There are many fine packaged CMS applications in the marketplace today. In fact, we have experience integrating our solutions with many of the off-the-shelf packages available today. In many instances, they make perfect sense for an organization. However, they all require some level of customization and systems integration work. In many instances, that customization is significant.

Purely custom development, while appealing at a gut level, also presents its own issues. Bug-ridden code, timeline issues and perhaps most importantly, cost overruns, all present major impediments to proceeding with the custom route. And the reality is that as unique as organizations believe their needs may be, there are normally common threads to the management of content and workflows and permissions that do not necessitate the construction of applications from scratch.

Westrum & Brown believes that by leveraging its existing library of modules (including a base CMS as a foundation), and then customizing the unique needs of each client, we can leverage the best of both worlds. The advantage of this approach includes:

• Custom to exact client needs
• Not locked into one vendor over time
• Cost-effective - one time fee for initial system development and implementation, no ongoing licensing
• Easily extensible and flexible, including integration with many applications and web services
• Size and scale to fit needs, including the addition of modules to fit the specific needs of business units

Popular content management systems include:

• News Blogs
• Fully customizable menu systems
• Updated content
• Latest news
• Client area & password protection
• Content searches
• Frequently asked questions
• Automated newsletter management
• Online product directories & shopping carts
• Document uploads
• Contact us email forms
• Joomla
• Wordpress

Most importantly, all of these modules have simple administration systems allowing our customers to easily update and change their content through simple form-based user interfaces.