a targeted yet consistent message:
From different departments or business units
Towards different target audiences
Across multiple geographical regions
In multiple languages
Through multiple channels
Using one or more brands
Ensuring consistency and efficient time to market across these variables is an increasing
challenge for many organizations, and synchronizing communication can become a true
nightmare. This section describes the following ways to manage communication complexity:
Consolidating content assets
Launching new Web sites
Maintaining your system
Reducing translation costs
Implementation costs
All of these factors can help your organization to save costs as well as drive revenue.
2.1 Consolidating content assets Many organizations maintain multiple Web sites
separately, and deploy multiple Web teams in different
locations. Content assets (such as brand elements and
corporate information) are duplicated and managed
separately in these locations. Often, organizations use
additional tools and applications to address additional
channels such as e-mail and print. This results in yet more
duplication of content assets for use in these additional applications.
“By implementing the SDL Tridion solution and dispensing with the services of external Web masters and administrators, we estimate cost reductions of about two million Swedish crowns per year. This represents a tangible return on our investment in R5 technology, after just 18 months”.
Stefan Persson, CIO Corporate IS, at IFS World
ROI for the online channel
© SDL Tridion 2008
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SDL Tridion R5 is an enterprise-ready, single-source repository for all Web content. SDL
Tridion customers use R5 as a centralized system that addresses the needs of multiple sites,
business units and languages. Since SDL Tridion offers functionality to deliver the same
content through multiple channels such as e-mail, print and RSS, using the same system
benefits to their entire enterprise and consolidates content assets across all channels,
departments and languages.
2.2 Launching new Web sites To address new markets or to launch new product or brand specific sites, organizations often
build Web sites from scratch. The cost can increase exponentially depending variables such as
localization, translation and target audiences,
Launching new Web sites can be a time consuming and complex process, requiring extensive
input from both content authors and IT. New regional Web sites often involve repeating tasks
in which separate teams recreate the same content, and establish the Web site infrastructure
from scratch.
SDL Tridion enables organizations to create and launch
new Web sites quickly and easily. It does so by enabling
maximum reuse and minimum duplication of effort; this
includes content, branding, navigation and even
processes. SDL Tridion customers can launch new Web
sites in days rather than months.
R5 allows you to set multi-site standards for Web site
deployment and content updates. SDL Tridion enables
this through BluePrinting™ that allows you to create a
Web site hierarchy, which ensures that corporate
centralized information is always shared, current and up-
to-date in all Web sites.
New Web sites can inherit both content and layout and local marketers can easily add market
or location-specific information as required:
BBVA implementation Savings in time to market and money: • 1st Web site: 10% savings • 2nd Web site: 40% savings • 3rd Web site: 60% savings • 4th Web site: could be done
almost immediately
Before SDL Tridion: 2800 hours with a team of three people
After SDL Tridion: 160 hours with one person
Predefined page templates automatically define a consistent look-and-feel and brand elements
Content sharing is synchronized
Localization and translation are managed within the system
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Multi-channel rollout is synchronized
Content for regional campaigns can be easily added or adapted
SDL Tridion BluePrinting technology reflects your organizations need to grow. R5 configuration
reflects not only your internal processes and the relationships between, for example, corporate
and local content contributors, but also your global content management requirements for
multiple sites, brands, and target audiences.
The more your Web presence grows, the more you benefit. As your markets expand and the
complexity of your online offering increases – brands, languages, audiences and more – you
can quickly respond and proactively address the needs of the online channel. All of this
establishes a long-term framework for your online marketing and communication regardless of
how many regions, brands, or departments you need to manage.
2.3 Maintaining a constellation of Web sites Many organizations spend up to 80% of their budgets on maintaining their systems and only
20% on new initiatives. Simple updates can be disproportionately time-consuming compared to
their value. This means that organizations can reduce their total cost of ownership by reducing
the maintenance effort invest more in new initiatives.
“Gartner Surveys suggest that knowledge workers spend 25% of their time looking for
information that has previously been created . . . Because search is improved in a WCM
system, costs will be reduced. Once content is created and approved, the extent to which that
content can be quickly accessed for reuse elsewhere will also cut costs, sometimes
dramatically if the content is lengthy or technical.”1
Think, for example, of an international company that targets three different audiences: private
consumers, businesses and distributors. The company is present in thirty different regions and
translates content into five different languages. They also manage five distinct brands. In each
region, three different departments contribute content. As marketing tools, the marketing
department distributes material using four different channels.
