New research from Hygraph, the next-generation headless Content Management System (CMS), reveals that a significant 84% of organisations believe their existing CMS is inhibiting their capacity to extract full value from their content and data. The startling findings indicated that organisations are only exploiting a third (35%) of their data effectively. The revelation is shared in Hygraph's 'Future of Content' report released on Wednesday, 14th February.
The comprehensive report featured insights from a survey of 400 professionals worldwide and unveiled significant issues around the use and integration of data. A vast majority (nearly 92%) of organisations believe that their content and data sources are currently fragmented or "siloed". This situation effectively makes the integration of sources laborious and costly. A further 88% pinpoint the creation of custom software as a bottleneck to innovation.
Hygraph's study also identifies several challenges that significantly stifle revenue opportunities for businesses. These challenges include skill gap issues, the complexity of integrating new data, and general integration problems. Over three-quarters (approximately 77%) of participants were of the opinion that these challenges are restricting revenue opportunities. In the absence of appropriate technologies, 76% revealed that they were unable to engage more content creators.
The report goes further to highlight the dilemmas businesses confront in dispensing digital experiences for users due to their existing CMS. As the CMS has significant flaws, 38% of the organisations described their content and data sources as "very siloed". Approximately 77% highlighted that they must build and manage custom software to link various content and sources with their existing CMS.
Michael Lukaszczyk, Co-Founder and CEO at Hygraph, commented on the issue, saying, "Many existing content management systems are struggling to deliver the modern, seamless, digital experiences that users and customers demand. Without a future-proof CMS, organisations risk amassing significant technical debt maintaining a patchwork of integrations. This will slow down digital innovation at a time when it should be accelerating."
The report further identifies the top five challenges linked to existing CMS according to the surveyed professionals. These include restricted access to system changes, difficulty in adding new types of data and content, CMS integration problems, limited ability to work with various content types, and inability to expose multiple data sources and make real-time updates without duplication.
These challenges are impacting businesses with just a third (34%) of respondents believing their organisation's CMS is effective at underpinning new digital services. 77% assert that the complexity of utilising existing data and content within their digital services restricts their revenue opportunities, while another 76% affirm tech constraints bar them from empowering more content creators within their organisation.
Lukaszczyk further adds, "To compete in the content economy, organisations need to unlock value from content without bottlenecks or migration and duplication issues. Content federation leverages all data sources across business infrastructure, and delivers it exactly where needed. As well as supporting content-rich applications, this approach alongside a headless CMS can accelerate innovation and revenue opportunities."
