2019 CMS COMPARISON GUIDERanking the Top Content Management Systems in the Industry

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W H AT I S A C O N T E N T M A N AG E M E N T SYST E M ( C M S ) ?

A CMS is software that provides non-technical users with a solution to efficiently manage how content appears on a company website.

IN THIS GUIDE, WE WILL

evaluate the effectivenessOF SOME OF THE TOP VENDORS IN THE CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM INDUSTRY.

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CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS ARE SHIFTING

Prior coverage of the CMS industry focused on basic software

functionality and the ease of which a non-technical user can

take advantage of the tools. Standard features are still

paramount to web success, like search engine optimization

capabilities and personalization. However, we’ve recently found

that a paradigm shift in the CMS industry has taken hold. Since

businesses often rely on multiple software platforms to be

successful, the key to success using a CMS now lies in flexibility

and capability to integrate with partner platforms.

In the report, “Market Overview: Digital Customer Experience

Delivery Platforms,” Forrester Research describes the difference

between niche software and true web experience management

platforms:

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BACKGROUNDA SHIFT IN ANALYSIS & APPROACH

Enterprises leverage numerous software tools

in support of cross channel digital customer

experiences. Market fragmentation and

integration challenges have opened the door to

integrated platforms.

Software vendors have bought and/or built a

range of foundational capabilities for on-site

digital experiences and have pushed integration

with other tools, enabling enterprises to establish

flexible, heterogeneous platforms that address their requirements.

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FOCUS ON THE OVERALL SOLUTION

A focus on the solution, and how a CMS works within that full

vision, has finally taken precedent when measuring what

software will result in the best RODI (Return on Digital

Investment). In this way, analysis is moving away from functionality

checklists and is more focused on the pairing of technology and the

associated services to deliver a company’s digital experience vision.

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ROADMAP TO SUCCESSIN WEB EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENT

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, Analyst

Digital Clarity Group

Contextualized

Content Management

Integrated Digital

Experience Features

Implementation

Services

“The implementation team is key to

project success and definitely part of the solution.

Overlooking that piece is folly.”

Brice Dunwoodie, CMS Wire

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FOCUS BEYOND SOFTWARE.FOCUS ON RESULTS .

The role of software is diminished in comparison to the role of the implementation, integration and incorporation of the software into a complete solution.

“Guide to Service Providers for Web Content and Customer Experience Management”

Digital Clarity Group

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GRADING RUBRICUsing curated research conducted by analysts from Gartner, Forrester Research, Digital Clarity Group, CMSCritic.com, CMSReport.com, CMS Wire, Fierce Content Management, CMSHarbor.com, and more,

this guide will look beyond the selection process and examine a vendor’s total ability to deliver on the promise of the engagement, by rating platforms on the following criteria:

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GRADING RUBRICSYSTEM FOR PLATFORM EVALUATION

• FEATURES• USABILITY• SERVICES• OVERALL VALUE

For complete numeric scoring see last page.

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FEATURES

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FEATURES THAT POWER YOUR CMSThe most important software selection your company will make is theContent Management System that powers your website. We’re not justlooking at the features ingrained in web publishing that a CMS provides, butthe integrated capabilities that create meaningful customer experiences.

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FEATURESTO HELP CREATE MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCES

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

A CMS should make life easier on the marketer, allowing them to easily publish SEOfriendly content. To help show a marketer where to optimize the page for relevantkeyword phrases, the CMS should provide clearly labeled fields for page title,description, tags and meta keywords. This will maximize the visibility of yourwebsite when people search for key terms on Google, Bing, Yahoo or other searchengines.

ENTERPRISE SEARCH MANAGEMENTOver time, information on your website becomes buried inside databases, folders,emails or other media. The value of the information is largely diminished if thecontent can not be found. The problem is that many CMS providers charge asmuch as a THIRD of the initial purchase price for their CMS just for an additionalsearch mechanism. We believe this is an integral part of the CMS and should beincluded at no additional charge to the customer.

ANALYTICS, PERSONALIZED CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES“Personalization and targeting engines are the frameworks from which the practiceof delivering tailored, digital interactions is made possible. Personalization is thefirst principle of relevance and a cornerstone of a sound customer engagementstrategy.” (Digital Clarity Group)

ECOMMERCE CONSIDERATIONSeCommerce capabilities are becoming increasingly important. Basic shopping cartsare no longer a sustainable model and analysts are taking notice. Look for user-friendly order and product management tools and intuitive customer analytics.Deep integrations with payment and partner platforms are also a must-have.

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USABILITY

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POWER TO YOUR PEOPLEThe whole point of a CMS is to empower your marketing team tomake changes to your website without having to outsource toexternal vendors. This alleviates friction between IT issues and businesscontext while helping to create a customer journey reflective of yourobjectives.

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USABILITYMAXMIZE EFFECTIVENESS THROUGH SIMPLICITY

A CMS is only an effective tool to expedite the efforts of your team IF itcan be utilized properly. Marketers have enough on their plate keeping thedigital marketing strategy up-to-date and relevant. A CMS should reducetheir workload not create another confusing platform to master during theirdaily routine. This brings a few questions to mind – Is the CMS dashboardclear and easy to navigate? How intuitive is the editing toolkit? Can youpublish content easily? Consider whether your intended CMS is an opensource solution or developed on proprietary software to determine yourflexibility in customizing your site:

OPEN SOURCE SOLUTIONSThis model to web development implies universal – or free – access to a product’sdesign or blueprint for redistribution, including subsequent improvements to thesource code by anyone.

