What is Web Content Management
According to Forrester Research, a CMS falls far short of the dynamic, multi-channel world of the web today.
"The growth of new content types, the emergence of new channels, and the increased expectations of customers all drive this significant change in WCM. Now, content and collaboration (C&C) professionals need to remember that the "C" in WCM no longer stands for just content. Instead, they must keep in mind the additional C's as well: context, channel, consistency, community, consumer behavior, and creation."
Source: Stephen Powers,
The Seven C's Of Web Content Management,
Forrester Research
The new world of Web Content Management (WCM) systems continues to be a hot area of technology investment as enterprises grapple with multiple channels of engagement with their customers, an abundance of content and types of content, a proliferation of connected devices and the increasing demand by end users for personalized, on-demand content.
New terminology has emerged in the content management space. A Web Content Management (WCM) system, or Web CMS (Content Management System), or WEM (Web Experience Management) is a software system that allows businesses and individuals to ingest, create, publish and manage content to the web.
In contrast to a CMS, a WCM system is distinguished by architectural flexibility and intelligence that allow businesses to connect with consumers via the simultaneous management of mobile, social and other digital channels. This architectural approach allows a modern WCM to handle more forms of content, to render that content to a variety of web-connected devices and incorporate interactive and revenue-generating toolsets that drive clients' business goals.
A CMS is a critical component of the larger Website Content Management (WCM) market. CMS systems have been around since the 1990s when the main focus was on managing text-based content for the client with an on-premise enterprise software system. Web Content Management systems today must handle rich media content such as video, connect the client to key partners and vendors and manage the functional lifecycle from production, to monetization to device-agnostic delivery.
While open source CMS providers can often provide a set of tools for particular environments, they lack an end-to-end solution that includes content generation, distribution and monetization which are commonly required by today's companies.
The key criteria that define a modern WCM system today include:
- Ability to manage all forms of rich media, including video
- Ability to render all forms of content to virtually any end-user device
- Flexibility to develop and integrate with current and future third-parties via a standards-based SDK/API toolset that leverage specialties such as social interactions, gaming, analytics and video among others
- Provides security and scalability, frequently offered through a SaaS (software as a service) implementation that allows clients to incorporate multiple web properties, brands, businesses in a single system.
- Centralized production and internal content syndication are core capabilities that enable users to quickly create, repurpose and maintain content across multiple web properties from a single location.
- Customizable workflows include templates, audit capabilities and user-managed roles and permissions that allow clients to determine the access levels and approval process required for publication.
- Interoperability with third-party sources that includes the ingestion and syndication of standards-based content forms.
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