Why Do you Need a Website Cms -- a Perspective From Crownpeak

In this age of interactive web, organizations can no longer afford to serve ‘content’ the old fashioned way. Aiming to expand their online presence rapidly, technology savvy organizations are using Web 2.0 techniques such as wikis, blogs, RSS feeds and even, enterprise mashups to engage users with multiple touch points. Corporate blogs are being used to strengthen stakeholder communications, while RSS feeds are making it possible to automatically push personalized and customized Website updates to consumers.

However, the same level of flexibility that has made internet so powerful has also brought forward a host of new challenges. The whole point of Web 2.0 is to be able to listen to our customers, prospects and partners and respond accordingly. So in a world where information changes this rapidly, Websites need to be monitored and constantly updated. This is extremely crucial as seldom do users (and search engines) revisit Websites that have stale content. Manual configuration and updating of Websites can take a long time, and are expensive too. The problems increase exponentially if they involve integration with multiple systems such as a campaign management or a CRM system. Further, as content management involves a host of tasks including usability, design, and information architecture – most organizations find it extremely challenging to ensure that the Website reflects the dynamic needs of their business.

Web Content Management– the way to serve and manage content

Web content management systems have matured to answer some of these questions. Quite simply, a web content management system is a tool that enables and eases the creation, maintenance and management of a Website. The biggest plus point is that it allows non-technical subject matter experts to manage different aspects of a Website such as navigation, page layout and links without any knowledge of programming tools or languages.

Increasing the speed and ease of publishing content

The benefits of a CMS are far reaching. Organizations can now accelerate their speed of publishing content by giving subject matter experts tools that are simple to use. Maintaining the same look and feel across the site is also far simpler as content specialists can focus more on creating content than worry about formatting changes.

As an example, consider the marketing arm of a technology services firm that has just found out from its sales team that there is an SAP implementation services contract coming up, and the company awarding the contract is checking the Websites for understanding the capabilities of vendors before it shortlists likely vendors. Under normal circumstances, the marketing team would have hurriedly caught hold of the developer and asked him to put up a few links of SAP whitepapers hidden deep inside the site on the home page. Now, if the same company had a Website CMS, the subject matter experts could have instead created a micro-site with content on the fly just by pushing a few buttons. Due to the ease of uploading content, the same team could have also added some more newly created whitepapers. Where time is at a premium, Website CMS prove to be invaluable.

Similarly, if the subject matter expert needs to track the user who has shown interest in a specific whitepaper, he can easily create a form to capture user data directly through the CMS. Tomorrow, if the marketing team desires to run a campaign showcasing RFID capabilities, they can easily create a dedicated web page or micro-site within the main Website. Such ease of use makes Website CMS a powerful tool for marketing initiatives.

Maintaining consistency and link integrity

Web content management systems help organizations maintain consistency across all pages of their web site so that branding and design are controlled to the level desired (e.g. controlling style sheets, templates, navigation etc.), regardless of who is responsible for the actual content. As a result, visitors have a consistent and professional experience on the Website. CMS is an invaluable tool in maintaining link integrity – thereby significantly reducing the chance of your users encountering a missing link. This is critical as a missing link in the online world could easily mean a missed business opportunity.

Full control

Features like complete system auditing and reporting provides organizations the ability to manage and track the history of all work easing adherence to compliance regulations. Files can be given a full document lifecycle, including check-in, check-out, versioning, rollback, approvals, and scheduling. A Website content management system has intelligent workflow automation, ensuring that content passes through appropriate quality check points and approvals before being published.

Additionally, completely configurable workflows enable organizations to assign tasks to different persons, and set escalation rules in case defined thresholds are crossed. For example, e-mail alerts can be triggered to content owners of specific sections on a Website, when these sections don’t get updated after a specific time period has elapsed. Infrastructure required to do this in a traditional system is beyond the reach of most small and medium sized organizations.

In a digital world where your content can be creatively used in a variety of forms such as whitepapers, podcasts, articles or images, effectively managing and repurposing this content is critical for competitive advantage. A Website content management system can help manage these tasks easily by centralizing and streamlining the process of controlling life cycle of the published content. A centralized control process also enables organizations to measure the success of its various online marketing initiatives.
Improved Website searchability
Since a Website content management system manages all content consistently, built-in search engines make finding content on a Website fast and easy.

The SaaS way to manage content

While content management systems help business users manage content effectively, organizations must also understand that most content management systems are expensive to procure, time consuming to implement and configure, and difficult to maintain… but it doesn’t have to be this way.

Content management systems from providers like CrownPeak deliver their solution as Software as a Service or SaaS. By accessing ‘software’ as a service, organizations are spared the high initial cost of purchasing the license. Moreover, as the software is hosted, there is no additional hardware to buy and no software to install and no infrastructure to manage. The application is accessed via your Web browser from anywhere in the world and the organization just pays a fixed monthly or quarterly fee and leaves the task of managing, maintaining and upgrading the software to the vendor.

Organizations also save cost as they do not have to employ IT, system integrator, developer or Web agency resources to tweak the HTML, workflow, or to take care of hosting. The real work in a CMS implementation begins after the site goes live which is when most vendors leave you the keys to the CMS and say good luck. But players such as CrownPeak provide a dedicated account manager for the lifetime of the service, who is the same person who actually implements the CMS for your site, as part of your monthly cost. By using a SaaS model, organizations can also cut down on their risk, and choose different functionalities as they grow. This is an extremely attractive value proposition when compared to the traditional software model, where costs are paid upfront, maintenance and site changes are still charged after launch, and the risk of product implementation and adoption rests almost totally on the customer.

If you have a web presence, you need a Website CMS

In a global marketplace, where geographical boundaries are blurred, your next customer may come from a place you never imagined before. Clearly, the Website is the most visible and important touch point. Not having a Website content management system to handle this dynamic environment could be a recipe for disaster. Content not managed properly can not only mean lost business opportunities, but can also trigger compliance issues. The answer to the question, “Why do you need a Website CMS?” is as obvious as the answer to, “Do I need a web presence?” today.