Yesterday I attended the Interwoven annual Analyst Day in New York.  It was an interesting day in many respects, and one which showed a very different Interwoven than the one of circa 2006.  For just a few short years back such events for the firm were painful experiences, as they were forced to trot out a series of lame excuses for missing targets and falling short of expectations.  To their credit they have been working hard to turn things around, and with new leadership at the top, financially at least, 2008 has been a year of success. Despite a slowing economy Interwoven has become the comeback kid.

In New York they were not just in a confident mood, they were overtly bullish, bordering at times on the arrogant. And they laid out a simple, but potentially  effective strategy to continue their upward path.

This strategy hangs on three things.

First, the recognition that Interwoven is in fact two separate companies, with two very different sets of customers - Web (read TeamSite) and Document (read WorkSite).  This basic recognition that there are and always have been two quite separate worlds (that's why we have separate CMS and ECM services) is a breakthrough, and one that some of its competitors might want to follow.  

Second, a continued focus on customer satisfaction.  As readers of our CMS and ECM services will know this has not always been a strong point for Interwoven, but to give credit where it is due, I have observed and had further confirmation this week that they have worked hard to improve on this - and partners at least (who account for nearly 3/4 of Interwovens revenue now) have come to both like and rely on Interwoven - whilst souring on other relationships.

Third, is to target in on, and to take market share away from, vulnerable competitors.  In this regard Interwoven execs were clear cut about exactly who they are gunning for.  Vignette customers on the Web side of things, and disaffected Hummingbird (now Open Text ) customers on the Document side of the business, and as of today that approach appears to be working for them.

Overall this appears to be an effective if simple strategy - but it does not tell the whole story of Interwoven. For example, I have long thought that the WorkSite side of Interwoven was the stronger of the two, despite the fact that Interwoven's roots are in the web - and I saw little this week to change that opinion. For like it or not TeamSite is due a major overhaul, some might say long overdue - as the core system is over ten years old. And knowing what we know in 2008, nobody would build a CMS system the same way they did in 1998. How the newly invigorated Interwoven handles this overhaul will be key.  They do have the luxury of being able to learn from and avoid many of the mistakes from Vignettes truly disastrous move to V7 that left many customers both stranded and angry. Then again change is always painful, and surely the best they can hope for is to manage the transition in as humane a way as possible.  One thing they could (and arguably should) do, would be to lay out a very visible road map for TeamSite change - but they didn't do that in New York. There was tacit recognition from the executive team that change was due and would be coming, but specifics were non-existent. 

This has been a constant theme over recent years, and just as Interwoven is gunning for Vignette, they are also losing Web CMS  deals to smaller competitors with more contemporary architectures.

With a new VP of Engineering in place Interwoven needs to get public quickly regarding what is on the horizon, again to be clear, we all know that nobody would design a CMS product today the same as they would have in 1998 - hence tinkering with the system will not do the trick, it will need much more than that.

Yet it's not our job at CMS Watch to advise vendors - and my cautionary here is not for the benefit of Interwoven - but for you the buyer to be aware and to start asking tough questions of Interwoven. Where exactly is TeamSite going?  How will future changes impact my existing deployment? When and how can I expect these changes to occur?  If you don't there is a real danger that the next 18 months could good  for Interwoven, but might leave you the buyer with a headache once the party is over.

But let's try and end on a positive note.  I really don't want to rain on Interwovens party, they have a strong story, strong management (which they haven't always had), cash in the bank, a supportive channel and are experiencing sustained and profitable growth.  And for what it is worth I have some faith that Interwoven will manage future change well, whether it involves acquisitions, mergers or just some new products. Nevertheless for buyers (and the channel) a bit more openesss around where things are going would help to put a lot of minds at rest.

In the interest of full disclosure - CMS Watch paid for all our own travel and accomodation to the event, along with my delicious veggie burger from Big Daddy's Diner on Wednesday evening. We do not accept travel and expenses from vendors, just as we do not consult to or work for vendors, period.