Resources for Selecting a WCMS

With the larger number of content management systems that are on the market today it can be an overwhelming task to decide which system is right for you. There is much you should know before you actually select a tool such as: an understanding of your business process, the content model you will be using, how you want to deliver the content just to name a few. Once you have that information, however, there are three good resources available to help you create a short list of technology vendors. Two of the tools have released new versions in the past few weeks.

CMS Watch released the 12th addition of their WCM report this past week. The report evaluates 30 different Web Content Management Systems and takes somewhat of a unique approach to evaluating products. CMS Watch believes that there is no “Best Product”, but rather that each company should evaluate products based on the type the scenarios most common in their business. The report breaks down products into the following categories: Major Enterprise WCM Platforms, Upper Tier Companys, Mid-Market Mainstream CMS Packages, Mid-Market Challanages, Low-Priced Products, Hosted Services and Open Source Alternatives. Each product has a “Vendor at Glance” summary sheet and a detailed review. Reviews are based on customer feedback, integrator feedback and vendor interviews. Overall this is one of the best reports on the market and provides the most detail regarding the products technical architecture and user interface. You can get more information and purchase the report at http://www.cmswatch.com/CMS/Report/. Prices range from $975 for the standard edition to $3875 for the Combo Intranet Site License.

Gartner has also recently released their Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Content Management. This reports focuses on more than just WCM, but requires each product to have a WCM component (or partner) to be included in the report. Other requirements include: $10 million in total content management software revenue, being active in at least to major reason, having the software commercial available and having active reference. This report does not include hosted services or Open Source products. You can access the report at http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/reprints/emc/150426.html. For more specific information on WCM vendors you can purchase the MarketScope for Web content Management Report that was released in January 2007 for $495. Both of these reports provide summary data on the CM marketplace and short summaries of each product that outline pros and cons.

On July 16th Forrester released the Q3 2007 Forrester WaveTM, Web Content Management for External Sites. The report compares 11 vendors across 160 different criteria. The WaveTM Excel Spreadsheet is also delivered with the report and allows companies to adjust the criteria weights to match their requirements and hence rescore the vendors. This is a great tool to help narrow to a short list of vendors before sending out an RFP. Like the Gartner Magic Quadrant, the Forrester WaveTM focuses focuses mainly on top players and does not take into account Open Source or ASP based vendors. The WaveTM is available free on the Forrester web site (http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,,38883,00.html) to Forrester Clients or can be purchased for $995.

One last caution, make sure you have all the information before you start to look for a technology partner. Even the most feature rich content management system will not be successful if you don’t fully understand how you want to use it.