What is a content management system (CMS)? A content management system (CMS) helps companies manage digital content. Whole teams can use these systems to create, edit, organize, and publish content. It acts as a single place to store content and provides automated processes for collaborative digital content management and creation using built-in (or designed) workflows. Different privileges and responsibilities are provided to individuals based on roles. For example, authors can post and save their work, but editors can modify and publish it. Administrators can do all these things as well as grant other people in the organization permission to update or revise content. A CMS helps create and manage websites and website content using minimal technical overhead, so you can make better content instead of acting as a project or traffic manager. By providing an easy and cost-effective solution for content management, a CMS allows companies to manage and distribute their content without investing in a full-time content development team. Types of content management systems (CMS) Nearly every CMS is comprised of two parts—the front end and the back end. The front end is the part the user interacts with. It’s how websites are visibly structured and styled. The front end brings HTML, CSS, and JavaScript together to deliver rich, interactive content that’s styled to match your company’s branding. The back end of a CMS is the application that is used to post new content to a website. The process begins by accessing a web interface to easily add, create, and publish content to your CMS’s front end. Rather than knowing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, you create content in an interface similar to Microsoft Word. The back end then stores this content in the database and publishes it to the front end of the website. Together, these two systems comprise the CMS. They allow you to publish content without understanding web technologies or building your web application from the ground up. The following are some of the different types of content management systems that are available today. 1 Coupled CMS A coupled CMS is often referred to as a traditional CMS. It offers a fully accessible back end that connects to and modifies a website’s database and publishes content to a styled front end. While a coupled CMS is an all-in-one solution, the main distinction between it and a software-as-a-service (SaaS) CMS is that a coupled CMS requires dedicated web hosting to run. Although web hosting is relatively inexpensive, it's important to remember that a CMS requires installing and maintaining specific technologies to make the software functional. Additionally, a coupled CMS will likely require that an administrator set it up and configure the system installation for ongoing use. WordPress is an example of a coupled CMS, as it offers a complete package for users to install, launch a website, and publish content moving forward. 2 SaaS CMS A SaaS CMS is also a complete, end-to-end solution, but unlike coupled CMS, SaaS CMS is hosted in the cloud. Which means that it requires no actual setup, installation, or preconfigured web hosting. A SaaS-based CMS is an excellent solution for companies who need a straightforward web presence, as it offers all the capabilities without any of the server or web-hosting overhead. It enables all kinds of users to quickly create websites, manage the content, and distribute it through digital channels. 3 Decoupled CMS In a decoupled CMS, the presentation part of the website is “decoupled” from the back end. The delivery system sits between the presentation of the website and accesses the back end through an application programming interface (API). A decoupled CMS is an advanced solution that offers greater flexibility to interact with the content created in the back end. For example, suppose an organization wants to use its library of content for a new purpose, such as mobile applications. In that case, a decoupled CMS is an appealing solution because it supports multiple, adaptable applications on the front end while keeping your content and information consistent in the back end. 4 Headless CMS A headless CMS has only a back-end system that accesses a database and stores content with a custom-built, front-end web application. It offers greater flexibility than a decoupled CMS, but it also requires considerably more work than any other option. A headless CMS also usually requires a developer to design, create, and connect a front-end application. A headless CMS is a good solution for organizations that need complete control and flexibility over how their content is accessed. It provides content storage and organizational capabilities while allowing for a custom application on the front end—whether a website, a mobile app, or some other front end. Core features to a content management system Finding out what features of a CMS are critical to your business might start with what features are core to a content management system. Leveraging side-by-side comparisons of content management solutions and products can be helpful to your decision-making process. Still, the core question is, what features are core to any solution? User roles and role-based content management There are different types of roles within any Content Management System. Understanding how they work together is essential to giving your users access to perform their duties and access appropriate digital content. These range from typical organization roles to application management roles, task and feature comparison by application roles, to the resource (permissions) type roles, deciding what users can see and do with the content, including documents, sites, or templates. Digital asset management Content Management systems like Oracle’s offer powerful capabilities to manage all your digital assets for use in different marketing channels, including websites, marketing materials, email campaigns, online stores, paid search, and blogs. It provides a centralized content hub for all your assets, where you can organize them into repositories and collections and create rules and workflow to define how the content can be used and where. Creating asset types to define what information you need to collect when users create assets is critical to any CMS. Digital asset types will define the custom attributes required for your digital assets (files, images, and videos). Manage content in the cloud As with ours, it is critical to move your content management to the cloud, centralizing your content all in one place and making it accessible anywhere.
Content collaboration With all your organizations’ content in the cloud, it will be easy to share assets or folders to collaborate with others both inside and outside your organization. Everyone you share content with will have access to the latest information—wherever they are, whenever they need it. Sharing and recording content coloration will enable the user to monitor how and when each shared item was accessed. Build websites With content management solutions, you can rapidly build and publish marketing, help, and community websites—from concept to launch—with engaging online experiences. The website building process is completely integrated across content, collaboration, and design are via a single authoring and publishing environment. Cloud-based solutions make it easy to get started quickly by using out-of-the-box templates, drag-and-drop components (WYSIWYG), sample page layouts, and site themes to assemble a website from predefined building blocks. Or your developers can create custom designs, including templates, themes, or components to create unique online experiences. What to consider before evaluating if a CMS is right for your business A CMS makes content more findable by addressing six key areas in content management. Content governance Are there enforced policies and procedures in place for creating and managing content? Information architecture for tagging Is current and new content categorized and tagged in a way that everyone understands? Business process for content management Are workflows standardized and automated? User experience for content How are key stakeholders—from employees to customers—finding the information they need? Technology and applications Is the existing technology being used properly? What improvements or new systems would streamline information flow with optimal security? Do you have a cloud-based content management system? Business value of a CMS Can your data and content be managed more efficiently and securely? Are applicable regulatory guidelines being adhered to? Using a content management system for your website A content management system helps you create, manage, and publish content on the web. It also helps keep content organized and accessible so it can be used and repurposed effectively. There are various kinds of content management systems available—from cloud-based to a headless CMS—to meet every audience need. Not only does it give you a way to store and manage all your information in a single, easily accessible database, but it also does the following: Supports inner- and cross-team collaboration Provides an easy and accessible way to update content Increases content visibility Improves productivity Reduces costs Enables you to maintain content consistency Scales as your needs grow