1 Latham, Lou (2007) “Ten Business Justifications for Web Content Management” Gartner (ID:G00152623)
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© SDL Tridion 2008
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Use case 1: Create and manage a new local Web site
A regional manufacturing company uses the online channel to capture new markets. The company has
decided to create a Spanish Web site to support its local sales office and Spanish resellers. For this
project, time-to-market, consistent branding and accurate content is essential. The organization has
decided to use a phased rollout strategy and launch localized and translated content in phases...
Impact: One new site, with initially 5% localized and translated content, consistent branding and
navigation. Products and services available in Spain will be available on site (of 15 000 products, 1 200
are available in Spain). The average product lifecycle is 6 months. Local marketers can directly update
the Web site for regional events, promotions and partner information.
Long-term impact: Ongoing process to localize content. Add and update product offerings when new
versions are released. Reapply updated central content to Spanish site and keep sites synchronized.
As you can see, this type of scenario involves many different points at which content needs to
be synchronized and managed. Even the smallest changes can have many different impact
points especially if the change is used throughout multiple Web sites. This is a very laborious
process that may involve extensive manual editing, cutting and pasting, project management
and coordination, multiple e-mails and phone calls.
As you’ve seen in previous sections, R5 lays the foundation for efficient site maintenance and
updates. R5 automates content synchronization, enabling enterprise-wide coordination of all
of the tasks that go into updating and maintaining online content. BluePrinting allows for
content sharing, translation, and localization, as well as granular control over branding, multi-
channel delivery and scheduled distribution. These capabilities give you the power to perform
cascading updates through all of your Web sites.
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Task SDL Tridion Days Other WCM Days Create a new Web site
Create infrastructure
Set domain names, change DNS settings, configure indexing services.
IT:
2
Set domain names, change DNS settings, configure indexing services.
IT:
2
Create new site structure
Web site BluePrint content, layout, profiles, applications are automatically inherited by the new Web site.
SDL Tridion user:
0.5
Create a new instance of a site by copying content (cloning) from another site.
Web master:
1
Set up editorial process
Define users based on existing directory. Roles, permissions, and editorial workflow are shared from the BluePrinting structure.
SDL Tridion user:
0.5
Add users and assign to role(s), define permissions, roles and enable editorial workflow.
Web master:
1
Localize promotional content
Update Homepage, Contact, News, and Promotion content.
SDL Tridion user:
2
Update Homepage, Contact, News, and Promotion content.
Web master:
2
Localize product content
Deselect products that do not apply to Spanish market from BluePrinting structure.
Product Manager and SDL Tridion user:
4
Delete products from new site that do not apply to Spanish market.
Product Manager and
Web master:
4
Translate content Request and manage translation centrally with automatic rollout to local sites upon translation.
SDL Tridion user:
2
Select high priority content, send for translation, validate translation, apply translated content to Spanish site and coordinate process.
Web master:
6
Launch new site SDL Tridion user: 0.5 Web master: 1 Site maintenance
Translation of new content (20/month)
Request and manage translation centrally with automatic rollout to local sites upon translation.
SDL Tridion user:
4
Send updated to translation, validate translation, apply translated content to Spanish site and coordinate process. Manual notification process.
Web master:
14
Update product information (75/month)
Workflow process notification indicating updates are required. One-click action to synchronize content, included integrated translation.
SDL Tridion Power user:
5
Manually identify content to be updated. Manually apply content updates to local site. Manually manage translation and publish content updates.
Web master:
80
Total: 20.5 Total: 111
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© SDL Tridion 2008
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2.4 Reducing translation costs Market pressures and an increasingly global economy mean that organizations are under
greater pressure than ever to provide local and corporate content in local languages. As
emerging economies become even more powerful and active on the Web, this pressure
increases.
The reality is that translation often involves long and complex implementations, lack of
integration with content repositories and limited process automation. All of these things can
take a substantial bite out of the ROI for global online communication.
SDL Tridion R5 provides automated processes for new and modified content whereby content
is sent to translators with a single click. R5 manages all content before and after translation,
and provides instantaneous publishing of any newly translated content.
Return on investment includes a reduction in
translation costs, timesavings, fully managed
content and quick delivery of online content for
international audiences. This means that internet
marketers and those contributing to online
content can focus on the tasks at hand: faster
time-to-market, coordinated rollouts of
international campaigns and effective online
communication. Translation quality and processes are clear and defined.