PROPRIETARY SOFTWAREProprietary Software is licensed under the exclusive legal right of the copyrightholder, distributed to licensees under certain conditions, and restricted fromother uses – such as modification, sharing, studying, redistribution, or reverseengineering. Usually the source code of proprietary software is not made available.

“Open source platforms absolutely have their place in the CMS market and may bea terrific solution for cash-strapped businesses or ones with minimal contentmanagement needs. However, enterprise-level paid systems bring a lot to thetable – security, compliance and document management features, for instance –that free platforms often don’t. No system is infallible but why not at least giveyour company a fighting chance when it comes to keeping your content safe?”

Lisa Hoover McGreevy, Fierce Content Management

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SERVICES

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SERVICESSOLUTIONS TO ENSURE YOUR SUCCESS

WILL YOUR CMS PROVIDER HOLD YOUR HAND?Whether or not a CMS offers implementation services has asignificant influence on determining value. Also included in thiscomponent of the matrix is the help, support, training, and digital strategyservices each vendor provides.

You should make sure that your future CMS platform provider is ready to rollup their sleeves to help you get the most out of their platform.

INTEGRATION & DEVELOPMENT SERVICESDoes your CMS provider have an integrations team to ensure that your site isconnected to technologies that you utilize to conduct business? Most businessesneed to connect their site to payment processing platforms, customer relationshipmanagement platforms like Salesforce, and more. It helps to know there is anumber to call and a support technician standing by to help.

DESIGN & USER EXPERIENCE ASSISTANCEDoes your CMS provider offer services to bring your web design aspirations to lifeor provide tips to ensure the best user experience? If you don’t have the internalresources available, it helps to know that there is a team that knows how tonavigate your CMS and develop your site for you.

CLOUD & MANAGED HOSTING SERVICESDoes your CMS provider take care of all infrastructure, software, security,compliance, maintenance performance and capacity management? Before youdevelop a site on your CMS or enter a long-term agreement, it’s worth checking tosee if they monitor your site for updates, backups and changes. It’s also worthlooking in the disaster recovery options available if your site gets hacked.

Your CMS provider should be able to partner with customers to provide successfulsolutions that deliver real results.

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OVERALLVALUE

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QUANTIFYING VALUEDiscussing the value of your CMS can get real complicated, real fast. Ingeneral, it’s difficult to quantify or measure the value of a CMS in metrics, notto mention aligning those metrics to the actual business value of yourplatform. The value of a CMS also depends on the stakeholder you’re speakingwith in an organization.

There may not be a specific metric to measure the value of a CMS, butwe can understand the value a CMS brings to an organization bydiscussing the costs and value propositions.

COSTSCosts typically include a software license, maintenance costs, implementation labor,ongoing labor, consulting and training.

FINANCIAL VALUEFinancial value can include reduction or reallocation of intranet management staff,reduced website development time and lower cost of training due to platformsupport teams and online support channels.

SECONDARY VALUE PROPOSITIONSOther financially measurable benefits of implementing a CMS for your businessinclude improved sales conversions or upsell revenue based on intranetconversations or integration with social media, revenue from new business,revenue from sales activities managed through the CMS, improved ideation,reduced time to hire, improved marketing processes and cross-departmentalcollaboration, improved lead generation and nurturing workflows, and the list couldgo on and on.

A CMS brings value to many different members of any organization and requiresbuy-in from a varied team of stakeholders. Understanding the overall goals ofyour organization and how they can be achieved through the use of a CMS canbring to light the true financial and qualitative value of your upgrade.

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OVERALL VALUEBREAKING IT DOWN BY STAKEHOLDERS

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FINAL THOUGHTSRESEARCHING YOUR FUTURE CMS

DO YOUR HOMEWORKOnboarding to a new CMS requires a long-term commitment that willbenefit you greatly in the long run but you want to make sure it’s a good fit.Research reviews and case studies before signing an agreement for your newCMS.

When your selection committee makes a final decision and you have anextremely helpful new CMS to assist your everyday business efforts, you’ll beso glad you spent the time now ensuring that your business is equipped withthe right software.

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Automation Flow Builder

Landing Pages

Lead Capture & Nurture

Segmentation & Targeting

Email Campaigns

Flexible Publishing

Enterprise Search

SEO Management

Publishing Workflows

Mobile Friendly

Faceted Catalog

Cart & Checkout

Shipping & Payments

Coupons & Promotions

Order & Inventory

Social Monitoring

Reputation Management

Drive Engagement

Schedule

Publish

Dashboards

Actionable Insights

Reporting

Optimization

Goal Tracking

Unified Product Suite

MARKETING CONTENT COMMERCE SOCIAL INSIGHTS

Manage your entire digital experience without limitations.

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Better Faster Effective

» Go-to-Market Faster: Rapid, Pre-Built

Interfaces & Modules

» Turn-Key Solution: CMS, Commerce,

Marketing Automation & Social

» Nimble & Agile Professional Services:

Providing Velocity to Market

» Financial Benefits: Increase Leads,

Drive Conversions & Drive Online

Revenue

» Streamline Business Processes

Managing Sites & Reduce Costs

» One Platform - One Team

» Customer Experience: Unified

Experience Across All Channels

» Functionality: Manage the

Complete Customer Journey

» Scalability: Enterprise-Level

Features With Deep Integrations

The broadest custom cloud-based solution available today. Achieve velocity to market!

Looking for Results?Our team is ready to work on your solution.

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