Nigel Davies - MD of Claromentis - my personal blog

Recent interest in Claromentis

2012-01-06T16:17:00.000-08:00

I posted a short blog with a very useful intranet design recently - in fact just a couple of days ago.

It was frankly amazing how much reaction that one post had - far more so than many other posts that also - according to me - had some though provoking content.

What was also amazing to me was the level of immediacy - within just a few minutes of a late night post it had been re-tweeted to an astonishing number of followers.

In general we have been geting the most amazing level of interest recently - from companies looking to understand what we offer - how combining intranet software, business processes and custom applications into a web platform can really make a difference - but also a huge volume of simple contacts with interested parties.

In just a few hours this afternoon we were contacted by Credit Suisse, Accenture and Oxford University. To me that is just unreal - it's exciting - and I think it mostly reflects the execution on our brand that the team has put in place in the last few months.

For these kind of companies I believe they can now visit our site and rapidly understand what we do. Sometimes clearly explaining a complex solution is just so hard!

This might sound obvious - in fact I am sure it is extremely simple - but it has taken us a decade to clarify exactly what we do in such a concise way!

They can then engage with us to request financials, a private your or anything else they need.

Exciting times!

Politicians running a business

2011-08-12T13:22:00.000-07:00

Personally I have really enjoyed the challenge of running and growing a business for the last 10 years.

There are numerous challenges, and anyone who survives it all and prospers needs personal skill, a great team and a fair amount of luck. To succeed in growing a company from nothing is indeed tough.

With this in mind I have been thinking of the business model that the politicians have who are notionally in charge of this country. Here is their complex model as I see it :

Revenue side

Everyone must buy my stuff
I can charge whatever I like
No-one can buy any competitor's stuff

Product

I can provide whatever level of service I want to

Indeed this must be a challenge. Its not surprising that you have to behave like spoiled children all the time in order to let off the pressure.

It would take a great level of incompetence to so mess this up that we are paying £3.5 billion a month in debt interest alone. And to deliver such poor long term standards of living that we have an underclass that will threaten our stability. But that is exactly what you have managed to do.

Congratulations to the public sector in general and to the political system in particular. You have managed to completely fail in delivering the most simple business model the world has ever devised. I cannot begin to describe the difference to our society if we could get rid of all politicians, and spend £3.5 billion a month directly on the well being of our citizens.

Not just failed, but so spectacularly failed in your duty that you are in danger of permanently destroying something that has taken centuries to build - a civilized culture.

If you had any decency you would fall on your swords.

You would inevitably miss.

Back from a trip to the Quantock Hills

2011-06-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

Have to say I am impressed with the Quantocks, they don't seem as totally touristy as say Devon - seriously nice countryside and villages.

Its a small area - but ideal for a few days break. The drive was easy, the Dogs loved it - and so did our friends.

This was my first visit but I am sure it wont be the last!

Creativity vs Productivity

2011-06-04T12:30:00.000-07:00

In my experience it's a challenge to let creative people be creative, because you absolutely need them to be, but to keep them aware of business goals, product releases and the general demands of keeping customer acquisition rates and general margins where they need to be.

I have faith in that general principle of getting the right people on the bus, getting them in the right seats, and seeing where the bus starts heading towards. But if the financials are shouting at you, the cost base is expanding and the clock is ticking it sure is a challenge to give talented, creative people the space they need to produce something special.

At Claromentis we need great, well designed and well thought out products. That requires creative input from our designers and information architects - and ultimately from our developers to make it all work. But the space and freedom they need costs money, and at the end of the day that space therefore has a limit.

There just seems to me to be fundamental tensions

between financing creativity when the results are by definition uncertain, and the sound financial best practices of a well managed small business.
between creativity itself and the nature of a working week
between goal setting, deadlines and artistic space and freedom

Perhaps I have to have enough resources to let them fail as many times as it takes before they produce the gems that will make the product line truly special.

A better solution would be to find a way to coach, mentor and manage them - find a balance somehow between creativity, business demands and resource allocation.

Separating core and custom software teams

2011-05-30T11:56:00.000-07:00

Well after a lot of discussions we are recuiting more technical staff and formally separating our technical team from the designers and developers that work on all of our custom application projects.

Although I am completely convinced that this is the right way to go - it still seems crazy to be recruiting yet again! And in the middle of this long running recession / slow growth economy here in the UK.

The general approach is going to be that both teams are completely self sufficient in terms of designers and developers - but sharing Information Architect resource at the prototyping stage and testers near project completion. We will be abe to lend resource to the core team, but never borrow from it - protecting the release schedule of the Claromentis framework.

We don't intend to physically isolate the team as we want to encourage the informal sharing of methodologies and experience that comes from informal exchange of ideas.

I am excited by these decisions and our plans - and interested how disciplined we can be in protecting our own software schedules when custom application workload is high!

Terrible BMW service

2011-04-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I changed from Lexus and purchased a brand new BMW - 35k of my money

The car has been great - until now - and now I am finding out how terrible BMW service is

I bought the car from Vines of Gatwick, and yesterday the entire console failed - no navigation, no anything - just an engine and 4 wheels.

