Recently, a customer asked for a Content Management System (CMS). Being a SharePoint developer and consultant, I proposed a SharePoint Server as CMS. Afterward, by analyzing different CMS in the market, I thought of writing this article that will focus mainly on a CMS named – “Sitefinity” (http://www.sitefinity.com/).
Why invest in a CMS
Before deciding to buy a Content Management System (CMS), you want to get a clear idea of how the new platform will support your business goals. What kind of technology do you need to look for? Moreover, is it possible to predict what will work and what will not in a year?
What to look for
The key parameters that I think should be taken into consideration when choosing a CMS are-
- Managing experiences
- Extensibility and integration with key business systems
- Costs and pricing models
- Multi-device strategies
- Content creation and multi-channel publishing
- Governance and reporting tools
Managing experiences
Questions to consider
- What does my customer journey look like and where are the digital touchpoints?
- How does the CMS support personalization?
- How does the CMS support content through multiple channels?
- How does the CMS allow me to track and report user behavior?
- How will the CMS become an asset in my overall customer experience management?
Extensibility and integration with key business systems
Questions to consider
- Is the CMS designed to integrate out of the box?
- Is it possible to integrate user data with analytics from other platforms?
- How often will I need to update and integrate with new applications?
- How often will I need to update functionalities?
- Which business systems do I need to integrate with?
- How many of my required functionalities are standard in the CMS?
- Will I have the support of in-house developers or will I need to buy outside help when integrating or developing?
Costs and pricing models
Questions to consider
- What is the total cost of ownership, including licenses, support, development, hosting?
- Does the license scale with additional servers without adding extra cost?
- What is the cost of upgrades and if applicable new modules?
- What will it cost you to maintain and support your mobile endeavors.
- What kind of licensing model will fit your organization
Multi-device strategies
While deciding among multiple devices, the first and foremost choices should be always mobile and tablets. Start with implementing the mobile touch points where you gain the most. When looking at a new enterprise CMS, look at how it can support customer experience management with respect to mobile. You want to look at whether the backend allows you to track, assess, develop, test and preview on multiple devices.
Content creation and multi-channel publishing
Questions to consider
- How user-friendly is the dashboard?
- How easy is it to create new content?
- Can you manage the customer journey?
- How easily can the content be reused and published in multiple channels?
Governance and reporting tools
Questions to consider
- How user-friendly is the dashboard?
- How seamless is the back-end user experience?
- Can you set up user administration that fits your organization?
- What kind of workflows can you set up?
- Is the CMS born with quality management and reporting tools, or does it integrate easily with third party tools?
Summary
I would suggest the following steps, which need to be followed before buying a CMS,
- Define goals and strategies
- Define your business case
- Know your data or content
- Talk to your users
- Organization and governance
- Resources
- Requirements
About Sitefinity
Sitefinity is a Web Content Management System (Licensed, free for a limited time) of the company Telerik. It is much like SharePoint Server and having almost all the features required for a content management system.
Below are some of the important links for Sitefinity,
- Sitefinity Support
- Sitefinity System Requirements
If you will download the free trial, you will be given a Project Manager called “Sitefinity CMS Project Manager” in which you can create multiple projects or applications.
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In addition, for custom development, Sitefinity provides an add-in called “Sitefinity Thunder” which will be added in Visual Studio.
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