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.

“With the open source community seemingly hot, why should I pay for the Site Management Console (SMC) when there are open source systems out there for free?”.  This question is consistently addressed when people researching content management are introduced to the SMC.

A topic that has surely been debated as long as open source projects have been around, there are positives and negatives to both sides.  The truth is the SMC would not be here today if it didn’t provide a solution that filled a need and was above and beyond the capabilities of the open source alternative.  I’ve provided a few points below that I think the SMC has to offer that the open source CMS cannot.

“Nothing in life is truly free!”

Service and Support:  SMC providers don’t just sit behind a wall throwing out new versions of the software, we become your partner in technology.  The fact is you are most likely looking for a CMS because you either do not have the personnel OR do not have the time to build and support one yourself.  There’s no reason to think this is ever going to change.  To take advantage of the open source CMS, you’ll need to have the right personnel in place to support and maintain the entire system.  Maintaining a piece of software is not a trivial task and requires substantial resources to do so.  We won’t even get into the headaches you encounter when these resources move on!  We create the environment that allows you to focus on servicing your clients with what you do best, while we focus on servicing you.  This will always be the #1 reason to choose closed source, but I will continue anyway!

Security:  If you are working with a client that is required or will be required to conduct security audits, open source systems are not an option.  Having access to the code makes the process of finding security holes to exploit an easy task for hackers.  Finding the vulnerability is half the battle.  A great example of this is what happened to some of the open source discussion boards.

Features and Flexibility:  The feature set, ease of use, and flexibility of the SMC currently far exceeds the open source solutions.  I  bet you didn’t expect to see that one on my list, since this is often thought to be one of the major advantages of open source?  Truth is, most features available with open source were not built for you, nor were they built to be flexible or scale.  We realize this gap may or may not narrow, but I can confidently say there was a gap two years ago and there still is today.  The product team has dedicated resources to ensure the SMC solution always stays one step ahead of the competition.

Define Free:  Yes, it is free to distribute, but it is far from free to design, set-up, maintain, and support an open source CMS web site. Are Drupal and Joomla! web solutions really free when they require you to staff an $80K person to administer and maintain them?  Whether you are paying for a proprietary CMS or supporting an open source CMS, there are costs that will be passed onto your customers.  Since time is money, how much savings is really there?  We try to create an environment that results in a win-win for both parties.

More Providers means More Competition:  Standardizing your client base on a system that thousands of web service providers offer makes it far easier for your client to go elsewhere.  While you are not trying to trap your customers on the SMC platform (you keep them by providing good service), at the same time you don’t want to make it as easy as a phone call to switch to a provider down the street.  Remember that thousands of businesses come and go, and they will do everything they can to steal your clients.  Don’t let price be the only variable in your solution.  The SMC solution will differentiate you from your competition, give you a distinct advantage, and thus a better chance of getting the business.

Customizations - This is probably one of the biggest advantages of open source CMS, but!  If you want to customize an open source CMS, you’ll need a programmer on staff that knows the system and has the skills to complete the task.  Sure, you can try your luck with the community, but finding the piece that fits the exact needs of your client is most often not there.  The SMC team builds every feature with flexibility in mind, knowing that each implementation will most likely be slightly different.

High End Solution:  For companies seeking a new web site provider, the open source solution is more often than not going to be the cheapest proposal on the table.  Do you want to be the cheapest solution?  Or, do you want to be the best solution that your customers are willing to pay a little more for?  I’ve always found that customers looking for “cheap” are always the most difficult to deal with.  In the end we all want the project to be successful, and those that make an investment in something tend to go the extra mile to ensure success.  Some of you may be shaking your head at this one, but others of you know exactly what I mean!

We could go on and on with this but you most likely have already done some research and are probably up to speed on the Open versus Proprietary debate.  There are many ways of breaking it down, but you’ll need to decide what is most important to you.  While everything mentioned above has varying importance and needs to be evaluated, the biggest difference between open and closed source CMS is always the service and support you receive.  If you need it, then you should go with a closed/proprietary solution, but if you don’t the open source route might be the direction you’re headed.