A content management system (CMS) makes it easy to create, manage, and publish content for your enterprise website, but which CMS is right for your company? There's a lot to think about between IT requirements, marketing needs, and operational activities when you're selecting the ideal CMS for your enterprise organization. Here are some factors to consider when deciding what CMS is right for you.
On-premise or Cloud
One of the first things to look at when selecting a CMS for your business is the need for either cloud-hosted or on-premise technology. At InGen, we tend to advocate for a cloud CMS for a variety of reasons.
One of the biggest benefits of a cloud CMS is taking infrastructure maintenance and support off your company's plate. This greatly reduces operational costs. The SaaS solution would be responsible for maintaining the overall infrastructure, including the health, performance, and security of the platform and your website.
Author Experience
Another large factor to consider when finding the CMS that's right for your enterprise is how easy or difficult it will be for your authors and marketers to create and publish content. It’s important to choose a CMS that will be easy for the majority of users to use and learn.Choose a CMS that makes sense with your marketing workflows to fast-track content publication.
This is especially true if your enterprise website runs multisites. A CMS should provide you with the ability to create individual workflows or use different workflows based on content type. Regardless of how simple or complicated your workflows need to be, your organization needs a CMS that can help you get it right every time.
Content Management
Personalization is one of the strongest strategic approaches to customizing the digital customer experience. Consider selecting a CMS that allows tailored content to deliver messages that resonate with certain segments of your audience. To accomplish this, look for personalization features such as audience segments or personas.
It probably doesn't make sense to call your IT department every time your marketing team needs to create a new webpage, microsite, or content piece. Look for a CMS that offers an easy way to create custom pages. A CMS with a drag and drop editor can accomplish this.
Think about the types of content you'll need to publish and make sure your organization chooses a platform that supports them. The same goes for different channels. Omnichannel marketing creates a unified customer experience. All the channels work in tandem to synthesize a seamless look, feel, and tone.
Integrations
Think about all the different marketing platforms. Now imagine getting a CMS that doesn't actually integrate with them. Frustrating, right? The treasure trove of information you have about your customers and leads can be used to create the best possible customer experience.
Many CMS platforms allow for easy integrations out of the box, but don't fret if you don't immediately see the tools you use. Instead, inquire about the ability to customize the software with APIs. A skilled CMS developer can optimize your CMS.
Data and Analytics
When it comes to refining and improving your enterprise website content, it's not always about the words. A lot of times, it's about the numbers; specifically, the metrics you can use to make your website into a lead-generating, client-supporting machine. With better data comes improved conversion rates. Know how to offer your clients and leads what they want based on the types of information contained in your marketing platforms.
Before choosing a CMS, be sure to evaluate the types of data analytics you can access, noting which ones have the ability to also pull in third-party data sources like Google Analytics.
Even if you select the very best CMS for your organization, there will still be ways you can customize and optimize it for your specific needs. A custom development team like the one at InGen can take your CMS to the next level. Our design and development team can take a good CMS and turn it into a fantastic tool by combining form and function.
If you're already using a CMS, but you can't seem to get it to work for you instead of against you,let us help you. Our proven, time-tested process can optimize your software to provide clarity and measurable improvements surrounding team efficiency and business growth.
Get actionable insights with a free site assessment today.