For more detail, refer to the SDL Tridion white paper “Translation Management System builds
a better business case”.
Our partnership with SDL has enabled us to reduce translation costs more than 30% and improve time-to-market for our multilingual product marketing communications. It used to take 4 months for new product information to reach local web sites, now it’s available for publication within weeks.”
Luuk de Jager, Sr Manager Content Management, Central Marketing, Philips
2.5 Implementation costs The quality of an implementation has a high
impact on is the usability of your system, the
extent to which it reflects your business goals, the
long-term maintenance and growth of your Web
site, and your ability to respond to new
requirements.
“SDL Tridion anticipated our expectations thanks to the perfect synergy that exists between their teams and our other technical partners. Our imperatives were for our news to be disseminated in real time, in five languages, in order to guarantee the coherence of our communication worldwide. SDL Tridion has completely met our requirements.”
Cyril Abiteboul, Head of e-Business, Renault F1
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SDL Tridion R5 offers a wide range of out-of-the-box functionality. This substantially minimizes
the technical challenges of an implementation and allows our customers to focus on the
business objectives of the implementation. Implementations are rolled out using a specific
methodology that maps an organization’s specific business requirements to the R5
implementation.
The Implementation Methodology ensures an effective and fast WCM implementation using a
phased project rollout. The implementation design is based on the specific functional
requirements organizations have for their current and future Web strategy. SDL Tridion
consultants identify and address key strategic and functional issues and monitor the progress
of any SDL Tridion project. In brief, this methodology is used to ensure that long-term Web site
objectives are taken into consideration, laying a framework for future growth and changing
business objectives.
SDL Tridion Professional Services organization and extensive global network of certified
implementation partners guarantee a high quality implementation, meeting your requirements
on time.
For an overview of the R5 Implementation Methodology, visit our Web site.
ROI for the online channel
© SDL Tridion 2008
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3 Aligning your organization To achieve operational excellence for online strategy, organizations need efficient and
effective internal alignment through processes, collaboration, quality control, IT infrastructure
and operations. This internal alignment allows organizations to be more competitive and
reduce costs by streamlining and automating their processes.
This chapter discusses how you can get the most out of your investment in the following ways:
Engaging your stakeholders
Achieving internal process efficiency
Taking full advantage of IT resources
3.1 Engaging your stakeholders As the online channel becomes more and more critical for business strategy, more business
units have a vested interest in contributing to your online channel. This includes:
Corporate communication – strategic communication goals, message and brand consistency, image & identity, PR
Marketing – campaign goals, lead generation, time-to-market, local content
IT – cost control, reliable infrastructure, fit with existing systems, low support demands
Sales – e-commerce, target audiences, potential markets, up-sell opportunities
Customer support – Efficiency, online support, reduce call center costs, disseminate information, time effective
Web site visitors, however, encounter your Web site a single experience. They do not
distinguish between who is contributing what; and they expect a unified experience that leads
them through the buying cycle.
R5’s centralized approach to Web content
management means that different business units can
coordinate and manage the online user experience
through a single system. Different tasks are delegated
to the people best equipped to execute them. For
example, Corporate Communication can focus solely
on the branding and corporate identity aspects. Corporate marketers can define corporate
campaigns and centrally control the launching of campaign-related content, while regional
marketers can adapt this content to fit the needs of their regional target audiences.
“We use the Web for more of everything. Our business units want to be able to update their own content and have it published to the site in as near real time as possible."
Brian Beirne,Head of E-commerce, Virgin Atlantic
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Empowering different stakeholders within an organization is a key factor in rolling out Web
content management technology since it means that they see direct benefits to their role and
tasks. However, from an organizational perspective, permissions, policies and guidelines are
crucial for control. R5 provides granular permission settings that control both the actions users
can perform (such as publishing to the Web site) and the different content assets they can
access. This provides the optimal balance between central control and delegated
responsibilities.
3.2 Process efficiency Due to the increased importance of your Web site to many different departments within your
organization, it can be difficult to streamline and prioritize content creation, editorial and
publishing processes. When Web content is derived from multiple locations, it can be difficult
for organization to synchronize rollout and ensure consistent processes. In addition,
decentralized Web content management can result in a lack of consistent branding and diluted
messaging.
SDL Tridion allows you to define and enforce processes throughout your enterprise for multiple
departments.
