Web Content Management
Build your own or buy and customize? This question arises with all large IT projects, including Web Content Management (WCM).
There are upwards of 70 Web Content Management software companies currently. In general, people are buying WCM for a combination of interal and external purposes. Different needs require different solutions and for some companies this may be 'build-your-own' and for others it will be 'buy.'
Key questions to ask if you're looking to buy a Web Content Management system:
- How does the package handle and manage the creation, collaboration and life cycle of Web content?
- How well does it fit into the overall scheme of how you already do business?
- This will heavily influence how much customization will be required.
- How easy is it for non-technical content providers to use?
- How well does it scale?
- How does it integrate with other systems and infrastructure software?
- How does it handle security?
- Is it based on standards?
- Can you roll back to a previous version of the site?
- Can the package distribute content to wireless devices, caches and other
types of end-user tools?
- How does the package handle features and functions other than traditional
"core" WCM abilities—things like micropayment or source code?
- What is the vendor's long-term strategy?
- Where does it see the market heading?
Particularly these days, demand to see proof of the vendor's financial status—not just income and profit, but how much cash is in the bank, how many customers it has and so on. When doing your due diligence, you are well advised to treat all WCM vendors as start-ups, no matter how long they have been in business.
. . . .Johanna Ambrosio
...from Managing Web Content in ADTmag.com
Posted by dcoates at February 07, 2002 08:58 AM