I immediately just called BMW. They said not our problem - call the dealer. So I called the dealer and they said - wait for it - we don't have a courtesy car, we cant fix it for 3 weeks, and we need your car for 2 days.

For someone who invested a huge amount of money on a brand new BMW that now has less than 2k miles on the clock - and is basically an inoperable pile of rubbish - I sincerely wish I has stayed with Lexus - my previous car.

If anyone is thinking of buying a BMW because they need great service as a busy exec do not do it, and never buy a car form Vines of Gatwick. If anything goes wrong, based on my experience - they will basically not give a damn.

Defining what Claromentis does

2011-04-09T17:03:00.000-07:00

After years of finding it very difficult to define exactly what Claromentis does - in terms of setting the boundaries of what software and services we provide - we concluded this week that we provide "A web platform for your business"

I do like this. It is simple, genuine and reflects the fact that the Claromentis framework and significant codebase really does provide a platform - onto which we can add any custom web apps that a customer needs. Previously we had become hung up on our diverse product set - intranets, information management, e-forms and a myriad of others - combined with our custom development teams.

It does produce a tangible sense of relief when finally you can clearly define what you do as a business. With appraisals and objecives starting now for the financial year it will be interesting to see how this knowledges supports or changes the individual objectives we set.

Management and Leadership

2011-04-07T11:26:00.000-07:00

Just read a nice summary of management as managing complexity, vs leadership as managing change.

Once you read something like that it just seems so obvious, but perhaps that is what characterizes good insights - they are immediately clear, understandable and make you think about something in a subtly different way. They just seem obvious after the event.

We are going through so much change and growth right now in Claromentis that I feel my current responsibility is indeed managing that change, so more akin to leadership - but oddly in order to manage that process we also need to put in place a lot of traditional management tools that are detail orientated, and provide a focus on the operational side of the business - such as well defined appraisal objectives, improved financial systems, project management tools and account management.

I suppose this is logical, as a company changes to evolve the business model in significant ways a focus on the detailed implications for working capital and resources is required to ensure that operations can help you make it through the change. There is little point in working so hard to turn that oil tanker in a new direction and then running out of cash to pay the salaries before you make it through the straits.

So it seems to me that in order to lead the change, you do need a lot of data that is more traditionally viewed as management information. At least in my experience..

NAPA Valley and a predictable purchase

2011-04-02T21:41:00.000-07:00

Drove out to Napa Valley today, just an hour or so from our San Francisco hotel

Had a really interesting vegetarian lunch at Ubuntu - some of the dishes were visually very appealing and interesting indeed.

Then went out to get some wine - lots of Californian Chardonnay and what does Nigel end up buying? The only two half bottles of Corton Charlemagne in the shop.. 2005 Grand Cru as well..

I really think this Burgundy obsession I have is getting silly!

Tech companies and highway 101

2011-03-31T00:14:00.000-07:00

Great to drive highway 101 back to San Francisco today. A thrilling list of tech companies on each side of the freeway - Sales Force, Intel, Oracle, E Bay, Cisco, NetLogic, EMC - to name just a few.

It really is great to be in SF if you work in technology - you get this feeling of being at home, but also in some holy place.

But we also noticed the vacant buildings - so obviously designed for technology companies - all glassy and classy - and empty.

I wonder where this will go in the next year. There are a lot of hype-like valuations in the social media space, and its sad to see those empty offices and shattered dreams. California has a 12% unemployment rate right now - way over the US average of about 9%.

But from my visit so far California just has so much going for it - natural beauty, innovation and a sense of pride of its contribution to technology. I am sure that whatever happens to short term blips in the market and the social media space, California will continue to help lead the technology charge.

Challenges will come I am sure from so much innovation in China. People here need to stay focused - and maybe drive forwards some niche spaces with significant barriers to entry. In some of these they really do have an advantage from all the tech history, know how and great people that have taken up residence here to pursue the technology dream.

Big Sur to San Francisco

2011-03-30T22:42:00.000-07:00

Well we had a great trip to McWay falls in Big Sur yesterday, and then today drove the really long way round to SF.

Condor or whale? from Nigel Davies on Vimeo.

Just had the best experience of a welcome to a city - staying at the Hotel Vitale - Bay bridge view from the top floor room - and dinner right across the street at Boulevard restaurant. Here's the view from the room :

Waiter was the best ambassador ever - loads of recommendations on museums, things to not miss and just practical advice on how to get the best from our stay.

I can already see that we will struggle to pack it all in before we leave on Monday - but we will certainly have a great try!

People who welcome visitors in such a genuine way are just great, they make you feel good about life, traveling and the world in general.

And I didn't even get his name.. doesn't matter - we will be back!!

That Californian coastline

2011-03-29T22:55:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to share a couple of visits today as we cruised up and down the small section of highway 1 that doesn't have rocks all over it.

And here we are on a trail - going into some military property - they sure know how to lock a gate!

And here is just an average waterfall:

McWay Falls from Nigel Davies on Vimeo.

What a very special part of the world!

And what a tough place to relax..

