E-guide

WCM Software Buyer’s Guide – part 1 Your expert guide to web content management

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WCM software evolves to

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How does a WCM

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E-guide

WCM software evolves to help improve changing digital experiences

Geoffrey Bock, Principal

Managing a website can be challenging for nontechnical users.

WCM software allows you to focus more on creating and publishing

quality content and less on design and layout.

Without some form of web presence, it's easy to be ignored by potential

audiences and to be overtaken by your competitors in today's internet-centric

digital landscape.

Simply launching a website is just the beginning, however. Managing and

updating the content found on the site is equally as, if not more, important. But

for those without a web design background, how is this easily accomplished?

The best option is web content management software.

Web content management is a class of software for creating and maintaining

unstructured digital information within contemporary online environments. From

an IT perspective, WCM software has a simple business purpose: to support

nontechnical users and ensure that they can manage all the information they

need to produce compelling online experiences for their audiences. And from an

operational perspective, WCM software provides essential tools for delivering a

Page 2 of 20

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WCM software evolves to

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How does a WCM

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total digital experience across full-screen and mobile devices and for tracking

results.

Anyone who manages and maintains a website is managing content. Once a

site is up and running, nontechnical users need to be able to create, organize,

store and distribute content on their own, without depending on day-to-day

support from IT specialists. WCM is designed to manage digital experiences

rather than specific files. It leverages the native file system of an operating

system, thereby making WCM more than just a repository for managing data

files and rich media assets, which are managed by enterprise content

management systems and digital asset management systems, respectively.

Increasingly, web-powered enterprise applications, such as contemporary

customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation systems

also need to deliver content. These systems often depend on WCM for

organizing and managing the content they provide. WCM can deliver content to

various enterprise applications, in addition to predefined websites.

Ever-evolving capabilities

WCM seeks to solve a business problem that is as old as the web itself. During

the early 1990s, IT specialists needed to hand-code HTML into individual

webpages. It didn't take long before software engineers began to add

Page 3 of 20

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platform position your

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extensions to the popular word processing tools of the day, to transform familiar

keystrokes into HTML.

Then, users needed the ability to create and manage a set of webpages for a

self-contained site in a consistent and systematic manner. This need was

addressed by, at that time, innovative, page-oriented tools. First-generation

WCM software, which launched shortly thereafter, introduced techniques to

maintain collections of webpages within a group setting, such as the newsroom

of an online newspaper or a company branded website maintained by the

marketing team.

WCM software continues to evolve and, today, includes many additional

capabilities beyond supporting shared access to webpages. But companies and

organizations of all sizes continue to face the core challenge: How can

nontechnical users best manage the information they publish on their sites with

only occasional assistance from IT?

Three questions about content,

management and the web

The evolving capabilities of WCM software closely mirror the transformation of

the web itself from a shared publishing environment to a venue for targeted

digital experiences. Thus, any definition of WCM must address three questions:

Page 4 of 20

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WCM software evolves to

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How does a WCM

platform position your

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What is content? Once just defined as text and still images, content has

evolved to include any type of digitized information, such as audio, video,

dynamic graphs and 3D shapes. Content types themselves are continually

evolving. Today, a content element combines the core information chunk or

snippet -- sometimes referred to as the payload -- and the essential set of

metadata that describe this object.

What constitutes management? Our contemporary definition of management

extends beyond publishing static webpages to include various approaches to

dynamic content delivery. Increasingly, nontechnical users seek ways to

develop and maintain their own websites, without IT to create the look and feel

where content might appear. These nontechnical users want to personalize

content delivery and target predefined audiences with a variety of information.

Management also includes the ability to track results and account for content

consumption.

What comprises the web, anyway? At the outset, the web encompassed

websites that were accessed and viewed exclusively through web browsers.

End users relied on full-screen content displays, usually powered by desktop

and laptop computers, to access information on particular websites -- defined by

their URLs.

