Traditional content management systems are killing growth

Michael Lukaszczyk at Hygraph explains why the neglected content management system is a secret weapon for business success

Challenging economic conditions are putting a strain on businesses. The IMF predicts that global growth will slow from 3.5% in 2022 to 2.9 in 2024 – well below the historical average of 3.8%. Rising costs, reduced consumer spending, and increased uncertainty is making it increasingly difficult for companies to thrive and grow their operations.

But despite the turbulent economic conditions, one thing remains consistent – customers are demanding personalised, high-quality, and engaging digital experiences from the businesses they chose to interact with.

How can businesses meet these rising consumer demands for exceptional experiences? By giving them the content they want when they want it. Recent figures estimate that the global digital content creation market will reach $24 billion by 2027.

Many organisations today rely on a traditional content management system (CMS) to manage content. But organisations continue encountering a number of challenges with traditional CMS, which prevent them from delivering digital experiences at speed and scale. 

Businesses must now review the performance of their CMS. As the content economy becomes more complex, today’s content management systems aren’t living up to the expectations that companies and customers have around digital experience and performance. It’s time businesses invest in future-proofing their CMS.

The state of CMS

Content management systems have been neglected for too long. Now, technology leaders are beginning to realise a sub-standard CMS is holding them and their businesses back.

According to our research on the state of the CMS, 84% of technology leaders feel their CMS is keeping the organisation from unlocking the full value of content. Business leaders report frustrations with CMSs ranging from siloed data to maintaining custom middleware and integration issues. These barriers are preventing organisations from delivering connected digital experiences.

The shortcomings of legacy CMSs pose a skills challenge for organisations too. They are difficult to use due to the complexity of their features and technical requirements. This means changes can only be made by developers with certain technical and design skills, such as web development experience. Specific skills needed vary on the CMS, and continuous learning is essential by a development team for effective maintenance. 

The demand for content isn’t going to slow down. Organisations need a solution that facilitates combining data from all sources and delivering it to any channel without the need for tedious middleware development and specialised skills. Our research showed 88% of respondents agree that maintaining middleware is an innovation bottleneck.

If a business wants to be successful, it must invest in the next generation of content management sooner rather than later.

The power of content federation

Over three-quarters of respondents in our survey think that making it easier to expose content and data will unlock revenue potential and reduce operational costs. And the way to unlock this potential is by taking a new approach to content management. Enter: content federation via headless CMS.

A headless CMS with federation features allows organisations to innovate faster and at lower cost by connecting information and creating a centralised experience, enabling organisations to link siloed content from diverse sources via a single API.

This interconnected approach gives developers the flexibility of headless without having to build, host, secure, and ensure the performance of custom middleware built by specialised developers. Headless delivery of content means that it can be continuously adapted to meet the needs of new channels and applications, allowing for a unified and consistent customer experience across various channels.

Taking a federated content approach also allows companies to future-proof their content strategy by leveraging all their data via a universal API, meet customer demands, and provide the flexibility to adapt to changes. This strategy allows businesses to scale the digital experience in line with the rapid increases in the content economy, simplifying the process of managing, updating, and delivering content at scale and on demand.

The secret to success

Many businesses recognise they are stifling innovation by neglecting their CMS. They must now act and adopt a federated content approach with their headless CMS.

While the traditional CMS was fit for purpose twenty years ago, business and customer needs have evolved significantly. As the variety and volume of content have increased, so too has the need to distribute it to a growing number of different devices. As the economic landscape continues to pose challenges for businesses with uncertain conditions, it’s difficult to predict and navigate future financial prospects.

That’s why businesses that invest in a federated approach to unify data sources via headless CMS will be successful in building and scaling intuitive digital experiences in line with rapid customer expectations. Organisations that can innovate faster and at lower cost are those that will be able to focus on delivering innovative digital products and services and continue to grow amidst economic turmoil.

Michael Lukaszczyk is CEO and Co-Founder of Hygraph

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com and Galeanu Mihai