American wines and Burgundy

2011-03-29T22:53:00.000-07:00

As a multiply confessed Burgundy bigot it is so interesting to be on vacation in California, and privileged to be staying at such great properties in Big Sur.

We are traveling back to SF tomorrow.

I have been concentrating on whites for these first few days of the vacation, and I have had some duffers and recently some wines that I have very much enjoyed.

I have two observations so far:

1) Price point.

We went to Californian supermarkets and I just chose the most expensive wines they had on the shelves. But - these were around $20 - a different price point from my fine Burgundies at home - $450 a case - so almost $40 a bottle.

Even restaurant wines - backing off a 100% markup - are not what I would pay for fine Burgundies. The culture seems to be focused on value. Laudable of course, but different.

2) Nose

Those wines that I have enjoyed, although not thrilling at all - have been consistent on the palette - clear, vibrant - but always lacking in the bouquet.

I don't know what this means yet. If I am given a Mersault or a Puligny of any quality, much of that experience is in the nose.. With American wines it seems to be different.

I am looking forwards to SF and to try to explore on a more informed basis the finest American wines, and to putting my Burgundy bias to bed - once and for all!

This is a great country and a great State, and I am hoping to find US wines that really inspire me!

Best place in the world for a burger?

2011-03-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

We stopped by Nepenthe in Big Sur for lunch today - what an experience.

This had to be the best burger ever. Highway 1 is closed to the north for at least a month, and today there was a small landslide to the south, so basically unless you were staying in Big Sur you couldn't visit this restaurant.

Best place in the world for a hamburger from Nigel Davies on Vimeo.

The video just shows what a place this is - we had it to ourselves, the most awesome view ever looking south down the Pacific Coast - great food - they even had English malt vinegar and Dijon mustard.

All that after a beautiful hike to a waterfall in Pfeiffer Park which after the recent rain was pretty spectacular.

Hilda even gave me half her burger - yay!

Tough Personal Time and a great talk to help

2011-03-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

I lost my Dad, unexpectedly, just 18 days ago. I am on vacation now after the sad, grieving immediate reaction that was so strong and powerful for me.

A friend sent me a link to a TED talk by Neil Pasricha and I want to thank you , Mike, for sending it to me. And I want to thank Neil, who I don't of course know, for his talk, especially the attitude piece.

We all have to move on, and we do have choices. Sometimes things do seem incredibly tough, but sharing helps and so does listening to inspiring people - if enough time has gone by and you feel almost ready to raise your head above the parapet again.

I need to move on in my life - I want to take my best memories of my Dad on with me - and there are inspiring things to listen to and read out there that make the impossibility of it just a little harder to bear.

Decided to restart my personal blog

2011-03-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

Having blogged for a long time on claromentis.com/blog, and tweeted as @claromentis - I have decided that these two locations are quite correctly my 'corporate voice'

I do find increasingly that I would like to express my personal views, and engage with a disparate audience outside the world of intranets, business processes and custom web applications.

So I will, after years in the wilderness, be posting again here and also tweeting @nigelwdavies

I am excited to be making this commitment and hope to share some perspectives that reflect my personal life as well as my professional career with Claromentis.

Range of Claromentis Clients

2009-12-05T14:06:00.000-08:00

It is always amazing to me how varied our clients are - this is a great source of interest and something which is immensely valuable to me as an individual.

If I look at our latest 6 clients in the last few weeks they are :

In the stationery business
Responsible for a range of UK defence assets, including maintaining our nuclear submarine fleet
An energy consultancy company
An NHS hospital
A not for profit Bible Society
The UKs largest supplier of mushroom spore.

What do they have in common? Nothing ,I think I can safely say - except a need to collaborate and share information using the best intranet platform available.

What a great privilege it is to be involved in such a wide section of businesses.

Recent Claromentis New Projects

2009-10-03T06:55:00.000-07:00

A the end of a week which sees 4 new intranet and extranet software projects for Claromentis, a record, I think its interesting to reflect on just how different these 4 new clients are :

An NHS hospital
An oil field services company
A stationery company
One of the top 200 listed companies in the UK

That's one of the things that makes working for Claromentis so fascinating, not just our success but the variety of companies we work with around the world.

Email is where knowledge goes to die

2009-09-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

I just love this quote, I found it on a 2003 blog, by Bill French, although I have no idea if it is the original source.

Why do I love it? Because it is eloquent, evocative and accurate. The concept is something I fight all the time.

Email has a lot of weird attributes - it is way to attention grabbing for the value it normally contains and it is so subject to abuse.

I try to work around the disadvantages of email - like promising myself I will only read it twice a day, have days where I try very hard not to send one. So far I think I have failed - email is killing my creativity, draining my time and is indeed a knowledge sink.

I still optimistically think that a stranger might actually one day send me one that's worth reading.

Intranet users - what type am I?

2009-09-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

So I posted about the importance of establishing what kind of intranet user is asking even a simple question - and then I asked myself - what kind of intranet user am I?

I cant edit a server file
I can't design a VI

so 10 years after starting with Claromentis and I am still a simple user!

That's a little sad really...

