 Part 1 of this two-part blog post focused on important questions to ask about the vendor during your Web CMS selection process. It's also important to specify your Web site requirements in terms of functionality, considering both the needs of your customers' and your company. In Part 2, I’ll recommend a variety of product and implementation-related questions you should be asking yourself when selecting a Web CMS.
How much content do you have and who will be managing it?
How much content can the product handle in terms of structured (content listings, digital assets) and unstructured data (Web pages). If your site will be serving significant traffic, are there caching mechanisms that can be put in place? Who will manage the content once the Web site is up and running? Are there workflow capabilities within the software that can be set up? Is there a plan in place to ensure the Web site stays current? How will you know if the content is effective? Will there be Web analytics software installed on the site?
What features are really important?
Most Web CMS vendors these days have all the features you’d expect to find to get the job done. However, all vendors have different approaches to interacting with those features. It's up to you to decide who does it best. Some of the top features to ask about and see a demo of include: workflow, multi-site management, multi-language management, caching and staging, integration options with other vendors, readable URLs, Rich Text Editor, site search and site map, way finding, data feeds and design flexibility.
Where will the Web site reside?
Will you be hosting the Web site internally or outsourcing? Either way, will the hosting infrastructure be able to handle the traffic you're anticipating? If you are outsourcing, does the outsourced company have experience hosting the CMS you want to use? Can they provide data backups? What is their uptime guarantee? If the Web site will be hosted internally then is responsible for performance and tuning, product releases and server maintenance?
Software or Service?
Is licensed software or software-as-a-service (SaaS) best for you? Does the underlying technology matter? If licensed software is the best solution then what additional technologies and infrastructure does the software rely on? If SaaS, then what are the minimum contractual obligations, and at the end of the contract how can you retrieve your data?
Who will design and implement the Web site?
Once a decision has been made with a particular vendor, the Web site then needs to be designed and implemented. Who will do this? Can the vendor do this, do they allow your organization to do this, or can you work with an external company to accomplish the final deployment? What is the budget and timeframe for the implementation?
Is any custom development required?
Many CMS’s have an out-of-the-box component that then requires customization. How much customization will your Web site require? How long will it take? How much will it cost? Is there functionality you will require in the future (Phase 2) that you should receive estimates for now? Can the software integrate easily with other software vendors that you might need to do business with (i.e. ecommerce, billing, etc.)?
The take away from Part 2 of this blog post is to complete your due diligence on the product(s) being considered. This includes talking with existing customers, partaking in product demonstrations, and creating a checklist of functionality and requirements to ensure the product meets your specifications in the short-term and long-term. Take your time and be thorough.
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