The new tool enables companies to determine the return on investment of content management initiatives, and provides a framework for evaluating – and correcting – the balance between content management and content development. Increasingly, Fortune 1000 companies find themselves spending far more to manage content than to create it. The CrownPeak ROI calculator is the first tool to address the return equation for content management.

CrownPeak’s Return on Investment Analysis for Content Management and Digital Asset Management consists of 40 questions and formulas aimed at determining hard and soft returns for various content and digital asset management scenarios. Two-thirds of the analysis zeroes in on hard numbers associated with content management ("how much did your organization spend on outsourced web content updating last year?" "how many hours per month does your organization spend coding HTML?" "how much time does your organization spend per month re-creating content in multiple forms?").

The CrownPeak ROI calculator also includes a series of digital asset management queries ("how many hours/month are spent in your organization re-creating or searching for lost assets") and qualitative questions aimed at determining "softer" returns on investment ("has your organization been able to enforce style sheets and design consistency on its Web properties?" "has your organization lost customers or potential customers because the content or experience on your Web site[s] has been poor?" "are your valuable technical and marketing staff spending their time on improving your core business and customer experience or are they consumed with the mechanics of managing and updating content?").

"Return on investment is clearly the mantra of every organization that outsources services, and the recession has only increased the importance of quantifying ROI," said Jim Howard, CEO, CrownPeak Technology. "Companies need a proven, objective framework with which to determine how much it costs to manage content. Our analysis tool accurately calculates that cost and can serve as a valuable decision tool in saving time, money and energy.

"Organizations should be spending 75 percent of their content-related budgets on content creation and 25 percent on content management – instead of the reverse, which is too often the case today," Howard said. "Unfortunately, people responsible for generating good content spend most of their time making sure everything works, writing HTML, changing out images, talking to the Web shop, etc. It would be vastly better if talented staff could spend their time working on developing content and marketing to their audience.

"Content and asset management systems can save a great deal of money for companies, but they can be costly to implement," he said. "The goal is to cost-effectively implement systems or rent services that provide quick ROI and demonstrably improve the productivity and results from Web properties. The so-called ‘softer’ benefits of content management systems -- having a standard look-and-feel and information architecture, being able to easily publish multilingual content, being able to work easily with your ad agency and other divisions – likewise contribute to ROI, by redeploying the webmaster and ultimately creating a higher quality site."

         According to new research conducted by the UK firm Dynamic Markets, 40 percent of companies would require one person for up to three months full-time to structurally alter, or develop, a single site. Another 40 percent were unsure about the scale of the task required to develop site content and keep it consistent. At least 20 percent suggested the assignment would be anything between four months' work and a full-time job.

          The research indicated that 84 percent of companies with more than 20 sites

localized site components (layout, design, etc.) manually. Only 21 percent of companies surveyed automated Web site changes or implemented technologies to replicate corporate changes at a local level.

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Edge Communications, Inc.

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