Web Content Management Review

Has your web site gone out of control?  It is filled with so much data from a wide range of people, departments, and divisions you can no longer keep track of it all.  This is the problem faced with many companies who have entrusted their web site to an IT Department, or outsourced web developer.  The site has been built with static pages, and slowly it grows out of control.  Web site content management software helps you get your site under control, create systems of checks and balances, and have a unified way of presenting data.

When your website has been developed piece by piece, department by department, you often end up with different appearances in different areas of your site.  This can lead your business partners and clients to question whether they are still on the same website or not.  You always want to provide a seamless experience no matter what type of data you are presenting, from any department in the company.

There is no need to start on a CMS development project of your own.  You should instead look at the options for web site content management software which allows you to use CMS templates to make a consistent look and feel throughout your site.  You will discover in your review of various web content management systems that CMS templates are not only for the appearance of your site, but also for creating easy forms and methods of managing data and users.

One of the most popular systems on the market is Alfresco which is an enterprise content management system.  It provides systems for document management, web site management, records management, collaboration between employees, and a standardized content platform to use for getting all your data presented in a consistent manner.

While Alfresco is an open source project, like Joomla and Drupal, you should never make the mistake of believing the free content management systems are truly free.  They come with major commitments in learning, training staff, buying support, and setting up proper server configurations.  You will save money on software, but will absorb more cost in the learning cycle of the program in most cases.

If all you need is an easy CMS program to take care of a small business with only one server then consider Joomla CMS.  In almost any other situation the best web site content manager software will either be an upper tier open source content management solution, or a commercial program.  In either case, the savings and benefits you gain by getting your website under control with a proper management system will pay for itself quickly.

Joomla is highly popular web content management tool.  The Joomla CMS software is available on many of the most popular hosting companies servers, and can easily be setup on your own in-house server.

The Joomla web content management tool can be installed on either a Linux server with Apache, PHP, and MySQL,  or you can install on a Microsoft server with IIS, PHP, and MySQL.  Installing on a Microsoft server requires adding a few other components as well.

Joomla is the most installed open source CMS software at this time.  The reason behind this popularity is ease of use and a wide range of features.  It allows the easy creation of users based upon LDAP, OpenID, and Gmail.

Where Joomla falls short for most businesses is in integration with other systems.  Your company may have a wide range of systems already in place storing the data you desperately wish to share and integrate into your Intranet and Internet sites.  Joomla is not an enterprise content management system, and should not even be considered a strong contender for smaller businesses with other data they wish to share.  The strong point of Joomla is managing a single website and simplifying the creation and sharing of the content through the Joomla system.

If your business has more advanced needs you must step up to a more robust system.  You can still stay within the open source world with a web content management tool like Drupal or OpenCMS.

For higher levels of support and even more features you will want to begin looking at web content management systems like Day Software’s Communique, RedDot CMS or LiveServer, Percussion Software Rhythmyx, FatWire Content Server, or Interwoven TeamSite Content Management Server.  These are robust, enterprise level solutions designed to integrate multiple servers, handle diverse types of data, and to give your staff a great end-user experience.  Each of these solutions has their strong and weak points and must be evaluated based upon your company’s particular needs.

For even more proprietary web content management system you may need to look to solutions from Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, or EMC.  Their solutions are highly customized to work with their unique software, databases, and operating systems.  If your shop is based upon solutions from any of these companies make sure to include them in your evaluation.

The great news, once you have selected the right web content management tools for your company and finished your initial implementation, you will have systems which provides you greater security, ease of use, and great performance for many years.

A web content management system can ease the burden of your IT Department, and increase the capabilities in all departments.  A high quality CMS solution will allow each of your departments to publish content as needed, while building a secure system of security, work flow, and management.

The biggest fear companies often face with allowing their employees to start publishing data to the Internet is the lack of checks and balances.  You can have a rogue employee suddenly publish proprietary information, personal data, or damaging remarks which spread like wildfire before you can shut them down.

With a high quality website content management system nothing hits public view until it has stepped through the right work flow channels and has been approved for publication.  In many companies without good management systems the job fell upon the shoulders of the IT Department to publish new content.  They would usually have no idea if the material coming from someone in finance, human resources, or marketing was the right information or not.  With CMS software in place you can assign these tasks to department heads to review the content for their employees, and then either approve, edit, or reject the content.

All content is presented within the wrapper of the CMS templates, giving your site a consistent look and feel for all departments, instead of every department creating their own unique look.  This helps brand your company and present a professional appearance to all of your visitors.

