A
Alexander Shumarski
Guest
CMS, WCM, DXP... today's marketers are swimming through a sea of confusing acronyms and jargon. This blog aims to cut through the confusion and help you determine what's best for your organization.
The Paradox of Choice
I recently stumbled upon a TED Talk about the paradox of choice and simply could not resist the urge to write a blog that takes the guesswork out of choosing a CMS. Or a WCM. Or was it a DXP that will best fit your organization, according to some analyst report?
So, let's start with a question or a two. Okay, maybe more like three—but definitely no more than five, I promise!
Finding the perfect pair of jeans can be surprisingly difficult. Quite often, we are presented with way too many choices, and that option overload just further complicates the decision-making process. In the same way, choosing the best platform for your next project should not be a major ordeal, yet it often is because of all the nuances and confusing acronyms and jargon. So let’s get practical and take this one step at a time.
What is a CMS?
Many marketers often consider content management systems to be the greatest thing since sliced bread.
A CMS instantly puts users in control of their content, enabling content creators to easily upload images and documents as well as amend, modify and edit content to websites without coding knowledge. Many CMSes offer basic functionalities, but still provide a certain degree of independence from IT. Coming in many shapes, forms and flavors, even simple CMSes could be the perfect fit for organizations that do not have great aspirations, but still require some sort of web presence.
Some common disadvantages of using such simplistic content management systems include the lack of multisite and multilingual support or the limited level of extensibility they provide.
Creating additional websites often necessitates adding multiple isolated implementations, and keeping them all up to date can become a headache later on down the road. Such technical debt may lead inconsistent branding, hectic schedules for marketers and a pile of backlog projects and support tickets for IT. Extending such systems, adding new features and keeping them up to date and secured can easily become a burden.
But don’t be put off by some of the limitations of these basic CMSes. Unless you utilize a custom-built CMS, upgrading to a higher tier may give you access to previously unavailable capabilities. Such features can turn a basic CMS that would normally only be used for proof-of-concept or short-life campaign websites into a powerful platform that can handle most of your web content management needs, take your messaging farther and propel your digital experiences to a whole new level.
What is a Web Content Management (WCM) System
Think of WCM as a CMS on steroids without the negative potential side effects. WCM platforms give users the ability to manage single web properties, while also going a step further to make multisite and multilingual content management accessible and straightforward. Web content management systems also give marketers the ability to deliver content to multiple channels.
Compared to basic content management systems, WCM systems offer a higher degree of extensibility and customization and help cut time to market thanks to the added support for custom content types and design templates. Many WCM platforms support personalization, plug-ins and integrations, approval workflows and offer built-in SEO, social sharing and content governance tools.
Web content management platforms are best suited for organizations that recognize the need to provide personalized digital experiences to their customers and partners, improve brand consistency and deliver multilingual content and ecommerce on desktop and mobile. Utilizing headless CMS capabilities, for example, enables organization to deliver omnichannel content to a myriad of devices and touchpoints.
Digital Experience Platforms
There is more to the DXP than simply being an evolutionary step over web content management. DXP solutions are designed to maximize ROI in a world where digital commerce, marketing automation and multichannel content management alone are no longer competitive advantages.
Disrupting market segments and supply chains with technology is the only way to raise above the noise and differentiate from the norm.
The growing trend for more devices, touchpoints and sensors puts enormous pressure on organizations to provide uninterrupted access to the same content, the same context, the same data sources and the same business logic to their users without creating additional silos or operational overhead.
And, while many organizations are looking to make a splash through content, there are multiple opportunities to create a storm by removing data silos or optimizing various internal business processes. Data sharing, automation, business rules and better employee and partner interactions are some of the key initiatives that many businesses should consider.
Certainly for many organizations, content management will continue to be the cornerstone of their digital experience, but mastering internal processes, managing data and interconnecting multiple systems may be the key ingredients in growing revenue and reducing cost.
Embracing the complexity and challenges associated with delivering multichannel content, resolving data fragmentation challenges and achieving operational scale and efficiency through business process management (BPM) or business rules management systems (BRMS) could be the winning strategy to disrupting the competition.
And while there is no one-size-fits-all platform, organizations can build their own DXP, as unique as their business requirements are.
Can you buy a DXP? No, but you can build one—the kind of platform that rests on cutting-edge technology to make your life easier. Or in this case, make your business more competitive.
Lakeland Health created a better, more engaging digital journey for patients with Sitefinity. Watch this webinar to see how they leveraged Sitefinity to:
Watch now
Now that you have made it this far, why not choose your next step:
Continue reading...
The Paradox of Choice
I recently stumbled upon a TED Talk about the paradox of choice and simply could not resist the urge to write a blog that takes the guesswork out of choosing a CMS. Or a WCM. Or was it a DXP that will best fit your organization, according to some analyst report?
So, let's start with a question or a two. Okay, maybe more like three—but definitely no more than five, I promise!
- Do you want your jeans slim fit, easy fit, relaxed fit?
- Do you want a button fly or zipper fly?
- Do you want stonewashed or acid-washed?
- Do you want them distressed?
- Do you want boot cut or tapered?
