If you’re a salesperson for an on-premises information management platform, you’ve got a problem. Apps. Those damn apps give too much power to the users and now IT departments aren’t spending their money on your system. You have spent years building up your robust and perfect system that has every feature and configuration setting imaginable. What could go wrong? IT guy, rejoice! We’ve added more features and whatever you want to do, you can do with our platform... just pay the ongoing maintenance fee and I’ll send you this year’s model... Wait, what? You’re not renewing? You chose what as your new system!? There’s an adage that you’re going to want to remember right now, but it’s going to be a tough pill to swallow... If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Microsoft seems to get this. They’ve got SharePoint and now they’ve got SkyDrive, ok, they’ve had SkyDrive, but now they’re integrating with SharePoint. SkyDrive is a cloud repository primarily for file sharing and online storage and they literally name Apple iCloud, Google Drive, and Dropbox in their messaging as points of comparison. The funny thing is, SkyDrive was started as a consumer product, not an enterprise product. What’s going on here? Why would Microsoft want to have SkyDrive? If you think about it, isn’t this what SharePoint and Office365 have already promised us that it would do? Yes, but it comes down to this, SharePoint won’t ever have a shiny free icon on your iPhone, iPad, Android, or Windows 8 device. SkyDrive does. Microsoft knows that if it doesn’t get a strong consumer footprint that in this insane BYOD (bring your own device) culture that it has the potential to lose ground in the enterprise. That’s how strong the appification of the enterprise is. Appification has moved the mighty giant Microsoft. Microsoft is showing with SkyDrive that they’ve learned some lessons from Box and Dropbox. They’ve learned that a consumer product can quickly bridge a gap and become an enterprise product. They’ve learned that the consumer products that make the leap and become an enterprise product can take significant market share. They’ve even learned how the freemium model and iterative development work. They’ve now got that figured out and they’re Microsoft. 2GB Free? 5GB Free? No, 7GB Free! We’re Microsoft! To the Cloud! With SkyDrive, Microsoft is putting up their best defense against their apped-up competitors, putting up their best offense against their legacy platform rivals, and making a bold preparation for the future with a simple statement that I never expected to hear from Microsoft, “download our free app”. So, back to you, how do you sell your platform? Guess what, you don’t. For better or worse, lately, a growing number of companies don’t give a damn about your retention schedules, disposition support, legal holds, or even their own information management policies. For better o

1. #AIIM13
#AIIM12
Selling information management to
an "appified" enterprise
Nick Inglis
Director, Professional Development
AIIM
@nickinglis

2. #AIIM13
Two Talks In One
 Talk One: ECM Companies
 What are we doing?
 What do we do?
 What should we be doing?
 Talk Two: ECM Salespeople
 Three Salespeople, Two Good, One Great
 Are you small? Are you big?
 The product development agenda: Set it

3. #AIIM13
#AIIM12
Talk One: Companies
Selling information
management to an
"appified" enterprise

4. #AIIM13
What Are We Doing?
Math.
ECM + ??? = $$$

5. #AIIM13
Examples
Microsoft:
ECM + Collaboration =
$$$
Box:
ECM + Apps = $$$
Nuxeo/Alfresco
(Open Source):
ECM - $$ = $$$
Salesforce.com
CRM = $$$;
CRM + ECM = $

6. #AIIM13
What To Do?
Stop doing math.

7. #AIIM13
What To Do?
Image Credit: http://piperbasenji.blogspot.com/2012/01/words-and-phrases.html

8. #AIIM13
When ECM Is Ubiquitous…
ECM Is Commoditized.

9. #AIIM13
Remember ECM?
Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is
the strategies, methods and tools used to
capture, manage, store, preserve, and
deliver content and documents related to
organizational processes. ECM tools and
strategies allow the management of an
organization’s unstructured information,
wherever that information exists.

10. What Has Been Our Selling Proposition?
Most ECM Solutions Over The Last 5 Years
#AIIM13
–
“We are an enterprise platform
for everything.”
“Comprehensive solution.”
“Can it do X?”, “Yes.”

11. What Has Been Our Selling Proposition?
#AIIM13
When you do EVERYTHING,
you are the BEST at NOTHING.

12. #AIIM13
Are We Cloudwashing?
How do we leverage the
cloud to the benefit of
organizations?
Are we helping companies
or just making sure the
answer to the cloud
buzzword is “yes”?

13. #AIIM13
Solving The Problem
API
Apps
CRM
ERP
HR
ERM
Collab

14. #AIIM13
Solving The Problem
Do What YOU Do Better Than Everyone Else

15. #AIIM13
Solving The Problem
 If You’re Small
 Niche
 Solve big problems
in small segments
Broad Niche
1/2 of
10%

1% of
100%
 or 

16. #AIIM13
Solving The Problem
 If You’re Large
 Don’t plan on world
domination
 Start with a solid product
 Broad applicability of
product
 Solid API to provide
multiple niche
opportunities

17. #AIIM13
#AIIM12
Talk Two: Salespeople
Selling information
management to an
"appified" enterprise

18. #AIIM13
Solving The Problem
 Three types of sales people
 “My Product Is The Best”
 “My Product Is The Best For ____”
 “I don’t know who my product is the best for”

19. #AIIM13
My Product Is The Best
 Short term
 Confident
salespeople will be
successful
 Long term
 Unhappy customers
 Misalignment
between product
and business needs
Image Credit: http://www.irenesinternet.com/lol/gullible/

20. #AIIM13
My Product Is The Best For _____
 Long term success
 Adoring customers
 Alignment between product and business needs
 Smaller success up front
 Larger success long term

21. I Don’t Know Who My Product Is Best For
#AIIM13
 Your options:
 Figure it out
 Resign
 Get fired
Image Credit: http://www.notoriousspinks.com/2011/01/04/30-day-road-to-disovery-day-3-goals/clueless/

22. #AIIM13
Unique Features
 What are the unique features of your product
that sets it apart?
 What types of companies would benefit most
from those unique features?
 Do you know enough about the industry to
make that call?
 Take AIIM Training
 ECM Sales + (ECM, BPM, Your Product Category)
 Ask An Expert Who Is NOT From Your Company

23. #AIIM13
What does your product do
better than everyone else?
 There is always an
alternative to what
you’re selling.
 Why should your
prospects purchase
from you rather than
your competitors?

24. #AIIM13
What does your product do
better than everyone else?
 What is your niche?
 Don’t wait for your marketing team to
position your product towards that niche.
 Own it, explain why you’re the best option,
sell it.

25. #AIIM13
Understanding Your Niche
 Who are the 10 customers who are the most
satisfied with your product?
 (Not who makes you the most money)
 Can you group the 10 most satisfied customers
into less than 3 groups?
 Go after similar companies.

26. #AIIM13
Driving The Agenda
 If you’re small and you start getting a lot of
wins… you will set the agenda of product
development.
 If you’re large and you start getting a lot of
wins… leverage prior wins for future wins.
Image Credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roller_chain_drive_(Army_Service_Corps_Training,_Mechanical_Transport,_1911).jpg

27. #AIIM13
API Turnkey Solutions = Niche
 API Your Way Into A
Successful Niche
 Sell a specific set of
connections to your
product for a turnkey
niche solution.
I Sell
This
API
With
This
API
With
This
Niche

28. #AIIM13
Conclusion
 ECM is a solution: don’t minimize the value of
the management of content
 Understand your product
 Know what you do better than everyone else
 Leverage APIs
 Niche your way to success

29. #AIIM13
Thank you.