Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is the strategies, methods and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational processes" this according to AIIM.

The advent of Web 2.0 and it's increasing influence and presence in everyday life has caused a paradigm shift in the focus and use of content management systems in business environments.

An ECM should improve the ability of businesses to collaborate internally and externally, locally and globally. Therefore, a well designed Content Management System (CMS) must provide "social media" tools which allow users to share their thoughts and ideas via Blogs and Forums and provide the ability to integrate video and audio content as well.

Many CMS providers arrived late to the social media party and will provide newly created 'add-ons' in 2009, at an additional cost to the Enterprise. In contrast, early versions of Point Dynamics Enterprise CMS were designed for collaborative environments and already provided built-in, easy, one-click integration of audio, video, and Flash content, as well as RSS for importing content.

Point Dynamics CMS officially entered the Web 2.0 space in 2006 by adding:

• Blogs - portals can have just one blog or users can create their own, bringing Blogger.com possibilities to the enterprise. The system also provides blog subscriptions similar to Feedburner, which allows blog content to be pulled into feed readers like Google Reader.

• Forums/Message Boards - create a forum for every department in the company or every group in every department in the company. Forums utilize role based security to keep confidential information secure.

• Survey tools - can be used to create lengthy surveys with yes/no and multiple choice answers, or simple one-off "what do you think?" polls.

• Team Spaces - a functioning site within a site designed to enhance team communications and promote collaboration on project work among team members.

• Knowledgebase manager - with categorization levels and search capabilities for frequently asked and answered questions.

Entering the social media space early on has allowed Point Dynamics to integrate these features into its powerful and stable Enterprise CMS product, with little customization and no additional cost to the enterprise.

Learn more about how Point Dynamics CMS can help you promote collaboration and utilize social media tools in your internet and intranet environments.