The CMS Debate - How to Counsel Your Clients - Part 2

This is a continuation of the previous entry. Here is another crucial consideration when determining if a CMS is the right solution for your client.

Client resources: While a CMS is intended to simplify the ongoing content management process, this work still represents a time commitment. Often, when a client team intends on assuming this responsibility, the resource requirements are underestimated. In these cases, the results can be disappointing, since the primary goal of a CMS is client self-sufficiency. There have been countless CMS implementations that end up with the CMS never even being utilized - let's call it 'CMS abandonment'. The websites become outdated and the initial investment is essentially lost. Knowing this is a possibility, there are some measures the agency can take to try and prevent, or at least mitigate, these issues. First, any agency implementing a CMS must include client training as part of the solution. If the client team doesn't feel comfortable with the application, it will be very hard to convert them to users - and remember, the more the client uses the CMS, the greater chance that the entire initiative will be viewed as a success. Even after training is provided, expect the client to require support from time to time. To properly manage this, the agency should recommend a maintenance bank of hours to support the client - even if it's simply a back-up plan.

In the end, the onus for preventing CMS abandonment falls largely on the agency - all the risks and issues described in this and the previous entry need to be raised with the client during the planning stages of a project, so that the entire team is aware of the issues associated with the solution, and the steps that can be taken to make the implementation effective long-term.

The CMS Debate - How to Counsel Your Clients - Part 1

At one point or another, every interactive Project Manager will be asked if implementing a Content Management System (CMS) is a good idea. For those who aren't familiar with the terminology, a CMS is just what the name suggests - an application that allows the content of a website (including images and sometimes even navigation) to be added, updated or removed using an interface which doesn't usually require any HTML or technical knowledge. The common objective of implementing a CMS is generally self-sufficiency on the client's end, as well as decreased external maintenance costs. The response to the question regarding a CMS has to carefully weigh many factors. Two primary considerations are broken out below. This entry will be continued with more considerations tomorrow.

Budget: A simple approach to determining whether a CMS is a viable solution is cost. Typically, a CMS implementation will represent a greater up-front cost, which should be off-set by reduced external maintenance costs long-term. It's important to note that although the client may save on vendor fees, the internal time which will now be allocated to website updates still represents an investment, and potentially a drain on resources as well.

Speed to launch: The CMS market is saturated with product options. Each product will vary, and an exhaustive (and often daunting) audit will be required to identify the appropriate solution. Factors such as up-front and ongoing costs, technology constraints, usability, product support and even language capabilities all need to be considered. Narrowing your search to meet the criteria can take many weeks, and securing stakeholder approval on a final decision before purchase needs to be factored into your timeline as well. In addition to the CMS selection process, there may also be a learning curve for the implementation team. Your technical resources, and perhaps even your designers, will need to learn how to develop within the CMS prior to commencing production. When all is said and done, a client's expected timeline may not allow for such a lengthy process leading up to development.

That's enough for now - more on the CMS debate tomorrow...