So, we're halfway through ILTA 2010. First impressions are that it is a complete turnaround from last year's show; higher attendance, more conversations with customers, more interest in new technologies, etc. The conference is at the Aria Hotel and Casino and this place is just stunning. As always, ILTA provides a great opportunity to catch up with old friends, customers and colleagues...and make lots of new connections. Say what you will about Social Media tools, nothing can ever replace the depth and level of information/knowledge exchange that comes from a good old face to face talk over coffee.
On the eDOCS front, we have had a lot of news this week....wouldn't be a trade show for a vendor if we didn't have 'more news.' ;-) Customers are excited and providing good feedback when looking at DM 5.3 and Office 2010. If I had to bet money on it, I'd say that 2011 is going to be a good year for the MS Office business. I know that the uptake of Office 2010 to date has been very slow, but everyone here is asking/talking about it. Also getting a lot of face time with our customers is Open Text Social Workplace. Now that we're providing the integration with eDOCS to add documents to the collaborative experience it's as if everyone's eyes have been opened to the possibilities. Firms are talking to us about two distinct approaches; using OTSW as an internal community and knowledge sharing solution (expertise locator), and using OTSW as a means of securely connecting with their clients and providing new access and customer value from the firm.
On Monday ILTA held the Open Text Peer Group Day which was very, very well attended. If you've never been to ILTA, the Peer Groups are something owned and managed by the association itself. We as vendors don't set agendas, don't provide content, in fact it is up to the Peer Group to invite us and decide what topics they would like us to speak to the group about. Hearing comments like, '...it's great to feel part of a real ecosystem again...' is music to my ears. There really is a tangible sense of 'community' around eDOCS and legal this year. Two very active sessions during Peer Group Day were on customer testimonials on how SharePoint is being used in their firms and what that means for DM. All three of the firms that spoke ended up in the same general position...there is much greater value in using SharePoint with you DMS as opposed to trying to make SharePoint your DMS. Two of the three were very specific to say that their use of SharePoint and eDOCS was driving tangible value to their clients; that their clients were actually commenting on how much they liked the new extranet type applications these firms were exposing. The other most active session for the Peer Group was on the topic of Mobility. Many firms are already using our eDOCS WirelessDMS tools and many more are actively looking for solutions. The surprise for me during this session was the number of firms who were actively pursuing solutions for Android. Blackberry, iPhone, and iPad support yes, but I was not expecting the interest in Android. Good thing we have that coming shortly too! ;-) Of course, the demo of the iPad client for eDOCS DM was a hit too.
So, that's my halftime report, I now return you to your regularly scheduled twitter #ECM programming. At this point, the primary question that keeps floating around in my head is this...
As a software vendor are we placing enough emphasis on features and user experience that create value for our customer's customers vs. just thing about what features/solutions we think our direct customers need?
Food for thought for the flight home at the end of the week...
