Web CMS vs. Custom applications - different approaches
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The document discusses various strategies for achieving a unified customer experience in web content management, presenting four main solutions: creating 'service brands', differentiating conceptually, building on top of a CMS, and building on top of a framework. Each solution has its strengths and challenges, with recommendations on when to apply them based on organizational needs and resources. The discussion emphasizes the evolving role of CMS and the increasing cost-effectiveness of custom applications due to frameworks and APIs.
Web CMS vs. Custom applications - different approaches
- 1. Perttu Tolvanen Web & CMS Expert, Partner North Patrol Oy, 20131 Web CMS vs. Custom applications J. Boye Philadelphia 2013, Web Content Management Track
- 2. Agenda • Background overview • The challenge: ”unified customer experience” • Solution 1: Create ”service brands” (...and forget the unified experience) • Solution 2: Differentiate conceptually (content areas from custom functionality) • Solution 3: Build on top of CMS • Solution 4: Build on top of framework • Comparison of different solution scenarios • Summary North Patrol Oy2
- 3. We used to build everything on top of CMSs... North Patrol Oy3 CMS Website eCommerce Website Extranet Intranet Web- site Web- site
- 4. ”Intranet CMS” Then we understood that internal systems are a different playing field... North Patrol Oy4 ”Web CMS” Website eCommerce Website Extranet Intranet Web- site Web- site
- 5. The landscape of concepts and products in 2013 North Patrol Oy5 HR systems (Oracle, SAP, etc) Intranet News, guidelines, phoneb ook, important documents, search Phonebook / people profiles ERP (+ other line of business systems) CRM Partner extranets Document management & project sites Websites Customer extranets eCommerce Custom apps
- 6. ERP (+ other line of business systems) CRM Partner t s Websites Customer extranets eCommerce Custom apps Challenge: “Unified customer experience” Trends related to this: 1) The role of the Web CMS is getting smaller in many cases – even though sites are getting more massive! 2) Building custom applications has become more cost-effective by the use of frameworks. 3) The role of APIs has grown due to different systems and mobile applications.
- 7. Solution 1: Create “service brands” Websites Customer extranets eCommerce Need: Best possible experience for the users of each service Custom apps
- 8. Solution 1: Create “service brands” Customer extranets Websites Example case
- 9. Solution 1: Create “service brands” Customer extranet Example case
- 10. Solution 1: Create “service brands” Customer extranet Websites Example case
- 11. Solution 1: Create “service brands” • Different websites for each concept. • For example many cities separate the public website and the self-service website very clearly. • Strengths – Easy to use best-of-breed products – Minimum tailoring requirements – Conceptually very mobile friendly (”apps ideology”) • Challenges – Possibly lot of integrations – Customer needs to understand the roles of each service – Unified login (identity, SSO) often a requirement Customer extranets Websites Example case
- 12. Solution 1: Create “service brands” Example case eCommerce
- 13. Solution 1: Create “service brands” Example case eCommerce
- 14. Solution 1: Create “service brands” Customer extranet Example case
- 15. Solution 1: Create “service brands” • Different websites for each concept. • For example many cities separate the public website and the self-service website very clearly. • Strengths – Easy to use best-of-breed products – Minimum tailoring requirements – Conceptually very mobile friendly (”apps ideology”) • Challenges – Not a ”unified experience” – different sub brands! – Possibly lot of integrations – Unified login (identity, SSO) often a requirement Website = marketing & product information Customer extranet = additional orders, support, FAQ, community eCommerce = bulk products and services
- 16. Solution 2: Differentiate conceptually Websites Customer extranets eCommerce Need: Best possible experience + desire for unified user experience
- 17. Solution 2: Differentiate conceptually Example case Delta is a car dealer network that also works as an importer (eg. Kia). The main website is using a CMS (DotNetNuke), but the used cars portal is a custom product that is integrated to several back-end systems and databases.
- 18. Solution 2: Differentiate conceptually Example case The user experience is similar in all areas even though the technology/source of service is different in main navigation sections.
- 19. Solution 2: Differentiate conceptually Example case YLE is Finland’s national public service broadcasting company. YLE operates four national television channels and six radio channels. YLE News is using Escenic CMS, the Web TV ”Areena” is built on Zend framework and most other websites are built on Drupal.
