2009 WCM Promotional Pen evaluations

Here are the details from our pen research 2009: Best in Web Content Management, where FatWire was crowned the clear market leader.

The following vendors met our entry requirements (we had one of their pens!):

• Cignex (image): Claims to be “the leader in open-source business software solutions for content management and portals” but how good is their pen? A stylish design overall. A discrete choice of colours, which makes you wonder if it really is a vendor pen. This particular pen has one major flaw: the top button is missing, meaning you cannot use it unless you have a separate pointy object to push out the rather essential ink cartridge - in other words it’s the typical open source scenario where you get a nice framework, but have to figure out how to get it to work yourself – relying on external tools.
  Overall score = 6
• Ektron (image): Claims to be “a technology and market leader in Web content management software”. However, the story changes completely when it comes to pens. The Ektron pen looks good, with the cool marine blue colour being the main eye-catching attraction. But beware: it is in fact cheap plastic disguised as metal - and the quality feels rather poor. It simply feels as if the pen is about to break in your hand. Not challenging to use and it actually works straight out-of-the-box. The written result; the ink on the page is pretty average.
  Overall score = 9
• e-Spirit (image): The German dark horse claims to be “an internationally active technology leader”. This may well be the case - but pens are clearly not their major strength. It looks cheap, it feels cheap and the ink is of poor quality, leaving us feeling rather de-spirited. Perhaps the pen is not made in Germany? The only thing that averts complete disaster is the fact that it is fairly easy to hold and handle.
  Overall score = 6
• FatWire (image): The company “provides industry-leading web experience management solutions”. Not sure what that means, but their pen speaks for itself. Great user experience, a solid, but not too heavy feel and a chic and eye-catching green colour makes it stand out. The quality of the pen is certainly above the average and writes very well. -Clearly not the cheapest promotional item around; now you know where the license money goes!
  Overall score = 11
• Google (image): The company known for their “don’t be evil” mantra clearly has a few things to learn and a bit of catching-up to do when it comes to developing stuff for enterprise use. The screemy Barbie-colour makes it a pen I would never use publicly, and the cheap off-yellow rubber band is disturbing. It is ok to write with and easy to use, so just like the current enterprise offerings from Google: job done at a basic level. However, it is simply too unattractive and cheap to make it a viable choice for any serious buyer with enterprise requirements.
  Overall score: 6.
• Idiom (image): The company was acquired by SDL tridion in 2008 and prides itself on providing a “market leading globalization management system.” Acquisitions rarely spell good news for customers and the result on the merchandise front does indeed leave a great deal to be desired in this case: the Idiom pen is not that impressive. The overall quality is ok, but the weight is unevenly distributed making the top part too heavy. When it comes to usability they have made a bold move, as there simply is no top button: you have to turn the pen using both hands to make it work. I simply ask: why does Idiom set out to break the conventions, if they don’t seem to achieve anything new by doing so?
  Overall score = 9
  
• Oracle (image1, image2): The “largest business software company in the world” enters the competition with no less than 2 pens, obviously trying to show off the depth and breadth of their offerings. The 2 pens are simply incomparable in terms of quality, so the only synergy and brand consitency is the logo. No doubt a result of endless hasty and ill-considered acquisitions by Oracle – confusing and unhelpful.
  Overall score 7,5
• SDL Tridion (image): “The world leader in Global Information Management” has a really ugly pen. The army-colour oozes 1970s and it is made of cheap plastic. The design does stand out: the unusually shaped pocket-clip-thingy attracts attention, but it doesn’t add any extra value to the product, so why bother? It also differentiates itself by using blue ink: one of only 2 on test – wheras all others seem to favour black ink; a rather irrelevant point of difference after all. A simple, mediocre pen.
  Overall score = 7
• Sitecore (image): The company “delivers industry-leading solutions for capturing, organizing, storing, and producing Web-based content” – but does their pen stand up to our thorough analytical scrutiny? Being Danish, I like the red and white colours, but the pen generally looks cheap. Like Idiom, they break the push-button convention by deploying the turn functionality, which is just complicating an action that should be easy. Much like using Sitecore with Firefox or Chrome. Bearing in mind the recently announced good financial results you would really expect something more exciting and extravagant than this average pen.
  Overall score = 7
• Terminalfour (image): The brand-concious and stylish Irish airport enthusiasts claim to have “a leading highly functional open platform web content management system”. However, their pen isn’t that interesting. More Stansted than Schiphol! Short and plump - the smallest pen in the pack. The colour combination is ok, but the material is cheap and slippery. Overall verdict: it gets the job done without any extras or heavy features. -Which may actually be a good thing for a pen often used in transit?
  Overall score = 8

Here’s how we rated the pens:

• Design and user experience: Attractive design and look and feel. How does it leave you feeling as a user? As always, the devil is in the detail.
• Durability: Having dragged it around between meetings, courses and conferences all over the world, does the pen still work when you need it most? Can you trust it to go through the thorough security checks in airports?
• Easy of use: Every vendor claims that their pen is pretty, the real challenge lies in ensuring that it is also usable and useful.
• Writing abilities: How good is it actually to write with? Always remember to test on real paper with real users!