simple steps to choosing the ideal cms

Simple Steps to Choosingthe Ideal CMSA step-by-step guide to the best practices for choosing a Web CMS Customer Experience Management Platform

By the Simple [A] Team

What is a CMS and Why Your Organization

Needs One.

How to determine your needs and ensure you

choose correctly.

The value of impartial references, where to find

them and how to make the most of them.

Step-by-step what to expect after selection.

Determining Your Needs: Simple Steps to Choosing the Ideal CMS © Simple A LLC 1

The CMS Selection ProcessChoosing a CMS is often more difficult than many companies think. It’s a decision to be made carefully, because it’s a decision you’re going to live with for several years. With enterprise-level CMSs, costs are also fairly expensive, often reflecting 100% or more of your original CMS investment. Your CMS will not only be a major part of all your web operations, but today it will also be a major part of all of your business operations including—marketing, sales, support, recruiting, and other core functions that are essential to your enterprise. In 2014, the phrase “Web Content Management System” will be a misnomer as the industry has been moving rapidly towards replacing the term with Customer Experience Management (CXM). While this might sound like catch-phrase bingo, underneath the terminology you will find that the change is built on a significant concept.

Customer Experience Management is a strategy that focuses the operations and processes of a business around the needs of the individual customer. Companies are focusing on the importance of the experience, knowing that building great consumer experiences is a key component to comprehensively manage a customer’s cross-channel exposure, interaction and transaction with a company, product, brand or service.

The most sophisticated CMS platforms currently leading the field are all moving towards embracing sophisticated content analytics, user behavior analysis, site personalization, dynamic content optimization, and multiple points of contact beyond the website into native mobile applications, email, and integration with social networks. The platforms that used to run your website is really a platform to manage your customers’ experiences with your organization across multiple mediums.

When assessing a new system for your organization, we find that the most successful processes include setting up a fully-functional individual project with all relevant departmental stakeholders included. This is a time-consuming process, and you need a project where you can aggregate all research into a centralized work environment.

Determining Your Needs: Simple Steps to Choosing the Ideal CMS © Simple A LLC2

Build a Scorecard1. The Comparison Matrix Focuses Selection CriteriaPlot all variables on a comparison matrix with columns for each of the CMS/CXM systems being evaluated.

Add rows for the following:

Assign each of the criteria a minimally acceptable rating on a scale of 1 to 5. Then rank each criterion for each system on that same scale of 1 to 5. You can then calculate an overall numerical ranking for each of the systems being reviewed. This will allow you to weed down platform choices from what may be several (we’ve seen clients start with up to seven potential systems under consideration) down to the top two or three.

o Organizational business requirementso Key features subdivided by business function (marketing, sales, operations, HR, etc.)o Integrationso Work effort, both internally and from vendorso Estimated budgets for licensing, implementation, training, deployment, and infrastructure.

Budget several weeks for the matrix creation. Once complete, the next step is to score the systems by a numerical ratings system.

CXM Selection Matrix Platform ABusiness Considerations

Technology Considerations

Adaptive Content for Mobile & Tablet DevicesImplicit Content PersonalizationContent Administrator ExperienceMarketing Automation Integration

1.24.4

4.8

1.5

3.5

3.5

4.1

5.8

3.6

Mulitsite SupportPerformance ConsiderationsContent Migration ToolsAPI Documentation

Platform B Platform C


2. Eliminate Down to Two FinalistsMake the easy decisions first as to which CMS systems to eliminate based on the scores you assigned them. If you’re still presented with two or more options, consider doing a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis (SWOT). By looking at these features holistically, often you can clarify doubts about that third system which need to be eliminated. Ideally, you can get to two finalist systems.

3. Run a CMS/CXM ShowdownWhen you have eliminated down to two finalist systems, you will still need to choose one that you will build on and live with for years to come. How do you choose?

This part of the process comes down to running live tests between the systems, talking to reference clients, and running broad based internal user demos and related surveys. The goal is to tip the numerical score for the system that will provide the most realistic value to your organization.