With the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, the mobile revolution has profoundly

changed our expectations of the web and the digital experiences it creates. First

is the simple matter of screen size. Without careful attention to design details,

Page 5 of 20

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WCM software evolves to

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How does a WCM

platform position your

organization to succeed?

E-guide

what looks great on a 14- or 15-inch screen rarely looks good on a mobile

device. Then there's the question of the entire experience being delivered. It's

one thing to provide content for end users sitting at their desks focused on

single activities and tethered to servers on the internet. It's another when users

are off-site, mobile, need access to only a few snippets of content or may lose

internet connectivity while working.

A contemporary WCM environment must manage these three transitions: to

support all content types, provide extensive management and capture

multidevice digital experiences. The IT group must delegate day-to-day

functions to users by providing the necessary software tools and technologies

that meet, or exceed, business requirements. Concurrently, the IT group retains

control over the technical details related to infrastructure, security and

underlying enterprise architecture. Drawing the line between technical and the

nontechnical aspects is a constant challenge.

Is WCM a system or a platform?

Both the technical capabilities and market expectations for WCM software are

continually evolving. Initially, we referred to WCM as a system. The more

contemporary categorization term, however, is platform. Why does this matter?

As the digital age has evolved, it has become increasingly difficult to

circumscribe the capabilities of a website. As such, we now manage content

Page 6 of 20

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through a WCM platform, which offers users a very flexible and extensible

computing environment.

Rather than managing content on self-defined webpages, like in the first-

generation WCM systems, content now comprises snippets or small chunks of

information that are dynamically assembled and presented within page-oriented

templates. These templates can be scaled and resized to accommodate many

different device types, including smartphones and tablets.

Content can now be sourced from anywhere on the web, not just from specified

repositories. A WCM platform supports the ability to dynamically integrate with

and manage the links to any content source accessible over the internet. It's

fully woven into the web-wide ecosystem and can readily access all types of

content through predefined services.

The content being managed includes both the information itself as well as

various sets of metadata that further describe the content. Metadata can include

taxonomies used for categorization, tags added for search engine optimization,

and predefined codes and markup essential for managing digital assets.

Finally, managed content can be distributed to multiple channels in addition to

predefined websites. WCM can support content distribution to and syndication

with mobile apps, enterprise applications, and the websites and publishing

environments belonging to third-party business partners.

Page 7 of 20

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From managing web content to empowering

digital experiences

In today's contemporary business environment, organizations are continually

weaving webs of digital experiences based on the content that their audiences

access, consume and even produce in the course of day-to-day work. These

various pieces of content on websites are only a portion of more extensive and

extensible digital experiences. Two major factors are influencing this: the mobile

revolution and easy integration with enterprise applications.

The year 2014 was a watershed for the mobile revolution. More end users

accessed web-based content from their mobile devices than from their desktops

and laptops. Recognizing this trend, Google began to rank mobile-ready sites

more highly within its search engine optimization algorithms. This means today's

WCM software must be able to effectively deliver content to and effectively

leverage the capabilities of both mobile devices and desktop devices.

Many firms are also implementing purpose-built enterprise applications, such as

marketing automation and CRM systems, to solve operational and business

problems. Each of these applications will access and distribute branded content.

It's likely this content will be provisioned from sources external to the

application.

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This is where WCM comes into play. It provides a repository of branded and

approved content that marketing automation and CRM systems can distribute.

Key to the success is the ability to connect the content repository to the

enterprise application. Fortunately, the modern architecture of web-based

technologies makes systems integration must easier than in the past.

Who are today's WCM market leaders?

WCM software has emerged as a distinct product category with a wide range of

offerings from enterprise and cloud-powered software vendors. It also features

several open source projects, where the communities of developers freely

license the core software and service providers deliver value-added

customization, installation and support services. Key vendors that are delivering

and supporting comprehensive (paid) WCM software include Adobe, Episerver,

IBM, OpenText, Oracle and Sitecore. Each maintains its own support and

partner channels. Two open source projects of note are Drupal and WordPress.