Intranet Software Priorities

2009-07-02T14:51:00.000-07:00

I wrote last month that it is quite remarkable how broad the functionality is in Claromentis Intranet Software. I did say that this is a very exciting space, and that is certainly true.

One problem it brings is how to decide on intranet software priorities - when the applications are so diverse how can you rationally decide whether a new feature in sales manager is more or less important that a completely unrelated feature in Project Manager - for example?

The answer cannot always lie with our clients - our standard approach is to ask them. But they each have different emphasis themselves on the importance of different intranet applications - according to their own business needs, the reasons they purchased Claromentis or for many other possible reasons.

We combine listening to customers with our own vision of where the intranet framework is going - a truly integrated set of business applications on top of an accurate information layer.

SO far we are doing I think a reasonable job in making what are actually difficult decisions on where to invest R&D.

Scope of Intranet Software

2009-06-10T15:41:00.001-07:00

It is just remarkable how far intranet software has progressed in recent years.

We are really becoming a complete web based framework for companies to run their information portals and web based applications.

And with systems in place for procurement and partnerships we are seeing suppliers and joint venture companies access the system on an increasing basis.

The API is considerable and the latest applications, like project manager, are really far from the traditional scope of intranets.

It is an exciting space to be.

I am learning French!

2009-05-19T13:46:00.000-07:00

As if I haven't got enough Blogs to post on, I have decided today to try to run a blog in French, to record my experiences as I try to improve my terrible grasp of the language.

For anyone who for whatever weird reason is interested - it is here.

Sales and lead management software that works

2009-05-17T15:02:00.000-07:00

What I really like about the latest project management product from Claromentis, and the nature of the platform, is that it is just so incredibly useful for normal, sensible companies.

In my recent post on seamless integration between intranet applications I was really thinking more about the ease of use of the software. But what is really great is that these are applications that are right at the heart of almost every business.

What company doesn't want to efficiently manage leads, opportunities and projects in a single web based environment?

Yes they tie right in to the Claromentis 6.0 strap line of shout-collaborate-execute : but it just means so much more to our clients to put this in the practical context of lead-sale-project. Thats what drives their business, and a practical, scalable platform to make this efficient is really important - not just a nice to have.

Intranet teams

2009-04-29T15:42:00.000-07:00

I posted on our company site about intranet teams.

I still feel quite strongly about this, I think a truly special company should be able to find a way to let the most talented people have a talented team to draw upon without imposing bureaucracy.

It is just based on practical experience - if we resource our talented people we do well, if we leave the without resources they get frustrated.

Simple really!

Claromentis Direction and R&D

2009-04-11T14:24:00.000-07:00

I have been involved with a number of discussions and blogs recently and I wanted to draw a few of these together.

Some of our clients are getting very interested in our latest intranet application - Project Manager - and others are asking what our direction is.

The answer is that yes - Project Management is a very natural addition to our framework, because we can leverage so much that a collaboration framework like Claromentis already brings to the table. Actually we are even trying to establish a community to establish where the project management software industry is going, and what we should include - you can see a sneak preview on our project collaboration software site - it should be launched over the summer.

However the main company focus is on launching Claromentis 6.0 - a truly innovative corporate web 2.0 platform that is open source extendable and true to all of our values. The work in progress is really exciting and innovative - I look forward to sharing it with you over the next few months.

Innovation Lab for corporate 2.0

2009-03-20T08:31:00.000-07:00

The announcement we made at Claromentis on the Innovation lab based on corporate applications from web 2.0 is really exciting.

Personally the most interesting side of this for me is how involved our existing customers will want to be in this process. We already know some of the largest will be a key part of the process, and equally we will accept that many are not ready to embrace any kind of web based innopvation within their core collaboration systems. It will be great to use the lab for those clients that want top participate and experiment especially in the visualization of user connectivity part.

I will also be curious as to whether there is a clear difference between our US and UK customers in the degree to which they are keen participants in this process. We have always stated that in general terms our US clients are 1 - 2 years ahead of the UK customers in their adoption of forward looking technologies - this will be a real test of this idea!

Generation X

2009-03-11T15:48:00.000-07:00

I am of an age that basically means I am a generation X person.

I know this because I am involved with an internet company, Claromentis, where people are often discussing generation Y

I now realize that generation x was a really great name for folks like me, because we are starting to forget how old we are.

Chosing open source intranet software

2009-02-26T13:21:00.000-08:00

There used to be a line that no-one gets fired for choosing IBM.

As Mike points out in this recent post on the Claromentis intranet software blog the UK government is encouraging the take up of open source software. Finally.

As a commercially supported but open source extendable framework, perhaps Claromentis represents an even safer choice!

Puzzled by business value of weak social networks

2008-12-26T16:32:00.000-08:00

At Claromentis we provide collaboration and information management solutions for companies around the world, so unsurprisingly we all contribute to networked sites on a personal basis.

Of course our company blog on intranet software is where we discuss collaboration issues in that space, but as individuals we do have a presence on many other social networking sites.

To date I am disappointed to say I have found very little value in these supposedly business orientated social networking sites. I don't gain any value from being approached by people I don't know, and have had few interactions with any meaningful value.

Is it just me?

Outstanding Productivity

2008-12-12T12:27:00.000-08:00

We all read so much about productivity. But when you work with someone who just has it you truly understand what it means.

Today I posted on our company Blog about a recent experience with Michael Christian, one of my co-directors at Claromentis. The post is about the amazing potential of our space - commercially supported but open source extendable intranet software. My blog is as always very honest.

However on reflection I decided that actually, the rapid movement from idea to resourcing, allocation and implementation all without any further prompting is just down to what a truly exceptional individual Mike is. Yes an open source environment is naturally fast, there are fewer barriers in the way for innovative individuals - but at the end of the day an exceptionally productive person is just that - exceptional and productive.

Commercial Intranet Framework that is Open Source extendable

2008-11-09T14:54:00.000-08:00

True to its Linux origins but fully available on Windows the Claromentis Intranet suite continues to gain customers around the world as a true third way in the launch of permissioned information management systems. No longer do customers have to chose between open source and locked in commercial solutions that tie you into a particular sever platform.

Claromentis is a cross platform information management solution that is fully available under commercial support contracts around the world, but empowers the customers to build extensions and applications for their own use by commissioning PHP developers that develop according to the fully available API.

Reporting structures in small dynamic IT companies

2008-11-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

As I reported on the Claromentis Intranet Software blog, we are about to welcome 2 new developers to our UK office.

This has automatically brought up the discussion of who people should report to, as well as the much more interesting discussions of how the new team can collaborate better to create agile development environments for Claromentis bespoke code, to deliver the best web based client projects in the most efficient way.

My point is – should we even have a reporting structure in a small, dynamic, customer centered company? The only meaningful role of a ‘boss’ in our company is someone to notify if you aren’t well, or if you would like a vacation. Apart from that, every task allocation and priority decision should revolve around project meetings and a holistic approach to customers.

Are we ready for such a company structure? In other words, a company with effectively no structure at all, just natural areas of expertise and a project centric approach to our task allocation?

I think we might be – which is exciting, and I am sure would please our clients - which is what matters.

Intranet content, delivery channels, content and content again

2008-10-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

Companies we work in the early stages are concerned so much with technology – does our intranet software do this, the other and does it do that –the answer in recent times is always yes, yes and yes – that in extreme cases they launch projects with an almost total disregard for the actual content.

This is such a project risk, and we are working hard to correct this for all new clients. We now have a service to physically create and launch the finished phase one intranet – with all the files, permissions, delivery channels – blogs, application files, on line applications, pages and forums for example – researched, launched and populated for all departments and stakeholders.

Personally I feel this is something almost all of our new clients should take up – so that when they invest in Claromentis intranet technology they will deliver the solution they were looking for within the project time lines. Those that don’t risk that challenge of having so much technology available, but no resources to actually get what they really want – a solution – with high user acceptance – in a matter of weeks not years.

Moving Intranet Technical Expertise Onshore

2008-09-28T13:09:00.001-07:00

The recent decision to recruit developers to the UK office of Claromentis is one that I fundamentally believe in.

Outsourcing has generated an enormous and highly technical, well structured and scalable code base in Claromentis - but those applications that need rapid deployment and agile development need a local technical team that can interact with the customers in a time frame that meets their business need.

We all look forward tremendously to this natural evolution of Claromentis as it becomes one of the most powerful and customizable intranet and extranet frameworks available.

Hard to get a task completed in an Intranet ISV

2008-09-02T12:24:00.000-07:00

I have noticed over the years, that as the Claromentis Product Suite gets even larger and more comprehensive, it seems just as hard if not harder to actually sign a task off.

For example marketing – the functionality needed always is in the next release, just around the corner. And achieving that piece of marketing doesn’t need just that release, it needs the collateral, the case study, the prefect demonstration site, a fully briefed pre-sales team.

And then each of those sub tasks needs to be ranked against other possible tasks and sub tasks. And so time moves on, and the other requirement from the software surfaces in response to the beta testing client – so the marketing waits for the even later release, because it contains something which is apparently absolutely essential – even though just last week absolutely no-one had even thought about it – let alone really needed something that does it.

Maybe one day we will actually have what we need.

Personal Versus corporate Blogs

2008-08-26T16:46:00.001-07:00

I have just realised one thing that is fundamentally absurd. I have been thinking of my personal blog as something that is slightly more private – more personal – how silly is that? Who on earth would think that a blog is at all a personal diary, a journey – but I actually think like that when I decide to post on the Claromentis Blog or here. Recently I have been posting to Claromentis on a regular basis, and I just thought I should track my personal emotions so I went to post here.

It makes me think about the fundamental nature of Blogs – there must be millions of posts about this – but does a personal diary really have any validity in this space. As a Claromentis director – should I always be corporate ane assume my posts will be found – and does it matter if exactly the same post is made on my own blog instead of on Claromentis?

I just searched Google Blogs for intranet software and there was the company Blog ranking number one – but just behind was one of my own posts. I hope only sympathetic people read it..

