“They need to organise the information better so people can find what they need.” Websites, especially those produced by sophisticated content management systems, should be…

My second CM Briefing for June looks at the spending patterns during CMS implementation. To quote: There are three clear phases to the adoption of a content management system, of which the initial implementation is just the first step. The activities and spending patterns during these phases needs to be understood, to ensure that sufficient time and resources are made available for the project as a whole. This article explores each of the three main phases, and outlines some recommendations for the planning of CMS spending.

A website can be an impressive statement of professionalism and creativity, enhancing a company’s image with a high standard of design, graphical sophistication, consistency and…

Features and benefits Importance to consumers? Very important 48% Important 39% Somewhat important 10% Not important 3% How do vendor websites rate? Very good 11%…

Detailed product descriptions Importance to consumers? Very important 64% Important 24% Somewhat important 10% Not important 2% How do vendor websites rate? Very good 5%…

At-a-glance product summary Importance to consumers? Very important 42% Important 37% Somewhat important 18% Not important 3% How do vendor websites rate? Very good 8%…

The CMS marketplace is undergoing a substantial transformation, and vendors must update their websites to reflect the new environment. With consumers increasingly relying on vendor…

A while back, we published a report titled Benchmarking CMS vendor websites, which looked at how effectively vendor websites communicated the strengths and capabilities of their products. This was a report targeted specifically at vendors (rather than consumers), with the twin goals of: helping vendors better sell their products; and as a consequence, helping consumers to get the information that they needed. This was a good report, based on a large consumer survey and expert evaluations of a wide cross-section of vendor websites. In all honesty, however, we didn't make many sales. While vendors could see that they could gain

My KM Column article for this month explores the topic of CMS interoperability. To quote: While the goal of interoperability between content management systems (CMS) is an important one, it is limited by the lack of standards relating to content management. At present, there are a range of narrowly-focused specifications in the marketplace, but these address only specific aspects of system interoperability. A number of initiatives are under way to address CMS interoperability, but these are in their formative stages, and it is expected that at least several years will be required before widely-accepted CMS standards are developed.

The Content Management HandbookMartin White The best thing about the Content Management Handbook is that it provides something that has been missing for some time: a simple and clear overview of the whole field of content management. While other books have delved in-depth into specific aspects of content management, Martin White's book aims to provide a 10,000 foot view of everything that goes into a successful content management implementation. Martin is one of the leading vendor-neutral intranet and CMS consultants in the UK, and his experience shines through in this book. This is not just the "sales pitch" for all