How do I choose Content Management System?


If you are planning to decide on which Content Management System to adopt, first thing, you should have some information about what you or your organization is imagining from a CMS.

However, everybody cannot be so imaginative, so imagination is restricted to what you perceive as a Content management system, you will probably need additional information which will help you educate on what CMS products out there in market are offering, what is the trend, and what people are doing best to increase productivity through collaboration.

You can read this article which will educate you on what other areas you should consider before confirming on a specific CM Product. After reading this article, you will be well versed with the terminologies/ jargons which you will be hit by visiting individual CM product sites.

An ultimate aim of this article is to –

  • Educate decision makers to understand typical CMS features
  • Relate features to their own requirements
  • Map features/requirements against any product for effective product selection

Below list should help you understand about most expected features of Content Management –

  • Security
  • Enterprise Search
  • Integration
  • Technology
  • Deployment Flexibility
  • Scalability
  • Customer Service Support
  • Localization
  • Multi-Web Site Management
  • Translation Management
  • Brand Management
  • Target Audience Marketing
  • Multi-Channel Marketing
  • Browser Support
  • Workflows
  • Supported Content Types
  • Site Edit Feature
  • Word Connector
  • Archiving flexibility
  • Content Distributor
  • Visitor experience analytics
  • Personalization
  • Is it open source?
  • Supported Web Servers
  • SEO
  • SaaS
  • Cloud hosting option/Cloud Ready
  • Mobile version support
  • Version Control and Rollback features
  • ad Management
  • Real-time auditing
  • Reporting
  • Email integration
  • Architecture
  • Social networking support
  • Disaster Recovery options
  • Record Management support
  • Web content Management support
  • Multivariable Testing support
  • Web Traffic analytics
  • Business Analytics
  • Image Edit options
  • Background Job Processor
  • Asynchronous Job processor
  • GEOIP feature
  • PDF generation feature
  • Library/content Load balancing
  • Diagnostics control
  • Subscription control at folder/content level
  • Tasks
  • Web Alerts
  • Wiki Support
  • Blog features
  • Content Editor
  • Content Migration support
  • Content Export formats
  • User communities
  • Third party components leverage
  • Drag and Drop architecture
  • Dynamic Page content and layout changes
  • Tags and Catagories
  • Comments and Likes
  • Business intelligence
  • Role and rights Management

 I am also listing some good products that I Know about–

1. Company Name: Microsoft , www.Microsoft.com

Product Name: SharePoint 2007/2010 Server

Technology: Microsoft .Net

 2. Company Name: Ektron , www.Ektron.com

Product Name: Ektron CMS

Technology: Microsoft .Net

3. Company Name: Ektron , www.Sitecore.com

Product Name: Sitecore CMS

Technology: Microsoft .Net

4. Company Name: dotCMS , www.dotCMs.org

Product Name: dotCMS CMS

Technology: Java

5. Company Name: CrownPeak , www.CrownPeak.com

Product Name: CrownPeak CMS

Technology:

6. Company Name: percussion , www.percussion.org

Product Name: Percussion CM1, CM2

Technology: Java

 7. Company Name: oxcyon , www.oxcyon.org

Product Name: Percussion CM1, CM2

Technology: Java

 8.Company Name: LimeLight , www.clickability.com

Product Name: Limelight

Technology:

 9. Company Name: Autonomy interwoven, www. interwoven.com

Product Name: Autonomy interwoven WCM

Technology: Java

 10. Company Name: beidgelinedigital, www. bridgelinedigital.com

Product Name: iAPPS Content Manager

Technology: Microsoft .NET

11. Company Name: SDL Tridion, www. sdltridion.com

Product Name: SDL Tridion WCM

Technology: Microsoft .NET

 I hope this is helpful !!

– Laxmikant Patil