Our technology conversations with larger enterprises often start with a complaint that their site is hard to update or a simple change takes weeks because they have to go through IT or wait for a software update from the vendor. The result is a frustrated marketing team, hampered IT capacity, and, most importantly, missed opportunities for the business.
In most cases, the cause of this situation is that the underlying technology is a proprietary content management system.
Proprietary CMS’s can create challenges for marketing and IT because they typically have a limited resource pool for support, which can create dependencies on external service providers or strains on internal capacity — both of which can not only increase costs to support, but can also impair flexibility for the business’s changing needs.
When it comes to a business’s online presence, the corporate website is more important than it’s ever been. After all, it’s a gateway to connect with the organization. So it needs to be scalable and flexible, and it must enable marketing teams to be effective. To accomplish that, the CMS needs to be a tool for marketing, not a system for IT to support.
Enter Open Source
With an open source CMS, there’s a massive development community, which alleviates the constraint of a limited pool of technical resources. That coupled with full access to the code allows organizations to drive their technical needs based on their business requirements — not the other way around. A site built for the business user reduces the need for technical support in the first place, further enabling non-technical users to take control of their online presence.
Here are four reasons your company should consider replacing your proprietary CMS with an open source solution:
1. Open source is scalable and flexible. Often, proprietary CMS’s have limitations in functionality, and changes are costly through long-term vendor dependency or disrupt the ability to easily install future releases and software updates internally.
Open source CMS’s, on the other hand, allow for scalability in both technology and resources. They allow for flexibility in customization and eliminate dependence upon contracts with external service providers.
2. Open source keeps rogue behaviors in check. Marketing and sales teams need to focus on their jobs — promoting the company and bringing new clients on board. When these teams have to rely on IT to get something updated because of an outdated CMS, they may be tempted to take matters into their own hands, especially if they feel like their requests aren’t prioritized or executing those requests is taking too long.
Rogue behaviors by the marketing department — such as signing up for third-party technology accounts, having a microsite built to support a campaign, or creating databases for storing mailing lists — can lead to real problems.
These actions often go unnoticed by IT, break down traditional company processes, and can even unintentionally violate compliance or regulations.
Open source technology’s flexibility in customization reduces the risk of rogue behaviors by providing teams with a role in the infrastructure and the resources to carry out their functions.
3. Open source allows IT to focus on IT. Open source CMS’s typically aren’t supported by an internal IT department and are easy for business users to manage. While the IT department may have traditionally been tasked with managing a proprietary CMS, a more streamlined approach is to assign these tasks to another department.
Transitioning these duties to another department frees up IT to spend more time supporting the company and less time dealing with requests from the marketing department. However, a key area for IT to maintain oversight is CMS enhancements and maintenance. You should leverage the same enterprise practices used to manage the rest of your systems, such as utilizing development and staging environments, production migration protocol, and scheduled releases. As a result, you’ll keep any ad hoc updates in check.
4. Open source empowers marketers. Marketing teams are often responsible for a company’s overall online footprint. In other words, they’re the first to know when something needs to be added or updated online. Allowing marketers to be in charge of running your new CMS creates a streamlined approach for consistent messaging.
While running the CMS gives your marketing team the authorization it needs to make changes, you still need to ensure your entire company’s success by properly training each of your staff members. Doing so will guarantee that your support costs stay low and that you’re staying compliant within your industry.
Users can make most changes in the CMS, but an outside partner may be needed for larger tasks on an as-needed basis. An outside perspective also brings some diversity to the company and keeps the team innovative.
Much of the legacy technology that companies use is limiting and expensive. Early adopters of proprietary CMS solutions may have been innovative, but their decisions were based on what was available and designed to meet the needs of that time.
Today’s open source CMS’s don’t always cost less to implement, but they can cost significantly less to support, especially when companies simplify internal operations. Keeping operating costs low is always good for business, but so is streamlining departmental roles.
An open source CMS can offer many advantages for achieving a successful online strategy over proprietary solutions. And when implemented correctly, it can alleviate the burden on your IT team to support your marketing department, allowing marketing get the green light to successfully promote your organization.
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