CMS Buyer's Guide

CMS is an acronym for Content Management System. The term publication system is often used as a synonym. There are hundreds of different software products on the market that, in principle, satisfy the need for content management.

However, the choice can be difficult if system selection criteria are not carefully thought out. A rational method for purchasing a CMS system is to rank the different alternatives with a scoreboard using the selected criteria table.

Price

Price should not be the only criteria for selecting a system. Prices are very difficult to compare because they include both capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operational costs (OPEX) like support, updates and maintenance. We recommend that you ask the supplier to quote the total cost of ownership for a specific period of time, such as three years. The initial investment, CAPEX, is not necessarily as important as the return on investment (ROI) or total cost of ownership (TCO).

We also recommend considering the one-time price for purchasing the software license compared to the cost of leasing it. In the latter case, there's no need to spend capital on software licenses. It's also worthwhile to add the costs of the time spent comparing the different alternatives, making the decision, installing it and training your personnel. When justifying the total cost of ownership, you should also compare the software's functional characteristics.

Functions (CMS software features)

The software's functions are certainly the most important criteria and significantly affect the price. The available functionality should at least be sufficient for, and preferably, a little more feature-rich than the anticipated need. Avoid packages that are too extensive as well as those that are inadequate.

In the first case, the customer pays for things he doesn't need and, in the latter case, it becomes disproportionately expensive, and often impossible, to add features later. The customer should become familiar with the features of the content management system. In addition, it is reasonable to ask the supplier for references from other users, especially companies or implementations of the same size. It's not enough that the software does certain things; it must be easy to use

Technology

It is important to take technology into consideration by asking certain questions that also have to do with the criteria mentioned above. Is the software modular, allowing the customer to choose the desired features? How do the selected features affect into the total price? The content management system should be scalable to meet the customer's needs and even allow the addition of customized features.

It is also essential to evaluate the software’s programming language, just to be sure that the system has been implemented using common techniques. This is important when determining in which server environment the software can be installed. The software must be reliable. This means that it must be available and fault free. The software should be able to easily exchange information with other systems, i.e., integrate with other systems. If that is not possible, it might be necessary to manually transfer large volumes of data between the systems.