Normally around this time of the year the blog sphere is crammed with articles proclaiming how this is the year when Content Management, Web Content Management, Enterprise Content Management or whatever you want to call it finally comes of age. I’ve forgotten how many times I’ve heard it and how many times it hasn’t come true.
The truth is that Content Management will probably never have a year when it comes of age or when it finally takes off. It’s just not that sort of product. Tablets, now they had a year. It was last year – did you miss it? The ipad was released in April 2010 and 2011 was the year of the ipad but last year, 2012 was when other tablets finally appeared and tablets as a whole, and not just as a single product, went mainstream.
This post originally appeared on extended-content.com
Content Management has been proclaimed as the next big thing virtually since the phrase was coined. The pundits out there would love you to believe that it’s finally going to have it’s year but then that’s their job. They have to try and drum up interest to keep you reading and to give the product companies something to market with.
The truth is that Content Management is not the sort of product or technology which is going to suddenly take off. It’s more like a favourite coat. You put it on, it keeps you warm, it’s useful and after a while you find yourself taking it everywhere. Content Management creeps up on you until you can’t imagine life without it. For those people still using shared drives, and yes there are some out there, it can sometimes be hard to see the benefits of a Content Management system. Unfortunately for Content Management suppliers once you have implemented a solution your users don’t tend to go around waving banners and proclaiming how good life is like they do when they get a new ipad. Instead they just carry on and if you’ve done it properly it just feels natural and people just can’t remember what life was like before it.
In many respects that’s the way Content Management should be. It shouldn’t make you want to swing off the chandeliers or dance around the room. It should just be there, it should work properly and should be so easy to use that you can’t imagine life without it.
By the way 2013 is already being marked by some as the year of the phablet – you have been warned!