Web development is in crisis. The need for web-based marketing is firmly established, but the demand for flexible solutions will never be met using the technologies and practices currently in vogue. Business needs to step back from its frenzied technology buying to look at the whole picture, as it is now and as it is likely to unfold, and choose technology designed with change in mind.
This section specifically focuses on this business problem and the opportunities afforded by the Web. Together with our customers, we have created an architectural base and real-world system designed to empower business users now, and to protect business technology investment for change in the future.
The Related Links section at the bottom of each page can take you quickly to the sections of particular interest to you. Alternatively, you may wish to download our Content Management White Paper in Adobe Acrobat format, which contains this same information.
Business Issues
To adequately respond to customer needs, market-driven companies need market-driven web sites. Ongoing business issues demand that companies constantly change their web sites to include:
- New product releases
- Press releases
- Key technical support documents and FAQs
- Software upgrades and maintenance plans
- Updated product documentation
Traditionally, this has been an expensive and time-consuming process. First the specific changes need to be accumulated and documented. Next, these changes are given to a web designer or other individual with knowledge of HTML. The web designer must then find time to schedule these changes and review the impact to the overall site design.
The common problems with this process are:
- Both formal and informal communication between the user requesting the change and the web designer is time-consuming and confusing.
- Web designers typically prefer to concentrate on the graphic elements of a web site, and view content as secondary.
- Paying a web designer to convert text-based documents to HTML is expensive, redundant, and error-prone.
- The time lag between identification of a needed site change and when that change is actually posted can be inordinately long.
- As multiple people maintain a traditional web site, the construction has the tendency to evolve into a site that has an inconsistent look and is not cohesive.
Traditional Business Responses and Consequences
The response by business managers and IT professionals has been very predictable. As business managers demand more information and performance from the web site, programmers generate more unique code. As more customers interface with the business through the web site, sales and marketing responds with new content that must be integrated into the site. This eventually leads to hiring more HTML designers to redesign (or rebuild) the site's user interface. The professionals in IT then respond by hiring more HTML designers, rationing web design services or spending up to $1 million purchasing a content management system.
