a thousand furnished rooms

For publishers, the Internet can seem like a conundrum. In the midst of so much plenty, why is there so little real revenue? Indeed, the opportunity defines the challenge--so many potential opportunities, and yet so many of them are unproven.

Publishers are used to a model where they can focus on predicting audience and revenue against a relatively well-known set of costs. The Web, for all its potential, is still unformed, and few business models have any kind of track record.

Complicating matters is the difficult question of predicting costs. Many Web development efforts have not just proven costly--they have often suffered from cost overruns, unmet expectations, and enormous hidden costs. Add to this the constant change in technical requirements and infrastructure, and publishers are left with often staggering challenges.

Building a Web infrastructure is a complex, highly technical undertaking that many organizations are unprepared to face. Research from CAP Ventures and elsewhere suggests that as many as 60% of in-house Web development and integration efforts fail, and are abandoned at significant cost over time.

Publishers who consider building their own systems face high costs of software and integration, and the need to maintain and upgrade the system over time. Publishers are not typically staffed for this kind of operation, and even may not have necessary skills and experience to contract for this work efficiently.

Any single component application of a Web site is itself complex and difficult to select, install, and customize. Yet integration of multiple component applications is even harder. Even a component technology such as a search engine, long considered "commodity" software, is difficult to integrate across a complex Web site to the point where the end user is ensured a consistent experience across the site.

Publishers who seek partners are often faced with "all or nothing" proposals that bind them to larger portals that could well cannibalize or overtake their own business.

Further complicating things is the perceived need to move quickly, even in the face of partial information.

Even in cases where the initial Web development effort has been completed somewhat successfully, the publisher is likely left with a maintenance headache. Systems and subsystems change so quickly, by the time the project is completed, major components of the system will likely needed to be upgraded or swapped out.

So What to Do?

The key is to effectively manage all aspects of the technology that supports your publishing. This begins with basic questions such as, "Should we even try to do this ourselves, or should we look at options for partnering, outsourcing, or relying on an Application Service Provider (ASP)?" If you are not the kind of organization that is accustomed to running a lot of technology, you should think twice before trying to run a complex publishing operation on your own.

Just my thoughts, as usual. I would love to hear from others on this topic.