6 benefits of having a flexible and simple CMS

If you’re stuck using an outdated CMS that’s no longer fit for purpose, it’s easy to think that your system has stopped working for you and has started working against you. Legacy systems can be rigid and complex, meaning that doing anything requires a call to your development team.

A change of CMS would increase efficiency and free up valuable time, but how do you go about convincing decision makers at your organization that it’s time for an upgrade? Here are six ways that a shiny new CMS, that emphasizes flexibility and simplicity, will leave your old system in the dust.

1. No coding expertise required

Let’s face it, in today’s fast paced working environments, there’s no reason to expect that people know everything. Your marketing team might be superstars when it comes to writing copy or planning events (the things that they were hired to be good at), but it’s unreasonable to throw Python, Java, and JavaScript onto their plates and expect them to understand it at the same level as a professional developer.

Your CMS should work like a car: you let the engineers worry about the mechanics and maintenance, and leave the driver to get on with the driving. Your editorial team shouldn’t need to deal with coding quirks of the system when they should be doing what they do best: writing and publishing content.

2. Any place, any time content editor

“Time is money” might be an old phrase, but in the world of digital experiences, it’s more true than ever. A flexible CMS will allow truly responsive authoring, optimized for different devices, so you can create and edit whenever, wherever.

Whether you’re on a smartphone or a full-sized workstation, the system will allow you to interact in the most efficient way for that screen size and device input. Image handling on smartphones and tablets, for example, will be touchscreen compliant, meaning you don’t have to open up your laptop to make changes.

Read more: Responsive content management – no longer a nightmare »

3. One platform for different uses

The employees of a business may not be able to do everything, but there’s no reason why your CMS shouldn’t be able to. A cutting edge CMS will be a one stop function shop, combining elements such as intranet, public web, headless CMS, and blogs. Using one system instead of multiple systems saves time and money by reducing maintenance, upgrade time, and the amount of training required to get up and running.

4. Integrated image editing

With a CMS that integrates editing right into the platform, you can say goodbye to Photoshop and its cost, as well as the time consuming extra step that your contributors need to make in order to produce great visual content for your digital experiences. And it’s not just the folks who produce the content that will benefit from this kind of functionality. Features like automatic image scaling will make your users happy too.

Read more: Best practices of image handling for web content »

5. Quick edits with multiple contributors

Nothing slows down the editorial process like having to rely on an antiquated CMS being used by multiple editorial contributors. A flexible CMS will boost productivity by making the editorial process simpler, more accessible and more usable. Uncomplicated user management and collaboration tools designed for the latest use cases will not only speed things up, they’ll help avoid mistakes that would occur if contributors were required to regularly deploy code.

6. Future-proof

A modern CMS built on open standards will scale with your business and allow you to adapt your system to changing requirements without requiring costly and time consuming development work, or even worse, the purchase of a new system altogether. Open architectures mean that the foundations of your business remain strong, and keep you and your business better able to adapt to future trends.

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So there you have it, just a few reasons that your business should seriously consider ditching that dusty old CMS and opt for one that will not only help your business grow, but develop with you. A new CMS with flexibility and simplicity at its core, will not only help you create digital experiences more quickly and efficiently, it will make those experiences even better.

First published 8 August 2018, updated 4 August 2022.