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A content management system (CMS) is a computer software used to manage the creation and modification of digital content (content management). A CMS is typically used for enterprise content management (ECM) and web content management (WCM).

ECM typically supports multiple users in a collaborative environment by integrating document management, digital asset management, and record retention.

Alternatively, WCM is the collaborative authoring for websites and may include text and embed graphics, photos, video, audio, maps, and program code that display content and interact with the user. ECM typically includes a WCM function. CMS is a web template to create your own website.

Content is becoming one of the main ways businesses interact with their customers. Gone are the days that companies could regard content as a ‘nice to have’ on the side.

But content doesn’t affect just marketing – it has become a core part of businesses and touches almost every department, including sales, merchandising and development.

And yet, 42% of companies indicated they don’t have the right technology to manage their content.

This is where a content management system (CMS) comes into play.

A CMS helps you implement a comprehensive content marketing strategy and weave content into your commerce strategy.

At the same time, your developers won’t be involved in the process of publishing content and can easily make changes at the backend, without disrupting content publication.

What is a Content Management System and How Does It Work?

A CMS is an application that is used to manage and publish web content, allowing multiple users to contribute, create, edit, publish without having to beg a developer.

It also provides version management and authoring workflow to keep large, global sites consistent.

If you further break down a content management system, there are two main parts that help create your website.

• The content management application (CMA) allows marketers, merchandisers and other content creators to work with content directly, without needing to involve the IT department.
• The content delivery application (CDA) acts as the back-end portion of the website, taking the content that you enter into the templates and turning it into a working website that visitors from around the world can access.

Web Content Management (WCM) is more or less another name for CMS, because we are an industry that loves acronyms.

7 Must Have Features in a CMS Solution

1. Security

Making sure your business is secure from cyber attacks is incredibly important. Not only do attacks interrupt the continuity of your business, but they also cost you huge amounts.

A recent report by McAfee suggests that up to $600 billion may have been lost in 2018 due to cybercrime. Cloud-based CMS systems are an increasingly common target for cyber attacks.

This results in a number of potential security issues, such as data integrity violations, unauthorized access to date and malicious codes and scripts.

Most CMS come with a fairly robust set of security features, such as advanced authentication, strict permissions, firewalls and protection against malware attacks.

2. Omnichannel and Multilingual Support

A Web Content Management system that supports easy multi-language, multi-channel delivery not only makes this job much easier, but it also empowers local brand and content managers to run localized campaigns on the channels best suited for their markets while maintaining the global brand identity.

3. User-friendliness

Empowering your employees to support your globalization efforts starts with simplifying the process they use to do so.

Using a content management system that is intuitive for the end-user. And that allows employees to quickly re-use branded components such as images, designs, and experiences. Will encourage teams to take ownership of the local experience. Especially if it also allows all users to use the system in their preferred language.

A system that supports straightforward approval work flows. Will make the lives of brand managers easier. And will in turn support continued effort and excellence in the globalization process.

4. Testing & Experimentation

To further support your global teams in their localization of the brand into new markets. It’s crucial that they can quickly evaluate the results of their efforts. And take autonomous action based on this feedback.

The easiest way to do this is to ensure that the CMS/WCM. You use has built-in experimentation capabilities for easy testing of content and experience elements. Whether on desktop, mobile, or other channels.

5. Personalization

A WCM system that allows you to automatically personalize digital experience elements like campaigns, content, or product grids will provide more agility to global teams, as they can easily create variants of the site experience from one global system.

It will also allow businesses more control over the global brand, supporting globalization at scale.

6. Analytics

Use a content management system that has a built-in analytics engine, so your marketing teams, content creators, and brand managers can easily spot visitor trends and opportunities for improvement in the digital experience based on local visitor data. It’s even better if the system can provide this information per persona, which will give you much more precision in optimizing the content served to your visitors around the world.

7. Scalibility

Businesses that run their WCM in the cloud will be able to scale their globalization efforts much faster. With development teams able to roll out updates to the digital experience worldwide with just a few clicks. While taking advantage of the uptime and continuous improvements offered by cloud providers.

5 Steps to Choosing a CMS Platform

[Step 1] Decide on Your CMS Vision: The most important question to ask yourself at the start of a CMS project is “What am I trying to achieve?” With a critical look at where you currently are. And where you want to be, you can start mapping out which content, data, tools, and integrations you already have. And which you need – to build your vision.

[Step 2] Understand CMS Features:  After determining what you want to achieve from your CMS implementation, it’s time to start selecting a content management system that will align with this vision. Certain characteristics of a CMS can help to move your CMS project along faster and speed up the everyday tasks.

[Step 3] Think About the Cost: A crucial part of any CMS project is the cost involved. This is certainly true for an enterprise Content Management System which can amount to quite a hefty sum. By understanding the total fees associated with such a project means fewer unsavory financial surprises will come your way.

[Step 4] Calculcate Your ROI: A CMS is an investment and therefore should guarantee you returns. So it makes sense that  your first consideration should be to work out how much budget could be justified for this project, by calculating the return on investment.

[Step 5] Determine Your Budget: After estimating your returns, you can have a sense of how much budget would be justified, appropriate to the project’s scale.