Delivering exceptional web experiences

IBM Software Cross-Industry

Delivering exceptional
web experiences
IBM Web Content Manager

Delivering exceptional web experiences

1 2
Create and
3 4
Target and
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Introduction design Collaborate optimize Resources
Create exceptional web Improve productivity Get more from your Help increase revenue, Learn more about
experiences that are per- with enhanced func- team with serial and market share and brand IBM Customer
sonalized and that drive tionality that helps you parallel workﬂows, audit awareness by designing Experience Suite and
revenue, increase loyalty, create and publish trails, and other features and implementing how you can leverage
improve satisfaction and multilingual content that boost collaboration targeted campaigns IBM Web Content
reduce costs. Manage all and engaging social during the content cre- across multiple chan- Manager.
of these moving parts to websites. Speed time to ation process. nels. Maximize invest-
keep on budget and value with prebuilt tem- ments and improve
launch on schedule. plates for microsites, conversion rates with
blogs and wikis, includ- analytics integration
ing industry-speciﬁc support and reporting
templates. capabilities.


Introduction

Day 1: the task at hand partnership—the experience has to drive
Trina Washburn is new to Acme revenue, increase brand loyalty, improve
Corporation and she has been given what satisfaction—and she isn’t sure where
seems like an impossible job. to start.

Two weeks. That’s all she has. The board of There are dozens of things that have to get
Acme Corporation has approved a partner- done before her CEO and the CEO of
ship deal with Bronson Corporation. Bronson announce the deal in two weeks—
Bronson and Acme will be joining forces graphics, content, images, copywriting,
with a combined product offering that social media integration. And it has to be
could mean millions in revenue for both great.
companies—and the ball is in her court.
Trina is on point to deliver the web experi-
ence that is key to the success of the
Figure 1: Back of the napkin wireframe.

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1 Introduction 2 Create & Design 3 Collaborate 4 Target & Optimize 5 Resources


Business requirements position with their selected keywords ● Build a buzz—get users engaged in
First, Trina receives the business require- before competitors get a chance to commenting/blogging/rating/networking
ments from her product management team. respond. And, naturally, she has a limited ● Understand user behavior on the site so
They need a new microsite for the new budget. we can adjust quickly as necessary
products. The microsite must work seam- ● Launch the site—FAST!
lessly with back-end office services and be Trina gathers her team and they translate
accessible from the Acme corporate site the business requirements into a list of key Trina turns to her team: “Now how can we
and from the Bronson site. The content web objectives: make this happen?”
needs to be branded as Bronson Products
when users come from Bronson’s site and
● Create a highly functional and effective A seasoned veteran on the Acme IT team
as Acme Products when they arrive from website that wows its users speaks ﬁrst, “No problem. We just updated
Acme’s site. Content must be tailored for
● Tailor product messages for each of our our web content management solution with
all the key players—manufacturers, the target audiences IBM Web Content Manager software. It’s
media, distributors and others. And it must
● Launch concurrently in all marketplaces part of the IBM Customer Experience Suite.
be optimized for search to establish Acme’s
● Establish top search engine rankings for We can do this.”
our chosen keywords
● Convey consistency in our messaging
and brand values through all channels

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What is IBM Web Content Manager Comprehensive and agile, IBM Web dynamic websites, respond to ever-
software? Content Manager software helps organiza- changing customer demands and expecta-
IBM Web Content Manager software can tions quickly and easily create rich and tions, and boost customer satisfaction.
help you more easily create content, target
individuals with relevant content and opti-
mize content delivery on your website—plus
so much more. IBM Web Content Manager
software enhances the web experience by
bringing together the key capabilities and
functionality people expect, including new
and improved social features, enhanced
content support, improved search and
search engine optimization capabilities,
simpliﬁed editing and publishing of digital
media, and integration with rich internet
applications such as Adobe® Flash
Figure 2: IBM Web Content Manager home page.
software.

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IBM Web Content Manager software can ● Optimized publishing and change man- ● Virtualization support for platform
help you create an engaging and rewarding agement for projects optimization
web experience that spans multiple chan- ● Enhanced analytics integration support ● Serviceability enhancements to help
nels—smart phones, websites and social to help you understand user behavior and lower cost of ownership
sites. The software’s robust features and improve conversion rates
functionality also help you do more with ● Tags, ratings, and improved blogs and With a comprehensive set of authoring,
your website content to help increase brand wikis to harness the expertise of user editing, sharing, designing, management
awareness and proﬁtability. communities and delivery features, along with powerful
● Enhanced website templates to help analytics integration support that enables
IBM Web Content Manager software deliv- speed time to value you to better understand visitor behavior,
ers powerful capabilities: ● Simpliﬁed roundtrip content editing you can transform your website’s most
through integration with IBM Lotus important component—its content.
● An easy-to-use creation and editing inter-
Symphony™ software
face to help increase productivity
● Enhanced authoring forms to support
easy content creation