Acquia, a unique vendor in the WCM market, delivers enterprise-scale support,

hosting and development services for Drupal as well as its own paid WCM

offering.

Page 9 of 20

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WCM software evolves to

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How does a WCM

platform position your

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When content solves business problems

In today's business environment, content is the currency needed to remain

competitive in the digital age. WCM is the means to an end, but not the end

result in itself. The issue at hand is no longer simply maintaining the words and

rich media assets that appear within webpages, but rather channeling their

overall impact into the digital experiences they produce.

What comes next? There are new roles and activities for both IT and line-of-

business groups to consider. We will explore how WCM powers a range of

digital experiences in the next article in this series.

Next article

Page 10 of 20

In this e-guide

WCM software evolves to

help improve changing

digital experiences

How does a WCM

platform position your

organization to succeed?

E-guide

How does a WCM platform position your organization to succeed?

Geoffrey Bock, Principal

Enterprises today need an efficient way to produce and deliver their

content, and a WCM tool is an excellent place to turn. Find out if a

WCM platform fits your business needs.

To stay competitive in the digital age, companies need to produce and deliver

their message to audiences efficiently, compellingly and across multiple

channels. Web content management software gives organizations of any size

the power to do so while eliminating the need for web design knowledge to

complete tasks. With these points in mind, how do you decide whether and

when your organization should employ WCM software?

Any group that produces content for a website needs tools and technologies to

manage information. A WCM platform delivers the capabilities for creating,

storing, organizing, producing and distributing information that appears on one

or more websites, and that creates multichannel digital experiences. All kinds of

industries, company cultures and company sizes use WCM software.

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There are several ways to segment the WCM marketplace and categorize

differences among various WCM products now on the market. One approach is

to consider the core business purpose -- where content adds value to produce

results:

Publishing. Most WCM efforts begin as publishing activities: An organization

needs to post information on the web that a target audience will find compelling.

Whether in print or online, organizations of all types publish information.

Newspapers and journals are even in the business of monetizing the content

they produce. The business value is in the content itself.

Marketing and sales enablement. Many organizations need to get the word

out about their products and services, functions typically termed marketing and

sales enablement. These functions require specialized capabilities to maintain a

branded presence and highlight a firm's value. A website that delivers the right

content to the relevant audience at the right time can enhance competitive

advantage, particularly when sales activities are closely linked to marketing

campaigns. The business value comes from the marketing and sales results,

such as leads generated and deals closed.

Operational tasks. Beyond marketing and sales, WCM can enhance various

operational tasks and functions. WCM can structure the ways work gets done.

For instance, a franchise network depends on access to shared information and

services. A franchisor produces marketing collateral and sales training guides

as well as products and services to its network of franchisees. The information

Page 12 of 20

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flows define the relationships. WCM can enhance franchisor/franchisee

relationships just like many other kinds of sales enablement and marketing

operations support. The business value comes from the relationships enabled

by the content.

Another way to segment the WCM marketplace is by organization size:

Large enterprise. Enterprise-scale WCM is designed to deliver a

comprehensive technology for managing content across an enterprise;

generally an organization with tens of thousands of employees, millions of

customers and many complex business processes. Large enterprises often

have specific security, content residency, regulatory compliance and enterprise

architecture requirements. WCM usually requires custom development to meet

enterprise requirements and processes.

Small and medium-sized business. WCM for the SMB targets midsize,

midmarket organizations. These organizations rely on relatively standardized

and predicable business processes. WCM can be easily tailored to the needs of

various customer-facing business teams -- such as marketing, sales and

customer support -- without custom development. Typically WCM is delivered

as a packaged platform where a systems integrator adds the necessary

services to design content flows, structure the information architecture, define

templates, tailor the security requirements and incorporate WCM into the

enterprise ecosystem.

