Seven Steps to Content Management Nirvana

Two years ago I was faced with a website that had not been touched in five years. The whole thing needed burning down and building again. This included the Content Management System (CMS) which had had its code prodded and poked so many times that it crept along at a snail's pace. The site was nec.com.au. I was the Online Marketing Manager for the company at the time.

The system we were using was Red Dot (now OpenText), a large enterprise CMS system which I'm told has a very good reputation, but for me, it was far too complicated and unintuitive. Looking back, there is no other way to describe the process of choosing a CMS system other than a 'bit of a nightmare'.

The market is flooded with vendors who will promise you 'out of the box' nirvana, but this is quite far from the truth.

The reality is that very few systems will do everything you want them to do, and vendors will need to recode, restyle and create new plugins to meet your requirements. Here are my tips on choosing the right CMS system:

1. Bigger doesn't always mean better
In my experience systems sold by larger vendors are complex and costly, but if your company is more comfortable talking to a vendor who boasts a long list of corporate clients, and you like the comfort factor this brings, take a look. The small guys might not have the clients, but you may find they're willing to work harder for your money and offer more attractive licensing agreements. Ask yourself whether you want a Rolls Royce solution or if a Holden will get the job done.

2. Bells and whistles can be overrated
CMS vendors will promise you the world. If you want a workflow to manage the milk in the office fridge, they will build you one. My advice is to focus on what you need to manage and publish web content day-to-day, and not on how you might use the cooler widgets built into a system. You will be surprised how many systems don't do the basics well. Simple publishing, scheduling and media management should not be taken for granted.

3. Let Marketing lead the way
Your primary users should be the people who help you select your CMS. The last thing you want is a system chosen by IT, which ticks all of the compliance boxes, but stops your marketing team from doing its job well. Ensure you consult your IT department, but don't let them lead the way.

4. Priortise usability over functionality
I would rank usability as the number one priority when considering a CMS system. It does not matter how smart or well engineered a system is, if the interface is clunky or unintuitive, walk away. You need to be able to publish and manage web content quickly and easily. You also need to be able to train new publishers to use the system. If you can't publish or update information with a couple of clicks, you are barking up the wrong tree.

5. Ask for a real trial
What a vendor says on paper is often different to what you'll experience when you login for the first time. Do not ever buy or subscribe to a CMS system without a trial. And when I say trial, I mean a true working version of the system, not a demo site. This is the only way you will be able to assess if the system is right for you.

6. Speak to existing users
Speaking to people who have been using the system for a long period of time is essential when choosing a CMS. Speak to at least two companies and ask them to be frank about the good bits and the bad bits. Make sure you ask them about how well the system was setup and how well it is supported. If they tell you the system is 'perfect' - beware. No CMS is perfect.

7. Be realistic and accept gremlins
No CMS system is perfect and any vendor which is not willing to be upfront about this is not being honest with you. There can be a range of quirks in any system from how images are indexed, to symbols like '&' which won't publish correctly. You should be realistic and expect the odd quirk.

My personal experience with CMS systems

I have been through the process of procuring a CMS system five times for companies including: NEC (Australia), University of Manchester (UK), UMIST (UK), BENCH PR (Australia), and most recently for my own company Dotpoint. In each instance, I drew up a list of requirements and did not find a vendor who could not meet our requirements, or so they said.

? The systems I have used include: Red Dot (now OpenText), Terminal Four, CManager, Wordpress, Silverstripe and a series of white-label solutions.

? The systems I have assessed, include the above systems, and: Dimension Data, Elcom and BlueArc.

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