A Better View with BroadVision
By Bill Pitzer
Have you ever visited a site that has multiple personalities? I mean a site that seems to transport you to a different location because, after clicking a few levels into it, you find yourself lost in a content jumble?
Confusing layouts and misclassified information don't encourage return visits. Before you can say "check out our complex animated pages," users will have left to find another, better-organized site. (See "Online" for sites with more information about content management.)
Take a Look
Such sites could really benefit from some content-management tools. A staggering number of content-management solutions have entered the market recently. One very publicized offering that has taken content management and personalization to the next level is BroadVision One-To-One Enterprise. With some high-profile customers and a slew of strategic alliances, the product has attracted quite a bit of media attention since its release. Developers claim it provides true one-to-one matching of content to visitors, and its architecture is built on open standards with native support for XML, Java, EJB, COM, and LDAP.
BroadVision's product is part of a new breed of emerging e-commerce solutions. Each claims the ability to develop an intimate relationship with your site's visitors. If you've done any research, you've probably run into BroadVision's primary competitors in the space: Blue Martini, Vignette, and Open Market, to name a few. Marketers make it sound like the only thing these products don't do is bring over chicken soup when your customers aren't feeling well (perhaps in the next release).