Many different parts of your organization all have a stake in what you offer online, however,
their expectations and specific goals may be very different. The more directly they can
contribute, shape and participate in coordinating activities, adding and revising content, and
work directly with your online channel, the more effective your organization will be in fulfilling
your mandate to your customers. Customers, in this case, can include external prospects,
intermediaries such as suppliers and internal audiences, such as different departments in your
organization. "SDL Tridion has helped us achieve a truly customer-centered Internet strategy with minimal Web site management in a short timeframe. We're able to provide our distributors an easy-to-use tool that saves them time, resources and money, and in turn, they are able to provide customers with information that streamlines the sales process and increases customer satisfaction. The end effect is that the SDL Tridion solution increases the value of our business offerings and we realize a significant return on investment."
Ulf Ceder, Manager Online Business Communication at Scania
Workflow management – fully integrated workflow functionality means that you can define workflow processes for any Web content creation or publishing process. This ensures that any published content undergoes quality control.
Task management – version management, version histories, workflow management and translation management
R5 allows organizations to define workflows that
reflect their business processes so that all online
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© SDL Tridion 2008
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completes an efficient review process, providing both timely and quality online content.
These process efficiencies can also be applied to multi-channel delivery, including Web sites,
portals, e-mail and print. This centralized system reduces the cost of process redundancy and
inefficiency, and of implementation and configuration costs.
3.3 Consolidating IT resources A Gartner report notes that the Web master function is a high-cost one. Skilled IT workers
often spend a great deal of time doing HTML encoding, page layout and other activities that
amount to editorial duties. When the Web publishing process is automated, these
professionals can instead focus on higher-value tasks such as application development. On
average, well-implemented WCM systems reduce Web master workloads by 75% in terms of
repetitive, manual update of content.”2
Often Web masters use their preferred technology and tools to create the Web site, leading to
high (but frequently invisible or hard to measure) license costs and a dispersed hardware
infrastructure. The prototypical Web server that sits under the desk of the Web master and
runs a country Web site still exists, and leads to a high risk for an online communication
strategy. In addition, if organizations use multiple types of technology to manage their Web
sites, this also incurs significant training costs for multiple systems.
R5 allows business users to easily update and publish content, add new content, manage e—
mail campaigns and perform many tasks that typically considerable IT resources. Because R5
allows IT to set up predefined and reusable Web site elements, business users can then
create content using forms, associate this content with existing templates and publish online
content quickly.
R5 is built on open standards. It also provides numerous public APIs through which you can
easily add online interactivity. . This industry standard technology allows you to take advantage
of your existing investments and internal expertise in the following:
W3C compliant XML
LDAP, Active Directory
Standard database, browser and OS support
2 Latham, Lou (2007) “Ten Business Justifications for Web Content Management” Gartner (ID:G00152623)
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WebServices, Java, COM and .NET APIs
Integrated with standard development environments (Dreamweaver, Visual Studio)
Gartner estimates that consolidation of multiple content repositories into a single system may
cost between $100 000 to $200 000 but yields savings of twice that expenditure in one year
following the consolidation3. Hardware can also be consolidated and incorporated into the
enterprise infrastructure, leading to lower administration costs.
3 Gartner Group: Cost Cutting for IT Content Management in 2008
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4 Engage your customers To achieve a maximum ROI need to not only control cost and streamline processes, your
WCM should also empower you to drive revenue opportunities by engaging your visitors with
targeted content and interaction.
This chapter explores the following areas of online customer engagement:
Time-to-market
Targeting market segments
Explore Web 2.0
Developing brand value
4.1 Time-to-market Time-to-market is crucial when it comes to launching new products and services, since delays
can result in missed opportunities or a negative market perception. At the same time, the
pressure to launch must never compromise the quality of your communication.
Your business approach to Web content management depends on the ways in which you
decentralize or centralize responsibility for different tasks and content requirements:
To coordinate global content updates such as product descriptions or financial information, your WCM needs to support a high level of content reuse, translation capabilities and synchronized delivery services.
If you use a decentralized model, you need to make sure that your regional operations, indirect sales channels and distributors can benefit from a single source repository with the ability to modify content for local campaigns and events.
Most organizations use a mix of both models. You WCM
architecture and processes need to mirror different
priorities and approaches for different product lines and
the demand for different goods in different markets.
Mismatches may lead to difficulties in coordinating tasks
and activities.
