A great content management system can be the backbone of your business so it’s important to choose the right one. There are a number of factors to consider when deciding on the right CMS, from ease of use to customisability, so here are some top tips to help you choose the best CMS to make your business thrive.
Consider Growth
A CMS might be the perfect tool for your business now, but a few years down the line you might need something more robust. Consider your long term business goals and choose a content management system that can grow with you. After spending time setting everything up, the last thing you need is to have to migrate all your content to a new system. It is far better to be able to use the same system for a number of years.
While considering your CMS, it is also worth thinking about the needs of staff in terms of team building and relaxation. If staff can use technology in their downtime in the office, such as by listening to music online or using https://onlinebingo.co.uk to search for the latest bingo sites, this can build a more effective team. A happy workforce creates better morale and this can be just as important as the right CMS for businesses.
Avoid Overkill
Although considering growth is important, you also need to think about usability and whether you really need an advanced system for a simple project. Choosing a CMS that is too complex when you only have a basic requirement is overkill and can end up being more trouble that it is worth. You don’t want to spend hours training staff on the complexities of an advanced CMS when all you need is a basic system.
Software or Strategy?
Sometimes the main consideration isn’t about software at all, but finding the correct strategy. There are many light-weight tool that can be used to deal with an issue and you might not need a CMS overhaul. If a problem is organisational, adding a new CMS might only create more technical problems. Think about which company activities have the biggest impact on the business as a whole and then decide which technology is holding back progress. If it is the CMS then by all means change it, but it might be more about business strategy decisions than tech choices.
Consider Specific Usage
In order to find the right technology you need to think about exactly what you need to use it for. This might seem obvious, but taking the time to consider the user’s interaction with the technology and what objective they are trying to achieve will help you discover the right tool for the job. When choosing an appropriate content management system, you should think about the user, the task, the content that needs to be managed and the potential approach.
Putting Theory into Practice
If possible, you should demonstrate the product using the usage scenario created in the previous step. By using a product demo, you can work out if the CMS fits your needs and requirements. The demo should be used in a real-life scenario so you can judge whether or not it would be an effective tool for your specific purposes. Take notice of the features that are difficult to use and any features that are particularly helpful. Over time, these will be key to a successful content management system.
Find your Shortlist
Build a shortlist of potential content management systems that could fit the needs of your business. This should be a list of the CMS options that you have seen in demonstration. Overall, the CMS you choose needs to fit all your requirements and have the features you need, while still being easy to use. It will take some time to fully evaluate the options and consider the usability and the functionality of each system. The shortlist should consist of the products that have the right features, are easy to use and are within your budget.
Technical Considerations
Although every business is different and your needs will be specific, there are a number of common issues to look out or when evaluating a CMS. There should be back office support for the system users, ideally multi-lingual support and also a roll back functionality so you can return to a previous version should anything problematic occur.
There should also be a strong separation of content from presentation to make the working platform clear and user-friendly. Depending in how you work, there should also be mobile functionality so you can make changes form mobile devices. The CMS also needs to be able to be integrated with other technology and products your company already uses. Changing one product should not mean you need to overhaul all your other products and processes.
By considering all these points, you should be able to find a CMS that works for your business and makes organising your content an easier, more efficient and more user-friendly process.
