Many organizations currently manage content badly by first choosing a Content Management System (CMS) on the basis of its popularity, and then slowly trying to make it work within the constraints of that system. The type of CMS that is best for a business is not necessarily the most popular CMS. Instead, it is a CMS that matches a business’s way of working.
Traditional CMS: built for a different web
Content management systems today – WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and others – were primarily published for the ‘classic’ web. They are monolithic platforms: a database to store your data, application logic to manage that data and templates to generate information from that data to display on web pages. These three components all live together in one package, are highly interdependent and that is the core of the system.
This made sense fifteen years ago.
There are a number of themes or templates provided for a WordPress CMS in a gallery. A simple website would be for example: Home, About, Contact, and so on. Each page would be a content object which is then published as a corresponding web page. In a simple website, the people writing the content for the website would create and publish the content in the admin area of the website, straight away, through the provided user interface. The automatically generated HTML code is then published on the web. The provided gallery of existing themes or templates for a WordPress CMS can be selected to automatically generate the necessary HTML code for the current content, and to adapt any existing content to the newly selected theme or template. Later, a developer can build new themes or templates on top of the provided themes or templates.
It’s true that some of these channels will require additional configuration. However, the core of the CMS shouldn’t need to change in order to manage the various channels of content that are being published. Most sites are now creating content that will be distributed across a variety of channels, but are published from a single location. Traditional CMSs are generally up to the task of managing this type of content. Some better than others.
As a website grows in traffic and complexity the amount of processing required for each page can grow greatly. In many cases the number of database queries needed for each page can increase to 40 or more. And this does not even take into account all of the template processing and plugin execution. For larger sites many performance problems can be fixed with the proper amount of caching or by paying for a Content Delivery Network (CDN). In some cases this can cost as much as or more than the initial affordable cost of the system to manage content on a website.
Headless systems: content liberation
A Headless CMS is a term used to describe a CMS that has been split into two parts: the content management (the back-end of the system, or ‘body’) and the content presentation (the traditional front-end of the system or ‘head’). The information in the repository (database) of a Headless CMS is delivered to applications and services via APIs.
Content is delivered from the same API for all platforms and experiences. This allows for the best delivery of the content. The API can be delivered in an optimized manner for performance and can be hosted on completely separate servers with completely different back-end systems and front-end interfaces for editing and for delivering the content.
Some non-technical users may find that the way in which they are able to add and manage published content changes when using a Headless CMS. Although a Headless CMS is able to publish and distribute its content via an API, typically a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) type of editor is provided that allows users to add content to published pages and posts. What users see when they are logged into the back-end of a site that is powered by a Headless CMS can, however, be very different from what users see when they access and view published content. For non-technical users a preview is often provided to allow users to get a view of how a published piece of content will actually look once it has been published but this can sometimes require custom development to be created. Even simple things like amending a heading or uploading an image can sometimes require the help of a developer.
Most organizations work with hybrid systems of this kind. In a so called hybrid system, content is edited in a more or less ‘classic’ way, but in the CMS, the stored content is then used for the ‘headless’ implementation. In this case, it then works as described above, depending on the configuration.
Enterprise solutions: when scale demands structure
Enterprise content management systems are designed to allow businesses to support a number of different features and functions. Because of this there are a number of core elements that these systems typically follow. The first is that the system is primarily focused on the management of the content within it. This means that the way in which the system is set up and running and in use on a day to day basis is typically
An Enterprise Content Management System is used by an organization to manage content within that organization. The key points of an Enterprise Content Management System are that the system is focused on a certain area within the organization. This could be a certain type of content or a process that is used by the content. Also an Enterprise Content Management System is used within a larger group of applications that are used by an organization. Many of these systems are used for managing workflows, permissioning users, ensuring compliance with regulations and managing integrations with other applications. An example would be a system that manages customer relationship management data and also includes a digital asset management system. An Enterprise Content Management System can be very complex and difficult to implement due to the large amount of technical expertise required for setup. Also there is the issue of training all of the users that will be using the system. The total cost of ownership of an Enterprise Content Management System is not just the cost of the license(s) for the software. It also includes the cost of administration of the system on an ongoing basis and this cost can increase as the size of the organization increases.
In addition to these core features of content management, Enterprise Content Management Systems also include a wide range of other integration capabilities with many other Enterprise Software Platforms. For example, Enterprise Content Management Systems can be integrated with customer relationship management (CRM) software, Digital Asset Management (DAM) software, and many others. These additional features, make the Enterprise Content Management Systems very powerful and very effective for large organizations. However, the setting up of such a system is more complicated then the other options. Also the training of the users will be very extensive and time consuming.
Total cost of ownership of content management software is not just the license fee for the software. In addition to the initial setup of the system, there is the ongoing administration of the system. For large organizations this can become a major cost center as the organization grows.
Making sense of the options
The choice between these options are based upon a number of organizational realities including the number of people that you have that can create content and where the content is going to be published. In addition to these choices there is the technical expertise of the individuals that are going to implement the CMS to consider.
Understanding the different types of content management systems is crucial for making an informed decision. If your main intention for selecting a CMS is to create and distribute content on your website, then a traditional CMS would likely be best for you. These systems are extremely easy to use, and are typical of the WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) type interface that content creators typically use. Headless CMS systems are best for companies that publish content across many channels, and have a team of developers that build front-end experiences using whatever technology best fits to meet their needs. The Enterprise CMS solution is typically the best option for large organizations, as the additional features provided by these systems such as compliance, workflow management, and complex permission structures are usually key to how large organizations function and therefore require a lot of additional features to manage.
Ultimately it is not the technology that determines if a system is suitable or not, rather how the system is used. What is suitable on paper often fails in practice. As for the content management system itself, in addition to the purchase price for software licenses (so-called licenses), the usual Total cost of ownership must also be considered by the administrator, depending on the organizational size, i.e. the administration work. This can be implemented, training of users as well as subsequent maintenance by the administrators.