The word “realistic” denotes the important part of this step. Too often, the CMS/CXM vendor does a great job at selling the benefits of a platform that has too many features for your organization. At this stage it is pertinent and incredibly important for decision makers to ask what features they really need and will use. Ultimately, you don’t want to purchase a CMS with a bunch of features that you let sit after being “certain” that the feature was a deciding feature.

We find the best way to gain perspective is to look outside of your task force or selection committee and get input

from business users. Run objective proof of concept tests, and solicit feedback from organizations that have already deployed the system within their own environments and

have lived with them for a while.

Tip: Because CMS/CXM systems often touch many different contributors and content authors inside of the organization, it may help to do short demos focused on specific authoring environments with those stakeholders. Ask them to grade the interfaces and record any questions or concerns they have. This will provide some additional score data to potentially weigh the final decision along with the other showdown factors.


By now, a winner may have emerged. If so, congratulations! However, often two platforms will score at or near a tie and each have advocates. This is when you need a tiebreaker. You can break a tie with impartial references or investing in a proof of concept. Let’s start with references. Learning from the experience of others often brings clarity to a difficult decision.

4. Assign Final GradesBased on your showdown activities—your proof of concepts, reference evaluations, and initial surveys—assign a new set of numerical grades following the same structure of a minimally acceptable rank, and then add the actual rank for each criterion and take a look at the totals.

Build Scorecard

Evaluate Platforms

Score and Rank

Choose Finalists

Select Platform

Tiebreaker

Impartial References

Proof of Concept


Breaking a TieWhen assessing a new CMS for your organization we find the most successful process includes setting up a fully-functional individual project with all relevant departmental stakeholders included-your own cross functional task force. The previous sections discuss how to get started choosing a new CMS system and how to create a comparison matrix to weigh in judge your options.

Once you have two finalist systems, it’s time to choose the one that you will build with and use for the next several years. This part of the process comes down to talking to reference clients, running live tests between your two finalist systems, and running broad-based internal user demos and related surveys. The goal is to tip the numerical scores on your comparison matrix for the system that will provide the most value to your organization.

An Impartial Set of References:

Finding impartial references for each CMS platform is often the most overlooked tactic. There’s a tremendous wealth of information that can be gleaned from other’s experience with a product. That experience can potentially save you significant difficulties in the future, and even provide entirely new insight into aspects of the product that you had not considered in any of your evaluation up to this point.

Steps for Running CMS Client Reference Evaluations: o Write up your key questionso Build a scorecardo Identify impartial referenceso Establish and hold reference meetingso Compile notes and scorecard datao Add reference scores to your comparison matrixo Follow up with and thank the reference companies


Build Scorecard

Evaluate Platforms

Score and Rank

Choose Finalists

Select Platform

Tiebreaker

Impartial References

Proof of Concept

documentation. It’s another thing to hear about integration problems and API issues from someone who has lived through them. So add in a set of soft factor questions designed to help your developers and users.

Add in open-ended questions.

Make sure to include questions in your list that are broad, open-ended questions. Things like, “Can you tell us how your Sitecore implementation went?” Or, “What unforeseen or surprising things did your development team encounter during development with Kentico?” Or, “How do your users like working with Ektron?” Or “Why did you ultimately decide to choose this platform?” These kinds of open-ended questions often elicit unexpected and potentially important content in response.

How many questions should you prepare?

We recommend listing as many questions as you want during your initial preparation/brainstorming sessions, but then ultimately culling the list down to only 20 questions. These questions should then be prioritized in order from the most important to the least important. It’s possible you will only have a chance to get through 10 questions or so before time is up during the reference call. You want to be very respectful of the reference’s time, so you’ll need to curate your final set wisely.

Look for ties that need tiebreakers.

Start with the end in mind by reviewing your comparison matrix that you’ve built already and finding areas that are both a) critical to the success of your CMS/CXM implementation, and b) reflect similar scores between both finalist systems. Insight from another organization can help to untangle the comparison matrix criteria that seem like a tie.

Look for soft factor user and developer feedback.

It’s great to hear from customer s about their actual day-to-day experience with the product. We have seen clients fall in love with the technical capabilities of one platform, but ultimately choose another due to the user experience for their content administrators.

