Redefining the CMS for the AI Era with Deane Barker & David Hillis

Content management systems have been the backbone of digital publishing and enterprise content strategies for decades. But as AI becomes embedded in business systems, a big question emerges: If AI is rewriting how businesses work, what does that mean for the system we’ve relied on for decades to manage content? 

In this episode of the Content Matters Podcast, Deane Barker, a renowned CMS Expert and the Director of Strategic Engagement at Staffbase and David Hillis, CMO at Ingenix, discussed the critical questions shaping the future of CMS in the AI era.  
Some of the topics discussed included: 

• The CMS has never been a content creation tool; it's a content production tool. But it’s starting to stop being used as a product tool as well. What happens then? Is it then just a repository - and if so - a repository of what? 
• Deane believes content modeling is the cliff for AI. He explains why he thinks humans still need to control the content model and where AI gets to play.
• Imagine a CMS not as an application, but as a background service that orchestrates content for apps, services, and AI agents. Humans provide guidance, review, and creative oversight, but LLMs are the primary users or as Deane says, "workers." - how does that change the application design and architecture. 
• Are we shifting from content management to context management? And what does that really mean. 
• What skills or roles will technical professionals need as CMSs become more AI-integrated? 

About Deane 
Deane Barker is the Director of Strategic Engagement for Staffbase, a global provider of internal communication technology agency. He’s been working in content management for 25 years, and has written four books about the patterns and practices of modeling, creating, managing, and delivering digital content, including “Web Content Management: Systems, Features, and Best Practices” for O’Reilly Media and the “Web Project Guide: From Spark to Launch and Beyond.” Deane lives in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 


About David 
David Hillis is the Chief Marketing Officer at Ingeniux Corporation and a tech optimist who’s passionate about how AI is transforming the web and customer experience. For more than two decades, David has helped some of the world’s largest brands build websites and digital platforms that deliver real business results. 

He has scaled two SaaS companies to seven figures—both bootstrapped and VC-backed—and led executive, product, marketing, and sales teams. Today, his focus is on helping organizations move beyond static, page-based websites toward intelligent, AI-powered experiences that engage, qualify, and convert customers. 



Check out all 8 seasons of the Content Matters Podcast here: Ingeniux Blog | Ingeniux
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