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Small office/home office. WCM is also relevant for the small office/home office

(SOHO) market. Individual entrepreneurs need to maintain their websites and

forge business relationships by managing and distributing content. While they

don't have the solutions profile of an SMB or the deep pockets of a large

enterprise, the SOHO business thrives on packaged solutions delivered through

shared online environments, delivered as public cloud services.

Yet another method for segmentation is by deployment model. The deployment

of WCM software mirrors the growth and transformation of the underlying IT

infrastructure required to maintain a modern enterprise environment.

Originally, WCM was deployed as a hosted technology within companies, just

like other enterprise applications. But, with the steady evolution of cloud

services providers, contemporary WCM software is frequently installed through

a software-as-a-service or platform-as-a-service model. Differences between

these two models include single tenancy vs. multitenancy as well as the ability

to integrate with third-party content resources via customization capabilities

rather than application development projects.

Many contemporary WCM platforms are now delivered as cloud-based

subscription services. Organizations of any size can purchase predefined WCM

capabilities on a subscription basis. This model is particularly attractive to SMB

and SOHO market segments.

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How does a WCM

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Organizing content for business value

WCM supports a shared repository -- that is, the single source of truth -- for all

of the content needed to create digital experiences. The shared repository

provides the mechanism to ensure that content is created once, managed

centrally and distributed as needed to produce business results.

This shared repository reduces duplicate activities. No longer should two or

more people be creating or updating information about the same topic. A shared

repository should also substantially mitigate, if not eliminate altogether,

possibilities for publishing inaccurate or outdated content. Reducing errors and

duplicate efforts are business benefits that fall to the bottom line.

Content stored and managed within a shared repository can range in length

from discrete chunks of information to complete -- and self-contained --

webpages or digital documents. From a business perspective, it is important to

consider the granularity of the content itself. Discrete chunks -- sometimes

referred to as content components -- deliver the greatest business value, as

they are easiest to dynamically assemble into multiple digital experiences.

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WCM delivers the capabilities for managing these granular content components

along three dimensions:

What they contain. How they are organized. How they are protected and secured.

Content components include the information itself as well as the metadata that

characterizes these components. Content components can be secured by

controlling access through the shared repository and can be further secured by

encrypting the objects themselves.

Content sourcing, delivery and management

WCM creates and maintains the varied business processes for adding content

components to the shared repository and then updating them as needed. WCM

coordinates these editorial activities through a set of library services that control

check-in and check-out activities. Library services ensure that contributors

cannot overwrite their updates, and provide mechanisms for resolving conflicts.

WCM can also define the workflows for editorial reviews and approvals.

A WCM platform also includes capabilities to deliver content to the right target

audience at the right time. This content creates digital experiences that enhance

business value. Initially, content delivery simply focused on full-screen

webpages. Business benefits included the timeliness, accuracy, and the look

Page 16 of 20

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and feel of a webpage display, as well as the ability to follow the links and surf

through the collection of pages on a website.

Today, however, WCM often supports content delivery to multiple websites,

each with its own look and feel. These microsites can target different audiences

and be built for different purposes. With increasing frequency, WCM platforms

also support multichannel delivery, notably offering capabilities to deliver

content to places such as social networks, mobile apps and business partners'

websites. Many WCM tools also dynamically assemble content components

from the repository, enabling site owners to personalize and target content

delivery based on a variety of factors.

The capabilities of WCM software also extend beyond predefined websites.

WCM tools are now able to manage content across a digital ecosystem, such as

the web-wide environment supported by Google or a commercially linked

network of sites with vested interest in information sharing. To make these

connections, pay attention to the underlying content-descriptive metadata,

which requires agreed-upon definitions. For example, search engines facilitate

findability by encouraging content owners to tag and categorize their content in

predefined ways. WCM platforms provide the frameworks to manage these

standardized tag sets and deliver the business value for search engine

optimization.

