ECM - What's On Your Christmas Wish List?

Thanksgiving is over, that means it is the official start of the holiday shopping season.  So, what's the hottest item on the holiday shopping list this year?  Well judging by the fact that it is already back ordered due to popular demand, Amazon's Kindle is on that list.  But the fact that it this e-book appliance is a hot new “holiday item” is not why I am blogging on it (but if any of my friends or relatives are wondering what to get me this year . . . ).  What catches my attention as an ECM blogger is that Kindle helps to herald in (I can hear those angels now), an ECM subject that I have been speaking about for several years, content delivery.   (See earlier blog post and recent paper). 

This is so cool - no not Kindle itself (though it is), but the fact that ECM is  once again hitting the mainstream public, and this time in the form of content delivery. Content delivery represents a huge opportunity for the ECM market, and for the creativity of content managers.  Personalized content, dynamic content, JIT content, portable content, nimble navigation through the entire Library of Congress - carried around in your hip pocket . . . the list seems endless.

On a more technical note, it is interesting to note that Kindle utilizes technology developed by Xerox many years ago, digital ink and digital paper.  While Xerox once again failed to bring technology to market itself, it has fueled and empowered the commercial instinct and reach of Amazon, who has productized this technology for the mainstream, and is positioning Kindle as the book version of the iPOD (there is a Kindle store - available directly from Kindle).  This is interesting times for ECM indeed, as not only does Kindle represent the widescale adoption of digital paper, but another player in the business content delivery market place - Amazon.  While Kindle makes traditional publications available (magazines, newspapers, books),  it also provides access to blogs, e-mail, Word documents, image files, IM (although it should be noted that Amazon charges a fee to convert "non-Kindle" files such as e-mail and Word to their proprietary format) - all through the high-speed data network (EVDO) used by advanced cell phones (hot spots not necessary) and in a unique (for now) book type interface (complete with page turning, highlighting, dog-earring, bookmarking) and the physical look and size of a paperback. The lines of distinction between laptops, cell phones, PDAs and now e-books continues to blur.

The topic of content delivery (the on ramps and off ramps of ECM) is on the AIIM Market Intelligence Market IQ editorial calendar for Q4 2008.  Kindle will definitely be a part of the issues discussed in that report.  So stay tuned. Due out in December 2008, the Market IQ may be the hot new content of the 2008 holiday season – available for download to your Kindle – if you are among the lucky recipients  this holiday season.