Season of discontent: CMS vendors left out in cold
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But a sagging economy isn't all that's to blame for the pain inflicted on these companies--some of their suffering comes as a result of the changing role of content management within the technology landscape. The rise of the application server, competition from large enterprise software vendors, the popularity of open source, and the rise of custom-designed solutions are all squeezing smaller CMS companies into a narrow and murky role.
At the moment Broadvision might be the CMS vendor closest to being on life support, having just completed a 1-for-9 reverse stock split, a sleight of hand to prevent it from being delisted. The company is also trading below cash on hand, suggesting that, at least for the moment, the market believes that the intellectual capital at Broadvision isn't just useless, but a liability.
The job of combining content with other corporate functions has been increasingly taken over by application servers, such as BEA's WebLogic or IBM's WebSphere. As the application server has grown in prominence, all the major CMS vendors have designed or adapted their products to work in conjunction with it. While adaptation was a necessary survival tactic, it left CMS products with an uncertain role. Many of their former core functions, like communication between Web sites and databases, and the compilation of JSPs, can now be performed by the application server. This fact is not lost on IT managers, and some companies that might have previously considered purchasing dedicated CMS software found the built-in functionality of their app servers sufficient.
Another threat to the CMS vendors comes from large enterprise software vendors such as IBM, SAP, and Microsoft, all of which have products that can perform content management functions. The products have the added advantage of interoperability with those behemoths' other software applications. A recent Gartner report on the enterprise portal market outlined a shift from specialist pure-play vendors to larger enterprise vendors, and a similar evolution has occurred in the application server market, where larger companies such as IBM, BEA, and Microsoft took over from such smaller players as Kiva and NetDynamics, both acquired by Sun, SilverStream, acquired by Novell, and Bluestone, acquired by Hewlett-Packard.The content management field is undergoing a similar shift right now.
A third factor cutting into the dedicated CMS vendors is the rise of open-source solutions. Open-source products have improved and gained greater corporate visibility at the same time that money for enterprise software licenses has evaporated. As a result, an increasing number of shops are opting to either go back to in-house development using open-source tools such as Linux and MySQL, or to rely on open-source CMS products such as Zope, Red Hat Content Management (formerly Ars Digita), and OpenCMS.By choosing open source over a proprietary CMS vendor, companies save two ways: First, they avoid the cost of the CMS software, and second, they may avoid other software expenses, since almost all the proprietary CMS products require proprietary OSes, application servers,and databases--the total licensing costs of which can exceed the cost of the CMS software. Open-source answers may cost more in terms of consulting and development staff, but that's not a given, since commercial CMS products also come with significant development costs, and usually require consulting services for proper implementation.
Another development hurting CMS vendors is a better understanding among potential customers of the complexity of content management. A few years ago, CMS products were often touted as having "out of the box" functionality. In fact, these products are essentially development environments, and all require significant development efforts after the sale. Many shops, understanding they're in for a serious development challenge in any case, are now opting to build custom solutions to fit their specific needs
Content management is an important part of an enterprise Web strategy, and it will only increase in importance as more business functions are moved to the Web. The specialized services like workflow and personalization provided by content management companies will remain important selling points. But the conflux of powerful application servers, compelling open-source options, and encroaching enterprise software vendors will certainly lead to industry consolidation and a shift in the way content management software fits into the overall enterprise Web strategy.
What this means to those considering a content management solution is that there are more and better options than ever. Choosing the best solution, though, requires increased due diligence. Where once the choice might have been between a handful of CMS vendors, IT managers now must look at a larger picture that includes application servers, related enterprise software products, and open-source technologies. What's gained in return for the extra effort is the ability to better tailor solutions to a wider variety of specific CMS scenarios, budgets, and development abilities.
Will your company buy a CMS package or use other apps to manage content? E-mail John McGrath or TalkBack below.
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