This presentation will discuss IBM’s technology strategy for enabling content sharing and adaptive multichannel content across silos based on content discipline, product area, and source format. I will share experiences scaling and adapting approaches first developed for technical documentation to a variety of content areas including marketing, learning and training, and articles.

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Findable, Usable, Reusable:
IBM’s Enterprise Content Technology Strategy
for Smart Content
Michael Priestley, Enterprise Content Technology Strategist
Congility 2014
Some charts borrowed from:
Andrea Ames, Alyson Riley, Ruth Kaufman

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Important Disclaimer
THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PRESENTATION IS PROVIDED FOR
INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.
WHILE EFFORTS WERE MADE TO VERIFY THE COMPLETENESS AND ACCURACY OF THE
INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PRESENTATION, IT IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT
WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.
IN ADDITION, THIS INFORMATION IS BASED ON IBM’S CURRENT PRODUCT PLANS AND
STRATEGY, WHICH ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE BY IBM WITHOUT NOTICE.
IBM SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF, OR
OTHERWISE RELATED TO, THIS PRESENTATION OR ANY OTHER DOCUMENTATION.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THIS PRESENTATION IS INTENDED TO, OR SHALL HAVE THE
EFFECT OF:
• CREATING ANY WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION FROM IBM (OR
ITS AFFILIATES OR ITS OR THEIR SUPPLIERS AND/OR
LICENSORS); OR
• ALTERING THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE APPLICABLE
LICENSE AGREEMENT GOVERNING THE USE OF IBM SOFTWARE.

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The story so far
Content matters
We all want the same thing
We have to work together to get it

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Content matters

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Scope creep
Information
Development
Council
•Product docs for
hardware and
software
Corporate
User
Assistance
•Product docs
for hardware
and software
•Embedded
assistance
Total Information
Experience
•Product docs for
hardware and
software
•Embedded
assistance
•Strategy across
technical content
providers (support,
training,
partnerWorld,
developerWorks,
RedBooks)
Enterprise
Content
•Product docs for
hardware and
software
•Embedded
assistance
•Strategy across
technical content
providers (support,
training,
partnerWorld,
developerWorks,
RedBooks)
•Strategy interlock
with marketing,
sales, services
•Strategy outreach
to intranet content

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Technical content contributes to product success
Is your content doing its job?
What’s your product’s first impression?
How visible is your product?
Are your key product messages clearly visible in the content
ecosystem?
Who’s talking about your product? Where?
How much content do your customers have to wade
through? Are they finding what they need?
How rich is your product user interface? How smart?
Do you have product quality or customer satisfaction
challenges?
Are you getting lots of calls to Support?
How much traffic is your content generating for sales?
Does your content guide clients seamlessly through each
phase of the product lifecycle?
How do you know???
The user experience is not limited to
the design of the product user interface
Content drives client success throughout
the user’s journey and the IBM product lifecycle:
Successful, consumable products depend on
high value, high quality content

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Technical content contributes to revenue
Research shows
using technical
content:
Generates 50%+ of
viable sales leads
[Forbes]
Encompasses 55%+
of sales cycle time
(vs. 21% spent
talking to sales
people)
[Marketing Interactions]
2nd most important
pre-sales activity for
technology buyers
[IDC]

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Technical content contributes to revenue
IBM clients say it’s impactful:

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culture process
content experience
technology
Content is a
strategic
IBM asset
Many sources
Many channels
Part of a complex
ecosystem
Watson
Support

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Navigating the ecosystem requires a map (example shown here)
Many user journeys Many content types Many content
sources
Many content
channels
Evaluate Product overviews
Technical specs
Articles
Marketing
Development
Info development
Users
Marketing
developerWorks
Brand sites
Knowledge Center
Buy Purchase orders
License agreements
Finance
Legal
Ibm.com
Learn Tutorials
Training
Samples
Info development
Trainers
Business partners
Development
Users
Courses
Knowledge Center
Online training
Third-party courses
Third-party sites (eg youtube)
Use Product usage information
Embedded assistance
APIs and code samples
Info development
Development
Knowledge Center
Product UI
developerWorks
Troubleshoot Tech notes
Messages
Tech support
Development
Info development
Support portal
Knowledge Center
Product UI
Evangelize Articles
Comments, wikis, blogs, tweets,
etc.
Users developerWorks
Comments, wikis, blogs, tweets,
etc.

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We ask
lots of
questions
Authoring format
Authoring tool
CMS and type of use (CCM,
WCM, ECM, DB, Social...)
Translation tech and type
(human vs machine etc.)
Checking/testing tech
(quality, accessibility, etc.)
Publishing tools
Delivery formats and
channels
Analysis: roadmap to
adoption of content
standards for
interchange/reuse, adoption
of reuse hub and other
common tech
Facets
Sources/taxonomies
Metadata syntax
Granularity (collection,
chapter, page, section,
element)
Analysis: gaps and
roadmap to alignment
with key facets, common
source, and page-level
granularity
Current roles
Types of content (collections
and pages) and data
Value metrics and criteria
Quantities
Degree of structure
ClassificationContent Technology:
Content Types:
Granularity of source
Standards and governance
Product- or brand-level coordination
Analysis: opportunities for reuse - across
deliverables/formats, within/across
teams/products/disciplines, granularity

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Build relationships and buy-in over time
What we do:
–Drive agreement on strategy
–Align taxonomies and content
models
–Validate tech direction
–Build PoCs
–Pilot capabilities
–Invest to fill gaps
–Coordinate investment to target
common requirements
Working with (just in past year):
–developerWorks
–partnerWorld
–ITSO (RedBooks)
–Training
–Marketing
–Sales
–HR
–Engineering
–All at different stages