Marketing to one Intranet sector without offending the other

2008-08-13T14:28:00.000-07:00

Claromentis supports both windows and Linux, and is a substantial collaboration framework that supports 3 databases – MySQL, MSSQL and Oracle.

Because it is coded on LAMP ( Linux, MySQL and Apache ) and has a complete API, it is an intranet/extranet solution that companies can easily extend by commissioning open source developers to code applications within this intranet framework.

We are basically a commercially supported, but open source leveraged intranet solution.

However half our customers deploy Claromentis on windows servers. They are very corporate – they appreciate our active directory support, the fact that we support Windows and MSSQL – they are not interested in commercially supported open sourced leveraged intranets at all – they were looking for a windows intranet system that is scaleable and fits their infrastructure.

The truth is that we have a more interesting story for companies that invest in Linux servers. They get the same core product, but are more likely to get returns on all the investment we have made in our Intranet API.

So I have a challenge – how to tell our story to our Linux advocates, without making the corporate windows world feel that we are not the product for them – when in fact we are?

A current challenge with no current answers.

If only I could know what it is I don’t know

2008-08-02T12:54:00.000-07:00

Sounds like a pretentious title for a blog.

But in my experience at Claromentis over the last 10 years growing an IT business is fairly intense, very fast moving and requires a balance of skills that it seems I might just about possess for only rare moments in time.

Even with smarter guys than myself around me, each an expert in their domains, it still seems to be me that makes decisions that are supposed to take it all into account and then decide where to allocate resources.

Working primarily in a defined domain, like providing IT support, or being a PHP developer certainly requires outstanding skills to be amongst the best in that field. Personally I would have no idea where to start. But it seems to me that with primary responsibilities like these you can see the boundaries, you know what’s relevant and have a good idea of what you need to study, or where you need to hire, to fill the gaps. You can track improvements, take measurable tests, gain certifications, easily network with peers.

But if you run an IT company what you are always fighting to understand is what it is that you don’t know, what’s coming around the inevitable next corner. Even now, coming out of the most profitable quarter that Claromentis has ever had – I just wonder what it is that at the end of next quarter I will wish I had spent some time on this evening.

So I guess it is a bit of a strange title, but that seems to be my continuous challenge that matters more than most, even if I can’t measure it or ask anyone else to help me fix it.

Intranet software and the content of application files

2008-07-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

Is this a boundary too far?

We are being asked by a major potential customer to change the content of binary application files as part of our document versioning control.

This is just something that is singularly inappropriate for Claromentis. If you need to change the content of an Adobe file, or Word, for example – use their applications. They know how to do this, and future versions and releases won’t break. Of course we can hack it – we can do anything, more or less. But what is the point? If you need to track the changes of a word file, use word’s track changes. It is very detailed and it works perfectly. If we manage that file for you – we version it and distribute it through your permissioned users – you have what you need.

Our client base around the world is full of intelligence and sparkle. They are trying to use Claromentis as a collaboration framework to make a difference to the way they do business. But when companies ask us to hack binary files, the answer is just ‘no’ – that is not what Claromentis does!

Interestingly these requests come from potential customers, not real ones. There might be a some message in there..

Into what Claromentis application should we put different types of Intranet Content?

2008-07-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

We had a really interesting meeting yesterday with a listed UK company that uses Claromentis to control the information layer, as well as processes, for thousands of users across multiple business units.

The part of the meeting that really interested me was the genuine business concern so simply expressed : ‘Where should I put what kind of information? We are struggling – how do we decide between Quality Manager online information, Content Manager for permissioned pages and menus, and Document Manager for version controlled application files?’

Their point was that they feel they almost have too many tools, too many formats, and risk over distributing information – resulting in user confusion.

I had a lot of sympathy for this discussion. I felt we reached a consensus relevant for this particular company

· Whatever the rules, they need to come from the business. This has nothing to do with technology – we understand you have a choice of information tools- guidance must therefore come from business stakeholders.
· Keep permissioned web pages and menu systems for intuitive browsing. Use Claromentis smart objects to dynamically reference the content of application file folders in document stores. So a relatively static web page about HR might show a dynamic view of some documents, put within context on the web page that are relevant to me using a smart object window.

· Use Quality Manager to manage online information that :
o Is required to comply with legislation
o Has complex interrelationships where one version of the truth is important and audit is critical
o Fits into a users understanding of ‘Manuals, Policies or Procedures’

· Make sure there is true and efficient searching across all the information sets. So if you get it wrong, a user with correct permissions can still find it.

Most important we also acknowledged the legacy issues – that for a large company even if we know that ultimately a particular procedure should reside in Quality Manager, for a few months we should just upload the information as a version controlled PDF in Claromentis Document Management software. Assisting with the change from legacy information is an important part of any substantial project.

Intranet Software

2008-07-19T14:21:00.000-07:00

When we first started coding an intranet software product, realistically about 8 years ago – an Intranet was a hard to use way to restrict some web content to only certain groups of users – normally the employees of a company.