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Create
Web content management, an With these things in mind, Trina is worried At its most basic level, WCM separates the
introduction that the operational costs of implementing process of creating content—the writing,
At Trina’s last company, content creation the content according to the business editing, revising and approval processes
was highly dependent on IT. IT had to go requirements could drive the project over around content—from the presentation of
into each individual HTML page on the budget. Content owners need to be the content. Content authors create, edit
company’s website to make changes. So a empowered to manage the delivery of and deploy content through an intuitive user
simple edit might have to be repeated on dynamic content and rich media through interface that enables the information to be
20 different pages, leading to increased multiple channels without spending an inor- reused across the website in different con-
chances of error. The process left content dinate amount of time on content entry. At texts and for different purposes. IT creates
owners frustrated by their inability to deploy Acme, the process of web content man- design components and templates that are
changes in a timely manner. Without the agement (WCM) is already ingrained in all used by the content authors. IT becomes
resources to deploy changes quickly and its processes, so Trina has nothing to worry responsible for administering the applica-
with business requirements that were not about. tion, managing the environments, and occa-
always clearly communicated, IT was often sionally creating new design components or
put in a precarious position. templates.

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Create (continued)
Reusable fragments templates use drop-down selection boxes, radio buttons and check boxes to make it easy
Web content is made up of many frag- for authors to create custom content. And you can include help text in the template so users
ments. From a user perspective, content don’t need extensive training to choose the correct options. Prebuilt templates for many
owners can manage content from one types of content can be downloaded and used as is or modified to suit your needs.
place, but the content itself can appear in
multiple places, on multiple sites and via
multiple channels. When users make a
change to the content, the change appears
on every page and in every website where
that piece of content appears helping to
enforce consistent branding.

How it works
With IBM Web Content Manager software,
the entry process for content creators is
standardized based on type of content
using authoring templates. The template
determines the design of a content form,
defines what fields and elements appear on Figure 3: IBM Content Templates Catalog.

the form, and specifies default values. The
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Create (continued)
Design components like authoring and This focus on simplifying the user experience helps remove unnecessary and tedious steps
presentation templates, menus, and and page reloads. It weaves Web 2.0 techniques into authoring to accelerate content cre-
components can be organized in folders. ation and management.
IBM Web Content Manager software
provides authors with personalized views
of information relevant to them, enabling
faster, more intuitive content creation.
Content approvers can see a list of items
waiting for their approval. Content authors
can quickly ﬁnd pending and historical
items that they’ve created. If they use the
same items regularly, such as a particular
template, they can mark that item as a
favorite and return to it quickly by accessing
a favorites list. Figure 4: Folders help organize.

9



Design
Picture frames If authoring templates enable users to paint The content author chooses which tem-
Because this is a new microsite, Trina is a picture, presentation templates build the plate is appropriate for the content. When
challenged with making the site design dis- picture frame. Presentation templates con- the content is published, IBM Web Content
tinctive while also managing the additional tain the code that determines the layout Manager software is designed to automati-
complication of cobranding. Depending on and placement of content. The templates cally present the content with the desired
where users originate from, the microsite determine the overall presentation of the styling, with the placement of images in the
will also need to switch from an Acme- site—that is, fonts, color palette and text right place, and with the right spacing and
branded page to a Bronson-branded styles as well as the layout of content on a layout. It also enables new functionality like
page. Within IBM Web Content Manager page. The presentation template also con- tagging and rating tools to allow users to
software, Acme will be able to create those tains all the header, footer, image and per- provide feedback on website content.
standard design templates and customize sistent navigational elements—like sign-on
the branded sections based on the origin of or help—that appear on every page.
the site visitor.

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Design (continued)
Consistency
IBM Web Content Manager software takes
the most common types of web content
display and creates presentation templates.
The software includes prebuilt templates for
microsites, blogs and wikis as well as
industry-speciﬁc templates. It also gives
you the ability to customize templates
around themes and make wholesale
changes to the global design template
of your site.

Figure 5: The customizable design of the Acme site.

