Content Management Software

Bridgeline Digital Inc’s iAPPS Content Manager was selected as the 2010 CODiE Award for Best Content Management Solution by the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) at the All About the Cloud conference earlier this month. iAPPS was chosen from more than 450 products as the software technology platform that best added value to content accessed or distributed by the enterprise or end-user.

iAPPS Content Manager is Bridgeline’s flagship web content management solution within the iAPPS Product Suite, an innovative solution that unifies Content Management, eCommerce, eMarketing and Web Analytics capabilities, enabling users to swiftly enhance and optimize the value of their web properties.

With its deep, native integration on the .NET-based iAPPS Framework, the iAPPS Content Manager is able to deliver critical Search Engine Optimization (SEO) capabilities that competing web CMS products cannot offer. Its user interface and integrated web analytics solution, iAPPS Analytics, non-technical business users are empowered to design and deliver targeted and persuasive content in real-time. iAPPS is available as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) subscription deployment model or as a perpetual license with the flexible option for those who want to spread costs over several years and don’t want to the own the responsibilities of maintaining and supporting the required back end architecture.

With the end of every year comes a plethora of forecasts for the next year, and we’re no different—today we’re going to take a look at some of the things we expect to see more of in the web content management space.

One of the least surprising trends in the web content management space is the continual addition of social media. Content management systems are somewhat social by nature, but lately the additions of internal and external social computing modules have blurred some of the lines between “web content management,” and “social media.” You’d be hard pressed to find a CMS vendor that doesn’t offer social media capabilities, and right now, social functions range from micro-blogging to alternative identity solutions to commenting and tagging. Also, SharePoint 2010 is promising to “break down the silos between enterprise and web,” so 2010 is going to be an eventful year.

That the influx of social media capabilities is blurring the lines between social networking platforms and web content management has some people pushing to have the system rechristened. Some feel that “WCM” is a hackneyed acronym, and at this point a misleading one. Given that content management systems allow users to publish information—and perform other tasks, like online and email marketing—the “management” name seems unfitting. But we’ll likely have to wait and see how much the platform’s fundamentals changes before we see a new acronym.

One emerging addition to many CMS platforms is integrated marketing. We reported recently that CrownPeak added online marketing to their product, and many other vendors are following suit. The need among CMS users to create engaging and profitable content is on the rise, and vendors are working to meet their needs. Most of these online marketing additions have integrated analytics tools, like the ones offered by Bridgeline and Sitecore. Still, some vendors are partnering with third-party analytics companies, or sticking with Google Analytics. Yet another addition pushing for a fundamental change in traditional CMS is integrated search—browser-centric information management is becoming invaluable, and crucial to optimizing content.

This year can definitely be thought of as the year of SaaS and cloud computing, so it’s probably a surprise to no one that cloud-based web content management offerings will take a greater hold in 2010. More users will likely switch to entirely SaaS platforms, while others will follow the trend put forth in other technology segments, and add cloud-components to their on-premise systems.

Bridgeline’s content management solutions have received a solid amount of praise this month. At the beginning of the month, they announced that web applications developed for the National Children’s Museum (NCM), Partners HealthCare, and Hooked on Phonics had been honored by the WebAwards for Outstanding Achievement in Website Development.

The NCM website was developed with the intention of creating a strong web presence for the opening of the new NCM in 2013. Built using Bridgeline’s iAPPS Product Suite, the NCM chose Bridgeline for their ability to make considerable use of Flash design; the Partners HealthCare site was built on iAPPS as well. Hooked on Phonics didn’t specify which product suite they utilized, but their ecommerce site has advanced functionality, with automated sales features and a “refer a friend” marketing campaign.

Success for HookedonPhonics.com didn’t end there, however. Last week, Bridgeline announced that the company’s Learn to Read (eCommerce) website is a finalist in the Education and Learning category for the 14^th Annual MITX (Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange) Interactive Awards. Celebrating “the union of the big idea and innovation,” the award is an industry honor, and would be a first for Bridgeline.