Abstract

Content management systems (CMS) provide an optimal solution by organising information and, mostly, creating and managing an enterprise's knowledge. Nevertheless there is a big confusion about the functionalities that characterise CMS and about the differences with less performing products such as web content management systems, document and records management systems and enterprise content management systems. This paper aims to show the mismatches between companies' needs and those information management products, which are often called CMS even if they are not. For this reason the authors first make a theoretical comparison between the functionalities of CMS and those of the systems they are often confused with. Then they show the results of an empirical research on 22 products offered by international vendors. By using an original scheme, enterprises' needs in terms of information collection, management and publication and of knowledge management are compared with the functionalities of the aforementioned systems. The result consists of performing definitions for CMS and the other systems for managing information. Content Management products are analysed, compared and evaluated by using a special table created to point out the actual functionalities of the products offered on the market, despite vendors' declarations. Moreover the highlights are displayed in a matrix to evaluate the level of personalisation‑flexibility of the different products. The paper conclusions show how, on the demand side, companies' needs are growing in a confused framework; at the same time the supply side keeps on feeding this confusion, reducing company satisfaction in regard to knowledge and information management.