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Design (continued)
Dynamic navigation in the associated presentation template, a page and that are related to the content
When a person visits a website and clicks and applying the site navigation speciﬁed displayed on a page. The links shown in
on a link to a page in the browser, the page by the navigators. navigators and menus can change based
is delivered to the user as a single web- on the context the user is in—that is, the
page. Behind the scenes, IBM Web Content IBM Web Content Manager uses two types content displayed on the page. The naviga-
Manager has assembled the page by of components to build dynamic navigation tors and menus create the linked structure
selecting the appropriate content frag- for the site when a user requests a page. between pages in the site, and the software
ments, applying styles to the content from Navigator components display the structure assembles all the pieces upon request by
the appropriate style sheet, organizing the of the site and automatically create all the the website visitor.
content and images in the layout speciﬁed links from the site navigation. Menu compo-
nents create lists of links that are shown on

12



Design (continued)
Simpliﬁed developer tools
IBM Web Content Manager software
includes features that simplify certain tasks
for the developer. For example, tags within
the HTML in a presentation template are
identiﬁable by brackets. To insert a new tag,
link or image, developers can simply click
the appropriate button and specify the
properties for the item using the drop-down
boxes. There’s no coding required for these
common elements.

Figure 6: Presentation template coding.

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Collaborate
Working together IBM Web Content Manager software uses a triggered automatically. Reviewers, editors
Acme’s new website needs input from security model that allows you to keep the or approvers in the workflow receive an
cross-functional stakeholders across the work of site developers separate from the email notifying them that they need to take
internal value chain. Marketing communica- work of the site designers. The work of the action on new content. They simply click a
tions, human resources, product manage- developers and designers is also separated link in the email and sign on, and then they
ment, finance and legal—all need to weigh from that of the content authors and are taken directly to the piece of content
in at various times as either content authors approvers. The software includes separate they need to review.
or approvers. Site developers and design- libraries so each department can complete
ers have independent workflows that are its work independently and collaborate They can review new content online, just as
interdependent with the launch process. when necessary. it will appear on the website, and make any
Effective collaboration among all of these changes or approve it. After all the
groups is essential to launching content Customized views approvals are done, the new content
in a timely manner. Serial and parallel When content authors or approvers sign on appears on the website. Or if the content is
workflows, audit trails, and track changes to the system, they only see the content, supposed to coincide with an event, such
features help boost mission-critical templates and components they are as a product launch, then you can schedule
collaboration during the content creation allowed to see and need to do their job. the content to appear on the site at a spe-
process. The user interface is clean and simple so cific date and time. And you can have the
users can accomplish tasks quickly. Once content disappear from the site at a specific
content is created, a review workflow is date and time.

14



Collaborate (continued)
Competing priorities One of the significant advantages of will appear in its new location when you
While important to Acme, the Bronson IBM Web Content Manager software is the preview the project contents. On the go-live
project is only one of the website priorities ability to create a project. A project takes date for the new project, all items in the
in the pipeline. Within the company work- content, code components, images, and project move together from one environ-
flow, there are several projects in various both authoring and presentation templates ment to another.
stages of development. IBM Web Content and bundles them together into a logical
Manager software enables Acme to choose site update package. The items in the proj- For instance, if code components are cre-
which content and design components are ect do not have to be in the same library ated in the development environment, they
launched at which time. Project drafts can and they can span across many libraries. A can be moved to the testing environment
be created at any time, regardless of the project can include changes in the organi- without disturbing any other items that may
status of other items. Workflow can allow zation of existing content. And even though exist in the development environment.
multiple drafts or enforce exclusive drafts. reorganized content may be live on the site, Similarly, users can bundle all the content
In other words, all the new images, content you can preview all items in a project and images created in the authoring envi-
and components for the Bronson project together. Content live on one part of the site ronment and syndicate them to production
can travel through the content life cycle as a single bundle.
together without disrupting any other devel-
opment project.

15



Target
Personal experience To help ensure that search engines index From a web experience perspective,
Acme wants to create a web experience the new content to attract more site visitors, Acme plans to take advantage of reusable
that feels personalized to each user IBM Web Content Manager software con- content to target site visitors, personalize
whether that person is a customer, partner, tains several options within its authoring sites with role-based content and map
supplier or employee. It needs to dynami- templates. For example, the “Name” field in site-visitor preferences. The personalization
cally adapt content and product offers the template is the page name for the URL, component of IBM Web Content Manager
based upon the user’s behavior, prefer- the “Description” field is what will be dis- software can select content for users
ences and relationships. Ultimately, Acme played as the page description in a search based on information in their profiles and
wants to design and launch targeted cam- result, and the “Keyword” field populates based on business rules. Using the author-
paigns across multiple channels. Providing the keyword metatag. Content authors just ing template, content can be categorized by
users with relevant information based on need to know the appropriate keywords to audience using metadata. Then content
those channels will help increase revenue, get their content noticed. owners can select their desired audience
market share and brand loyalty. from a drop-down list or check box.