SDL Tridion empowers companies to delivery content in a
timely fashion by allowing you to reuse text, multimedia,
layout and application building blocks. As a result, you
“As a business our aim is to maintain our leadership position and exceed customer expectations. The beauty of SDL Tridion is that it has enabled us to streamline our operations, without impacting our relationships with our customers. Because of that, we have improved communication, ensured a faster time to market, greater flexibility and immediate, tangible cost savings.”
Bill Taylor, General Manager, IT, Suzuki GB PLC
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Use case 2: Multi-channel marketing
A consumer electronics company has a multi-channel marketing strategy. The company is launching a new product line and has selected the following mix for the campaign: a product-specific microsite, banners, e-mail and RSS feeds. Due to time-to-market requirements and budget constraints, the release coordinator wants to use minimal IT involvement and minimal use of external agencies.
can deliver modified content for multiple target audiences over multiple channels in multiple
languages. Translation workflows and translation memory drastically reduce the translation
time benefiting simultaneous country product launches.
Using R5, you can also rapidly deploy Web applications by enabling business users to deliver
Web applications, such as online forms for internal and external use. HR and marketing
professionals can now manage their own forms (such as expense reports and reader surveys),
collect data, and take action without involving IT.
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Task SDL Tridion Days Other WCM Days Prepare
Define plan na na Create campaign assets
Add content Add text and visuals to the CMS as separate assets. These assets can be reused for all channels.
SDL Tridion user:
2.5
Create campaign assets separately for each channel. Release coordinator and design agencies:
5
Create channel items Create microsite landing page
Reuse campaign assets to create microsite. Business users create online forms to track leads. Drag & drop Web analytics tracking into templates for visitor tracking.
SDL Tridion user:
2
Build new site from scratch. IT builds online form functionality. Manually add Web analytics tagging for visitor tracking.
Web master:
10
Create targeted banners
Combine existing visuals and messages into banners. Link to the landing page.
SDL Tridion user:
1
Define requirements and outsource banner tasks.
Web master:
3
Create e-mailings
Reuse campaign assets to create e-mails using an existing template including a link to the landing page.
SDL Tridion user:
1
Define functional requirements and write copy for the e-mail templates. Outsource work to direct mail partner.
Marketing:
5
Create print collateral
Reuse campaign assets to create print collateral using InDesign Connector.
SDL Tridion user:
3
Define brief for print collateral. Outsource design and production.
Marketing:
3
Campaign launch Launch campaign
Publish microsite and banners. Release additional communication channels.
SDL Tridion user:
1
Publish microsite and banners. Release additional communication channels.
Marketing:
1
Total: 10.5 Total: 27
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4.2 Targeting market segments Language and cultural considerations are crucial when planning online marketing activities due
to local preferences, buying habits and local market conditions.
To create awareness and interest in your proposition that will lead to transactions, you need to
provide targeted messages for different segments. SDL Tridion enables organizations to profile
visitors, map content to these profiles and deliver targeted content it in real time.
R5 allows you to do this across multiple channels, creating channel consistency and synergy
effects between traditional and online marketing initiatives. R5 also enables you to create and
manage specific content that is relevant for the different
phases in the customer buying cycle.
Successful campaigns can easily be reused and launched
to multiple locations by allowing you to modify content as is
appropriate for different areas.
The R5 Profiling & Personalization solution dynamically
matches visitor profiles with content. For anonymous
visitors, it tracks clicking behavior and relate this to relevant
topics and information. When a visitor signs in, it takes
advantage of stored profile information and present
relevant content for a more engaging experience.
“The SDL Tridion solution allows us to maintain our brand consistency across many sites, whilst giving each hotel, train or restaurant the ability to develop its own online personality, and more importantly, keep it updated locally. We also now have the ability to track our site usage and profile visitors, so that we can proactively suggest to them services that we feel they may appreciate, based on their previous bookings and site visits.”
Brian Tickle, e-commerce director at Orient Express
4.3 Explore Web 2.0 technologies Web 2.0 technologies have opened many new opportunities for companies to interact with
their online audiences. Marketing professionals are turning to the social Web as part of their
marketing mix in a few ways:
As a way of gathering information about specific user group
As a way of conveying information through targeted advertisements on 3rd party sites
By participating in external online communities and networking sites
By incorporating Web 2.0 tools on their own web sites and in their own organizations
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In the end, participation in Web 2.0 enables you to monitor what is happening around your
brand, integrate into communication networks so that you are participant rather than an
observer, connect with customers directly and finally, provide your customers with tools to
spread your messages.
