Future-proof your content strategy: Overcoming challenges with the right CMS

Relying on fixed templates limits the diversity and flexibility of the content and experiences your organization can create. Many CMSs claim to include or support common features, but how they provide these capabilities can be radically different. 

With page-orientated and modified page-orientated CMS, content types are largely decided by the vendor—not your publishers—and the channels you can publish to are limited, as is your ability to connect different content items together. The entire process can be complex and difficult to understand.

Best practice solution:

One that enables publishers to define relationships between content pieces, structure content with a unified enterprise model, and ensure content is futureproofed and platform-independent.

If authors lack a single tool to create flexible, consistent, strategic content, your content strategy will suffer. Multiple authoring tools limit the ability to practice good content practices, connect different types of content together, and don’t allow for modular content creation. They also require more training.

Best practice solution:

Everyone uses a default authoring environment that supports the creation of a diverse range of structured modular content without the need for add-on tools or additional resources such as training, maintenance, or hosting.

An API’s delivery flexibility varies from CMS to CMS and determines the types of content that can be retrieved and delivered, as well as the granularity of information that can be specified in a query. Some APIs are less agile, less precise, and less unified than others, and some require content to be filtered or transformed to be useful when delivered in the UI.

Best practice solution:

An API-first approach where the content that’s available is independent of how it is stored, managed, and processed in the CMS so that content can be easily delivered to any destination.

Customizing your setup to match your evolving business priorities relies on having access to a variety of tools and enhancements, but these integrations depend on the platform architecture. If you can’t swap out tools easily or integrate enhancements from different vendors, your CMS capabilities won’t match the growing needs of your business, and you won’t reap the benefits of new tools and functions.

Best practice solution:

Composable platforms allow a wide range of tools with open APIs to be integrated using a “low code” approach.

When teams use different authoring, management, and delivery systems, content operations can be glitchy and difficult to maintain or change. If a vendor has added or acquired authoring or delivery capabilities that weren’t originally part of their CMS, it can cause fragmented experiences, delays, and high maintenance costs.

Best practice solution:

A unified content platform where all content is managed in the same way and can be migrated to and exchanged with other systems easily, creating a unified experience for all employees.