Choosing The Best Content Management System (CMS) For Your Business

As customer expectations evolve and small- and large- sized companies shift towards omnichannel content delivery, quality of digital experience has taken center stage. Not long ago, a CMS merely used to be a way to manage and update content on a website. But today’s digital transformation has prompted businesses to extend far beyond the limitations of a traditional CMS.

By definition, a CMS (Content Management System) allows companies to create, edit, organize, and publish digital content, some even easing management of their website’s entire infrastructure. This includes adding posts and media to your web pages, using themes to change website appearances, and increasing website functionality through plugins. (Read our blog on choosing a web hosting plan to get a deeper understanding of the subject).

Creating meaningful content is only half the game. If your CMS cannot display and manage your content correctly, it will barely have an impact, even with the help of the best web hosting companies in Kuwait. Because it’s not exactly easy to switch your CMS either, it’s important to get it right the first time around. There are thousands of CMSs in the market, so what should you be looking for? The truth is, there is no one best CMS that all businesses should choose to establish online success. While a certain CMS software might be better suited for enterprise-level sites, others might better support high-traffic and data-rich websites. In order to help you choose a CMS that perfectly aligns with your business goals, let’s first break down its different types.

1. On-premise CMS: You buy a license from the vendor and install the CMS on either yours or your hosting provider’s server. While you will be handling all security and infrastructure updates, the vendor will take care of maintenance and software updates. Word Press, for example, is an on-premise solution.
2. Cloud Hosted CMS: You buy a license from the vendor, just like you do for an on-premise CMS. However, instead of installing the software on a server that you directly own, you install it on a third-party server (at a data center or web host) where you lease server space. In general, a cloud hosted CMS allows for greater scalability and flexibility in terms of customization and third-party integrations. Examples of popular cloud hosted CMS include Hostway and WPEngine.
3. SaaS CMS: Instead of paying a license fee, you buy a monthly subscription which you can cancel any time. A Software as a Service Solution (SaaS) also differs from a cloud CMS in the sense that the service provider hosts the CMS and takes care of any technical issues including maintenance and updates. No installation is required. The software is pre-built and you get to take advantage of any ongoing enhancements that the vendor makes. Crown Peak is an example of a SaaS CMS solution.

Now let’s list some of the critical factors that businesses should consider before choosing a CMS.

• Ease of use & integration - Any easy to use CMS will have a huge effect on how quickly it’s adopted and how efficient the workflow of your team will be. If you have developers as well as editorial members working on the backend, you will need CMS features that ease each of these team members’ everyday tasks. You can let all members get hands-on experience and ask for feedback.
  Consider also your existing tech stack, in accordance with which you will need your CMS to function. If you do not intend the chosen CMS to operate as a sole solution for your business, you might need it to interface with all of your marketing, sales, and project management technologies. These may include Customer relationship management (CRM), Social media marketing, analytics, forms, etc.
• Customizability - An ideal solution strikes a sweet balance between ease of use and customizability. You don’t want to lean too much on either side. If your CMS demands too many workarounds to land basic customizations, you are opening it up to a lot of risk. Plus, it will be a nightmare for your marketing and sales teams to learn to use it. Conversely, if your CMS restricts code access and barely permits any customizations, it may end up holding you back when you need to scale for your business. The last thing you want is to never be able to enhance customer experience. So, you want a CMS that successfully meets your needs but also allows web designers in Kuwait some creativity and control. Look for a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) user interface, which provides non-technical users with easy-to-use, feature-rich editors, and a mobile-friendly dashboard, and gives advanced editors scalability, stability, and good security features.
• Content Complexity - Your CMS’s primary job is to handle your content. So, it’s imperative that it can handle both your content landscape’s current complexity and the complexity you may reach in the future. Technologies and customer expectations evolve quickly. Automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning are reshaping the consumer market. Your content will need to keep up as your audience adopts wearable's, voice assistant, Internet of Things (IoT), and AI-enabled interfaces. In the long run, planning for a flexible and scalable CMS will allow you to capture and analyze insights from all of the data they produce.
• Security - It’s important to invest in a CMS that will keep customer data and your content secure against all threats. Check for built-in security features and third-party integrations that improve security. Make sure updates and security fixes are released quickly and infrastructure-level upgrades are supported. Along with ensuring that apt security features are offered by the CMS, also look for features that allow for backup and data retrieval in the case that the CMS and user data get hacked.
• Costs - It’s crucial to take a detailed look into the real costs across different points of managing a website. While you want a solution that meets your business’ needs and your customers’ expectations, budget also plays an important role in your decision. To get a more accurate view of the cost, consider any ongoing subscriptions, licensing fees, and external vendor time that may factor into the final price. Luckily, many CMSs offer a variety of plans at each price point, which you can keep upgrading as your business grows.

An ideal CMS will offer all the features you need, simplify management of content for your team, and provide an optimal customer experience. While this article summarizes the basic framework for selecting a CMS platform, there are many complexities that contribute to the process. So, it’s best to take your time and get professional help from top website design & development companies in Kuwait. Remember, the goal is not to find the best existing CMS. It is to find the best CMS for your business. We at Design Master, with expertise in CMS website designing in Kuwait, can pair you with the best web designer in Kuwait, who will help you navigate this complex process with grace, so that you can choose the right CMS for your business. Don’t be afraid to ping us for a quick consultation.