The Gilbane Group, the analyst and consulting firm focused on content technologies, has published a white paper: “The Business Case for Web Content Management: ROI & Beyond.” Sponsored by SDL Tridion, and authored by lead Gilbane WCM analyst, Tony White, the research outlines cost savings derived from the reuse of both content and design elements across websites.

The white paper also considers ways to estimate an expected return on investment (ROI) and details four “secrets” that win WCM approval and funding:

- Leveraging WCM to increase revenue
- How WCM decreases operational costs
- Best practices for generating ROI metrics
- Beyond ROI: the silver bullet that always works

“Many customers are lending a more critical eye to justifying the business case for Web Content Management,” writes White. “One of the critical considerations in their justification is, of course, ROI. That is, customers need to know that the financial benefits of effective WCM will outweigh the time and expense of purchasing, designing, and installing enterprise-level software.”

While the process of approving and implementing an enterprise-level WCM requires a sizable investment, Gilbane finds that solutions such as BluePrinting™, a technology that centralizes content, help reduce business costs and increase revenue by streamlining content creation. The paper outlines how these benefits yield a strong case that both provides and supersedes ROI.

White writes, “ROI is notoriously difficult to calculate, especially predictively. But for global websites that play a critical role in establishing and maintaining a corporate identity, efficient synchronization of content across brands, regions, languages, and applications promises to generate considerable operational cost savings.”

“We are very excited to help provide the platform for an unbiased look at the business case for WCM,” says Jan Jaap Kolleman, CEO of SDL Tridion. “Like Gilbane, we have found that the squeeze of a shrinking economy has pushed certain technology updates to the backburner. Tony White makes a compelling argument that marketing and IT executives at global corporations cannot afford to wait for WCM upgrades. Gilbane’s information about cost savings, revenue increases and ROI is useful in securing vital funding for WCM now rather than later.”

A download of “The Business Case for Web Content Management: ROI & Beyond”  is available for free.