Growth in the content management system (CMS) market is strong as more and more companies look for software to help them manage their burgeoning coffers of content. This growth is partly fed by the growing temptation to use these systems for purposes far beyond managing content with CMS vendors tacking on every new feature they can dream up to feed this frenzy. The result is often a bloated, unwieldy, unmanageable, complexity induced bug-infested mess.

I have a relatively high level of interest in this space given my brief professional experience in this market. So I read with interest a post today on the subject by one of my favorite software development authors, Martin Fowler. In his post entitled Editing Publishing Separation Fowler discusses the advantages of separating the editing data and experience from the publishing experience and published data. I invite you to read his article as he makes a very cogent argument which should be taken into account as you consider choosing a CMS.

Before he makes this point, he sets up his theme with this preamble:

"...a regular theme has been the growing impact of content management systems (CMS). They aren't usually seen as helpful, indeed there is a clear sign that they are becoming a worryingly invasive tool - used for more than their core purpose in such a manner that they hinder overall development."

It is precisely this thought which accurately represents my own limited experience in the CMS market. So here are my recommendations for consideration when choosing a CMS for your content management purposes.

• As Martin suggests, look for a separate editing and publishing experience including separation of data and the advantages that can come from that.
• And pay close attention to Martin’s opening quoted above. When looking at a feature, such as e-Commerce, consider whether you should be looking at a full featured e-Commerce platform rather than a feature that may have been cobbled onto the product as an afterthought. Remember that your primary purpose should be the management of content.
• Whether you choose open or closed, open source or commercial, be sure that your own development team can understand and use the system with alacrity.
• If you have a PHP team, don’t buy a .NET based CMS. And vice versa.
• Take your time in evaluation. A quick, under-informed decision can cost you far more than you can imagine in future headaches.
• Give your development team time to find the real problems with the CMS being evaluated and determine whether and how they can live with the problems they encounter.
• Be sure to test the support and services teams of the vendor if you are going commercial over open source. Or if you are going open source, look for a proven and reliable partner who can guide you through the rough patches. Because no matter which CMS you choose, there will be some of those.
• Consider licensing and support costs but don’t fall into the trap that open source is free. The efficiency of your own development and content management team using the CMS over the long haul will have a far larger impact on your overall cost of ownership.
• Ask someone from Missouri to join your evaluation team. In other words, NEVER just accept the word of a sales representative that the CMS she is selling has the feature that you want and that it works as advertised. Like all software, there is a HUGE amount of advertising fluff and endless feature lists. Make sure that you have the sales team “show” you and then make sure that your own development team can make it work without their help and without having to contact support before you accept the claim, “Oh yes, our CMS does that.”
• And last but not least, do your own research of satisfied and dissatisfied customers. Make some calls. Ask to speak to someone on the evaluation team where another product was chosen over the one you are considering. Ask if they evaluated the product you have your sights set on. Chances are that a few phone calls will land you a gold mine in helpful information.

Of course, you can apply these same principles to purchasing any enterprise software. And you should.