Cms Implementation News & Articles

Every CMS implementation is different, yet every one is prone to the most common mistakes. I scratch the surface with just 10 of them (my little Xmas present for you ;) plus tips on how to avoid simple failures as well as fiascoes of epic proportions.

There is no best web content management system. But there is probably a good Web CMS for what you’re trying to do. With that, we kicked-off a heated debate on Inconvenient truths and unsolved WCM industry challenges at the J.Boye 2009 conference in chilly Aarhus, DK.

And despite strenuous protestations by Aarhus mayor, Nicolai Wammen, who addressed the delegates at the opening ceremony today, the weather has not improved. Thankfully plenty of hot air warmth was radiating from the conference discussions, including the one on how to fix the WCM industry with all its problems and challenges. But why fix it, I ask, if it ain’t broken?

How efficient is your content re-use?

Today’s buzz word in the content management arena is “re-use.”  We must all re-use content to save time and money. We must repurpose what already exists to become more efficient and to re-publish that across multiple channels to ensure message consistency and effectiveness.

And yes, there are considerable advantages to re-using content in multiple locations on a website, on multiple sites, or even in different formats.

The notions of web and enterprise content governance are gaining more and more attention -- partially, due to growing concerns around eDiscovery and other compliance challenges. Everyone has some sort of content (and its volumes are growing at the speed of light), but do you have standards, policies and procedures around it? How do you enforce them?

The challenge many organizations face is compliance (or lack of it) with internal and external policies and regulatory standards. This is exactly the challenge Vamosa (news, site) is trying to address with its new product called Check & Fix.

I normally focus on the technical aspect of things, but I’ve been doing Web CMS implementations long enough to learn one very important non-technical thing. There is only one real key to success in a CMS implementation.

The Enterprise CMS vendor Vignette announced the availability of a new service called QuickSite. The new offering from Vignette Professional Services (VPS) is designed to do exactly what it sounds like: quickly launch web sites and simplify the Vignette Content Management (VCM) implementation process.

The QuickSite service is said to be able to deliver a working implementation of Vignette “within weeks.”

Outsourcing to India, China and Ukraine doesn’t surprise us anymore. What we found interesting, however, is an emerging trend in the world of offshoring that doesn’t revolve around India and Chennai, in particular.

Chennai may be losing its top placement on the list of offshore capitals of the world, as Lima, capital of Peru, comes in. Peru is starting to be seen as the new destination for general web development, as well as more specialized projects such as CMS implementations.

What are the implications?

Paul Trotter, CEO of Author-it Software Corp., is a man who knows what he is talking about. If you don’t believe me, just take a look at his bank balance.

He just published a White Paper on the implementation challenges presented by Content Management Systems as a whole. It ought to be required reading for boardroom-types, IT managers, webmasters — just about anyone whose job entails management of digital content.

But for those just waking up to the fact that they need a CMS, and are fretting over the issues involved in getting it up and running, you might want to take a look.