Today's Landscape
Today's global technology landscape revolves almost entirely on content. While the concept of managing data is not new, what makes this statement revolutionary in terms of application development is the source of the content. In the past, most content was developed by software companies and marketed directly to the consumer online or via retail chains. Today, the consumer doesn't just consume content, but is now actively participating in the creation and marketing of the content.
This revolutionary shift from consumer to creator/consumer presents a whole set of challenges that make this situation totally unique from an historical perspective. From the application development perspective, the key challenge now is to provide resources for consumers to create their own content, make it available to others in a variety of formats, and interact with other content creators and consumers.
Another revolutionary shift related to content is how it is archived and stored for future retrieval. Most content has ended up stored in “silos” tied to the author and/or the subject matter. The added ability to share content presents challenges for locating and retrieving content easily, without making the content vulnerable to security risks.
Just a few years ago, nobody wanted to be on the leading edge of technology because of exposure to risk in terms of reliability, stability, and time to implement. Trouble in any of those areas resulted in the loss of valuable resources and costly setbacks to individuals and organizations, particularly as it relates to the access and management of their content. Today, in order to establish credibility and establish value for your content, an individual or organization needs to adapt to new technology early and keep pace with the changing environment. New products are announced almost on a daily basis. Many are free, many address a specific need or niche. Which are right for you and your organization? Will the applications be compatible and integrate with your current processes?