So the new year begins, and the first thing on my agenda is to run through my calendar for the year; 2008 brings a lot of potentially great events worldwide for ECM, and the CMS Watch team will get involved in as many as humanly possible. Or at least that's how it seems as I look at my diary, with commitments through to the end of the year already.

Highlights of 2008 for me will likely include Internet World in London, GED:Rio in Brazil, ECM Workshops in Rome, jboye08 in Denmark, KM World in California and of course AIIM Expo in Boston. Two events though that I and many others will miss are the Microsoft SharePoint Conference and AIIM UK Roadshow. The reason for missing them are that they are competitively scheduled against other rival events: Sharepoint at the same time as AIIM Expo (where we are leading a full track), and the AIIM UK Roadshow the same week as Internet World. I recognize that scheduling conferences is tricky, but still, I can never quite figure the logic behind this kind of thing, as it simply means that one event or the other will be a loser. A battle royale for the conference organizers maybe, but ultimately a net loss for attendees who have to decide between them...a real shame.

2008 then looks to be a very busy one, as we continue to report on the growth and changes in this dynamic industry, guiding you the buyers and users of ECM technology away from project and operational problems and toward success. Let me take this opportunity to suggest that if you the technology buyer are planning to attend any of the events where CMS Watch analysts will be speaking, then please do come up and say hello. It is your insights and experiences that guide our work, and it's the conversations we have with you that make it all worthwhile.