Information is at the core of any business. In an increasingly information-driven economy, business success is defined more and more by how effectively and efficiently information can be captured, created, managed and delivered, whether it's contained in static files, database tables, unstructured documents or records.  

In today’s fast paced world, most companies change their company information and services on a regular basis.  If their website is not kept up to date with these developments, it could negatively affect the business, running the risk of losing potential customers.

For this reason, more and more businesses want complete control over their website. To be able to do this they need a tool, commonly referred to as a Content Management System (CMS).

Content Management Systems allow end-users (typically authors of some sort) to insert general information providing new content in the form of articles. The articles are typically entered as plain text, perhaps with markup to indicate where other resources (such as pictures) should be placed. The system then uses rules to style the article, separating the display from the content to ensure that the articles conform to a consistent "look and feel". The system then adds the articles to a larger collection for publishing.

The system can also possess a certain level of knowledge with regard to the concept of the workflow for the target users, which defines how the new content is to be routed around the system.

A good example of a Content Management System would be a system for managing a newspaper. In such a system the reporters type articles into the system, which stores them in a database. Along with the article the system stores attributes, including keywords, the date and time of filing, the reporter's name, etc. The system then uses these attributes to indicate, given its workflow rules, as to who should proofread the article, approve it for publication, edit it, etc. Later the editors can choose which articles to include (or ignore) in an edition of the newspaper, which is then laid out and printed automatically.

Web Content Management Systems (WCM) span a wide variety of needs, from small systems with almost no workflow for small user-groups, to large database-based systems for running significant and highly active web sites such as those for a newspaper.

A WCM-tool normally includes functions for administering users and groups and for editing the content. It is possible, for example, to have one group for administrators, one group for content editors and one group for visitors. Besides editing the content, a WCM tool often has functions for version control - to keep track of the history of the different versions of an item.

As with all software areas, the companies that develop and sell/distribute WCM tools put more and more functions onto them to make them as attractive as possible. Some of these functions might lie outside the traditional definition of WCM and can include modules that are typically used when building a web site (intranet, extranet or public Internet) like search engine, discussion forums, etc. Today many of these features are also regarded as part of the WCM area, even if they do not exactly deal with managing content.

In answer to our own clients’ demands, at Jenerate.com we have created customised content managers for various business sectors including: