We seem to have lost our authors on the SMC blog.  This just goes to show you how much of a committment it is to not only put a blog out there, but to maintain a blog.  For Search Optimization reasons, it’s kind of ridiculous that a post is not done on this blog weekly.  I will start to post topics on this blog on a regular basis and see if we can’t get some subscribers to this baby!

Tonight will be the night that a majority of the SMC sites will be upgraded to version 3.31 of the software.  While we do not anticipate any problems, you should be aware that a new version is going out.  We will post details of the upgrade once we know everything is stable, but the biggest feature enhancement in this version is the addition of Captcha to prevent spamming of web forms.

More to come…

There is no such thing as a perfect content management solution for everyone, but there’s probably a near perfect CM solution out there for you.  What does this mean?  That doesn’t make sense!  How does this change the way we think about software?

When I think about software the first thing that comes to my mind is Microsoft and the success they have seen with their Office suite.  MS Office is a “one-size-fits-all” software suite, and might be the one of the most flexible collections of software applications ever written.  With that said, it will never accomplish all needs for all people.  So what do we do?  We accommodate and make it work the best we can.  Why?  Because the price is right and Microsoft isn’t likely putting our request on their ToDo list for the next version.  Well, times are changing my friend!

Accommodation versus Customization.  As thousands of software applications are developed each year, our chance of finding a solution that fits our exact needs is more and more realistic.  Businesses are no longer settling for the one size fits all solution, or trying to fit the proverbial round peg in the square hole.  Profitable business relies on efficiency, and efficiency is not realized with accommodation.

Custom applications have long been the norm for the Fortune 500, but are only now starting to gain traction with the Small to Medium Size Businesses (SMBs).  This trend has a simple explanation.  Big business has the money to customize and the resources to support and maintain those customizations.  The SMBs that are able to customize, however, are experiencing tremendous efficiencies in their day-to-day activities.  Solutions that can be customized for any business process are the future, and the software application that can accomplish this at a low price point will be way ahead of the curve.

The latest version of the SMC’s plug-in builder was designed with this one notion in mind.  Every client has a unique way of doing business, and their content management solution needs to be easily and cost effectively customized for these differences.  Printers do not do E-commerce the same way a book store does.  Ranch and farm real estate is quite different than online marketing of single family homes or condominiums.  Is there any reason to think you can use a cookie-cutter piece of software for each of these instances and optimize success?  No way!

Your SMC provider will not try to change your business processes to accommodate the SMC, but will customize the SMC to adhere to your business processes.  Now that’s not the message we aren’t accustomed to hearing from a software provider!  But how can we be profitable when we have thousands of versions of each plug-in out there?  The answer is simple.  The core technology stays the same, but your instance of the plug-in is unique to your SMC.

For more information on how the SMC can be tailored to fit your unique business requirements, please contact one of our SMC providers.

The testing has finally commenced and SMC sites are being upgraded to the latest version of the SMC.  Contact us today to see what awaits in this much anticipated release.

• Research competition to get an idea of what you are up against, both visually and functionally

• Look for sites with visual appeal that match your taste to ensure designers are clear on your vision

• Gather all needed info and graphic files; Logo, pictures, PMS colors, etc. that you want designers to incorporate in the framework design. It is difficult to begin the project and prototype design without these items.