Content management is becoming increasingly important as organizations invest more heavily in both internal and external content. Broadly defined, content management refers to all the processes, systems, and workflows associated with creating, organizing, distributing, and securing content within an organization.
Organizations are beginning to realize that content management cannot exist as a mere afterthought; it must include proactive planning and a thoughtful strategy to succeed. Thankfully, we’re already seeing a rise in the number of technological tools available to help organizations plot their content management strategies effectively, and it looks like we’re in store for even better future developments.
So what does the future of content management look like?
Cloud Content Management Platforms
Most importantly, we need to consider the role of cloud content management software. Cloud content management software has the power to help organizations create and collaborate on content, store that content securely, and make it available to everyone inside and outside of the organization. It is also the vector of growth most likely to bring content management into the future; as content management software evolves, so too will organizational content management strategies.
So what features will we see from future iterations of cloud content management software?
· Cloud-built nature. Historically, most content management platforms have been retrofitted to the cloud. They’ve taken all the features and tools available in traditional content management software and have migrated them to the cloud. While this is certainly efficient for the time being, future iterations of software will likely be natively built in the cloud; in other words, they’ll be designed from the ground up to take advantage of everything the cloud has to offer.
· Remote accessibility. Remote accessibility is a must for any cloud platform. Employees need to be able to access content no matter where they are and no matter what device they’re using. Currently, only some platforms are device-agnostic, but future content management platforms will make accessibility even easier.
· Security. For many organizations, security and compliance are top priorities in the realm of content management. Content includes sensitive information, including proprietary secrets and/or customer data. The built-in security features of cloud content management software will evolve to address these needs.
· Integrations. Content management is rarely an isolated process. It’s often tied in closely with project management, internal communications, sales, marketing, and practically every other department in your organization. That’s why the future of content management will include more integrations with other platforms and systems.
· Intuitiveness. Content management needs to be democratized if it’s going to continue growing and evolve toward a more efficient future. That means future systems will need to be much more intuitive – that way, everyone on the team will be able to use the system quickly, effectively, and without much training.
· Inexpensiveness. Finally, we’ll see a push for less expensive content management platforms. Sophisticated content management systems are already becoming commonplace and it’s likely we’ll see lower prices in a push to attract more users.
But aside from these technological developments, what could the future of content management look like?
New Types of Content
For starters, we need to start thinking about new types of content. We’re all familiar with standard Word documents, spreadsheets, PDF files, and PowerPoint presentations. But what about more interactive and advanced forms of content in the future? What kind of system will allow you to manage augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) content? What about types of content we’ve yet to see develop?
Collaboration and Efficiency
Organizations are beginning to realize the true power of collaboration when it comes to content creation and management. When working efficiently, teams of people can exchange ideas and ultimately create better work. The trouble is, working efficiently is hard with teams of people – leading to the “design by committee” problem, amongst others. Future content management strategies will be keen to improving collaborative efficiency and putting more collaborative tools in the hands of more team members.
Update and Version Management
We’ll also see developments in the realm of update and version management. For example, let’s say your team needs access to a pitch deck for sales presentations. You continuously update it with new content and new tactics. You’ll want your team to always have access to the latest and most canonical version, but you also don’t want to lose track of previous versions. Future content management systems will be designed and implemented to solve this management issue.
We can be certain that content management isn’t going away. Content is growing in both volume and importance in organizations large and small across a wide variety of industries. And if organizations want to keep up and continue operating effectively, they need to adopt these future-focused tools, processes, and strategies for better content management.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
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Yes, an "author" and at least one separate computer outside that is the "farm" to publish to, which serves the public. Only diff is the farm computers are read only, thus serve as virtualized back-ups. Airlines and Swiss banks use it.
A server farm? lol.
magnolia-cms is a server farm web app at min, so can connect to cloud also, but is already virtualized, to the farm computers, so you get nothing by further virtualization to "the cloud". As I say, I'm not the expert, and may be using wrong terms, as they are known to drift in meaning. Pretty sure "cloud" salesmen would object to being called nothing but internet!
I'm laughing at the fact that a CMS, by it's very nature, is generally internet based, aka the cloud.
I like Magnolia-cms.com, but am not an expert.
LOL… I quite literally laughed out loud at that line.
"You’ll want your team to always have access to the latest and most canonical version, but you also don’t want to lose track of previous versions. Future content management systems will be designed and implemented to solve this management issue."
Eh??? This is the most basic feature of any CURRENT existing ECM.
It's mandated by ISO Standard for over 2 decades already.