In today’s world, businesses must have an internet presence to compete. And in a business environment where your competitor is simply a click away, your website has to be dynamic, attractive, and interactive. So how can your business guarantee that it looks better than the rest? Open source content management is a solution that Fortune 500 companies like Mattel, AT&T and Reuters have turned to.
If you’re looking for a simple, static website, like those popular in the ’90s, relying on a web designer’s proprietary software is probably good enough. But if you’re after a dynamic, Web 2.0 solution, you should consider websites built on open source systems like Drupal or Joomla. Here’s the difference: a traditional web design firm will have to spend time and money developing new technologies to build your website. A Drupal-based website benefits from the combined development efforts of an entire community of experts. Tens of thousands of hours of development time and ingenuity are available to anyone for free.
Open source means that anyone can access the Drupal code – it’s not proprietary to any one company. And what has the development community done with that access? They’ve expanded it byt adding e-commerce platforms, blog capabilities, multiple language support, account management systems, video and photo galleries – even search engine optimization. Literally, everything you could ask for.
Now you might be asking where the business model is in all this free, open source code development. Where’s the hook? The hook is that Drupal is complex. While the software platform itself is free, the installation, configuration, design and customization is not. Some may be happy with Drupal out of the box. However, Drupal really shines as a platform for creating large and complex interactive sites.
So how does this come back to you and your web design? If your web designer builds your website on Drupal, he or she can incorporate a multitude of existing features that have already been developed for Drupal directly into your website. Consider how much time and money it would cost to have your web designer duplicate all of the applications Drupal offers out of the box – too much!
There’s a reason some of the world’s largest companies and most influential governments are turning to web designs built on Drupal, they’re cost-effective, engaging, and innovative. You and your web design team can focus on the big pitcure: what tools your users need and how to best convey your business’s message. Meanwhile, the community of Drupal developers will be busy imagining, designing, and building the digital tools of the future.
