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7 ‘Gotchas’ To Watch Out for While Selecting a CMS

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INTRODUCTION

Marketing technology has become more important to business success, especially software related to the Web Experience Management industry. Chief among that technology is Enterprise-grade Content Management Systems.

A Content Management System (CMS) is a web platform

that allows users to centralize data editing, publishing and

modification on a single back-end interface. On an enterprise

level, the software’s primary goal is to enable nontechnical

business users to seamlessly manage how content appears

on a company’s website. Going one step further, the core

functionality of an enterprise-level CMS helps users optimize

the way their business is able to interact with customers in an

increasingly online world; leveraging the most important digital

channel, their website, to do so.

How important is a Content Management System? In their annual “Search Marketing Benchmark Survey”, MarketingSherpa examined which strategies marketers planned to allocate more funds toward, maintain the same budget, or decrease in 2014. Below is the Marketing Sherpa chart detailing the findings:


1. Identifying True Total Cost of Ownership

2. Demo-lition … Proof of Contextualized Results

3. Integration Issues

4. Implementation Process

5. Organizational Buy-In

6. Confusing Software With Strategy

7. Ongoing Training & Support

TABLE OF CONTENTS


1. IDENTIFYING TRUE TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP

Every company is different, and thus trying to pigeonhole your project into this whitepaper is a fool’s errand. For the sake of this exercise, we mean trying to establish the scale of your company’s needs, both before and after launch.

Licensing Options: There are two popular licensing options software companies offer – Perpetual & Software

as a Service (SaaS). Each pricing structure affords different assurances to your organization.

Perpetual License - Perpetual software licensing works well for companies that want to maintain their web

store in-house. With a perpetual license, all of the software is installed on your servers and is managed by you,

in your environment.

Benefits Perpetual License options include:

■ Flexibility of Deployment

■ Ownership and Direct Control

■ No Constraints on Administrative Customizations

SaaS License – With the Software as a Service (Saas) licensing option, the need to install your web store and

applications on your own servers in-house or in a dedicated co-location environment disappears.

Basically, SaaS support lifts the burden of installation, ongoing maintenance, hardware upgrades and constant

internal support from your company, which keeps overhead light and provides for a more flexible environment.

Benefits of SaaS License options include:

■ Elimination of High Server Costs, Providing Ease of Entry

■ Less Reliance on Internal IT Staff

■ Continued Product Support and Maintenance

Beyond pricing options, it’s important that your selection committee identifies features you need. For instance,

built-in Enterprise-Grade Internal Search that’s available out of the box is a feature most companies should

covet. Why? It makes for a better web experience, empowering visitors to find the content and information they

are looking for; however, many CMS vendors don’t offer this capability – or charge as much as a 1/3 of the initial

project’s cost to implement it.


2. DEMO-LITION … PROOF OF CONTEXTUALIZED RESULTS

BREAKING NEWS: That slick, canned demo that each vendor shows your team doesn’t even begin to provide proof that their software can meet your organizational needs. It’s likely flashy, and compelling in its own right – and that’s great – but real insight? Nope. It’s a demo.

What’s the workaround here? Analysts will claim customers should ask

to test drive – or see a “Bake Off” – between vendors to determine

who wins the business. But asking a CMS vendor to put together

a demo site, specifically for your project is a big ask. And by “big

ask” we mean unrealistic. Instead, ask for comparable referrals and

case studies. Now, understand that you may not get a direct peer in

your industry; however, the example(s) should be similar enough to get a sense

whether or not the vendor has the goods to match your desired web experience.


3. INTEGRATION ISSUES

Marketing software, especially a CMS, can be the ace up a digital strategist’s sleeve. However, it’s PARAMOUNT to understand the complexities of how software can – or cannot -- integrate with one another in order to steer your team toward success. Although, your website is the bloodline of your digital strategy, other tools are necessary as well.

In addition to a CMS, depending on your company, these needs may entail the following:

Email Marketing software to execute highly personalized campaigns that capitalize on every

client communication.

Web Analytics that peel back the curtain and provide insight into what web content is working,

what’s not, and suggestions on how to improve overall effectiveness.

Social Media tools that allow marketers to engage with customers and measure sentiment.

eCommerce capabilities to manage your digital storefront.

Individually speaking, disparate solutions may work just

fine, but when combined together, there’s no telling

whether a data point in each software will speak

the same language as the other(s). For instance,

instead of easily extracting reports that measure

your efforts, your team could be stuck struggling

to piece data of a massive, multi-campaign puzzle

together. Reconciling information and dealing with

unnecessary headaches is the last way your team

should be spending its time.

At the very least, understand what type of integration

capabilities a vendor’s software possess. Or, if you want

to go one step further, you could select an all-encompassing

product suite, comprising each of these capabilities into one platform.

