•#Open-source applications: This is an option if you are extremely price-sensitive and do not have very extensive or complex needs. In most cases, an open-source application will require further customization to meet your requirements.
•#Corporate portal software: These instant, out-of-the-box solutions can be built upon to create content management software that fits your needs. This is a quick and easy solution for smaller businesses, but does not meet the needs of large businesses.
•#Commercial content management software: Many vendors produce packages for medium-sized and large organizations. They tend to have a complete suite of features, and many industry developers are familiar with them.
Before you decide to develop or purchase a system:
•#Assess additional component requirements: Check whether there will be additional hardware or software requirements to make the system work with your current software portfolio. Factor this into your cost analysis.
•#Determine whether you need open applications: Remember that there is both an upside and downside to open framework software. While it is able to accommodate broader sets of requirements, it can be more expensive to build it out.
•#Examine need for post-purchase customization: Find out whether you will have to carry out post-purchase customization. If so, factor this into your cost analysis.
•#Understand company-specific needs: Make sure you fully understand the value of the business process to your company. Look at company size, locations involved, the value of tangible savings, benefits, integration with other business applications, ease of implementation and data migration issues.
How Content Management System
Content Management Systems are specialised software systems originally developed by the publishing industry to help cope with the management of vast numbers of documents. With the rise of the Internet, Content Management Systems have been adapted and adopted to help cope with even larger volumes of data of all types.
Content Management Systems integrate website management into the site itself by means of a database, but the key to your success with Content Management Systems is that they keep the structure of your website separate from your data or content unlike most websites where the two are entangled.
You can access the content i.e. articles, videos, presentations, PDF's, audio or any other data via an administrative backend (or sometimes directly on the web page) by using a user name and password which grants you access to edit your document or article in a screen with similar functions to Microsoft Word, but much less complicated and with fewer features.
In practice, this means that you or any person you work with can add, or publish new articles on your website without needing to contact your website designer or having to become website designers.
So how can a Content Management System make your website more productive?
1. By saving you time and money. Initially a Content Management System could prove more expensive to set up than a customised site built by a website designer. However, in the long term, you will save a lot of money and time as you no longer need to contact (and pay) your website designer anytime you need to add, modify or remove articles, pages or other media from your website.
2. You are no longer restricted by time or location. You can modify your website anytime, anywhere you have Internet access. So if the inspiration hits you in the middle of the night, you can just log on and make the changes even if you are out of the country. I helped a website client setup a social network site and the ability to edit it herself has boosted her productivity more than ten-fold with her making changes to her site almost daily compared to every 3 months.
3. Separation of structure and content means you do not have to fear destroying your website even if you know nothing about website design. Built in editing tools make it as easy for you to make changes to your website as it is to edit your documents in MS Word.
4. The Modular structure of Content Management Systems means you can easily plug in new functionality in the form of modules and plug-ins e.g. video display - which would in the past have meant you needed a whole new website. There are thousands of modules available with every possible type of functionality.
5. With certain Content Management Systems, you can easily change the whole design of your website in minutes by just switching the website template to another one, while with customised website design; this would take weeks or months to do.
6. Content Management Systems come with multiple login access which means you can restrict access to various parts of the site, or grant access to edit or modify different parts of your website. It also means you can have several different people working on building your website at the same time, even if they are not in the same country.
7. Many Content Management Systems have Search Engine Optimisation tools built in so that your website automatically receives a boost to its search engine results and position; therefore you should receive more website traffic once you implement CMS.
If you are considering developing a new website, consider getting a Content Managed System to ensure that you can take advantage of the many essential features that you can use to boost your organisations website productivity.
Both Paul Howe & A.afolabi are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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