I have just spent an evening with a few glasses of wine, thinking about how far intranet software products like Claromentis, and there are several other serious contenders, have really come, and how fast the journey has actually been. Potential customers now take it for granted that we have :

* Customisable information management for information locked in version controlled application files
* Cross platform support
* Multi database support
* Localization
* Active directory integration
* Online information management for quality managers
* Products for people who are comfortable with Wiki Syntax
* Project management tools
* Complete APIs
* Totally customizable and branded interfaces for every group of users
* Code distribution, licensing and update systems
* Applications to address sales opportunity management
* Complex permission engines
* Searching and permission based menu systems
* Robust document management
* Tagged and web 2.0 Blogs and news systems
* Global support
* HR functionality for absence management, skills, profiles, directories
* Audit functionality ..

It just seems endless. And each of these areas are far from small in their scope, and very significant to the clients that use our software around the world.

What other kinds of software products have become so far reaching in such a short space of time, and why did it happen in the intranet software space, and not for example in accounts or project management? What is it about internet based permissioned access to information that makes vendors like Claromentis reach out across business units and functional areas that just seemed irrelevant to what we were trying to do even 3-5 years ago? While companies like Sage have just stuck to their core business of accountancy software.

Why do we stretch ourselves so much – always looking to contribute more to the business needs of our customer base, even if at first glance this is not intranet software – but core business unit functionality?

I suppose the answer lies in the client driven desire for a single source of information, a single tool to learn, and the pervasive growth of the internet and its inherent capabilities over the same time frame. Perhaps along with the ever increasing commoditisation of office application file technologies while all this was going on.

I was this week visiting a very large customer, actually at this time of writing a potential customer, and for the first time in many years their own internal IT department were a competitor in the selection process. I remember that was so common up until about 3 years ago – but I can honestly say this is the only time in the last 3 years that a client IT department has said they should be considered for the kind of functionality we provide. Well good luck to their developers – they have some 30 man years of coding to get through in about 2 months!

Change in Location

2008-07-10T14:41:00.000-07:00

I have underrated the impact of a change in physical location for much of my working life but recently this has really been something I have really come to believe in.

In order to continue our growth, recruit staff and work with other internet companies Claromentis recently moved to central Brighton, away from our rural manor house location in Sussex.

I have seen this move as a very positive step for our company for many reasons. But in addition to all the strategic benefits, I strongly believe that this has had the following benefits:

A chance for a general clear out
A renewal of commitment and energy levels
A reassessment of priorities and functional responsibilities

I am extending this concept to less important levels than our actual location – starting to plan for regular meetings that take 2 days, are outside the UK and get key players away from the minutiae and give them a chance to recharge their batteries and get much more creative.

It seems that a change in physical location just ups the energy levels for all on whatever timescale you make it for – there is something about the human brain that gets a great buzz from a new environment.

Being told things repeatedly - a personal blog

2008-06-17T01:34:00.000-07:00

I checked and there is no official phobia of being told things repeatedly, so I must be the first case. I have definitely become irrationally sensitive about people endlessly repeating the same inconsequential thing to me, presumably under the mistaken impression that I find it interesting or useful.

In general the symptoms I show are anxiety or mild depression – in response to being told things up to 10 time per year. In my case the messages I get vary from the fact that certain types of Broccoli are better than others ( even though I have made it quite clear on several occasions that I personally do not like any kind of Broccoli ), that Monday is a bad day to go to a fishmonger ( I cannot remember the last occasion I went to a fishmonger ) or that lamb is only nice to eat when lambs are lambs, and not when they have become sheep. This is of course blindingly obvious.

However this week, for example, I have been told 5 times to leave some money for a cleaner on Tuesday morning. This is despite the fact that the consequences, should I forget, are precisely nothing ( she will either not clean my house, saving me £30, or will leave me a polite note and I will pay her £60 next week). These reminders have been spread fairly evenly over the last 5 days, and have taken the form of 2 verbal reminders, a telephone call and 2 handwritten notes. The current run rate for being reminded about this particular task is well over 150 times per year. My symptoms to this level of patronisation are becoming quite physical, in that I don’t feel well and become anxious and nervous.

I actually try to avoid situations where someone might remind me yet again that the cleaner needs paying. My Monday evenings are ruined as I wait nervously for the inevitable reminder, I find it hard to sleep because I know on Tuesday morning there will be that patronising and quite unnecessary note waiting for me in the kitchen, despite the fact that I was reminded to do this just a few hours earlier. I am clearly losing perspective and becoming irrational – hence the fact that I am convinced I am the first recorded case of Trivialverbalcrapophobia.

The irony is that I have many things in my life that I could do with some assistance in planning for and executing – such as running a company, cash flow analysis, eating a balanced diet, paying the salaries, maintaining an exercise regime, corporation tax planning and recruitment to name just a few. These would have material implications if I forgot to do them, but no one ever reminds me about any of them.

I shall have to remind them to remind me, revenge will be sweet.

This is IT! A Marketing focus!

2008-06-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

Well finally we are here - a message and a market - Claromentis Policy Manager will be launched around the Bookshelf application with the upcoming release of 5.4

With many potential parter prganisations - consultancy companies who help clients attain ISO accreditations, and a target market of quality and policy managers - we are finally ready to start talking about Claromentis..

