Content management systems

Choosing a content management system (CMS) needs careful planning. Start by understanding your business's current and future content needs.

Step 1: Define your requirements

Use the MoSCoW method outlined below to prioritise:

• must-have: essential features you cannot work without
• should-have: features you consider important but not critical
• could-have: features you desire and could be useful, if budget allows
• would-have: nice-to-haves for later

Prioritising features in this way will give you a requirement matrix against which you can assess different solutions and their functionality.

Remember to ask different teams for input so you can capture their requirements and organisational needs too. For example:

• your IT team could need a CMS that fits with the existing infrastructure stack
• your sales team might want CRM or e-payment systems integration
• your marketing team might desire automation or digital marketing capabilities

See examples of important CMS features and functions.

Step 2: Compare key decision factors

Check these when reviewing CMS options:

• ease of use for non-technical staff
• level of technical skills needed to use the CMS effectively
• type of platform (eg open source, proprietary or cloud)
• core or built-in features and capabilities
• customisation options and costs
• third-party integration (eg with CRM or e-commerce platform)
• scalability as your business grows
• mobile responsiveness and design flexibility
• ease of deployment
• security features and compliance
• support options (communities, forums, user support, maintenance, etc)
• total costs including hosting, updates, licensing, maintenance or future development

Every project will be different, but the factors covered above should help you narrow down choices. If possible, watch a demo, speak to current users and try out the software first, before making the final choice.

Step 3: Choose a trusted supplier

The process of finding the right CMS supplier is similar to that of choosing any other IT supplier for your business. You will want to pick a supplier who offers a reputable product and service, clear contracts, reliable support and fair pricing.