Understanding Web content management systems: evolution, lifecycle and market

Susan McKeever

Abstract: The volume of digital content available on the World Wide Web has increased dramatically over the past six years. Some form of Web content management (WCM) system is becoming essential for organisations with a significant Web presence as the volume of content continues to proliferate. WCM systems have evolved rapidly from the basic HTML editors of six years ago, to the sophisticated content production and publishing tools available today. This paper presents a WCM hierarchy, examines the underlying Web content management lifecycle, and identifies the key market trends for WCM systems.