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We all want the same thing

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But we use different words
Smart content
(Gilbane)
•Granular
•Semantically rich
•Useful across apps
•Meaningful for
collaborative interaction
Intelligent content
(Rockley)
•Structurally rich
•Semantically aware
•Discoverable
•Reusable
•Reconfigurable
•Adaptable
Chunked
Omni-
channel
Content
CollectionsClassification
Structured
Modular
Semanti
c
Adaptiv
e
Dynamic Enriched
Re-usable
Personalizable
Structured
Semanti
c
Adaptiv
e
Structured
Semanti
c
Dynamic
Adaptiv
e
Structured
Semanti
c
EnrichedDynamic
Adaptiv
e
Structured
Semanti
c

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Example: summary of our requirements for marketing content
Optimized for:
– Findability within search experiences
– Usability in the context of personalized, adaptive
experiences
– Re-usability among compositions, channels, devices

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Example: summary of our requirements for marketing content
Additional goals:
– A framework for content governance – a clear picture of
what we need to govern
– A content strategy language to use across technical
platforms, editors, experience designers and content
creators

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Usable
Reusable
Findable
Common
standards,
processes,
and tools

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Client view
Content matters
Usable
Reusable
Findable
I can search for
content based on
what I need, not
where it came
from
I want content that
helps me with my
goals
Content that
doesn’t matter to
me shouldn’t be
cluttering up the
screen
I can create my
own views and
collections
I find content
before I need to
search – right in
the interface of
the product
I can easily create
and share content
with others

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Client challenges
Providing adaptive content delivery with support for runtime
filtering and variable substitution
Ensuring reused content doesn’t confuse search results –
knowing when to reuse at publish time versus runtime

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Employee view
Make it easier to reuse content than to write from scratch
Usable
Reusable
Findable
I can find relevant
content from other
teams before
authoring starts
I use a common
design approach
and share assets
across disciplines
I optimize content
based on usage
metrics and
feedback
I use common
standards that
allow content to be
shared across
channels

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Employee challenges
Managing content lifecycle across social/formal stages
Coordinating planning and design across disciplines
Applying cross-repository standards for content, search,
metadata
Creating incentives for creating reusable content for cases
where reuse crosses team boundaries

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We have to work together

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Challenge: Requirements change when scope changes
Department Company
Why should I coordinate with
other teams when it’s cheaper
and easier to go it alone?
When teams create duplicate or overlapping
content it’s bad for the company (inefficient) and
for the user (confusing)
Why should I pay extra to create
reusable content when some
other team gets the benefit?
Let’s bring the cost down by making authoring
and publishing capabilities separately orderable,
with scalable features
Why should I use a standards-
based solution when a
proprietary one works better out
of the box?
Proprietary content creates format-based silos –
barriers to reuse. They also create vendor lockin,
which creates a dependency on the vendor. This
reduces your future options and puts your
content at risk.

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Why can’t we all just get along?
Tutorials
API docs
Trouble-
shooting
Prod
overviews
Tech
comm
Training
Development
Support
Marketing
LCMS
WCM
CCM
KB
Usage
Learning
site
Marketing
site
Support
site
Developer
site
Code
repo

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What are the options?
1.
Build a
bigger
silo
2.
Conten
t as a
platfor
m
3.
Conten
t as a
service
4.
All of
the
above
1. Centralize where possible to provide a hub for
reuse
2. Use content standards so content can cross silo
boundaries
3. Provide content services to ease assembly of
new content deliverables and applications

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Let’s try that again…
From any source, to any channel
Content reused across applications, applications reused across content
LCMS
WCM
CCMKB
Code
repo
Learning
site
Evaluating
site
Trouble
shooting
site
Developing
site
Tech
comm
Training
Development
Support
Marketing
Reuse
hub
Deploy new channels as needed
by role, industry, goal, etc.

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Can we apply standards across formats?
Wiki
Word
markdown
Full
DITA
HTML5
XDITA
HDITA
markDITA
WorDITA
WiDITA
Lightweight DITA:
Coming soon to a
format near you
Marketing
Tech
comm
Development
Support
Training

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If you love your content set it free

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Backup

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Client view
Content matters
Findable
– I can search for content based on what I
need, not where it came from - across
channels, filtered by my context and goals
– I find content before I need to search – right
in the interface of the product I’m using
Usable
– I want content that helps me with my goals
(learning how to X, doing X with Y,
troubleshooting…)
– I want content filtered to match my context
– I don’t want content that doesn’t matter to me
cluttering up the screen
Reusable
– I can create my own views and collections
– I can easily create and share content with
others
Challenges
– Providing adaptive content delivery with
support for runtime filtering and variable
substitution
– Ensuring reused content doesn’t confuse
search results – knowing when to reuse at
publish time versus runtime
Usable
Reusable
Findable

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Employee view
Make it easier to reuse content than to write from scratch
Findable
– I can find relevant content from other teams
before authoring starts
– I apply common metadata to enable cross-
repository faceted search
– I measure SEO heuristically at authoring time
Usable
– I use a common design approach and share
assets across disciplines
– I optimize content based on usage metrics
and feedback
– I ensure consistency with predictable
structures based on content type
– I measure quality heuristically at authoring
time
Reusable
– I use common content standards that allows
content to be shared across channels
– I use link, variable, and metadata indirection
to separate content from context
Challenges
– Manage content lifecycle across social/formal
stages
– Coordinate planning and design across
disciplines
– Cross-repository standards for content,
search, metadata
– Create incentives for creating reusable
content for cases where reuse crosses team
boundaries
Usable
Reusable
Findable

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