Who Should Manage your CMS?
February 9, 2004
The question came up recently—where in your organization should a CMS be managed? This particular client was not interested in an ASP model (which is an excellent one for some), but is raising the question of which group should manage a growing CMS implementation in a growing company.
I offered the following preliminary (and general) answer. Your mileage will vary.
1. The CMS software, repository, interfaces, and customized tools should be managed by a centralized technical organization that is resposible for other business applications (back office, ERP, etc.) It is risky to not have a group that specifically worries about the software and all the administravia that goes along with it (OS versions, database versions, upgrades, etc.)
2. The content of the CMS content and how it displays to its various audiences should then be controlled by those people who own the different communication products and different audiences. Thus, tech doc should own its sections, marketing its sections, and so on. Some organizations are very focused on branding (e.g., use of the corporate logo and name, colors, etc); in this case, a good CMS will allow templating of such items so that they can be easily controlled and administered by a central group.
Hope this helps, and I would be happy to discuss more, either here or offline.
Bill
btrippe@nmpub.com
Posted by Bill Trippe at February 9, 2004 2:57 PM
