Mediasurface acquired by Alterian < Real Story Group Blog

Alterian is a marketing automation software vendor (also UK-based) that's twice the size of Mediasurface (revenue-wise) but much more profitable. Both companies will talk about "synergies," but I'll remain a bit skeptical. Yes, many website scenarios are marketing-oriented, but not as many as analysts often think. Perhaps more importantly, the history of diversified software vendors taking on a Web CMS tool to cross-sell to their existing base is not one marked with great success (c.f., WebSideStory's fatal embrace of Atomz and those products' subsequent journey into oblivion). This will be complicated by the fact that Mediasurface sells no less than three Web CMS offerings.

If there is a silver lining, it is that Mediasurface joins a company with a much more solid history of generating earnings, perhaps an indication of a more disciplined or experienced management team. We'll be watching.

Excerpt from the Content Manager Enterprise Edition Evaluation

Web Content Management Evaluation Stream looks at... User-generated Content in Alterian

"Because the front-end and back-end functionality are so tightly coupled, it's quite easy to build templates that allow content to flow into the system. This means that you could build a form for visitors, with the content added to the repository as if it were any other content. However, this is not its intended use, and the back-end UI would often be ill suited to deal with user-generated content coming. If you want to allow visitors to contribute to your site, you must carefully evaluate..."
(p. 419)

Get All Vendor Evaluations

Learn the real strengths and weaknesses of major vendors from around the world, in our evaluation research stream.

Real Story Group. Make Better Technology Decisions.