Earlier in my career, I had two product management positions that provided me the opportunity to work across two very different CMS platforms: WordPress and Brightspot. In both roles, I was responsible for building websites from scratch without any formal training on either CMS.
The first platform I used was WordPress. After being tasked with building a company site from scratch for a small accounting startup, my boss gave me a quick tutorial of the platform and an overview of the content he wanted. From there, I worked on it over the course of three weeks. The site was not extensive, with a few pages of general information and contact forms, but I definitely faced a lot of challenges as I built it out.
In my second position, I used the Brightspot CMS. As a recent college grad working on the product management team at Brightspot, I was able to help build 28 sites in a three-month period with little to no training.
Here are the main differences I encountered between Brightspot and WordPress.
WordPress vs. Brightspot: Usability
Building a site on WordPress felt like pulling teeth. The main issues I had were:
- The difficult dashboard: WordPress鈥檚 dashboard is difficult to navigate for even the simplest of tasks and was nearly impossible once we started trying to do more complex things.
- Cumbersome plugins: With no development background, I found the plugins difficult to manage. How do you know what the best plugin is or if updating the plugin will break something on the site? If and when something broke (which was often) development help was needed immediately.
- Incomplete search functionality: I had a lot of issues with WordPress鈥� search capabilities. Ultimately, I gave up using it because I could never find what I wanted and would just end up looking manually.
In comparison, Brightspot was easy to use and understand. The CMS was built by editors for editors鈥攄esigned to lessen the dependence on IT and allow for seamless publishing. With the use of basic guides and a list of parameters I needed to include, I was able to launch a new site in just a few days. Once the content I needed was uploaded, I simply had to decide how I wanted it to look.
WordPress vs. Brightspot: Flexibility
In my initial experience, it was hard to reconcile the vision my boss described with what the platform would allow us to do. Using WordPress gives you access to many templates that dictate what your site will look like. Some of these themes come with the WordPress subscription, but others require you to pay to use them. Although there were quite a few templates, the options within the template tended to be more limited. This made it difficult to move things around and customize the site. If you find a template that exactly matches your vision, you鈥檙e in business. But if not, it鈥檚 impossible to customize without development assistance and even then you鈥檙e limited.
In contrast, Brightspot comes with multiple themes that each have countless options for how your content can look. This gives the user many different ways to customize a site without the need for IT help.
WordPress vs. Brightspot: Ease of use
With WordPress, I struggled to help build one site in three weeks. Plus WordPress did not offer much in the way of support for users of their more basic solutions. Even after spending significant time on the project, I never felt like I came close to becoming a 鈥減ower user.鈥�
With Brightspot, the first site I built was based completely off of editorial guides. Using only these comprehensive guides, I was able to create my site completely independently. As I quickly learned how to use the CMS, I began collaborating on client sites. In three weeks, I was able to help stand-up six Brightspot sites 鈥� which was vastly different from my experience with WordPress.
WordPress vs. Brightspot: Collaboration tools
The WordPress ecosystem offers tens of thousands of plugins, including many popular collaboration tools. However, these require users to download and manage the various integrations, which can create site bloat and issues with security vulnerabilities.
Brightspot, on the other hand, lets you connect your content experiences and workflows with over 7,000 common business applications 鈥� without requring any custom dev or complicated plugin setup and management.
The possibilities are endless: Send content from a Google Drive folder to your CMS and get notified in Slack; or tie the publishing of your newsletter to a campaign in your CRM, for example. Other native workflow and automation tools include the ability to take action directly within a notification to keep your workflows flowing; get proactive alerts about conditions that might be impacting your site; or gain quick access to the content and items that are most important to you right from within the CMS dashboard.
Overall in my experience, WordPress was inexpensive, but hard to use. There was limited room for creativity without paying extra. On the other hand, Brightspot provided much more value for the price. But don鈥檛 just take my word for it. Here are why some big name customers made the choice to move off of WordPress and onto Brightspot.
Customers who switched from WordPress to Brightspot
FedEx: Redefining the digital newsroom for global reach
FedEx faced limitations with WordPress in its efforts to create an efficient, engaging newsroom that could keep up with its high-speed, high-volume operational needs. Handling over 16 million packages daily and hosting nearly 100 million unique monthly visitors, FedEx required a solution that supported rapid publishing and simplified content management across languages. With WordPress鈥檚 lack of scalability, FedEx struggled with a cumbersome, outdated upload process and high reliance on IT for even minor updates. As the company鈥檚 communications needs evolved, FedEx realized it needed a more dynamic CMS to manage its vast content ecosystem efficiently.
In just 30 days, FedEx launched its redesigned newsroom on Brightspot, benefiting from out-of-the-box publishing tools and a modern, mobile-responsive design that aligns with the global FedEx brand. Brightspot鈥檚 multisite capabilities have allowed FedEx鈥檚 regional teams to work independently while ensuring brand consistency and content accuracy. With reduced reliance on IT, content creators can now publish and localize news faster, streamlining FedEx鈥檚 ability to engage customers worldwide. The upgrade has delivered significant efficiencies, allowing FedEx to communicate its brand stories effectively and meet the demands of its expansive audience.
Read the FedEx case study here
Televisa: Saving time and money for the largest Spanish-speaking media company by replatforming onto a headless CMS
As the largest media company in the Spanish-speaking world, Televisa decided it was time to replatform at the end of 2017. At the time, they were working across nine disparate WordPress instances, which left them unable to publish in real-time and had created significant overhead.
With Brightspot, Televisa can now manage nine sites 鈥� eight of which are headless 鈥� from one content management system. The publishing experience has been improved overall, new sites can be created and launched independently, and they have full control over the look and feel of the platform. Overall, switching from WordPress to Brightspot cut Televisa鈥檚 launch times in half and greatly reduced overhead costs across the board.
Read the Televisa case study here
Marriott International: A revitalized newsroom with Brightspot CMS
Marriott International, with its portfolio of 30 brands and over 8,000 properties worldwide, transitioned from a limited WordPress site to Brightspot CMS to modernize its newsroom and elevate its global storytelling. The prior platform restricted Marriott to basic, text-focused updates, which didn鈥檛 capture the diverse, visually compelling experiences Marriott offers. Brightspot鈥檚 intuitive templates and modules allowed Marriott to revamp its newsroom with multimedia capabilities, enabling PR and marketing teams to publish vibrant, engaging stories across channels that reflect the depth and quality of its brand.
Within just four months, Marriott launched its refreshed newsroom, complete with responsive design, high-quality imagery, video and audio components that engage audiences on any device. The new platform has empowered Marriott鈥檚 communications team to deliver timely, immersive content that reaches a global audience, reinforcing its status in the hospitality sector. Now, Marriott鈥檚 newsroom acts as an effective storytelling hub, sharing dynamic stories that appeal to travelers, media and stakeholders alike, while showcasing the brand鈥檚 dedication to innovation and service.
Ready to see what a CMS can truly do for your team?
Before exploring a Brightspot demo, consider a few critical questions about your current CMS experience. Are you constantly searching for the right plugins, only to face issues with compatibility, performance or security? Does your WordPress VIP solution require heavy reliance on outsourced development support for even minor updates? Is your team鈥檚 efficiency impacted by the lack of streamlined workflow tools?
If these challenges sound familiar, it鈥檚 time to explore how Brightspot can offer a smoother, more powerful solution 鈥� one designed to empower your team, streamline workflows and eliminate the roadblocks of your current CMS.
Schedule a Brightspot demo today to see the difference for yourself.
