Which Content Management System is Right For Your Organization?

Each week my office gets calls from prospects who are making a decision between content management systems and are seeking my input on which to choose, Drupal Joomla or WordPress.  Avalon M I S works with all the popular open source CMS brands whereas some digital marketing companies only work with one brand.

It has taken me a few years to develop a practical set of tools that could help organizations choose the best CMS for their needs.  The key is to identify the organization’s needs and then look at each CMS in terms of the attributes that fill those needs.  For example, if a client is seeking an eCommerce solution we start by defining all the requirements of the store including product, price, placement, and promotion.

Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress

There are hundreds, if not thousands of CMS applications that are available to download. The three brands that consistently get rated in the top three, five, or ten are Drupal®, Joomla®, and WordPress®. Avalon M I S works with all three applications and over the years we’ve consulted with lots of organizations/businesses that came to the conclusion that the CMS choice they made was the wrong choice. In some cases it is easy to reverse that decision and sometimes the replacement costs are significant.

How to Choose the Right CMS

The best way to start the decision is to consider the economics of the decision.  In the matrix below you are presented with four different start-up companies, Bee, Sea, Dee, and E.

The companies all sell widgets at $10 per widget and company Bee sells the least and E sells the most.  The companies paid $5 per widget (cost of goods sold) which means they walk away with a gross margin of $5 per widget.

Marketing and Technology Investment

The next step in the decision making is to consider your digital marketing budget which includes building, hosting, and maintaining the site. Placement and promotional budgets are also taken into consideration since they are critical to your success. As you can see below, the Total Marketing Technology Investment is varied between $10k-$197k.

The total marketing technology investment is the single most important number in that matrix. This number alone can be the defining consideration in your decision. That is where we begin our discussion with the client.

Which CMS is Right

There are many factors that should be considered when making your CMS decision. If you would like to complete our questionnaire please call our office. There is not a charge for this service.