During a demo, most systems seem easy to use because the sales people are so comfortable with the products they represent. Some of those soft factor issues contribute significantly to the success of a platform in a particular environment, and it’s only through references and user testing that those factors become illuminated.

The same is true of developer feedback. It’s one thing to evaluate an API by looking through

Checking references is a time-saving shortcut, when the alternative is rolling out an internal test on the content admin population.


Rank by ReferencesIn the same way that you have created a comparison matrix with critical criteria to evaluate and benchmark across systems, you will expand your scorecard with input scores for each reference. This will include factors represented in your questions along with a score. These factors can be things like:

o Admin User Satisfaction o Relevance of CMS Based Analytics o Ability to Administer Multiple Domains in a Load-Balanced Environment o Or any other critical factors that are represented by your questions

Identify Impartial References

Finding truly impartial references can be a bit challenging. You can always ask the CMS vendors for references and these will certainly be helpful, but they won’t be impartial. Naturally, the vendors are going to provide references that have had the most positive experiences. It’s possible to pick up strong opinions on user forums via LinkedIn and Quora, or via vendor websites. Those are all valid places to find references, but with valuable time at stake for everyone involved, you’ll want to find the best possible, most objective match to your organization’s needs. So put together a list of references using:

o Vendor referrals - make sure to ask for clients that match your organization’s structure, size of implementation, and those that represent key integration factors.o Vendor user forums - this can be via the user community for a vendor, or on third-party websites like LinkedIn and Quora.

o Online research - search web pages for tell-tale signs of a particular CMS being used by looking for artifacts in the code base, or, check out BuiltWith.com, and create a list of companies using the CMS you’re referencing. Then include them in your candidate pool if they visibly match your profit.


Establish and hold reference meetings

A member of the selection committee should call the references to coordinate meetings. We usually set these up as web teleconferences and ask for 30 to 45 minutes worth stakeholder from both marketing and IT participate. We never provide a direct cash incentive, but sometimes we offer to make a donation to a charity in the name of the contributing company. But often, companies are glad to share experiences, and if time provides, will take the meeting. The following is helpful:

Compile Notes and Scorecard Data

During the reference calls, one person should act as the moderator and facilitate the Q&A to keep everybody on time. If you record the call, let the reference company know that you’re planning to do so. Everybody on the call should be taking notes of their impressions and thoughts from the discussion. During, or directly after the reference call, each person on the committee listening should complete a criteria scorecard. Finally, pull all the notes together into a single document and average all of the scores.

Add Reference Scores to the Matrix

You can choose to add all the scores individually from the reference calls into multiple new items on your master comparison matrix, or, you may boil scores into a weighted single number per reference. Either way, each reference call will help to tilt the results into one platform direction or the other.

Thank the Reference Companies

Be sure to follow up with and thank the reference companies. Sometimes it’s nice to send some kind of token gift, as well.

Getting Started

While it does take a time investment to do the reference call process as a part of your CMS selection, we guarantee that you’ll find insight and the data that comes back might just be the deciding factor in a close race. If you would like help running a reference process, feel free to contact Simple [A] at [email protected]

By now you have selected your platform. Congratulate yourself. You’ve taken the to evaluate a lot of variables that can often be confusing to many decision makers. By putting them into a logical order and measuring meaning objectively, you have made a decision for all the right reasons. You can rest comfortably knowing it’s the right choice for your organization.

Offer to sign an NDA and have one ready.Confirm via email after the initial appointment is set, then send an email confirmation with a calendar appointment and the call details for the teleconference. Re-confirm on the morning of the meeting.


About Simple [A]

We enable the intersection of content strategy, content management, and content marketing. [A] is an elite integrator of web content and customer experience management. We bring you the most powerful Web Content Management and Content Marketing Platforms for customer experience management.

Agencies, governments, and select clients engage [A] for expert, behind-the-scenes support. We provide comprehensive services to bolster and complement core agency and in-house IT skills.

[A] Content Technologists care passionately about content, technology, and strong alliances. We quietly meet your needs, your client’s needs, and the needs of your searching and social public. Simple [A].

[email protected]

815A Brazos, Suite 115Austin, TX 78701512-646-2100SimpleA.com

[A]: Content Technology Solution Provider