Marketing wrests control of online presence from IT

Marketing departments are taking control of the internet presence of organisations, removing the powerful influence that IT departments have traditionally had, according to enterprise content management (ECM) supplier Interwoven.

“Organisations are moving marketing money away from traditional areas such as radio and TV and moving it to online marketing,” said Ben Kiker, Interwoven chief marketing officer. “In doing this they are rebuilding their online presence. Their first sites were destination sites for information about the business; now the web is a channel of business.”

Kiker added: “We are mainly dealing with chief marketing officers at organisations, whereas once we dealt with IT departments. Customers felt too dependent on IT departments, and now marketing departments are re-asserting themselves to take control of their organisation’s web presence.”

Kiker also told IWR that investment in information management technology was on the up. “We have moved out of a period of extreme cost-cutting,” he said. “Organisations are now focusing on growth.”

One of the last major ECM suppliers not to have been acquired or merged, Interwoven is upbeat about its prospects.

“It’s hot again and we see growing investment,” Kiker said. “The content market is growing at between 10% and 15%. We are growing at 14%.”

Interwoven is experiencing growth from the professional and financial services markets. Its strong presence in the legal market is now spilling over into areas such as accounting.

Interwoven secured 250 new customers last year, and for 2007 has launched a series of upgrades to its applications.

“Companies are relying on rich, persuasive content, both to differentiate themselves and to win over new customers,” Kiker said of the latest upgrade to its MediaBin digital asset management application.

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