Your web content management system is not only about security and consistency, it is about empowering everyone in your company.  When you choose the proper content management solution you can integrate with your company database, document imaging system, websites, and many other sources of content to give you great variety and power in the data you can present to both your internal users and to the public.

Enterprise content management is geared to work with a wide variety of platforms, databases, and sources of data to give you the ultimate flexibility in creating the reports your clients need to see on demand, all right from your website.

Your web content management system needs to give you high levels of control, capability, and security.  Do not jump at the first solution you see, but carefully evaluate a wide variety of open source and proprietary web CMS solutions.

How many of you think of WordPress as web content management software?  It may be able to help you create a consistent look and feel.  It does give you a little control of content.  It is not very good at working with a variety of data.  Your choice of a CMS solution can be very simple to a highly sophisticated enterprise content management system.

WordPress should not be considered a true CMS solution.  The bottom tier in simplicity and ability should probably be considered Joomla.  Joomla is a powerful web content management system, but is definitely not considered an enterprise class system.  It will allow you to manage documents, music, video, photos, and text on your website.  It is one of the simplest of all CMS software programs, and should be considered for simple solutions and small businesses.

If your business is a larger operation with a variety of data it is time to move up to higher levels of performance, security, and capability.  This will have you looking at either the higher end open source content management systems, or moving into commercial Web CMS solutions.

The names to watch and review for larger projects in the open source world would be OpenCMS, Drupal, and Alfresco.  These systems all offer high levels of capability, support for a wide range of data types, provide good work flow management, and can be acquired for free.  Do not make the mistake of equating free CMS software to low cost.  You will still have costs for hardware, operating systems, training time for your staff, and possibly support contracts.

On the higher end of web content management software are commercial solutions from companies like Oracle, FatWire, Vignette, Microsoft, IBM, and many others.  Each of these solutions must be carefully evaluated as to their ease of use, data support, operating system needs, and cost of ongoing support.

Your cost of training and support can easily become the most expensive part of any web content management software.  This is the reason your web CMS review process should include matching your IT staffs capabilities with the product.  If they are well versed in Linux, Apache, PHP, MySQL and other open source technologies free CMS software could be perfect.  If their primary strengths are in Microsoft products, you may be miles ahead staying with a Microsoft solution.

Your choice of web content management software is not going to be easy.  Review the offerings carefully and then make a choice based upon your levels of expertise, support needs, and needed features.

Has your company reached the point where getting a web content management solution has gone from being a nice idea to becoming essential?  In today’s fast paced world getting updated information published is imperative, and there is no time to wait for an IT Department to have time to update your information.  It needs to happen now.

Here are a few tips to help you choose the right web content management solution for your business:

1.  How much outside support will your company need?  While some companies have IT support teams with plenty of time and almost endless skill sets, other companies are stretched to their limits.  If your IT team will need help with implementation, future support, and technical issues you must choose a system with great support.

2.  What operating systems, databases, and web servers does your company use?  If you company has become primarily a one vendor shop with solutions from IBM, Microsoft, or Oracle, you should evaluate the features in their web content management systems first.  It will make implementation easier, faster, and support a breeze.

3.  What are your work flow needs?  Are you planning on having a system to have content produced by a wide variety of employees and then being funneled through an approval system stepping through department managers, district managers, or an editing staff?  When you are creating a work flow system you must evaluate a products capability to create an approval system which works for your company.  Some low end free CMS programs are unlikely to fill your needs.

4.  What levels of customizations will be required?  The ultimate in customization comes from open source content management systems since you have access to source code.  This of course requires programmers with the ability and time to customize the system for you.  Enterprise content management systems from upper tier companies allow certain levels of customization through templates and plug-ins.  Evaluate your needs carefully.

5.  How large is your budget?  This is one area which is a double edged sword.  While a free CMS system is the cheapest to acquire, the cost of support, installation complexities, and other requirements may turn it into a more expensive solution.  Matching the CMS software to closely match your needs out of the box as possible often reduces your overall cost.

The perfect web content management solution is never a simple matter of installing CMS software and walking away.  It requires planning, evaluation, and careful implementation to have a successful web content manager solution.

As almost all IT Professionals know you must take your best shot on choosing your Web CMS on the first try.  Once you commit your funds, time, and energy into implementing a system you are often stuck with it for years or a lifetime.  In this web content management review we will consider whether a free CMS system is really the best bargain or a recipe for disaster.

