How can open source CMS's meet the particular challenges that running SME's, NGO's or charities involve? Whether you run a small business, non-governmental organisation or charity, the potential for spending hundreds of thousands of pound on software to assist with the running of your business is untenable, however, how far can open-source software (and particularly content management systems) enable your business to evolve, thrive and even surpass your expectations. In my presentation I intend to discuss; what your content is and how to use it to your advantage when running a complex operation with limited resources. The advantages and disadvantages of utilising open source software and how you can leverage the community to gain support and expertise. What the future for open source projects are and how you can ensure your business/organisation/charity can continue its work into Web 3.0

1. Open Source Content Management Systems for SMEs, NGOs and Charities

3. Build majority of site using PHP/MySql

4. MSc IT concentrating on Web Application development and Open Source CMS

5. Drupal fan-boy

6. I own 16 guitars and play in a band

8. Realization of your specifications

9. What is a content management system?

10. Why use content management systems?

11. What is open source?

12. Why open source?

13. Open Source vs Bespoke vs Commercial/Proprietary

14. Factors in choosing open source content management systems

17. What you want to achieve.

20. Compare with other software

21. Be realistic about what you want to achieve, but stay optimistic

23. Could your business processes be improved (complex, not complicated)

24. Standardisation

25. What is content management system? Content Broadly means all “stuff” you have, video, images, text, audio: all content. This also has to include “stuff” you may create/use in the future. Management System The organisation of that content. How to present/structure/use to achieve the specifications of the project. Maximise potential applications and usability. Together, a computerised system to create, edit, publish, manage and search off of your “stuff”!

27. Content searching/indexing

28. User access control/tracking

29. Much more

31. Open source began as, and for the most part still is, software created by a community of people who are dedicated to working together in a highly collaborative and evolutionary way.

32. http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php (whatever the OSI says it is?!)

34. Redistribute and improve

35. Use the software in any way

36. There is no single entity on which the future of the software depends

37. OSS vs Bespoke vs Commercial OSS Bespoke Commercial Reliability (bug free?) Many devs make light work Unknown Tested yet closed Stability / Upgrades Often free / recent Pay for / only when required Pay for / scheduled Auditability Fully changeable/testable Must largely rely on dev Believe the software Cost Free (potentially license based) Pay up front, pay for upgrades Pay up front, pay for upgrades Flexibility / Freedom Open to changes Closed system Closed system Support / Accountability Community based, learning involved Pay based on dev team Pay based to supplier / training

39. Updated and revised, constantly under development

40. Have active support network

41. System created with minimal configuration

43. By it's nature it is designed for many different types of users, each of whom will have different requirements

44. Open Source CMS can be highly complex and will usually include large sections that you will never use

46. Users will usually find it easier and more intuitive to use

49. Limited product life cycle (it can not develop further than the end product)

50. Lack of support network

53. May include large sections that you are unable to remove change which do not respond as you wish

54. Cost based either upfront or potentially as SaaS/licence based

56. Bespoke is likely to be able to be customized to your particular situation, yet, can cost a great deal for both the initial product and ongoing support and maintenance

57. Commercial/proprietary, ongoing costs for support/product licencing

58. The Real Analysis The real analysis is what is best for your requirements and resources budget. For the majority of small/medium businesses, charities or NGOs the cost of a bespoke systems, with active developers to maintain/upgrade/adjust the software is unobtainable.

59. Choosing an open source CMS; the Community Open source is largely dependent on community, therefore the strength of the open source project is normally directly proportional to the skill and size of the contributing community. The community drives the project forward!

61. With so many complex solutions required, how can the open source answer your queries?

62. Standards based

64. Assistance through forums/IRC or traditional learning methods, tuition/books.

66. 24x7 always on

67. Less requirement for own IT hardware (use remote services far more cost effective than owning equipment/paying IT support)

68. No requirement for centralised offices etc

69. Flexibility

71. Backend Battles, but uses a larger sample size of 100,000 sites. According to BuiltWith as of July 2010, WordPress is used by 3.09% of websites, and Drupal is used by 1.67%.

76. Understand that although it may be time critical for you, many contributors have other responsibilities/time constraints

77. Give full and detailed analysis of your problems (not simply “it doesn’t work”, use “how”, “why”, “I’ve tried...”, System Details etc)

78. Be friendly/open (if you are a charity, say it and maybe even mention a bit about your business, the more people know about you, the more likely they are to help.

79. If you find an answer, think about becoming a contributor yourself, blog, forum etc. Grow the community. Don't be a leech!!

81. Accept Payments

82. Installation and setup in 5 minutes or your money back!

83. Start the stopwatch!

85. 1999: The future is the Web

86. 2009: The future is smart mobile

87. 2019: ??? (App Inventor/All Content Mashable/Social) The strength of your open-source software can provide solutions into the future

89. Just because I'm an open source fan-boy doesn't mean it is always the right decision for you

90. Open source may have a learning curve, but will pay off in the long run

91. Bespoke/commercial for short term/costly matters

93. Web: http://www.willhallonline.co.uk

94. Twitter: @willhallonline

95. Drupal/Ubercart: willhallonline My question to you: how could today have been improved? Thankyou!