Business Process Management (BPM)
Essentially a combination of workflow tools and application integration, Business Process Management (BPM) attempts to control and streamline the modern challenges of disparate enterprise IT systems. BPM tools would control the systems running a company, including the Enterprise Content Management products, and considers documents and tasks as implementation details for business processes.

Consulting/Implemention/Support
The changing face of Enterprise Content Management - from a simple tool that serves web content to a complex, central and vital system for storing corporate information, documents and knowledge - has created a fertile market for content management consultancy services.

Content categorisation
All content management systems must recognise specific content parameters to make decisions based on time, approval, subject, word count, article type etc. Categorisation tools ensure content can be easily retrieved for web publishing by an automated content delivery system.

Content delivery
Content delivery products and technologies ensure content is accessible, and includes dedicated servers and networks and well as monitoring and delivery software. It can also solve speed and traffic issues related to information bottlenecks.

Content platforms
As Enterprise Content Management tools increase in complexity, content services are often bundled together to create one solution. The bundling of content provision/creation, a delivery network, categorisation tools, secure delivery, storage and management - sold by one consultant or services company - could be seen as a 'platform'.

Content provision/creation
News agencies, publishing houses and online communities are moving towards becoming content providers as the need for third-party content becomes greater than ever. The ease at which content can be integrated into a page has created a new market for cost-effective editorial services.

Content security
Large quantities of data being served to distributed websites means a large number of 'weak points' where information could be intercepted. Content security products and services not only ensure that the content is delivered securely to a destination, but that that it's storage is safe from unauthorised access.

Content syndication
Often offered by content services companies and closely linked to content provision/creation, content syndication implies the content has been created for another site, the rights of which are then bought via syndication to be used on an Internet or intranet site.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Retail and utility companies have realised that a key differentiator in a market with shrinking margins is good customer service. A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system stores information on individual customers and their transactions with the company and uses it to deliver personalised content.

Data capture/optical character recognition
The move from storage of printed materials to vast repositories of digital data means that the legacy information needs to be converted. Data capture tools scan paper documents, convert that information to digital data and work in conjunction with document management tools to organise and store it.

Digital asset management
Digital asset management systems create a centralised repository for digital files that allows the content to be archived, searched and retrieved. Digital asset management systems also allow permissions to be added to stored data, leading to the possibility of digital rights management.

Digital Rights Management
A system for protecting the copyright of data circulated via the Internet by enabling secure distribution and/or disabling illegal distribution of the data. Typically, a Digital Rights Management system protects intellectual property by either encrypting the data so that it can only be accessed by authorised users, or marking the content with a digital watermark or similar method so that the content can not be freely distributed.

Document archiving/retrieval
The creation of large amounts of separate digital documents, which are then stored in a document repository, has created an additional market for archiving and retrieval systems. These tools must integrate with an Enterprise Content Management system to quickly search for and deliver content to a page following a request from a user or Business Process Management system.

Document management
Document management describes the systems and strategies in place for the efficient management of electronic as well as paper-based documents. Document management resources strive to create systems that can handle paper and electronic documents together, using tools such as image scanning and Optical Character Recognition alongside categorisation, records management and Product Information Management tools.

Document scanning/imaging
Some documents (like invoices or plans/blueprints) cannot be captured via optical character recognition (OCR) technologies but still need to be converted into digital data for storage. Document scanning and imaging products take snapshots of paper-based information for storage on a document management system.

Electronic document management
A subset of document management, electronic document management concentrates on data collected on web forms and internal administrative systems to ensure accurate handling of information. Electronic document management will also be the central hub of a Digital Rights Management system.

Extranets
An intranet that is partially accessible to authorised outsiders. Where an intranet resides behind a firewall and is accessible only to people who are members of the same company or organisation, an extranet provides various levels of accessibility to others. Extranets are becoming a very popular means for businesses and their partners to exchange corporate information.

Form management/processing
The proliferation of online forms as a key part of data collection has resulted in the need to dedicated tools for the management, categorisation and storage of the information collected. Form management/processing tools work closely with a content management and information management system to ensure information is collected in an accurate and efficient way.

Information architecture/analysis
The implementation and integration of a content management system often begins with the analysis of the content within an organisation. Information analysis is a key way in which companies can recognise the strengths and weaknesses of the content they hold, while the architecture of content storage is vital to ensure an efficient content management and publishing system.

Intergration/Systems architecture
Enabling content to be shared across sites, servers and repositories is becoming automated via XML and other integration technologies. Open standards for content sharing are slowly emerging to make content more valuable and its delivery more efficient. Many companies save costs (input, conversion, storage) by using XML-based content and sites.

Intranets/corporate portals
A network based on TCP/IP protocols belonging to an organisation accessible only by the organisation's members, employees, or others with authorisation. An intranet site often looks and acts just like an Internet site, but the firewall surrounding an intranet fends off unauthorised access. Intranets that have developed into large-scale sites, sometimes including knowledge management and Customer Relationship Management tools, are often known as 'corporate portals'.

Knowledge management
Knowledge management is the name of a concept in which an enterprise consciously and comprehensively gathers, organises, shares, and analyses its internal knowledge in terms of resources, documents, and people skills.

Online collaboration
Web access speeds are improving and employees in different rooms, towns or even countries are now able to work on the same documents, often with simultaneous voice and video capabilities. Online collaboration tools allow documents to be edited with multiple copies being made, and are crucial to the control of documents and content across a large organisation.

Personalisation
Content can now be personalised by country, publication date, subject or even user. Personalisation tools can use web registration information, email address of IP to make intelligent choices when serving content to a web page to make the browsing experience more valuable.

Product information management
Information on a company's products is often stored on many disparate websites and databases, creating a confusing environment for both customer and sales professional. Product information management solutions ensure all information related to a specific product is kept consistent across all information channels.

Records management
Purchase orders, timesheets and other accounting and HR information is often collected on paper-based media. Records management automates that process, sometimes by the conversion of paper records to digital, often by the use of web forms on intranets and extranets.

Reporting
Reporting tools are vital to the continuing development of online content. They provide results on page views, users, browsing times and can isolate strengths and weaknesses of web content. Content reporting tools can also analyse speed and accuracy of content delivery and ensure personalisation and rights management tools are working properly and efficiently.

Repository/database/storage
Digital data that is being created, converted, syndicated or scanned needs a repository to reside in so it can be accessed by a content management system and served to a user. These database systems must be secure, reliable and expandable to create a stable environment for the storage of content. This can often only be guaranteed through the implementation of a dedicated storage environment.

Translation
The Internet is not governed by international boundaries, and businesses need to make sure that customers in specific regions are delivered web content in an appropriate language. Translation software allows the automatic translation of content by the content owner, which translation services can automate web-based translation service, often in real time.

Web publishing management
The process of taking content (graphics, text, sound etc) and publishing it to an Internet or intranet site. Web publishing can range from simple HTML upload, to automatic layout creation tools, graphics packages, web design and automatic web content creation. Often used in conjunction with, or implemented through a combination of; personalisation tools, document archiving/retrieval, Digital Rights Management and content platforms.