How talented is your IT Support department?  Are they up to date with XML, Java, PHP, and programming, or are they basically desktop and server support?  These questions are going to make a big difference in the cost of using an open source web content management system.

As an example, OpenCMS is a very robust offering, but requires a high level of knowledge to implement.  Your staff will need to understand how to implement the system on a MySQL, Tomcat, MySQL, and Linux environment, or implement on a more expensive system such as Microsoft Windows Server.

Part of your web content management review and decision process should be evaluating your long term costs.  What is the cost of ongoing support and training going to be?  While systems like OpenCMS, Drupal, or Alfresco can be very low cost to start with, you must evaluate the cost of support.  All of these systems have professional support options which can become expensive very rapidly.  OpenCMS offers 10 support incidents through Alkakon for approximately $2000.  If you need support often your costs could escalate rapidly.

The best CMS needs to be evaluated on the basis of features, initial cost, and ongoing support to ensure you have the right product.  While it is always tempting to go with open source content management you may find the feature set of professional systems from companies like FatWire, Interwoven, Vignette, Oracle, or Microsoft may offer you features you cannot get from open source, and may require less support due to easier installation processes, and better documentation.

The key to any thorough web content management review process is to list all your needed features while thinking about the future possibilities for your company.  Evaluate your feature list against the different offerings from both the open source world and proprietary systems, then evaluate your IT Departments capabilities at implementing the systems.  You may discover the higher cost proprietary CMS software is your best bargain in the end.

There are many different web content management solutions available today.   Your challenge may be identifying the WCM vendors who provide the highest value, best feature sets, and high quality support.  Your CMS system is not an area of your business you can afford to take a risk with, it can either produce a smooth running efficient system, or a long term nightmare.  It is imperative you do a complete WCM comparison, including checking the top WCM comparison website for additional opinions.

WCM vendors come from two primary camps, proprietary systems and open source systems.  There are strong contenders in both camps for you to consider.

From from the open source content management camp you could consider OpenCMS, DotNetNuke, Drupal, and Alfresco WCM.  All of these systems are very robust, offer great community support, and offer professional support through third party vendors, or through sponsoring companies.

From the proprietary camp of WCM vendors you have Oracle, Microsoft, FatWire, Interwoven, Vignette, IBM, RedDot, and many more.  The level of support on most proprietary systems is exceptional.  Any comparison of WCM vendors must include their quality of support.

The advantage to proprietary systems is going to be the level of support and ongoing development.  Their website content management systems are updated often, security issues are fixed rapidly, and you can often receive support 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

The free CMS offerings from the open source camp are not truly free in the long run.  You will still have the cost of the underlying operating system, server hardware, and most commonly you will want to have a support agreement with a vendor to make sure you can have fast answers to questions which may bring your company’s web content system to a screeching halt.  Open source content management is often still your lowest cost option to get started.  Many companies have discovered the Alfresco WCM to be the best free WCM available.

Enterprise content management systems should never be evaluated on cost alone.  If you evaluate on purchase price alone you will be ignoring your long term training costs, support costs, and the possible lack of features which could be crucial to the long term success of your system.  You must consider your needs for multilingual support as part for your WCM comparison, also.

A good starting point in any evaluation of WCM vendors is to look at their list of features and see which features you need today, which features you can imagine using in the future, and which ones are likely to never be needed.  This will help you narrow your list.

Then in your next step of evaluation consider the underlying operating system, database, and programming languages.  If you can choose a system which uses systems your staff are already familiar with your long term costs will be reduced.

These two steps are just a beginning in choosing the best CMS software and the proper WCM vendors for your solution.  It is better to take a little extra time as you get started, rather than face the nightmare of choosing the wrong system.

As you start any WCM comparison you must ask one important question.  What is the most valuable component in any web content management system?  The most critical element is your content.  Whether you are choosing a robust enterprise content management system, or are looking for a free content management system, the content you are needing to manage and present to your users should be at the front of your mind.

In a small business, or large enterprise, which is using primarily Microsoft technology throughout their company the decision may be very easy.  Microsoft’s Sharepoint 2010 platform is designed to work for both your Intranet and Internet services may be the ideal solution.  It allows you to leverage documents, file systems, databases, Internet services, and other components from Microsoft.  One of the biggest advantages is the ease of use for your employees and IT staff since they are already familiar with Microsoft solutions and support.

