Over the years, iMedia has worked with many companies who had previously chosen open-source Content Management Systems (CMS) or Digital Experience Platforms (DXP) to drive their digital properties. While these solutions can initially be faster to market, and cheaper to develop than commercial platforms – and in some cases may even be the correct choice to “get things going”. – typically our on-boarding conversations with new customers start with them expressing a fervent desire to abandon open-source and migrate to something more robust.
Inevitably, there are four common pain points driving this decision:
1. Poor site speed and performance impacting SEO and conversions
Open-source CMS platforms rely heavily on plug-ins to deliver key website features, but their extensibility comes at a price.
- Badly integrated plug-ins from multiple sources, can result in site speed issues
- Slow-loading sites create a negative impression with users and rank lower on search engines impacting organic traffic and conversions
2. Security vulnerabilities exposing the company to risk
One of the challenges associated with open-source CMS is that the testing of new security patches sits with your team.
- It’s common for companies to fall behind in implementing updates to plugins and security patches due to the time and expense involved in testing them
- Without the latest security updates the company may be exposed to significant risk
3. Cost and complexity of plug- in management
The more plug-ins you have, the more there is to maintain, and if you don’t update them, your website can begin behaving badly.
- Many companies also lack the time, energy or money to find the optimum plug-ins to ensure their site has the capabilities it needs to meets business goals and objectives and that they comply with security and development best practices
4. The burden of implementing and testing version updates
With open-source platforms you have to manage version updates, and forced upgrades when products reach their end of life and are no longer supported by the community. This means companies are faced with:
- The headache of constantly reviewing updates to determine security risks and update benefits
- The additional hassle of verifying that updates haven’t broken anything, and that your theme and plugins are all properly updated and functional
What type of CMS do we recommend?
While the low up-front costs associated with open-source CMS can be attractive – initially – they can be complex and time-consuming to secure, develop and maintain over the long term. Many companies find that they quickly exceed the capabilities of these platforms and that the total cost of ownership is much higher than expected.
If you’re facing an upgrade to your open-source CMS or are considering your next platform – now is the time to make the move to a modern, robust, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution.
SaaS solutions tend to be easier, faster and cheaper to maintain and because they are fully managed, you get peace of mind that your platform is safe, secure, always up-to-date and managed by a team of experts who have a vested interest in your success.
At iMedia we use Crownpeak’s SaaS Digital Experience Platform to build powerful, truly cloud-native online destinations.
In addition to Crownpeak’s SaaS hybrid headless CMS, the platform offers a full suite of composable capabilities to support every stage of your customers’ journeys, including best-of-breed AI-powered personalization & experience optimization, digital quality & accessibility management, content-driven commerce, privacy & consent management, and more.
Our team enjoys working with Crownpeak’s full suite of composable products, and has delivered several websites using the Crownpeak DXP with great success.
We’ve found that both Marketing and IT teams value Crownpeak’s hybrid headless, zero-infrastructure SaaS approach, which ensures the industry’s fastest time-to-market — up to 80% faster than typical enterprise DXP.
As companies look to optimize and differentiate their digital experiences, we believe Crownpeak’s agility, usability and time-to-value makes them a stand-out vendor in the DXP market.
Learn about how we utilize Crownpeak to enhance our clients’ web experience.