Learn From Your Past and Plan for Your Future
Will Your Next CMS Scale to Meet Your Demands?

If your organization is like most, you’ve been living with some form of content management system (CMS) for quite a while. In fact, many firms are on their second, third, or even fourth iteration. Built, bought, or on demand, since your last CMS implementation, chances are that your business objectives, content needs, and organizational requirements have evolved. So how is the system you chose yesterday working for you today? What about tomorrow? Going forward, you may not know what changes will emerge, but you can be certain that change over time will be constant.

In spite of that inevitability, when considering a new CMS, many organizations focus mainly on short-term needs, often looking for the least expensive, fastest to implement CMS available. Others are seduced by bleeding-edge technology or trendy new features but don’t know exactly how they will use them. These ill-advised approaches usually suggest the absence of a content management strategy and in the end may only culminate in replacing one outdated system with a soon-to-be outdated one.

Understanding what it's been like to live with a CMS as demands on both the system and on the people who use it have increased over time should underscore the importance of implementing a flexible, scalable solution.

What is driving new CMS initiatives? (A glance in the rear-view mirror)

• Many built proprietary systems or purchased simple, low-cost systems, and the ability to scale has lagged behind organizational needs;
• Business units have become more demanding and have more influence. They want easy-to-use tools for non-technical people to be able to do their jobs. Current systems may not have originally been chosen to meet this objective;
• As business users have become more hands-on, some systems failed to gain wide adoption because they were too difficult to learn and use—requiring considerable IT intervention;
• IT has become overburdened with the demands of constant website management, creating bottlenecks and preventing IT staff from innovating elsewhere in the organization; and
• Lack of a supported framework to build simple applications in a timely manner has impeded achievement of front-line business objectives.

A Road Map to Success
The number of CMS options available today is mind-boggling. Proprietary, SaaS, open source and an endless variety of commercially made and supported products all offer value against certain scenarios. While there are many very good solutions to choose from, one size doesn’t fit all in the CMS world. Though some commoditization may be occurring at the lower end of the market where needs are simpler and more consistent from one organization to another, standardization in the mid-market, and especially at upper levels, has not been established, and more diverse and complex needs exist. More features, the fastest to implement or the cheapest price won’t necessarily correlate to best fit over time for your organization.

To ensure you aren’t looking for a new CMS two years from now, find a scalable solution that easily integrates with other systems. It should provide a meaningful level of flexibility, allowing the system to align with your content strategy. Don’t be bound to a low-cost, feature-rich product that won’t scale.

Scalability in this context doesn’t equate to how many site visitors or page views you receive in a month. This is about: How many people in your organization are capable of managing content? How does the CMS expand as your organization grows or changes? How well does it handle new types of content as it become important to meet your business needs?

Other things to consider include:

• Can you repurpose content, custom applications and repeatable solutions across your organization?
• Will it seamlessly integrate with external applications, existing authentication systems and server architecture?\
• Is the system easy to use whether creating content, importing content or creating out of the box widgets? How flexible are the widgets? Can you customize them and make them your own?
• Can the system share and take advantage of packaged or proprietary solutions as well as open-source applications across the user community?
• Is the user community strong? Are there user-led interest groups where you can build relationships, collaborate and share custom applications and best practices?
• Is the vendor solution flexible enough to scale with your organization, or does it simply provide a checklist of widgets that you are looking for today?

Content management is more of a pursuit than a product. It’s something that you do rather than something that you build or buy. You know your organization, its needs and its appetite, and propensity for change. Finding a flexible, scalable solution that best aligns with a well-defined strategy is a logical goal. Remember, he or she who ends up with the most features or the lowest initial cost doesn’t win. Invest in the decision-making process. Plan ahead. What will it be like to live, over time, with your next content management system?

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PaperThin, Inc. is a privately held MA-based company. Founded in 1993, PaperThin’s flagship product, CommonSpot™, is a leading content management solution that empowers organizations of all sizes to improve productivity and derive more value from their Web strategies. PaperThin’s customers span multiple industries, including: government, healthcare, higher education and association/non-profit sectors. Customers include the City of St. Louis, Cornell University, ESAB Welding & Cutting, Mayo Clinic, National Park Service, Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Stanford University, T-Mobile, University of Wisconsin, US Senate, United Way and Voice of America. Visit PaperThin at www.paperthin.com.