Cynthia Theriault Essay -- Design and Technology

Cynthia Theriault Documentum, Inc. Documentum, a Silicon Valley startup, is the first to market with an enterprise-scale document management solution built from standard relational database technologies in combination with object-oriented methodologies. The software enables people to collaboratively create, manage, deliver, and archive the content that drives business operations. The Company is at the crossroads of marketing strategies. Jeff Miller, the new CEO of Documentation, is faced with the question whether to undertake an innovative, but unproven, market selection process presented by Geoffrey Moore, a well-known Silicon Valley marketing pundit. Boeing (aerospace market) and Syntex (pharmaceutical market) were the first two customers of Documentum. During a prospect meeting with Boeing, Documentum realized that their new product did not have reference material for the customer. Additionally, during the meeting, presenters spoke of the product’s technical architecture instead of telling Boeing what the product would do for their company. Documentum was not meeting the customer’s expectations because they were not communicating on the customer’s level. During a meeting with Syntex, Documentum realized that their core software was not universal. The core technology had to be customized for each industry. It was a good product, which validated their concept that companies needed an easy and accurate way to share and archive documents. In t...