Playing well with others
In terms of integrating with other platforms, XML plays a critical role. "XML is moving from sort of an interesting techie thing to an expectation that people understand that if I want to maximise, reuse, and repurpose my assets, XML has to play a significant role," says John Van Siclen, Interwoven's chief operating officer.
XML allows a company to store information that isn't database--or application--specific so that data can be shared among multiple applications, whether they are a businesses' own internal applications or those of a partner or customer, says Simon King, BroadVision's vice president of business strategy.
Once the system has those XML capabilities, the possibilities for presentation open up. "The XML document is structured in a way that lets you apply the true structure afterward, so you can access the data from a PDA [personal digital assistant], phone or the Web, and you end up with a sole system for deploying content to multiple channels," King says.
Working with the lay user
On the other side of the content chain, more businesspeople are becoming members of the content team. Whereas once only the Web designers and a few specially designated employees contributed content to the Web site, today almost everyone in an enterprise can be considered a contributor.
"We have over 800 enterprise-class customers that use our system and they sometimes have hundreds or even thousands of content contributors," Interwoven's Van Siclen says.
By engaging end users and suppliers to do their own content management, companies can gain more value from their content management software. "There's now a lot of focus on the user experience," King says.
But those systems weren't originally designed with the lay user in mind--and that's why providing a portal interface is now all the rage with content management system vendors. "Portals are definitely the trend in the market," Gartner's Gilbert says.
Several content management system companies have inked partnerships with enterprise portal companies--including Epicentric and Plumtree Software--to provide an all-in-one interface. Unlike typical portals, though, the content management portals provide a way to publish content as well as access it. "It's not just read-only," Van Siclen says.
The December issue of ZDNet Australia's Technology & Business Magazine contains reviews of content management products, including Editor's Choice Awards for the best products. For subscription information, visit Technology & Business.
