Keeping Up With Content Management Systems in 2023: A Complete Guide

Introduction

In order to run your business smoothly, it is crucial to choose the right content management system. However, choosing the right CMS platform is easier said than done due to the many available platforms on the market. Discover what content management systems are, how they work, and what they can do for your business.

As the digital ecosystem has rapidly increased over the past few years, the definition of Content Management Systems has evolved. Previously, Content Management Systems (CMS) were considered software platforms that automate tasks associated with managing and publishing content online, such as uploading content, formatting it for the web, and improving SEO in the backstage.

Over the past few decades, however, the role of a content management system has expanded far beyond just managing and publishing content online. Digital content is becoming increasingly diverse and volumes are growing, as are new channels, interfaces, and devices.

In 2028, the global CMS market will reach USD 28552.98 million at a CAGR of 6.74%. – MarketWatch.

Therefore, if a CMS no longer meets a business’s needs, it must be reassessed and replaced with a better solution.

Content Management Systems: What are they?

Using a Content Management System (CMS), content can be built, organized, delivered, and modified. This type of content and asset management helps organizations control content and assets effectively on websites, mobile applications, portals, and other online solutions. It includes blog posts, eBooks, press releases, guides, and so on.

Sitecore, Drupal, Kentico, and Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) are among the top content management systems.

With a content management system, you can build a website without worrying about the coding and focus entirely on the front-end.

A new piece of content can be added to WordPress simply by writing it in the text editor. You don’t have to go deep into coding nuances. All coding will be handled by the CMS on the backend, so that your content can be read easily and quickly by your visitors.

CMS usage has increased by 75% between 2015 and 2022.

Content Management System Examples: What are they?

Examples of top content management systems that have improved customer experience through management and optimization:

Top CMS Platforms for Building Websites

Several features are available with most content management systems, which make it convenient to build various types of websites. Following is a map of the top CMS features and the typical uses for content management systems:

Systems for managing content

Content management systems can be divided into four types:

1. Management system for web content (WCMS)

Web content management systems (WCMS) are content management systems (CMS) that manage content over multiple digital channels, mostly HTML content. Using it, you can organize and manage a large, dynamic collection of web materials (HTML documents and their associated images).

Open-source, commercial, and custom CMSs are the three types of web content management systems.

i) System for managing open-source content

It is possible to download free software called open-source content management systems (CMSs) that can be used to manage content in your website. Open-source CMSs offer minimal integration with enterprise systems.

• WordPress
• Drupal
• Joomla

ii) System for managing commercial content

Using commercial content management systems requires paying a license fee to use software that is built and managed by a single company. You can implement commercial CMS software more quickly than an open-source CMS since it is built specifically for your business needs. Examples of commercial CMS platforms include:

• Kentico
• Sitecore
• Adobe Experience Manager (AEM)

iii) CMS system tailored to your needs

You can get the benefits of an open-source CMS and the benefits of a commercial CMS by implementing a new content management system based on an open-source CMS framework.

When it comes to custom content management systems, you don’t have to wait for new features. Commercial content management systems periodically update their features, which means you have to wait for new features.

Consider a custom CMS platform if your business has complex requirements that you can easily tailor to meet them.

2. System for managing digital assets (DAM)

Customer experience (CX) is built on digital assets. Organizations must provide timely, accurate, and controlled access to digital assets in order to provide the right customer experience through the right channel. Distributed teams are able to find the right asset and deliver the right customer experience.

However, if content cannot be accessed, managed, sourced, organized, harnessed, reused, modified, and archived from a single source, the experience is broken or delayed. As a tool for centralized asset, content, workflow, and operations across multiple departments, teams, and business units, a digital asset management system (DAM) is used.

Using a digital asset management system has many benefits

• A centralized global DAM can be accessed by site authors
• In this way, local authors can maintain local control over their experiences by accepting or rejecting changes to the master asset
• Replication and redundant storage are eliminated when assets serve as references

3. Management system for enterprise content (ECM)

Enterprise content management systems (ECMS) are content management systems that collect, store, deliver, and manage unstructured data from an organization, such as email, office or scanned documents, and reports. By doing so, organizations can deliver the right content to their targeted audiences (business stakeholders, employees, etc.).

A content management system allows all stakeholders of an organization to access relevant content easily, making it easier to make informed decisions and complete projects on time.

4. A component content management system (CCMS) manages the content of components

This type of content management system focuses on organizing content at the component/granular level. In contrast to page-by-page content management in CMS, CCMS allows companies to track, manage, and store content in components – words, paragraphs, phrases, or images.

Publishing content on mobile, print, or PDF platforms can be done with the CCMS, which is ideal for media publishing companies.

Description of the features of a content management system (CMS)

While every organization has different business needs, it is important that the CMS platform you choose matches your goals and needs. However, there are some essential CMS features that should be familiar to all.

In order to build and maintain a website, you need these ten CMS features:

• Dashboard that is intuitive
• User-friendly interface
• Administrative simplicity
• SEO tools built-in
• A multilingual interface
• Deployments with flexibility
• Safeguards
• Assisting
• Publication across multiple channels
• Flexibility

A CMS has many benefits

More than three channels of the customer journey can’t be connected seamlessly by 80% of marketers by 2022.

As opposed to simply a tool, a content management system allows enterprises to manage all their digital assets on a single platform, thereby eliminating the need to manage multiple technologies.

Content management systems offer the following benefits:

1. Managing multiple channels

There are a number of digital strategies that organizations are employing. These include top-of-the-line sites, accelerated web pages, microsites for events and campaigns, apps, and in-context kiosks that help deliver seamless user experiences.

Multichannel Marketing Report 2023 estimates that the multichannel marketing industry will reach $28.6 billion by 2030, growing at a rate of 22.30%.