Great Marketing Blog

2008-05-12T16:22:00.001-07:00

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/05/what-do-you-kno.html

As is so rightly pointed out - knowing what to say is not the sames as actually doing it. Nevertheless this is a very interesting summary of some thought provoking topics.

Fast moving Intranets need 2 clear phases

2008-03-17T02:23:00.000-07:00

So we have great software, but that old adage 'content is king' is still so true. This is what gets us to phase one - i.e. most people in the company go to the intranet first and old information stores degrade or are turned off.

Only now everyone rightly expects relevant 'content plus process' and the chance to interact as a user and add value to the provided information layer. It does seem from looking at many recent successful projects that before you can get some key players to commit to the system, you have to get general user acceptance across the basic document, content and news systems. So in Claromentis terms, you wont get funding for a Competitor Information Portal, or Online Dashboards of really important stuff, or any other really bespoke and valuable applications until the people who own that data are sure that the users are already there to consume it - so the framework becomes the best place to present such information because it already guarantees increased visibility of their information.

This problem is often augmented by the fact that this significant information is already published through some reporting layer elsewhere, with varying degrees of success.

So it seems that yes - content is king - but only in Phase one. After that content plus meaningful interaction takes over as key teams see using the framework as the less risky option. The role of accurate and relevant content is therefore only to gain adoption - after that it's all about meaningful interactions and focussed, bespoke or highly configurable intranet applications.

Yawn - it is still about marketing an IT company

2008-02-13T14:56:00.000-08:00

Planning the first trial now on xpress, using our own email campaign and relevant sectors - most notably trainers as they have already purchased, and have staff in many locations.

Lets see!

Banging on about marketing again

2008-02-02T15:50:00.000-08:00

I know - you probably care about R&D in Claromentis, where we are going but I still have this bee in my hat about marketing.

So we have got to 3 campaign ideas:

1) architects and construction companies : using document mark up
2) franchisees and distributors : leveraging embedded CRM as well as an information layer
3) Small companies using claromentis Xpress

We are meeting to decide the message and the delivery - hoping to get the first test out there very soon!

Marketing - the story so far

2008-01-25T14:49:00.000-08:00

Well I have now met and discussed our desire for increased exposure with a few marketing companies. What do I conclude...?

1) The delivery channel doesn't matter so much as the targeted message
2) The database accuracy vs the target message is critical
3) Whatever conversions I might get on the phone, the telesales rep will get just a fraction - and most of these will be wrong.

So in summary we have to put a massive amount of effort into the message, and then find the right database to market that message to. Any campaign that doesn't require a massive effort from us up front is rubbish for a software company like Claromentis - it is the same old story - nothing in business is easy.

Apart from that I think I can safely confirm that telesales is rubbish compared to combined email and telesales. Pure email is also very dubious.

But the essential is that the effort we put in to creating a targeted, specific message is what this is all about.

Lets see how we do in the next month in creating the messages, and then choosing the delivery channels.. at the moment it looks like a) engineering and construction with document markup b) Franchise and distribution with opportunity management through sales manager

Then we have to decide on the partners vs direct.

Watch this space!

Nigel

Marketing - My Q1 Focus

2008-01-09T12:23:00.000-08:00

Well after 8 years of trying it is painful to report that marketing still remains the unresolved dilemma of this IT company.

After many years of PPC, our false starts with email campaigns and pretentious jargon packed IT portals have led me back to the unchanged core of PPC with Google. In 2007 we generated some great product collateral and case studies - now the challenge is to leverage them efficiently into lead generation.

This has got to change - there must be better ways to get the word out to the world, and I am giving myself only 3 months to find it.So how do we get the name of a great web based IT solution for information management out there? If I could just put a plan in place to make incremental improvements during 2008 we could dramatically improve our P&L...

January 2008 - Achievements and Challenges Ahead

2008-01-06T12:39:00.000-08:00

January is just one of those times when it seems appropriate to review everything, to recognise achievements but also to look ahead at how I can do better.

So we go into this year with a great, zero fat team at Claromentis, quality and processes orientated– and most important for me as an individual a team that seems much more prepared, and equipped, to engage and debate with me – even to enjoy that process – which is very positive. I don’t feel any more that any material decisions must be made by me alone.

Of course we also have a significant code base that begins to gain traction in the marketplace; decades of development represent significant investment from us all.

So it seems like after 9 years of trading as an IT UK SME, that we have a chance to bring everything together. So our assets are:

The team – we now have the highest quality people only, in the right job - a hard lesson to learn indeed!
The code – a broad ranging PHP based system that touches many key areas for any company – with some really rare strengths in some of our modules
Our Client Base – including many well known companies
Outsourcing – 7 years of commitment to all that global outsourcing can bring – and significant experience at managing that process
Partner - Experience working with an early partner in RDKS Australia which has been very valuable

Challenges

To get the Claromentis solution known for what it can do, for it’s relevance to a web 2.0 world needing customisable information management.

Measurement of Success

An ongoing management assessment of our position, our profitability, our global presence, how our customers view us and the creativity of our core staff.