Content management has become an important part of higher education; and with high adoption of cloud services, the market for content management systems (CMS) has also expanded. While content management comprises of policies and technologies that help in the collection, management and publishing of information, CMS is the software application that enables creation and management of digital content.
Higher education and content management services
Because learning has transcended the boundaries of classrooms, and higher education brings with it a great deal of complexity, a growing number of educational institutions are opting to integrate their teaching methodologies with the latest technological innovations. Instead of investing in outdated hardware and applications, institutions across the globe are choosing highly streamlined and standardized content management applications. It is in this context that cloud-based content management services have become so popular. So much so that analysts at Technavio predict that the global cloud-based content management services for higher education market will grow at CAGR of approximately 30% by 2020.
Why are content management services beneficial?
To begin with, as the global population becomes increasingly more connected, the trend towards online / e-learning has grown substantially. In fact, thanks to smartphones, e-learning has given way to m-learning or mobile learning. This has resulted in a greater need for the creation, management and delivery of content for online platforms. Usually, content that is designed for students requires specific software and authoring tools – features that are easily made available through content management services.
Ease of curating content, particularly online content, is another major reason why the higher education sector is aggressively switching to CMS. Typically, it is not easy to merge different forms of content within a single platform. Not only does this result in a lack of relevant data, but it also affects learners in a negative way, as it can cause the learning process to be incomplete and outdated. Content authoring tools along with learning content management solutions help in updating course material, enabling better management of content, and allowing students to track and access relevant courses. Content management makes it so that both the teachers and the students are able to circumvent technical issues and thus move towards a better teaching and learning process.
Just like many other sectors, the education sector is looking for ways in which to reduce its overhead costs. With content management services, this can easily be achieved as the maintenance and operational costs, infrastructure cost, updates, and associated risks are handled by third-party service providers rather than end-users. This in turn reduces the overall cost of ownership for institution-wide content management, and allows for greater focus on the education process.
Looking for a geographical overview of the market?
View the 2016-2020 Global Cloud-based Content Management Services for Higher Education Report