With a product suite, you’re guaranteed that the software will

seamlessly flow to execute your digital marketing strategies as well as measure success. Customer journeys are

(accurately) documented on your website. A conversion through an email campaign is automatically reflected in

your analytics and eCommerce solution – meaning, not only are your processes streamlined, but the integrity of

important data is maintained.


4. IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS

We briefly touched on hidden costs earlier. By far, the most important consideration your selection must make is determining who, exactly, is implementing your new website.

Most vendors outsource their implementation processes to third-party partners. This adds significant cost and

risk to any technology project. After all, you’re entrusting delivery to another organization. Do these third-party

vendors know the software? What’s their track record with meeting deadlines? How about staying within the

project’s budget?

These questions, among others, are important to ask during your selection process. Make no mistake about it,

you don’t get to skip this part!

The implementation team is key to project success and definitely part of the solution. Overlooking that piece is folly.

– Brice Dunwoodie, Founder and CEO, CMS Wire

Many companies spend a lot of time and resources on finding the best technology for their business needs but then give little more than a passing thought to how this technology will be successfully configured. Finding the right partner, in conjunction with the right technology, can often be the key differentiator in a successful implementation.

– Tiffany Elliot, Research Analyst, Digital Clarity Group


5. ORGANIZATIONAL BUY-IN

On the surface, this may appear as if it’s a Freudian ploy. Employees resist change for a variety of reasons – it makes life harder in the short-term, and fear of becoming obsolete naturally enters an employee’s consciousness. But buy-in can come if you involve your stakeholders – both the aforementioned employees, who ultimately are the end users in the process, and customers.

This comes with selecting a vendor – and their software – that doubles as a true end-to-end

partner. It’s important to get a sense of their process. What type of questions do they ask in their

stakeholder interviews? How invested are they in creating a web environment conducive to your

end user’s needs and abilities?


6. CONFUSING SOFTWARE WITH STRATEGY

Remember: that MarketingSherpa study highlights that budgetary spending for marketers sees “Website Upgrades” ranking third behind “Landing Page Optimization” & “Content Marketing.” As previously stated, these three items are related, and the entire point of selecting a new CMS to power your website is creating a better virtual home for current – and prospective! – customers. Your messaging and overall web experience should factor into organizational goals.

ASK YOURSELF: WHAT VISITOR ACTION ARE YOU TRYING TO PROVOKE?

Before even getting to that point, you need to reconcile what content from your legacy website is still relevant as part of your

migration process. Again, this is where having a partner – rather than just a vendor – plays a critical role is implementing your

new CMS. They should be able to work with your team to structure and architect a website that creates a meaningful customer

journey, all while preserving SEO.


7. ONGOING TRAINING & SUPPORT

Digital Marketing – and the software that comes along with it – is complicated … and ever-changing. We can talk about features, price, ease-of-use, implementation, and the like – but, more than anything else, to power a dynamic, enterprise-grade website that produces ROI, you need a partner who has the bandwidth to offer the support and training you need.

This isn’t just about showing up in a time of need; it’s about having access to a

support team with a well-versed knowledge base, who isn’t just technical support,

but also provides contextualized business support as well. SGiAPPS Success Group


PARTNER WITH A CHAMPION OF CMS:

CMS purchases depend on a variety of factors, while determining a solution’s value-proposition these are just choice-features to examine in your decision. In the end, important decisions like deciding on a perpetual or SaaS model in terms of pricing or what, exactly, are your specific business needs are is just as important as the bells and whistles ingratiated into a CMS’ capabilities.

If your organization is in the process of selecting a CMS solution, you’re undoubtedly sifting through copious amounts of research and analyst reports about various products. If your business is considering a .NET-based solution and SaaS licensing options, iAPPS Content Manager should be on your shortlist.

In its 2013 Vendor Landscape report, Info-Tech Research Group recognized the iAPPS platform as a “Champion”, touting its ability to equip enterprise businesses with easy-to-use tools that optimize digital assets and capitalize on growing trends in Digital Engagement.

Award Winning iAPPS Product Platform

iAPPS Content Manager is a part of Bridgeline’s iAPPS® platform, a

Digital Marketing solution that deeply integrates Web Content Management, eCommerce, eMarketing, Social Media management, and Web Analytics to

help marketers deliver online experiences that attract, engage and convert their customers

across all digital channels. Bridgeline provides end-to-end Digital Engagement solutions

and boasts an award-winning team of interactive services professionals across our 11

offices worldwide.

LEARN MORE ABOUT BRIDGELINE DIGITAL’S INTEGRATED IAPPS PLATFORM

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7 ‘Gotchas’ To Watch Out for While Selecting a CMS Library/Whitepapers/7-gotchas-to-watch-out...Marketing technology has become more important to business success, ... 7 ‘Gotchas’