Content Management Systems (CMS)

Understanding content management systems (CMS) can help you choose what is best for you. There are four main types of content management systems: Enterprise, Web, Document, and Mobile Content.

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When you are involved in business, both online and offline, it becomes important to manage your content. A content management system (CMS) can help you keep track of your information and documents, and also help you quickly and easily retrieve and share data. A good content management system will help you improve communication between users, increase the efficiency of your operation, and also control access to data. If you are looking to improve the flow of information in your organization, a content management system can be of help. Here are four main types of content management that you can use to help keep things moving more smoothly:

1. Enterprise CMS

An enterprise content management system is designed especially with an organization -- often a business or non-profit -- in mind. The idea is to organize documents related to your organization's processes. This includes documents that are related to financials, presentations, executive positions, and the general organization of the company or non-profit. Enterprise content management systems are designed to help with the flow of information, and make it easy for retrieval when necessary. Workflow is also included in enterprise CMS, making it possible for collaborates, even at distances, to easily share work. These types of content management systems are great for business to employee situations, and business to business situations.

2. Web CMS

The main purpose of a web content management system is help ease the process of publishing to the Internet. Many businesses these days understand the importance of a business web site and/or blog. The Internet offers opportunities to reach others, and a web CMS is designed to help those with limited (or even no) technical knowledge of the Internet to publish content online. A good web content management system can help you publish news and information about your organization, but also manage comments and media posted to the site. On top of that, for ecommerce, web CMS can help you keep track of catalog entries and easily post new additions.

3. Document Management System

Related to content management is a document management system. The main purpose of this type of CMS is to store, track and retrieve electronic documents. Document content management systems also do the same with images of hard copy documents. If you have hard copies, you can scan them and store the images on a document management system. This is desirable in many cases. A document system is usually integrated as a component of enterprise CMS, in order to help find supporting documents quickly and easily. These types of systems are also quite helpful for historical records, museums and projects related to literature.

4. Mobile CMS

As you might imagine, a mobile content management system (CMS) is designed to help deliver, store and retrieve content with the help of mobile devices. With smart phones becoming increasingly popular, it is little surprise that you might want to access information using these devices. In some cases, though, the formatting other needs may be different. Mobile CMS includes key features, such as delivery based on location and multi-channel delivery. These features make mobile content management systems versatile and convenient. Many businesses are seeing the value of mobile CMS for key personnel to remain connected to the business, as well as plenty of business to consumer applications.

Using Content Management Systems

In many cases, you are likely to use components of all of the four above types of content management. This is because they are all connected with the idea of data flow. If you need to manage your data, and if you need to organize your information, a good CMS is important. There are a number of proprietary and open source content management systems to choose from. It is a good idea to evaluate your needs, and consider what you can afford. Compare your options, and determine what is most likely to be of use. You can often find a CMS that will help you with your enterprise, while managing documents, the web and even mobile delivery. You will find that a good CMS is often worth what you pay for it, since it increases your efficiency, and provides you with fast, easy access to important business information.

Most web hosting let you choose from several content management systems (CMS), but we recommend HostGator for most CMS hosting.

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