We think the creation of formal user groups is a critical threshold for CMS vendors. So it is worth noting that -- at a time when many US-based players are retrenching in Europe -- Stellent is inaugurating an EMEA user group. It takes a fair amount of effort to organize UG meetings, and vendors usually find the feedback from the first sessions to be, well, rather bracing. But once over that hump, active UGs provide a way for a vendor's existing clients (especially the bigger ones) to exert a greater impact on product road maps. And perhaps more importantly, active user communities typically influence software product managers to focus more resources toward executing better on stated existing features before expanding functionality. That's good for everybody...
Check out the Stellent EMEA User Group Agenda