Which CMS Should My Organization Use?

Have you ever thought: Which CMS should my organization use? A content management system (CMS), not to be confused with a customer relationship management (CRM), is a software application that is used to manage and store digital content. Just as we said in our article on how to pick the right CRM for your organization, there is not one CMS that fits exactly everyone’s needs.

Keep reading for a breakdown of the pros and the cons of three popular CMSs:

1. WordPress

WordPress is an excellent tool to use, and one that we recommend to many of our clients. Especially if you’re shopping around for a place to host your blog, we think WordPress has a great, sure shot of offering you an easy-to-use tool that will satisfy your needs.

(+) Pros: 

1. Great UI/UX for writers
2. Ability to simply and seamlessly manage media and embed content
3. Extremely easy to theme
4. Largest support community
5. Numerous plugins available to add trending technologies
6. Supports strong SEO and Semantic Tagging
7. Easy to find agencies and freelancers that work with WordPress

(-) Cons: 

1. Not as versatile (great for blogs and simple sites, but not as good for intranets, portals, web applications, etc.)
2. Least secure out of the other CMSs due to its popularity; however, there are measures that can be incorporated to increase security

2. Drupal

Drupal is an open source CMS that is known for it’s impressive web management platform. If you’re looking for a CMS that is known for its ability to be versatile, scalable, and seriously secure (e.g. The White House is built on it), Drupal has you covered.

(+) Pros: 

1. Very secure CMS due to its big time presence in Government
2. Extremely versatile. It can be used for blogs, sites, intranets, portals, web applications, etc.
3. Great support community
4. Scales well

(-) Cons: 

1. Difficult to develop on
2. More cumbersome to theme
3. Admin UI/UX is not as friendly and refined as WordPress is
4. It can be a challenge to manage media and files

3. SharePoint

SharePoint is a collection of cloud and web-based technology. SharePoint is an effective tool for easily sharing and managing your organization’s digital information. As you might have already guessed, it has excellent integration with other Microsoft Office programs you’re likely already using on the daily (e.g. Word, Excel, etc).

(+) Pros: 

1. It can manage a variety of documents for your team (e.g. PDFs, Microsoft Office files, etc.)
2. It can serve as your company’s intranet
3. If you have an MS/IIS technology ecosystem, SharePoint is good for enterprise level sites and intranets
4. Unlike Drupal and WordPress, SharePoint is not open source, adding to the security of the platform

(-) Cons: 

1. Not a popular web technology (i.e. it could be tough for your organization to find good developers at a reasonable cost)
2. Admin UI/UX not as friendly and refined as WordPress or Drupal
3. Very small support community because it not an open source platform
4. It can be a challenge to develop on
5. It can be tough to manage media and files
6. Must purchase licenses to use the platform

Want to talk about another CMS you are considering or have more questions on the ones I listed above? Don’t hesitate to reach out to me at allison@creativesciencelabs.com