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The State of Content Management 2022: How Companies Around the World Are Using Their CMSs

Marketing
Gillian Mays

Digital web presence is more important now than ever. As companies worldwide look for new ways to innovate, grow, and boost efficiency, the technology they’re using to do so really counts. However, the constantly changing nature of this landscape can make it hard to keep up.

To learn more about how companies are using their CMSs, we conducted a study: The State of Content Management 2022. We polled 515 respondents across a wide variety of industries and positions. With this data, we searched for an answer to questions such as:

  • What systems are people using?
  • Why are they choosing the technologies that they do?
  • How are these decisions impacting their organizations?

Let’s take a look at a few key findings from our report to provide some clarity on these topics.

Section titled Nearly half of respondents use 2 or 3 separate systems to manage their content Nearly half of respondents use 2 or 3 separate systems to manage their content

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Many companies use more than one CMS to manage their content.

38.25% of respondents reported using just 1 CMS. However, 47.96% said they use 2-3 CMSs, while 13.79% use 4 or more. That puts people using a single CMS for all their needs in the minority. The most popular reason for using more than one CMS was to minimize delivery risk, followed closely by needing a new tech stack.

Both concerns point to these individuals doubting that a single system could offer the security or advanced technology that they require. Despite the significant disadvantages of using multiple content silos and the complexity that comes naturally to juggling multiple tools, organizations seem to be willing to accept these downsides in order to meet their basic CMS needs.

Section titled The top pain points and/or missing features that encouraged migration to other platforms were time-consuming processes, difficulty in learning technology, and security issues The top pain points and/or missing features that encouraged migration to other platforms were time-consuming processes, difficulty in learning technology, and security issues

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Traditional CMSs come with certain disadvantages.

It’s hard to overstate the value of a user-friendly platform that lets you do what you need to when you need to. The fact that 35.5% of people cited it as a top pain point of the sample demonstrates this. It’s understandable – after all, a slow system can make it hard to do even the simplest actions, let alone run a complex site.

Moreover, 19.8% also cited that the difficulty in needing to learn new technology was a major pain point. This goes to the same root of the above problem: getting to know a new system can take valuable time away from other aspects of running a business. All this can add up to missed business opportunities and frustrated backend users.

Finally, security issues were also a big concern, with 21.6% of users citing it as a missing feature or pain point that could encourage them to use a new CMS. Security has proven to be a high priority for businesses. The fact that some traditional systems can’t meet safety expectations means that they’re more likely now than ever to lose customers.

Section titled 82.91% saw improvements in time management, budget, productivity, meeting KPIs, and revenue growth after switching to a headless CMS 82.91% saw improvements in time management, budget, productivity, meeting KPIs, and revenue growth after switching to a headless CMS

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Using a headless CMS can help improve your approach.

One of the most impressive findings in our State of CMS report was how revolutionary headless CMSs were for organizations. 82.91% reported improvements across a huge variety of performance metrics after they made the switch to a headless system. This is a clear indication that those who frequently work with CMSs overwhelmingly find headless to be a better overall experience.

Despite these proven benefits, 50.21% of the same sample report that they still use a monolithic CMS. Thus, there is a large portion of respondents who are missing out on the advantages of a headless CMS for their teams, their clients, and their budgets.

Section titled Ready to learn more about the state of content management? Ready to learn more about the state of content management?

These results are only the beginning. To learn more about what our study uncovered, download the State of Content Management 2022 report today!