denotes premium content | Feb 7 2012 
Enterprise Information archive
Volume 1 Issue 2
There’s a park in my home province of Ontario, Canada that has recently been outfitted, courtesy of a local phone company, with digital wireless service.
This means you can now not only tramp through the huge swath of pristine forest and lakes that make up Algonquin Provincial Park and see loons, wolves and black bears; you can also send or receive text messages, e-mails and mobile calls.
You just can’t get away from technology, can you?
Yet I trust that at least some of you are basking supine under some holiday sun as you read this second edition of ei magazine. But if you are still slogging away at work, you’ll enjoy salvaging a few moments to soak up the information we’ve compiled for you in this double issue.
On the news side, we kick off the with details of London Underground making the grade, interplanetary content management and some exciting new product launches that will get you thinking about ways to spend the budget.
Keeping up with our tradition of providing readers with key insights from their peers, we also have a varied collection of case studies that just might prove inspirational.
Ruth Frost of the Wellcome Trust explains the trials her organisation went through in implementing its new content-management system and outlines the pitfalls you would do well to avoid if you find yourself in a similar situation.
If you’re more interested in what shapes your content than how to organise it, you’ll want to read Martin Belam’s insightful piece on search log analysis at the BBC. What started out as a mundane exercise soon lead Belam and his team to answers that helped the BBC change the way its search function performs.
Other case studies include Daniel Furmaker detailing how Swedish retailer Coop succeeded in generating and demonstrating an ROI from its intranet implementation while erasing divisive corporate relationships; Stockport Metropolitan Borough’s Peter Blake discussing how the town council went above and beyond its e-government requirements; and the keys behind the success of British Airways’ Employee Self Service Programme.
I’d like to thank former editor Layisha Laypang for her work on the first issue of ei and for leaving such a well organised operation behind. After a productive two years at Ark, she’s moved on to explore new opportunities in public relations. I wish her all the best.
As always, we look to our readers for any suggestions on future story ideas and ways we can improve ei further. Should inspiration strike (whether you are working on your holiday tan or remain office-bound), please feel free to contact me at hwilson@ark–group.com.
Features
Search within a search
It was what the brains at the BBC’s new media and technology department least expected when they started a routine statistical measure. While measuring search usage, they discovered a way to decipher search queries from a two-million-page website to help provide better, more relevant answers. Martin Belam, departmental development producer, explains the process.
All-access pass
When the Stockport Metropolitan Borough council decided to revamp its website to comply with the looming government deadline for issuing services online, it didn’t try to do the minimum for the greatest number of people – it went much further. Peter Blake, assistant chief executive for policy and communications with the council, explains how accessibility was built in to the now highly-rated site.
Putting the 'ESS' in success
Almost one year after implementing a new Employee Self-Service Programme designed to trim costs, British Airways has exceeded the benchmarks it set itself. Bill Francis, programme manager for BA, explains how success was attained.
Learning curves
Bogged down with archaic and often inaccurate information provided by a clunky system, UK-based scientific and medical research charity the Wellcome Trust decided to revamp an outdated content-management system in 2001. Ruth Frost, the charity’s content architect, describes the trial by fire in implementing the system and some lessons she learnt along the way.
One Web to rule them all
Hundreds of stores. A multitude of different brands. Thousands of employees. Internal strife. Competition knocking on your doorstep. Sweden’s Coop retail chain may sound like any other large business trying to survive. But could a new intranet help unify a company that, at the worst of times, could have been described as schizophrenic? As Daniel Furmaker, head of internet and intranet for Coop Norden explains, it doesn’t hurt – provided you can get an ROI.
Balancing act
With hundreds of Reuters site owners and publishers all over the world, Michel Gelbart, director of the Reuters corporate web office, has to ensure everyone is following consistent branding guidelines and adhering to a unified image of the company’s presence on the internet. Here he discusses the delicate information balance to be achieved in a successful global employee portal and the next set of knowledge-management challenges in 2004-2005.
Regulars
Documentum to focus on convergence
As part of the countdown to KM Europe 2004, which takes place in Amsterdam from the 8-10 November, ei talks to some of the key vendors that will be exhibiting. This month, David Gingell of Documentum tells Rebecca Cavalôt about the company’s plans for the event.
What's Google searching for?
The storm of privacy concerns surrounding Google’s Gmail service has obscured a more fundamental lesson to be learned from the planned service: Google-style search is quickly becoming the primary method people use to locate information. That lesson has implications across all information repositories.
Seek and you shall find?
Search and retrieval software may be the linchpin of an effective enterprise, but it is only as useful as the content it trawls, writes Claudine Beaumont. If information, data and documents are poorly organised or incorrectly archived, it won’t matter how powerful the search engine is – you won’t be able to find what you’re looking for.
The compliance conundrum
In the wake of recent high-profile corporate failures and fraud, information-management initiatives are enjoying renewed interest and investment. Jason Schofield looks at the challenges that lie ahead.
