Lately, I've been re-exploring the possibilities with component-based workflow in the development of online marketing and customer portal sites. The concept is simple. You drag components onto web pages that allow interactive web developers to define actions and behaviors in response to web page events.

This is in contrast to the current convention in i-Dialogue, which currently implements workflows through the explorer interface.

As an example, a basic lead nurturing campaign requires the triggering of a long running email auto-response campaign when a web lead form is submitted. Using the i-Dialogue explorer I would have to define a dialogue rule that associates the form with an auto response campaign. But I can also add a smart component, called a "Form Submit Handler", to the landing page that intercepts form submit events and triggers the autoresponder on its own.



Granted, not a significant decrease in developmnt time, but it's much more apparent when looking at the landing page that "Oh... when the web form is submitted these events will be triggered and I have the ability to configure them".

A component-based approach does have it's associated challenges:

1) Atomicity Yields Complexity. Smaller, more granular components yield more flexible solutions and reduce need for programmatic customization. But if 3 different workflow components on a web page are required to process a lead form, trigger an auto-responder, and intelligently redirect the page, then the complexity of the page design is increased. Pre-built page templates are the best way to address this problem.

2) Process Visualization: The i-Dialogue Explorer allows me to see across multiple campaigns, landing pages, and auto-response rules at once. I can see exactly which landing pages have auto-response rules and which ones don't. But if workflow is embedded into pages in the form of active components, I need to drill down to the individual page to learn which workflows are active. The answer is in a new generation of campaign reporting tools (if there were only 26 hours in a day, I would add this and a dozen other features ).

3) Creative-Business Collaboration: Interactive Web Development requires a unique set of skills. Part graphic/web designer and part marketing/business user. It's rare to find these skills in one person, so you often find different individuals taking responsibility for various components. For example, one person provides the HTML, layout, and graphics. Another provides copy writing, workflow and auto-response rules.

The bottom line? We'll need to support both approaches and give campaign designers the freedom to choose which approach works best for them.