SDL Tridion R5 is a proven platform to enrich your web sites with social web components. By
focusing on the business value of Web 2.0, and making sure that components are managed in
unified way, SDL Tridion R5 makes it easy for you to implement the Web 2.0 tools you need
for greater customer engagement. When a particular technology has proved to be valuable to
your organization, you can move it under the SDL Tridion umbrella and manage it across
multiple Web sites, languages and audiences.
4.4 Developing brand value Strong brands create strong associations and awareness that all contribute to your customers’
intentions to buy. However, many organizations’ initial attempts to globalize their Web sites
results in locally created sites that look completely different from the central corporate Web
site. The local Web sites of some car manufacturers provide some striking examples. A 2006
survey indicates that global corporations implement more
than 80% of their own brand guidelines incorrectly.4
The value of brand begins with recognition of the visual
elements of your brand but extends to the entire online user
experience. For your Web site, your brand is actually in
every element of their online experience, including:
“The success of transforming our sites is now very obvious. In fact, we view SDL Tridion not only as a content management solution but a brand consistency control system too.”
Tim Mott, North America’s eBusiness Solutions Director,
Sodexho Logos, taglines and key messages
The way in which your Web site reflects the image and identity of your organization’s products and services
The ways in which your Web site is responsive to trends and offers competitive user experiences in terms of interactivity
The performance and reliability of your Web site including clear navigation and actionable paths
Value-added offers such as special offers
Customer service options
4 See http://www.magus.co.uk/aboutus/press_ActiveStandards.html
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Personalization features that target your audiences needs
The ability to create loyalty through exceptional Web sites and consistent online user
experiences is very resource intensive in the absence of an overall brand strategy and it
becomes very difficult to implement branding strategies efficiently and consistently.
R5 is designed to ensure that corporate marketing professionals can enforce brand
consistency in all areas of you Web site without hindering or taking time away from their
priority marketing activities. In addition, the Standards & Integrity solution allows marketers to
check their Web sites for compliance to both corporate and W3C standards such as brand
compliance, accessibility standards and SEO.
Through image, multimedia, application and functionality re-use SDL Tridion guarantees that
your Web site builds your brand equity by ensuring that the most important parts of your brand
strategy are rolled out throughout all of your Web sites.
Use case 3: Rebranding the organization
A Fortune 500 company carried out a global repositioning project that included rebranding their organization. Web site rebranding included rolling out a new logo, tagline, colors, layout and clearer site navigation for the corporate site, 30 regional sites in ten different languages. This also included pages announcing the rebranding.
A simultaneous global rollout was critical. For time-to-market and for budget considerations, Corporate
ROI for the online channel
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Task SDL Tridion Days Other WCM Days
Design na na Page layout Design changes are made in an Adobe
Dreamweaver template and applied across multiple templates.
SDL Tridion user:
3
Design changes received from the design agency are adapted and translated to a proprietary template.
Web master:
10
Rollout Cascading rollout: all changes are automatically applied in the staging Web site. Only one update is required per page type.
SDL Tridion user:
1
Identify site where layout is to be applied. Manually update all pages.
Web master and corporate communication:
22
Testing Validate changes.
SDL Tridion user:
1
Functional regression testing since uniform application of changes is not guaranteed.
IT:
20
Apply new logo
Update current logo using the business user interface as a single action for all sites and pages.
SDL Tridion user:
1
Manually update all sites and pages.
IT:
5
Translate tagline
Request and manage translation centrally with automatic rollout to sites upon translation.
SDL Tridion user:
2
Manage translation agencies. Validate translation. Manually update site.
Translation manager & IT:
20
Content Create content. SDL Tridion author:
2
Create content. Business user:
2
Approval process
Workflow automates approval process. New content that is approved is automatically published to staging server.
SDL Tridion editor:
2
Manual processes involving numerous e-mails and phone calls in order to get the content approved on time.
Editorial committee and copy writers:
5
Translate & localize
Request and manage translation centrally within the CMS with automatic rollout to the staging server of the local sites upon translation.
SDL Tridion user:
2
Manage translation agencies. Validate translation. Manually update site.
Translation manager & IT:
20
Update all sites
No impact. All content exists in staging.
