A quarter of companies believe their web platforms stifle sales

A quarter of organisations believe their company websites are costing them business, according to new research from Umbraco. 

Over half of the survey participants said they need to extend website functionality by connecting to new technologies that enable analytics, personalisation and transactions. Almost a third (30%) report that their companies are paying for CMS features that will never be used. Despite these findings, 32% of respondents are delaying migrating to new content management systems (CMS) and digital experience platforms (DXP) that would allow them to gain the required functionality to meet customer demand.

What drives CMS selection:

The survey, conducted among 150 decision-makers with responsibility for websites, working at organisations with between 100 and more than 10,000 employees, found that the most important factors influencing CMS selection were the cost (43%), familiarity with the brand (35%) and personal recommendation of the CMS (35%).

For enterprises with more than 10,000 employees, brand familiarity, ongoing support and security updates, the ease and cost of adding new features and the ability to support multiple languages, heavily influence CMS selection. 

Software licence fees and reduced time to market were the most important factors in CMS selection for enterprises with 5,000 – 10,000 employees.

CMS evolution:

Over half (54.7%) of the respondents across all sectors agreed that they need to be able connect company websites with additional technology to increase functionality as their businesses evolve. 

When asked about new demands on CMS, over half of the survey participants (50.7%) agreed that their websites need to deliver personalisation, analytics and transactions, in addition to the usual content management. This finding was highest among respondents from the retail (68%), manufacturing (56.3%) and technology (50%) sectors.

Empowering marketing teams:

Almost half of all respondents (46%) agreed that they need to empower their marketing teams to rapidly adjust content in response to customer needs. This figure rose to 60% in the retail sector, just over half (53.3%) in the public sector, and half (50%) of respondents from the technology sector.

"These survey findings indicate that organisations are leaning more heavily on their digital platforms and demanding more of their CMS providers as they expand their digital services to engage with customers on their preferred devices and in their local language," says Kim Sneum-Madsen, CEO of Umbraco.

Chief CMS concerns:

When asked about their chief CMS concerns, the ease with which new features could be added over time, the cost of doing so and the lack of internal development skills to enable the organisation to get the best out of the CMS were cited most frequently. For respondents from public sector and digital agencies, slow performance of the CMS was also a major concern.

Ensuring ongoing support and security updates for CMS is the chief concern shared by all organisations with between 500 and over 10,000 employees.

Almost half (48%) of respondents from the technology and retail sectors cited lack of in-house coding skill as their main CMS concern. However, this issue may be exacerbated by their choice of CMS. Almost a quarter (24.7%) of all respondents from technology, public sector, digital agencies and the retail sector agreed that their current CMS made their organisation less attractive to talented developers.

Lock-in indications:

Almost a third (32% of respondents) agreed that they were staying with their current CMS and shortcomings of their websites because re-platforming would be too expensive, despite 30% of respondents agreeing that they are paying for CMS features that their organisation will never use. This figure rose to 40% of public sector respondents paying for unused features. Over half of respondents from all sectors (54.7%) agree that they will need to be able to be able to connect their website with additional technologies and functionalities as their businesses evolve.

"Content management systems have had to evolve to enable organisations to deliver omnichannel engagement, transactions and personalisation," says Sneum-Madsen. 

"As a result, we've seen increased adoption of composable digital experience platforms, with CMS at the core, that allow organisations to integrate new technologies that meet fresh business requirements. 

"However, this survey indicates that many organisations are stuck on digital platforms that no longer meet their needs. As an open-source CMS company, Umbraco's mission is to make it as simple as possible for companies to extend their CMS by integrating technologies that serve their immediate business needs and provide the flexibility to adapt over time. 

"We recently launched Umbraco Marketplace to help our customers to find technologies that easily integrate with Umbraco, and other composable DXPs, so that they can expand content, marketing and commerce capabilities. The survey findings strongly validate this strategy."

Key findings from the Umbraco survey:

• 30% of respondents report that they are paying for CMS features they will never use
• Over half of respondents (54.7%) agree that they need to connect to new technologies to extend website functionality
• Half of survey respondents (50.7%) need their website to deliver personalisation, analytics and transactions, in addition to content
• A quarter (25.3%) of respondents believe their company websites are costing them business
• Just under a quarter of all respondents (24.7%) and 30% of public sector respondents believe their current CMS makes them less attractive to talented developers.
• Nearly a third (32%) of companies are making do with outdated CMS because they believe it would be too expensive to re-platform.

"We understand organisations' reticence to move off monolithic CMS. However, over time, this strategy risks making them more vulnerable to market changes and new competitors that are using more nimble technology architectures that deliver what customers want," says Sneum-Madsen.

"Moving to a composable digital experience platform offers a more sustainable route that avoids wasting budget on unused features and allows organisations to select, connect and invest only in technologies that deliver to the business and the bottom line."