TrendAlert: The State Of Content Integration Inside The Firewall

Content integration is a hot topic, and Outsell analysts took an early 2003 tour of what's happening behind the firewall to learn how companies are integrating content into work environments in corporate portals and Intranets. Based on firsthand observation of the state of the art, this Briefing concludes that content integration is an unrealized dream. Many organizations have made great progress in building the environments that will make it possible, however. Findings include insights about user preferences for searching vs. browsing, the emerging content management role, integration of internal and external content, and access and security. Critical success factors identified include user-centered design, and the human element, including human filtering and indexing. The Briefing includes in-depth profiles of portals at Bain & Company and Microsoft. This Briefing will enable deployment professionals to benchmark their own integration efforts and learn from the lessons of others. Commercial content vendors will learn how their content is currently embedded inside the firewall and identify the tremendous opportunities that await those who are willing to work with deployment professionals to facilitate integration.