16



Target (continued)
Creating commerce The IBM Web Content Manager software authoring server and can be assigned to
In addition to IBM Web Content integration with WebSphere Commerce e-spots, products and categories through
Manager software, Acme also uses software focuses on associating web con- the WebSphere Commerce Accelerator,
IBM WebSphere® Commerce software to tent with product pages in a commerce helping to achieve real time to value for
drive its cross-channel and online com- store. For example, Acme can include links your commerce channel. The integration
merce. WebSphere Commerce software to its product catalog in articles about its of IBM Web Content Manager software and
uses the concept of e-spots and content new products. Catalyst for Commerce provides a very
spots to deliver static and dynamic content compelling value proposition, enabling
throughout a site: e-spots are connected to IBM Business Partner Ascendant content owners to manage and approve
campaign rules and allow for dynamic tar- Technology has created the Catalyst for content in a single tool and to deliver that
geting and personalization; content spots Commerce solution to enable WebSphere content to portals, commerce sites, mobile
are used for static content targeting all Commerce to consume content feeds from sites and social networking sites.
customers. Spots can contain images, other applications. The third-party content
Flash ﬁles or text. is stored in the WebSphere Commerce

17



Optimize
Wake-up call with all its content, templates and compo- web analytics and reporting from major
Trina’s cell phone alarm rings at 4:50 a.m. nents has launched as expected. The site is web analytic solutions that were going to
on Monday. The last of her weekend live. They’ve made their schedule. help her understand what was working well
dreams fade, and the mix of anticipation and what might need to be tweaked to
and fear makes her adrenaline rush. She As she starts composing a congratulatory improve conversion rates. Over time, they
runs to her computer, where she hits refresh email to her team, she is looking forward to will ﬁne-tune the online experience by ana-
over and over, waiting to see if the site the rest of this Monday. She knows her lyzing customer behavior, helping to
launched on time. work isn’t done. Acme still needs to be able increase conversion rates and deepen cus-
to measure the success of the launch and tomer engagement. With the IBM Customer
The home page for the new site appears. the microsite. But she knows that websites Experience Suite, Acme can intelligently
A smile creeps over her face. Growing powered by IBM Web Content Manager manage sites, campaigns and offers by
more excited, she clicks through each already include an easy way to incorporate tracking them via integration with supported
screen and sees that each page and con- analytics solutions.
tent item appears as expected. The project
All in all, it is a good Monday.

18



Resources
More capabilities with the ● Create: Help reduce operational costs sites, campaigns and offers by tracking
IBM Customer Experience Suite and increase responsiveness by enabling them via integration with supported ana-
IBM Customer Experience Suite brings business owners to manage the delivery lytics solutions
together capabilities that enable you to of dynamic content and rich media ● Realize: Help improve proﬁts by maximiz-
deliver highly engaging, personalized and through multiple channels ing cross-sell and up-sell opportunities;
differentiated web experiences that meet ● Target: Increase brand loyalty by creating and capture new leads by easily publish-
the evolving needs of today’s customer. Key experiences that feel personalized to ing dynamic, compelling offers and
capabilities include business user content each customer; and dynamically adapt content
management, a highly scalable and ﬂexible content and offers based on customer ● Reach: Connect with existing customers
web presentation framework, built-in social actions, preferences and relationships and new prospects across multiple chan-
and real-time communications, marketing ● Socialize: Improve customer loyalty and nels: mobile, web, social sites, kiosks and
tools, personalization, enterprise search, help resolve problems by enabling cus- email
integration capabilities—including analytics tomers to share ideas and opinions; and ● Integrate: Deliver more personalized,
and commerce integration—plus mobile drive higher value customer interactions relevant web experiences by linking into
device support. The comprehensive via lower cost channels back-office applications, cloud-based
IBM Customer Experience Suite solution ● Optimize: Fine-tune the online experi- services and social sites; and aggregate
delivers the capabilities you need to ence by analyzing customer interactions, disparate systems into a seamless, cohe-
respond to individual expectations, reach helping to improve conversion rates and sive customer experience
more customers and deliver exceptional engagement; and intelligently manage
experiences.
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For more information
To learn more about IBM Web Content Manager software and other © Copyright IBM Corporation 2011

IBM solutions, contact your IBM representative or IBM Business Partner, IBM Corporation
Software Group
or visit: ibm.com/lotus/webcontentmanagement Route 100
Somers, NY 10589
U.S.A.
To learn more about IBM Customer Experience Suite software, contact
Produced in the United States of America
your IBM representative or IBM Business Partner, or visit: February 2011
ibm.com/software/info/customerexperience All Rights Reserved
IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, Lotus and WebSphere are trademarks of International Business
Machines Corp., registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names
The preceding ebook was developed based on an original white paper might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available
authored by Ascendant Technology employees Ann-Marie Sheppard, on the web at “Copyright and trademark information” at ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml

Brian Newell, and Rik Frost. To learn more about Ascendant Technology Adobe is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States, and/or
other countries.
and its Catalyst for Commerce asset, please visit: http://www.atech.com
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Delivering exceptional web experiences

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