Future of Content Management Systems
Over the years, the digital landscape has started shifting from a traditional static landscape where all the information is just served to a general audience such as billboards, print and web 2.0 websites. Now the digital landscape has started to be more bespoke to users. Websites are now serving information that the user would be interested in, creating a bespoke user experience catered to the user’s needs. With this change, Content Management Systems are now changing to cater/manage the wide variety of media content that users could consume.
What are Content Management Systems?
Content Management Systems (CMS) are systems that handle website content such as headings, text, videos, and images. A number of Content Management Systems that are available to general consumers are the likes of Word Press, Wix, and Squarespace as well as more industrial standard Content Management Systems such as Drupal, Joomla, Sitecore, and many more.
Source from: https://kinsta.com/knowledgebase/content-management-system/
Why are Content Management Systems no longer suitable for today’s digital landscape?
Content Management Systems were originally built when a website dominated the digital landscape. The introduction of smartphones and other devices affected the consumer's habits which in turn affected how digital marketers used their marketing approach and targeted mobile users. Social Media Networks were later introduced which enabled marketers to communicate directly with their consumer base. The availability of multi-digital channels has made the current implementation of Content Management Systems no longer suitable for today’s dynamic digital environment. With more technologies such as voice search, VR, and AR becoming available to everyday consumers, the digital industry will need to adapt to the sudden change in the landscape in order to cater for this surge of technological advancements.
What is next for Content Management Systems?
There are a number of phrases out there circulating the internet and they are Content Experience Platforms, Digital Experience Platforms, and Headless CMS. They all mean the same thing, essentially the content is stored centrally and the content is then distributed to the number of channels available to the user. This ensures that content is the same no matter what device the consumer is using. This makes it easier for content administrators as they can make one content change and the change will be applied to all device and media types. Unlike traditional CMS which would involve the administrator to make the same edit in multiple places, which is not great as you would have a number of channels to update manually.
The benefits of delivering content via centralised systems mean that publishing content on any device or channel only requires an API (Application Programming Interface) call. A centralised system using APIs enables systems to send data from those channels, devices, and touchpoints back to the CMS for processing, analysis, and re-distribution. The use of APIs means that any potential future devices that emerge on the market will be made available to your content once an API call has been set up. The system also enables businesses to quickly adapt to new technologies as the business won’t have to draft in expert developers to build a custom site or integration. All that is needed is a new API call that will deliver the content to the new device. A centralised system will allow content administrators and businesses to deliver a more personalised experience.