- 20. Solution 2: Differentiate conceptually Example case
- 21. Solution 2: Differentiate conceptually Example case
- 22. Solution 2: Differentiate conceptually Example case
- 23. Solution 2: Differentiate conceptually • Unified website experience for users, but different segments of the website are built using different technology/products • Strengths – Possible to use best-of-breed products – ”Unified customer experience” with minimum cost • Challenges – Building and maintaining consistent user experience – Larger conceptual changes harder to design – Liftups from different segments can require integrations – Content targeting or content suggestions are manual work – Hard to re-use elements or content Website Extranet eCommerce Unified navigation / header
- 24. Websites Solution 3: Build on top of CMS Websites Customer extranets eCommerce Need: Unified user experience + lot of changing content + data from back-end systems
- 25. Ministry for foreign affairs of Finland is a massive content website built on CMS product (.Net based NetCommunity). During the years there has been done lot of customizations and applications on top of CMS. Solution 3: Build on top of CMS Example case
- 26. Solution 3: Build on top of CMS Example case Sitra.fi is built on Drupal platform. It was one of the first large responsive websites in Scandinavia. The website has a lot of content, but mostly it aggregates content from different social media sites depending on project/issue.
- 27. Solution 3: Build on top of CMS Example case
- 28. Websites Solution 3: Build on top of CMS • Unified website experience for users and good tools for content producers. • CMS implementation can become quite heavy and complex. • Strengths – ”Unified customer experience” – Possibilities to do rich liftups and content targeting – Possibilities for multi-language management exist • Challenges – Complex to further develop and apply updates – A CMS is an ”extra layer” for developers of custom solutions and that can increase complexity and costs Websites Customer extranets eCommerce Need: Unified user experience + lot of changing content + data from back-end systems
- 29. Websites Solution 4: Build on top of framework Websites Customer extranets eCommerce Technologies typical in this scenario are eg. Django, Zend, Symphony, Microsoft ASP.net and Drupal. Need: Unified user experience + lot of custom functionality + data from back-end systems
- 30. Solution 4: Build on top of framework Example case Valio.fi is built using Microsoft technologies without any CMS product. Most of the content comes from background systems. Editors have custom made ”CMS tool” for controlling site liftups and templates.
- 31. Solution 4: Build on top of framework Example case Valio.fi is built using Microsoft technologies without any CMS product. Most of the content comes from background systems. Editors have custom made wysiwyg interface for controlling site liftups and templates.
- 32. Websites Solution 4: Build on top of framework • Unified website experience and good possibilities to further develop the custom areas and functionalities. • Content producers have limited capabilities to change the website design. • Strengths – ”Unified customer experience” – Good possibilities for custom feature development – The CMS speaks the language of users • Challenges – Highly tailored solution to maintain and support – Content producers might become unhappy Websites Customer extranets eCommerce Technologies typical in this scenario are eg. Django, Zend, Symphony, Microsoft ASP.net and Drupal.
- 33. Create “service brands” Best of breed products Plenty of limitations Content producers value Overview to different solutions Differentiate conceptually Maintaining consistent UI is hard Integration risks are fairly limited Build on top of CMS Unified experience Content can be redesigned Build on top of framework No restrictions Content redesign limited ”App-friendly” strategy Not really a strategy... Just of a tactic
- 34. Summary 1. Solution 1: Create ”service brands” if you want to use best-of-breed products and your business can operate with several different service brands. Building separate services is also usually the most cost effective choice - and fastest to redesign/rebuild. 2. Solution 2: Differentiate conceptually if you don’t have clear vision or resources to build a unified experience. Conceptual differentation can be cost-effective choice and a good way to try out if building a unified experience would make sense. 3. Solution 3: Build on top of CMS if you absolutely need unified and complex user experience – and you have a lot of content - and content producers that need to manage the user experience. Just be prepared to struggle with the CMS updates and improvements. 4. Solution 4: Build on top of framework if you absolutely need unified and complex user experience – and your biggest future plans relate to building more custom features and integrations. Just be prepared to maintain and improve the system periodically. North Patrol Oy34
- 35. North Patrol Oy35 BUYER´S GUIDE TO WEB PROJECTS www.northpatrol.com/blog