Selecting the right CMS

Ok, so you need a content management system. First of all you’ll need to answer these questions:

What budget do you have to work with?
Now this isn’t just how much cash your department is allocated, it’s also how much of your staff’s development time you can use.

Do you have a dedicated “Web Manager / Developer”?
This is important, we often come across companies that think if they choose a CMS that is easy to use they will be able to run a successful website on their own. This rarely happens. Web publishing is not the same a creating a nice looking Word document. Trust us!

How many editors / authors of content will you have?
The number of users does have an effect on the implementation of the CMS and how the user permissions will be setup. Just think of what areas of the site there may be and how often they will need to be updated.

Do you have your own server/s?
This is worth thinking about from early on. Some content management systems require high specification servers which you can either buy or lease from the vendor. If you don’t have your own, don’t panic, you may be able to opt for a shared hosting arrangement

Do you have any other applications that might be required to be ‘plugged in’ to the CMS?
Think about the future! You might want to add functionality to your website later that you hadn’t thought about when you chose your CMS.