As a stakeholder, it becomes pretty hard to manage different digital media to store different content types if all these channels cannot be combined in one place.

With content management systems, you can view, edit, and publish content across all your digital channels without having to log in to multiple systems and accounts.

By pushing the same content to both the website and your eCommerce platform simultaneously, you can avoid having to type the same information more than once, which may cause errors.

2. Safety

Data breaches cost an average of $4.35 million last year due to an increase of 38% in cybersecurity attacks.

A data breach is also a growing concern for businesses, making security a crucial factor.

No one can ever guarantee complete website security; however, top CMS platforms always keep themselves updated to address significant security concerns. It is important that your website is maintained frequently to ensure robust security. Security concerns usually arise when users do not edit the CMS software or add-ons.

3. Designing for User-Friendliness

A content management system (CMS) can provide many benefits to a team, as you have described. By providing a single, consistent workflow, a CMS can save time and reduce frustration for team members. It can also help ensure consistency and accuracy across projects.

In addition to these benefits, a CMS can also offer other advantages. For example, a CMS can make it easier to collaborate with team members by allowing multiple users to work on the same project simultaneously. It can also make it easier to manage content by providing tools for organizing, searching, and filtering content.

Furthermore, a CMS can make it easier to maintain and update a website over time. With a CMS, content can be stored and managed separately from the design and functionality of the website. This can make it easier to make changes to the website without affecting the content.

Overall, a CMS can be a valuable tool for teams that need to manage a lot of content on a website. By providing a single, consistent workflow and other helpful tools, a CMS can save time, reduce frustration, and improve collaboration and consistency across projects.

4. Analytical methods

In order to keep potential customers happy, it is cumbersome to analyze strategies across multiple systems. Identifying weak areas and effective messaging can only be done when all the data is gathered and then put together to make meaningful comparisons, whether you’re analyzing a multi-platform campaign or finding comparable statistics within each.

Personalization is critical to success for 3 out of 4 business leaders – Twilio survey

You can access all your campaign data from all your channels, starting with your CMS, with the click of a button. It is easy to identify trends and behaviors needed to provide personalized content when you have integrated centralized data collection and analysis tools.

Content Management Systems: How Do They Work?

Content management systems (CMS) with traditional, coupled architectures struggle to keep up with the constantly evolving requirements of delivering a seamless experience across various channels, including emerging ones beyond web and mobile apps. As a result, choosing the right CMS architecture is crucial for ensuring the success of your content operation and determining what is possible and how it is executed.

The CMS software typically consists of multiple application layers that support CMS functionality and determine how different software components interact. The content layer manages content, including editing, managing, and storing it, while the delivery layer or layout engine assembles and delivers the content. The delivery layer requests content from the content layer through an API and presents it through a presentation layer, rendering it on a screen. Additionally, a dashboard is available to manage various features of the website.

Traditional vs. headless CMS

Content from the CMS is presented to the audience via headless and traditional/coupled architectures.

• Traditionally, content management and page layout are done on the backend, while the front-end components are handled on the front-end. Everything is controlled by one application layer, which is often almost page-based.
• Using a headless CMS, developers can render content objects for applications or devices independent of backend functions.

What are the advantages of headless CMS over traditional content management systems?

Nowadays, content is being accessed via a wide range of devices: from smartphones to televisions, from watches to voice assistants. Hence, each requires a unique presentation method.

It is not necessary to include the page layout, styles, management framework, etc., in the CMS for an Apple Watch, Amazon’s Alexa, or Facebook’s Oculus virtual reality headset. They only need the desired content from the CMS.

By leveraging API calls, headless content management systems enable developers to create as many front-ends as your channels require.

CMS Architecture of the Future: Hybrid Headless

A hybrid headless deployment model will be available for 80% of digital experience platforms. – Gartner

In order to deliver streamlined digital experiences, a headless-only model comes with certain risks and a high level of digital maturity; therefore, it is primarily intended for businesses that have deep API skills.

As opposed to pure headless CMS architectures, hybrid headless CMS architectures enable a website to operate in either a headless or a coupled mode of content delivery. As the customer journey progresses, APIs can be used to access and deliver content across multiple devices and channels.

DXP Vs. CMS: The Differences

Over the last two decades, content management systems (CMS) have become more sophisticated, but confusion still exists regarding whether CMS is a digital experience platform (DXP) and vice versa. It’s important to clarify that CMS is not a DXP. To understand the difference between the two, it’s necessary to examine the focus of each platform:

CMS: A content management system primarily focuses on the content creation life cycle, with an emphasis on orchestration and seamless content delivery, which is essential for delivering a superior digital experience.

DXP: A digital experience platform, on the other hand, focuses on providing a 360-degree user experience. It’s a more advanced version of CMS, enabling intelligent and seamless delivery across various channels such as websites, apps, smartwatches, IoT devices, and smart TVs.

Despite their differences, both CMS and DXP share a common goal – maximizing the customer experience by anticipating their expectations.

Building a Content Management System for Euro Car Parts with Revinfotech

Euro Car Parts (ECP) is the UK’s largest supplier of car parts, having grown from a single motor parts shop to more than 200 locations in the last three decades.

In order to organize its product catalogs, ECP turned to Revinfotech for a multichannel eCommerce solution and content management system. Revinfotech faced many challenges before they could actively resolve the issues ECP faced during the expansion phase, even though the idea was exciting.

The following are some examples:

• The variant codebase allows you to manage multiple websites
• Catalogue disorganization
• Improved search performance
• Conversion rates are currently low

In order to overcome these challenges, Revinfotech developed a unified, custom-built content management system that enabled ECP to manage and organize their product catalogs across multiple channels more efficiently. In this case study, you can learn more about how ECP was able to increase their conversion rates and sales.