Is your Web CMS limiting your digital transformation?

In the last decade, we have seen a rapid shift in the enterprise market from traditional to digital channels. This change has been driven by multiple factors, including disruption and increased customer expectations. However, there is still an enormous amount of untapped potential with regards to digital implementation within organizations.

Content management systems have played a vital role in many companies' recent successes when it comes to digital transformation. In fact, according to CMSWire, investing in either a web CMS or a DXP has the potential to drive marketing ROI and increase alignment between marketing and IT and make the customer experience a shared responsibility.

With the help of a CMS, companies now can quickly build a digital experience and update their websites and blogs with relevant information for their clients. However, many companies have found that outdated content management systems cannot handle the demands presented by modern technologies like omnichannel marketing VR, AI, and other emerging channels.

We've written this article to help you assess whether your current CMS implementation is up to the challenge of spearheading your digital transformation.

The transformative impact of a web CMS for companies

Content management goes beyond updating digital content on your website. It has the opportunity to become both the catalyst and the heart of your business' digital transformation. A web CMS serves as the centralized hub of your organization. It provides the ability to create and enhance customer experiences as well as drive agility and innovation in the workplace.

These are four parts of your business that a CMS platform can transform:

• Content: Web content goes beyond the words or text blocks on a website. Content is the fuel of all your digital experiences and powers every interaction,those with customers as well as with partners and employees. A modern web CMS should be the place where content and collaboration are united to make digital transformation a reality.
• Operations: A web CMS enables operations managers to run things smoothly. A content management platform makes sure that all the content assets you produce are aligned with brand and quality standards. Plus, it gives you visibility over your content, so you know where things stand every step of the way.
• Marketing: Today's customers demand omnichannel content coverage, which means that modern CMSs need to deliver smooth, integrated content across all channels. To achieve true omnichannel content delivery brands need to integrate their marketing efforts with the CMS to understand more about their users and how they consume content.
• Development: Successful digital transformation brings rapid growth, but without the right CMS to ensure editorial consistency and a streamlined way of working that both developers and marketers can use, digital transformation can be challenging.

What does a CMS need to drive digital transformation?

The digital marketplace is changing. Customers are becoming increasingly diverse and interact with brands in different ways. Nowadays, the single-channel approach that traditional CMSs and CMSs offer simply won't be able to cut through the noise and deliver content to other platforms.

These changes in the ecosystem are forcing marketers to adjust the way they use CMSs and DXPs to engage with customers across different touchpoints to keep them engaged.

For companies hoping to drive digital transformation, they need a platform capable of optimizing multi and omnichannel customer journeys and digital experiences. Companies with the right CMSwill be better positioned in the long run, especially if they can manage those experiences across multiple markets, regions, and languages.

Let's take a look at some of the most important features a CMS needs to spearhead your digital transformation.

An integration-friendly architecture

Monolith CMSs, which is another way of saying ‘traditional’ or coupled CMS, like WordPress or Drupal, are a thing of the past not only because they're clunky but also because they limit your chances of transforming your operations. A modern web CMS like Storyblok is capable of integrating with every framework and technology so you're free to follow the best of breed approach to your projects and build your technology the way that you want and that's best for your customers and visitors.

A headless or hybrid headless architecture

A headless CMS gives users the tools to drive their digital transformation by separating content from presentation. That means that you can use your CMS as a backend repository connected to an API to publish structured content in both JSON and XML to different channels. Similarly, since a headless CMS doesn't care about where and how your content is displayed, you can use it as the backbone of your omnichannel marketing strategy.

Personalization and omnichannel capabilities

The website is no longer the focal point of user engagement and experience. From mobile apps to IoT devices, today, more than ever it has become necessary to maintain constant, reciprocal engagement with your customers regardless of the channel they've chosen to use. A headless web CMS enables marketers to deliver content to different audiences and platforms and achieve 1:1 personalization without creating hundreds of different content types.

Flexible publishing workflows

Content production requires publishing workflows to make sure that things are done on time and by the right people. A modern web CMS needs to allow content editors to define a custom workflow and rules to control the content flow using the platform and Webhooks.

Digital asset management

Digital assets grow exponentially with your brand and one day you may realize you have thousands of videos, files, and images laying around in disarray. This limits your ability to face the changing needs of both your customers and the digital ecosystem.

7 signs that your CMS is limiting your digital transformation

If, after reading this, you feel like your digital experience platform or web CMS is holding you back, it might be time you start looking for a replacement. Your platform of choice needs to be flexible enough to power multiple websites and experiences in multiple languages. It should also be secure and scalable.

But what happens when you're not so sure about changing your CMS? Let's take a look at these telltale signs that the time for change has come.

1. Publishing content is a pain,
2. You're still using a monolithic CMS,
3. Your CMS isn't delivering value anymore,
4. Limited support for omnichannel marketing
5. The software vendor shows a lack of interest in its own platform
6. Your current CMS frustrates your developers and content editors
7. You're tied to a single framework or can't integrate third-party tools and plugins

All in all, the key to knowing if your CMS is lagging behind is to see how willing it is to change and how flexible it is. A modern web CMS like Storyblok can be extended and integrated with hundreds of tools so you're always optimized and ready to face the challenges that digital transformation brings.

Storyblok: A CMS built for digital transformation

Taking the right steps down the digital transformation road is fundamental for your company or brand's success in this changing ecosystem. A modern web CMS that enables your content editors and developers to do their job without constraints is the foundation on which you can create, manage, and publish breathtaking omnichannel digital content for your customers and visitors.

Many monolith, open source solutions like WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal have moved towards headless approaches to capture the momentum that the headless architecture has created, but they don't provide the power of a true headless platform like Storyblok.

Built as a headless CMS since its inception, Storyblok has the tools and features to help you build better digital projects faster. With our CMS, developers can now focus on providing value to the customers while marketers can focus on the content and presentation, helping you build your digital future with confidence. If you want to learn more about Storyblok’s content management and creation capabilities, take a look at this whitepaper: Automating and Optimizing Content Creation