Across every content management system (CMS), there’s a constant – a mature set of software disciplines, in a highly evolved technology stack. And that consistency has been a blessing for web developers for more than 25 years. But it’s made CMSs so popular that they’re overused and often misused. In perhaps surprising news to some, there are different types of CMS – each suitable for specific use cases – because CMSs are not a one-size-fits-all solution, for every situation.
Marketing Communications Manager at Tiny
Ever since 1994, when the very earliest content management system (CMS) applications were written by web design agencies, not software companies, they’ve never failed to add value to developers, businesses and users.
Business and brands have undoubtedly grown from the use of CMSs. Their bulging list of out-of-the-box functionality, enhancements to aid content creation, analytics tools, facilitation of social media sharing and timely security updates, have all contributed to the spread of websites and proliferation of content marketing.
However, having hastened the growth of audience interaction online, the CMS has also spelt out its own doom, by exposing the areas where traditional CMSs are no longer the right tool for the job.
From the outset, CMSs firmly established themselves as software platforms aimed at automating and simplifying the production tasks required to create, edit, format, manage, optimize and publish content online.
But over the last decade, digital content has exploded – both inside and outside organizations.
With more and more organizations taking the path to digital transformation, both digitization and digitalization have expanded the file types used for content, as well as the volume stored and reused in different situations. Creator collaboration and audience interaction has multiplied and remote working firmly taken hold.
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Teams now rely on an increasingly sophisticated technology stack to do everything: manage content, drive experiences, provide underlying data, analytics and intelligent automations.
Those demands have stretched traditional CMSs, beyond their core competency.
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Originally, CMS architecture was the standard for web development – making publishing and managing rich web content easier. Those foundational CMSs paved the way for both big and small companies to begin their digital journey.
However, most outdated content management systems now cannot handle the demands of modern technologies like omnichannel marketing, IoT, AI, and other emerging channels.
Those old, fragmented content systems that carry duplicated, decaying and unsearchable content are wreaking havoc across enterprises. Instead, companies are now investing in the right technology to achieve scalable, successful digital customer experience (DCX) delivery and optimization.
The organizations chasing digital transformation are focused on digital technologies across all areas of their business, to enhance content visibility (both internal and external), eliminate inefficiencies and fundamentally change how they operate and deliver value to customers. This rapid reach for holistic digital experiences has shattered the stranglehold of the traditional CMS over the realm of content production.
Forward-looking organizations have realized their content management infrastructure must drive, support and help them achieve their goal of digital transformation. It needs to help store, launch and manage digital content for a far reaching ecosystem of channels, like internal and external audiences, email, mobile apps, social media, websites and more.
What’s the difference between digitization and digitalization?
Digitalization cannot occur without digitization. First, information is digitized. Then digitalization occurs, when processes are changed. Gartner’s Glossary defines digitization as “. the process of changing from analog to digital form, also known as digital enablement. While the Gartner Glossary says “Digitalization is the use of digital technologies to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities; it is the process of moving to a digital business.”
That means a diverse set of tools is needed.
Most web CMSs can't offer everything that a business requires to meet these expectations – so multiple types of CMS are often integrated, to enhance the existing capabilities of their web CMS – and cater to specialized needs and niches.
Each of the five main types of CMS has its own acronym, while the generic ‘CMS’ term is typically now used when referring to web content management systems.
While there are overlaps, each type of CMS has its own set of business benefits, and is identified by its intended use. The five main types are:
What is content management?
According to Wikipedia, “Content management (CM) is a set of processes and technologies that supports the collection, managing, and publishing of information in any form or medium.
When stored and accessed via computers, this information may be more specifically referred to as digital content, or simply as content.”
Content management is a far reaching and holistic approach to safeguarding, managing, optimizing and distributing your digital content and assets, so although each carries a distinct definition, the five types are often amalgamated. As an example, WordPress has evolved from a simple blogging platform to a full-fledged CMS (ie. WCMS), while it also incorporates digital asset management (DAMS).
The aim of these CMS blends are to deliver a wider range of functionality in a consistent, user friendly interface.
What is Web CMS?
A Web Content Management System (WCMS) provides authoring, collaboration, and administration tools to manage content that’s primarily intended for mass delivery via a website.
Also called a web CMS, it’s used to control a wide and dynamic collection of web-based material (HTML documents and their associated images).
However, unlike other CMSs, a web content management system does not deal with any form of content, other than web content.
Your web content management system is a critical component of your digital customer experience programs.
A WCMS is capable of publishing content automatically, which can streamline publishing processes for businesses and inherently carries all the business benefits of the traditional CMS structure.
Benefits of web content management system
Examples of WCMS
There are four subset types of web content management system: open source CMS, commercial CMS, and custom CMS.
