Content Management System (CMS)

Tremendous amounts of content get created everyday in organization. Most organizations do not have a structured approach to managing such content. However, there is a need for having a scientific approach towards content and its management especially in the digital environment where content gets created and updated much faster. A content management is therefore required in organizations to support the organization and to keep track of the huge volume of content that gets created everyday.

Content management (CM) is the activity that supports the collection, management, and publication of information in any medium. Nowadays content management is usually done on IT platforms and hence it is considered as a separate set of technology that needs to be manag9d for the organization’s benefit. In IT driven companies the content is digital (in the form of alpha numeric text as in documents, multimedia content such as audio and/ or video, or any other type) which helps in its management.

Content management is an important activity that an organization needs to take seriously if it wants to leverage its information base. Content management is a collaborative process and consists of the following:

1. Content Creator – one who creates the content
2. Content Editor – one who edits the content and makes it palatable.
3. Content Publisher – content disseminator.
4. Content Administrator – manager of content access, version, etc.
5. Content user – content user.

A very import aspect of content management is version control. Digital content is easily changed and new versions are created of the same content. The content management system must ensure that the content that is available to the users is the current version of the content. Unless the version of the content is managed, the users may not be able to access the updated content. Content management must also be able to manage content distributions and digital rights management. Content management also eliminates duplication.

Drivers of Content Management

The three drivers that propel organizations for content management are:

1. Collaboration: In today’s working environment, the same content gets created and worked upon by several people simultaneously. This poses a challenge for organizations and the only solution to this is to adopt content management.
2. Compliance: Several compliance related issues have come up in the recent past that requires the single version of the truth from organizations, when they communicate to internal or external customers. This is again a challenge that can only be met by content management
3. Consolidation: This is the last driver for content management. Organization need more and more consolidated content that can only be done if content management is practiced.

Content Management System (CMS) is usually a software system with specific processes and procedures that allows us to manage digital content in a collaborative mode.

Types of CMS

1. Enterprise Content Management used to manage enterprise wide content.
2. Web content management systems used to manage web content.
3. Document management systems used for managing documents.
4. Mobile Content management system used to manage texts and multimedia content for mobile devices.