0
Major impact. All sites updated manually and separately.
IT:
30
Approval and testing
Automatically managed using the workflow engine. All approved items are scheduled for publish to the live site.
SDL Tridion users:
5
Manual notification of stakeholders and requests for approval. Manual process.
Multiple contributors:
10
Launch Deploy the final site. SDL Tridion user:
1
Deploy the final site. IT:
1
Total: 20 Total: 145
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5 Conclusions This white paper has described how several business drivers affect your online operation, and
how SDL Tridion products can contribute to either lowering the costs of your online operation,
or increase the odds of capturing more market opportunities.
However, in many organizations, lowering costs and increasing market opportunities are
mutually exclusive to each other. Lowering costs usually means that centralization and
consolidation of resources are introduced. However, centralization in turn usually leads to a
loss of flexibility and lack of involvement from decentralized business units. For Web Content
Management specifically, organizations have to find the right balance between lowering costs
while still maintaining enough flexibility in order to achieve business goals.
SDL Tridion products and solutions allow organizations to substantially lower costs, through an
efficient reuse of content and other Web site elements. In addition, they allow organizations to
delegate responsibilities to the people that are best equipped to fulfill certain tasks, which
improve flexibility and the capability of organizations to respond to market changes.
5.1 Doing the math For some people, an ROI is mostly an exercise of comparing the price of a software solution
(licenses, implementation costs, hardware) with the cost savings accrued by implementing this
solution. However, as we have shown throughout this white paper, the true return on your
investment comes from both these cost savings as well as from extra revenue generated by
capturing new opportunities.
Costs savings by themselves can be extremely hard to measure. Many costs are hidden, for
example, because people spend small amounts of time on certain tasks, but repeat these
tasks many times. Often, these costs are not measured on a quantitative basis. Similarly, costs
of disjoint solutions are frequently spread over the budgets of many different departments in
your organization, making it hard to get insight into the overall numbers.
The impact on the revenue side of things is even harder to measure, and can only be
measured over a longer period. For example, the impact that branding has on the awareness
ROI for the online channel
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of internet visitors is hard to measure for many organizations if they do not perform online
sales transactions too.
Therefore, this white paper has not given you a ‘one size fits all’ ROI model for buying a WCM
solution. Rather, it has shown you which factors are likely to influence the return on your
investment, and how technology can contribute to improve the return. As such, the ROI for
WCM investments is a combination of quantitative and qualitative factors.
To do the math, you need to decide which of the business drivers are relevant to your
organization, and how these can be quantified in order to make a sensible ROI calculation.
Sometimes, the math for only one business driver may be enough to justify your investments.
We frequently found that the arguments for a global operation, including translation of content
into many languages, are compelling enough by themselves. The true economic impact of this
investment however can only be determined by your own organization, looking at the various
business drivers that affect your particular business model.
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ROI for the online channel
© SDL Tridion 2008
6 About SDL Tridion SDL Tridion is a global leader in Web Content Management (WCM) solutions. In addition to
content creation, management, translation, delivery and archiving solutions, SDL Tridion
provides brand management, targeted communication, multi-channel delivery and visitor
interaction capabilities.
SDL Tridion enables organizations to provide a persuasive customer experience through all of
their front-office activities. Corporate communication, marketing and customer service can
ensure that their communication connects with their key target audiences.
Unlike other WCM products, SDL Tridion’s enterprise class WCM solution and unique
BluePrinting technology enables organizations to deliver a consistent, interactive, and highly
targeted customer experience in multiple languages and across multiple Web sites and
channels.
More than 500 organizations rely on SDL Tridion solutions, including well-known global brands
such as ABN AMRO, BBVA, breastcancer.org, Canon, Emirates, KLM, Lexus, Renault, Ricoh,
Sanofi-Aventis, Scania, Toyota, Unilever and Yamaha. SDL Tridion has offices and partners
throughout North America, Europe and Asia. For more information about SDL Tridion, please
visit www.sdltridion.com
SDL Tridion is a division of SDL, the leader in global information management (GIM) solutions.
For more information about SDL, please visit www.sdl.com
Contact information
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.sdltridion.com
Copyright © 2008 by SDL Tridion
SDL Tridion®, SDL Tridion R5™, BluePrinting™, SiteEdit™ and WebForms™ are trademarks of SDL Tridion Holding BV or its affiliates. All other company or product names used herein may be trademarks of its respective owners.