The same situation exists for companies who store a large portion of their database data, documents, images, and videos in solutions from Oracle or IBM.  For an Oracle shop the best CMS could be Oracle Universal Content Management.  For an IT system using IBM systems and databases your WCM comparison must include IBM Workplace Web Content Management System.

The problem which exists with the solutions from IBM, Oracle, and Microsoft is they are often not as feature rich, or as easy to implement in cross platform IT systems.  If your business uses solutions from a wide variety of providers to store your critical data you wish to combine into your web content management system you should evaluate WCM vendors like SDL Tridion Content Manager, FatWire Content Server, or Interwoven TeamSite Content Management Server.

Your WCM comparison should also include open source content management systems from Drupal, OpenCMS, Alfresco WCM, or for very simple solutions could even include Joomla CMS.  No WCM reviews are complete without looking at a wide variety of options.

The start of evaluating any content management system must be having a thorough understanding of where your data is stored, how it will need to be accessed, and how it can be secured. You should consider your needs for multilingual support.  Your WCM comparison may become easier if you are locked into a single solution provider, but you may discover there are many features missing you need.  Make sure you choose the CMS software which covers your needs today, and does not limit your growth in the future.  Your investment today is one you will live with for many years.

Your company is filled with talented writers, content producers, and systems holding important data which needs to be shared with other employees, clients, and the general public.  Web publishing content management allows you to give freedom to your company’s talented employees to create the needed content, while still maintaining control and security.

Think about your own department.  You can probably think of an individual who always manages to produce the highest quality reports, comes up with interesting ways to present information, and loves doing it.  If you could let them loose to work on disseminating your departments important information throughout the corporation and to your clients it would be amazing.  No matter how much you trust this individual, it is unlikely you want to let them loose to publish information without a editor and a final approval review.

Being able to give your talented employees a web content management tool which allows them to easily create content, submit it to an editor, and then on for final approval is powerful.  Instead of the process of getting data published to your website in a week or two it can happen in 30 minutes.  Web publishing content management can make it happen.

Web CMS software allows you to create work flows which take the report which was produced, and starts it on the path to final approval and publication.  Many content management systems will notify the editor and approval team by email allowing them to take quick action on the content.

Your web content manager is not limited to only working with textual data, but can be used for creating work flows for pictures, video, and other types of data.  They can all be submitted through an approval system to make sure the content is proper for release before it goes public.

While some employees may feel a system of approval is limiting, or may feel censored, it is a critical set of procedures for any company.  When wrong data is published the effects can be disastrous.  Suddenly your company is thrown into explaining and apologizing instead of selling and promoting.

Whether your company chooses a free CMS software solution, or goes for a robust commercial system, having web publishing content management both gives freedom in creation to your employees while securing your company.  CMS systems are a crucial part of any company which wishes to empower their staff to create and inform the world of your company’s important information.

Does your company have a systematic approach to getting content published to your Internet sites?  What about for your Intranet?  If your company is currently allowing each division, department, and renegade to do it their own way then it is time to look into an enterprise web content management system.

An enterprise CMS will help your company get everyone on the same team.  You will all be using a standard set of CMS templates to make sure data is consistent in the way it is displayed.  You will be able to design work flow systems to allow editing, approval, and final publication steps to be taken out of the hands of potential renegades, and put in the hands of your trusted decision makers.

An enterprise web content management system often increases the load on your IT Department for a very short time.  They will be highly involved in the initial setup and deployment of a system, but then they will be the people giving a big sigh of relief.  Instead of being responsible for supporting every solution under the sun, publishing content, and developing web sites, they will only be responsible for the support of the back end systems.  The production of content, approval, and publishing phases will all be moved where they belong, in the hands of department writers, editors, and executives.

One way to save money on the initial outlay is to select an open source CMS.  Systems from Drupal, OpenCMS, and especially Alfresco, can be very robust covering a wide range of data, work flow, and system needs.  These systems may require a little more expertise from the IT Department on installation and support, since they are open source.  Professional support is available for most of these free CMS software solutions.

If you are wanting to have the power of a software developer behind your system then it will be time to evaluate systems from FatWire, Vignette, Microsoft, IBM, and  a wide range of other great providers.  Each of these web content management solutions have specific strengths in their support for databases, data types, underlying operating systems, and ease of use.  You will need to carefully evaluate these competing packages to make sure you get the right balance of features and cost.

Your enterprise web content management solution is going to revolutionize the way you work with web content.  Never again will you feel at the mercy of an IT Department or outsourced web developer to get your data published.  You will have an easy to follow systematic approach to getting data online with style.