·¬ÇÑÉçÇø

What we are seeing is that advanced content management systems have very high levels of third-party integrations. Content is no longer a siloed activity—it is connected to all your other digital systems.

Dion Hinchcliffe, VP and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research

A new generation of content management systems has transformed the market, although many organisations remain unaware of this quiet revolution and the benefits these new advanced systems offer.

The step-change is explored fully in Brightspot’s recent webinar, The Enterprise Content Management Revolution: Driving Digital Business to the Future.

In a head-to-head discussion, David Gang, CEO and Co-founder at Brightspot, gives his views on the developing market alongside Dion Hinchcliffe, VP and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research. This webinar includes findings from Constellation Research's recent piece of major research into the sector—ahead of its wider publication.

Enterprise content management: A market reimagined

Many commercial organizations have fallen into the trap of believing that content management systems have reached a point of static maturity.

But the reality is that a new breed of advanced content management system has been developed, and the technology dramatically changes the scope and scale of what users can achieve. It also compresses the timeframes and budgets associated with even the most sophisticated projects.

Dion is in no doubt about the commercial advantages the new systems give users.

"Advanced content management is changing quickly," he says. "Most people look at content management systems as mature entities that are not advancing—they are, and quickly."

“They provide capabilities that most organizations really need to compete in the 2020s and if you are using the old stuff, you are spending way too much money and taking too much time. People using advanced management content systems will run circles around you."

So, what has changed for enterprise content management:?

Perhaps, the biggest development is the creation of systems that have a headless architecture and the ability to keep content assets independent of the end points where they are published.

Taking a moment to explain what headless architecture means, David Gang noted during the discussion: "I think the way that you have to look at headless technology is that it is a true separation of the source of content—otherwise known as the back end—from the front end that you are delivering to, whether that is a website, an OTT app or syndication."

The point with headless is that from one master content hub you can make all your content changes and publish it however you want, on any constellation of touch points. We are enabling customers to take information from different sources, work on it within Brightspot and then send it to different endpoints.

David Gang, Brightspot CEO and Co-founder

In addition, adopting a modular approach to content assets enables advanced content management systems to break each asset down into small pieces—modules—enabling it to be modified as required and then distributed to any endpoint.

As David puts it, the idea with modular content is to give the marketer the ability to deliver the right message to the right consumer and endpoints as easy as possible. The complication should be on the technology side — not on the CMS user — and Brightspot makes it simple for both parties. "We ensure the technology makes it easier for customers to do their job and to deliver more targeted messages with complete control," he explains.

The result is that users have one content asset which is broken into many different modules, and these can be tweaked or tailored to make the content more relevant to different audiences, whether they be in different countries or on different devices.

The enterprise content management future: Increased capabilities and speed at reduced cost

Another significant characteristic of advanced content management systems is the number of third-party integrations that can be supported, which generate huge benefits for users.

For example, if an organization needs to publish data to different audiences in different languages, integrations with translation providers enable this in different ways. Either, users can choose to have the original text translated and published immediately, or they can have an editor check the translated text for accuracy before publication.

Brightspot has one customer that publishes content in 170 languages. Dion comments: "That would be an enormously complicated and expensive task using traditional language translation services, but advanced content management platforms like Brightspot bring language translation right in and bring a workflow to it so that it happens easily."

These new advanced systems also deliver a massive reduction in development time and cost.

Dion adds: “All the capabilities provided by advanced content management systems provide a 10-to-1 reduction in development cost and time, so what would ordinarily take ten months takes one month on these platforms. It changes the art of the possible."

Imagine what sort of an impact that could make on your organization's commercial performance. If you would like to find out more about advanced content management systems, watch the webinar.