Web sites of all kinds are suffering from a lack of valuable, current content. Sites are also suffering from inconsistent navigation, differing designs, and architectures that sprawl. Just try to find the content you want in the typical corporate intranet.

The sites aren't suffering alone. The poor folks that are responsible for building or maintaining these sites feel they're losing a battle against time and demand. It's difficult for them to publish information on many of these sites. It's nearly impossible to get timely updates like announcements or press releases posted unless resources are dedicated to the task. Heaven forbid there is a corporate restructure that necessitates a restructuring of the site, a rebranding or even a wish to bring the design forward into the 21st century. Thousands of pages of content would be affected.

Thus we come to the magic bullet: content management tools. You're right to turn your nose up at the magic bullet remark, for nothing offered by technology is ever that simple. But if you recognize that there is effort involved in choosing and implementing the right tool for managing the content, the payoffs (easy and controllable publishing, enforcement of standards, and more) will ease much of your suffering.
 

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