Finding the perfect pair of jeans can be surprisingly difficult. Quite often, we are presented with way too many choices, and that option overload just further complicates the decision-making process. In the same way, choosing the best platform for your next project should not be a major ordeal, yet it often is because of all the nuances and confusing acronyms and jargon. So let’s get practical and take this one step at a time.
What is a CMS?
Many marketers often consider content management systems to be the greatest thing since sliced bread.
A CMS instantly puts users in control of their content, enabling content creators to easily upload images and documents as well as amend, modify and edit content to websites without coding knowledge. Many CMSes offer basic functionalities, but still provide a certain degree of independence from IT. Coming in many shapes, forms and flavors, even simple CMSes could be the perfect fit for organizations that do not have great aspirations, but still require some sort of web presence.
Some common disadvantages of using such simplistic content management systems include the lack of multisite and multilingual support or the limited level of extensibility they provide.
Creating additional websites often necessitates adding multiple isolated implementations, and keeping them all up to date can become a headache later on down the road. Such technical debt may lead inconsistent branding, hectic schedules for marketers and a pile of backlog projects and support tickets for IT. Extending such systems, adding new features and keeping them up to date and secured can easily become a burden.
But don’t be put off by some of the limitations of these basic CMSes. Unless you utilize a custom-built CMS, upgrading to a higher tier may give you access to previously unavailable capabilities. Such features can turn a basic CMS that would normally only be used for proof-of-concept or short-life campaign websites into a powerful platform that can handle most of your web content management needs, take your messaging farther and propel your digital experiences to a whole new level.
| Summary: Most users will find basic content management systems restricting, as they can become hard to secure, manage and extend on top of the limited capabilities they may offer. Unlike many offerings and custom-built systems, even the basic edition of Sitefinity is perfectly suitable for many content initiatives beyond just managing simple websites |
Think of WCM as a CMS on steroids without the negative potential side effects. WCM platforms give users the ability to manage single web properties, while also going a step further to make multisite and multilingual content management accessible and straightforward. Web content management systems also give marketers the ability to deliver content to multiple channels.
Compared to basic content management systems, WCM systems offer a higher degree of extensibility and customization and help cut time to market thanks to the added support for custom content types and design templates. Many WCM platforms support personalization, plug-ins and integrations, approval workflows and offer built-in SEO, social sharing and content governance tools.
Web content management platforms are best suited for organizations that recognize the need to provide personalized digital experiences to their customers and partners, improve brand consistency and deliver multilingual content and ecommerce on desktop and mobile. Utilizing headless CMS capabilities, for example, enables organization to deliver omnichannel content to a myriad of devices and touchpoints.
ABB Accomplishes Rapid Redesign of 111 Websites with Sitefinity ABB is a global leader in power and automation technologies. ABB's solutions enable utility, industry and transport and infrastructure customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. With 8,500 technologists and an annual $1.5 billion research and development budget, innovation is at the forefront of what ABB does every day. Full Case Study |
| Summary: WCM systems deliver all the capabilities needed to create, manage and deliver personalized content at scale to organizations that are on the path to digital maturity. |
Digital Experience Platforms
There is more to the DXP than simply being an evolutionary step over web content management. DXP solutions are designed to maximize ROI in a world where digital commerce, marketing automation and multichannel content management alone are no longer competitive advantages.
Disrupting market segments and supply chains with technology is the only way to raise above the noise and differentiate from the norm.
The growing trend for more devices, touchpoints and sensors puts enormous pressure on organizations to provide uninterrupted access to the same content, the same context, the same data sources and the same business logic to their users without creating additional silos or operational overhead.
And, while many organizations are looking to make a splash through content, there are multiple opportunities to create a storm by removing data silos or optimizing various internal business processes. Data sharing, automation, business rules and better employee and partner interactions are some of the key initiatives that many businesses should consider.
Certainly for many organizations, content management will continue to be the cornerstone of their digital experience, but mastering internal processes, managing data and interconnecting multiple systems may be the key ingredients in growing revenue and reducing cost.
Embracing the complexity and challenges associated with delivering multichannel content, resolving data fragmentation challenges and achieving operational scale and efficiency through business process management (BPM) or business rules management systems (BRMS) could be the winning strategy to disrupting the competition.
And while there is no one-size-fits-all platform, organizations can build their own DXP, as unique as their business requirements are.
Can you buy a DXP? No, but you can build one—the kind of platform that rests on cutting-edge technology to make your life easier. Or in this case, make your business more competitive.
Lakeland Health created a better, more engaging digital journey for patients with Sitefinity. Watch this webinar to see how they leveraged Sitefinity to:
- Deliver rich omnichannel digital experiences that improve engagement
- Eliminate dependence on IT to tackle quick, everyday content management tasks
- Improve operational efficiency and workflow processes to minimize duplication of effort
Watch now
| Summary: Digital experience platforms deliver multifaceted experiences that span far beyond personalized content and discrete channels. |
Now that you have made it this far, why not choose your next step:
- Download “Why Savvy Businesses are Leading with a Digital Experience Platform (DXP)” to learn about the hurdles associated with DXP and how to overcome them
- Contact a Sitefinity DXP expert to talk about how your business can leverage digital disruption
Continue reading...