Customer Experience and the CMS of the Future
Customer experience management is one of the buzzwords in content management. But what does it mean? Robert Bredlau, COO North America at CMS provider e-Spirit Inc., describes to KMWorld what content management systems will have to do in the future to achieve an optimum user experience and how online editing processes will become more efficient and easier.
Increasingly complex Web projects and the speed of Internet innovation lead to increasing demands on a content management system (CMS) and its users. Therefore, customer or user experience management involves ensuring users have a positive user experience. In the current discussion the focus is primarily on the end users, i.e. those who "consume" the digital content. However, many companies forget the management aspect of Web experience management. Because it is not only about the output side on the Web, but also the editorial side, i.e. about the people who create the content—in marketing, product management or corporate communication departments. Positive experiences in the sense of a customer experience are also crucial at this point in the information chain.
Increasing demands on people and IT. The structure of a website and the content and services provided are becoming increasingly complex. The expectations for an online site are also increasing. Numerous components interact: e-commerce, social media, content targeting, rich media management, analytics, etc. all mean increasing demands on the content management. Companies have to respond to these if they want to profit from the opportunities provided by the Web. A CMS, which not only takes notice of the content users, but is also tailored to the requirements of the editors and efficient business processes, can help them to do this. Because the editing processes for online editors need to become much faster, more agile, efficient and simpler. This not only ensures a positive experience among employees, the companies also save time and costs.
However, the speed of innovations in the Internet industry is so high that no individual manufacturer can truly completely cover all the requirements itself. We have therefore opted for a best-of-breed strategy that covers content management requirements out-of-the-box. But in related areas there will always be specialists for specific applications, who have long since found a solution in their field which we ourselves could not develop as well or only with disproportionate cost and effort. For example: video technology, highly specialized search functions or applications in the areas of community software, photo editing, email marketing or Web analysis. There are already established providers for these. It is therefore better and more efficient to find these leading specialists in their fields and to make their services available to our users.
Integration platform for all content and channels. The possibility of easily integrating new applications will be a central requirement for a sustainable CMS. It will increasingly become an integrative platform, which brings together content from the progressively more heterogeneous systems and application landscape of the company and then deploys it in all digital output channels. In addition to the Internet site and intranet, these are also the e-commerce solutions with the option of cross-channel activities, output through print products, mobile devices, as well as channels for interaction with social networks. In order to keep up with the market demands, the industry must quickly supply users with the suitable tools and be able to offer a convincing customer experience.
Web and desktop applications in the CMS. Unique technology is available on the market which supports this approach. For example, with the FirstSpirit AppCenter, there is an infrastructure for integrating Web and desktop applications into the CMS. These include online picture databases, photo editing, video, geolocation and Web analysis services and online encyclopedias, as well as Office programs and any other Web applications. What makes this form of integration so special in our opinion: the ability for the editor to work directly in the CMS—in the user interface—of the linked application. The editor can have content in it displayed, copy it by means of drag-and-drop, editorially edit it and then deploy it on a website, on the intranet and any other channels. The user works in the familiar interface of the application—for example, the photo database. This means that we use the experience he already has with a familiar application, to make his work more efficient. It also means that there is no need for tedious switching backwards and forwards between different programs and manual transfer of content.
High speed innovation. Optimizing these processes saves an enormous amount of time in day-to-day work. Many companies operate in innovation-driven markets and the competitive pressure is rising in all industries. This also applies to their respective online presence—where the time-to-market is a critical factor for success. A central platform now quickly brings together all resources and enables the company to make better use of its competitive advantages. Through the new technology, when we talk of integrating a new Web application, we no longer mean integration times of several months, but a few days at most. For companies, this high speed innovation means an enormous time and cost benefit.
e-Spirit is the maker of FirstSpirit, a CMS for sophisticated customers from all industries and fields. e-Spirit designed FirstSpirit as a user experience solution to help organizations realize business benefits from economic Web communication strategies and to exploit synergies within their IT infrastructure.