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Finally, WCM platforms enable marketing and sales activities through content

reuse and curation. These activities begin with a single source of truth -- an

authoritative repository where marketers and sales support staffers can find

content needed for campaigns. No longer do they need to waste time hunting

for the right content -- the most up-to-date and approved versions of assets.

Rather, what they need is available online, well indexed and easily discovered.

The content is often enriched and tagged with relevant metadata, related to

particular tasks and campaigns.

Marketers and sales staffers can readily assemble, over time, the content

collections that work, the ones that reinforce particular perspectives and

marketing messages. Like subject matter experts who know about a topic area,

line-of-business staffers can curate content to reinforce business objectives and

build branded identities. These staffers can also syndicate and redistribute

content to business partners and thus channel information flows to many

different enterprise applications.

Provisions for business analytics

WCM platforms provide the foundations for tracking business results.

Specifically, WCM software logs when content components are being accessed

and what metadata terms are being used. These logs can then be assembled to

test design alternatives, determine the most popular content items being

accessed and record the person or process making the requests. WCM often

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provides basic analytic capabilities, such as A/B testing of site design

alternatives.

Of course, logging access to content is only one aspect of determining business

results. WCM logs must be linked to data from other sources -- such as

customer profiles, search results metrics, and e-commerce and online

purchases -- to provide quantitative insights about digital experiences.

The role of IT and the business

The success of WCM within an organization depends on the collaboration and

teamwork between IT and operating business units.

Web content management software has a simple business purpose: to ensure

that nontechnical users have the capabilities they need to create and manage

digital experiences. To make this a reality, IT must work with the line-of-

business to deploy and support the right set of content technologies that solve

business problems.

This is a broad and general mandate, as the size and scope of WCM

deployments vary and should be handled according to specific business needs.

IT must be clear about its role in supporting the line of business. Technical

leadership that resonates with the business mission and objectives is essential.

IT should be a partner in design and technology selection deliberations by

Page 19 of 20

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How does a WCM

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helping to clarify business requirements, describe digital experiences and

identify content resources.

Often, business leaders can describe what they want while IT can highlight, in

technical terms, what the organization needs. IT can then manage the WCM

capabilities that deliver digital experiences. IT contributions include the

following:

Providing technical oversight for the WCM software implementation. Setting and maintaining both technical security and operational

governance requirements. Managing the technical aspects of the WCM platform. Ensuring integration with various services and applications within the

enterprise ecosystem.

How WCM contributes to business

competitiveness

A contemporary organization should have web content management capabilities

within its software toolkit to deliver content across multiple digital channels. This

firm faces twin challenges -- sourcing and distributing content in a systematic

manner. At each step of the way, line-of-business users, not IT, should be in the

driver's seat.

Page 20 of 20

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WCM software evolves to

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digital experiences

How does a WCM

platform position your

organization to succeed?

E-guide

As a software category, WCM delivers the system, the capabilities and the

needed technologies to source and distribute content. Moreover, in today's

digital age, organizations face continuing competitive challenges. Whether large

or small, they need to rely on a flexible and adaptable set of content

technologies, organized and delivered by a WCM platform.

About the author

Geoffrey Bock is principal of Bock & Company, a consultancy and research

company based in Newton, Mass., that advises software companies, end user

organizations and government agencies on technology innovation, information

security and the future of doing business in the digital age. A technology analyst

and consultant, he specializes in digital strategies for content and collaboration

with a particular focus on Web content management initiatives and system

processes. Bock has authored hundreds of in-depth reports, case studies and

articles on the business impacts of content technologies. He also tracks the

evolution of social and mobile channels, and focuses on how enterprises

manage content for improved mobile experiences. He is an expert on the role of

XML, taxonomy terms and metadata categories within enterprise-grade

publishing environments. He advises enterprises on the essential activities for

creating, organizing, publishing and syndicating digitized information to build

customer experiences.