Businesses and ecommerce web site operators are increasingly aware of the need for dynamic pages that display important news and other information as it happens, without needing to be manually updated each time. The way to do this is through a Content Management System, or CMS. A good CMS can manage information and store, retrieve and display data with little intervention from an outside party. What is an Open Source Content Management System? Open source software is any software that is available in source code form, which permits developers to customize, change, and improve upon the software. As such, open source software is always evolving, and it can be viewed as an accumulation of collaborative efforts from web developers who have tailored the programs to suit their own, or their clients’, needs. Open source content management systems are platforms like Wordpress, Drupal, or DotNetNuke (DNN). Choosing a CMS for ecommerce If you’re looking for a content management system, Clarity recommends well-established open source systems. Open source content management systems are likely to be highly developed, and have adopted multiple iterations to suit the needs of ecommerce business owners and other website operators. Many of these platforms provide for ease of use with regards to adding pages, images, or text; and with the help of a skilled developer, the code can be customized to suit your business’s specific needs. To determine which CMS is right for your business, you will need to ask yourself: what is the skill set of the person/people who are operating your website? What functions would you like your web site to have? How big do you expect your web site to be? Which Open Source CMS is Right for Your ecommerce Business? There are a variety of well-developed, cost-effective open-source Content Management Systems, ranging from simple and user-friendly to complex but highly functional. Popular open-source CMS’s include Wordpress, Drupal, and DotNetNuke. To determine which CMS is right for your business, you will need to ask yourself: what is the skill set of the person/people who are operating your website? What functions would you like your web site to have? How big do you expect your web site to be? Clarity can answer these questions and more as you design an open-source CMS solution that is right for your business. Find out more about Clarity Ventures See our Enterprise Web portfolio