I know many of you guys are not a big fan of using a CMS, but when you work in a multi-brand company with a ton of requirements from different departments, things can get really complicated.<p>These guys (https://www.coredna.com/blogs/how-to-choose-a-cms ) suggested using the MoSCoW method. Thoughts?
As others have posted, involving (potential) users and key decision makers - such as sales/marketing, etc. - is ALWAYS a good idea. The key here is that you don't want to pose open-ended questions, because that doesn't help. You need to corral these folks. Asking a sales/marketing person what they think of this platform or that in such a generic fashion, will no doubt lead to general comments such as "oh, it seems to be a user friendly system" (according to or against what measurement?)...or comments like, the "UI and/or buttons seem good", etc. Nope. Instead, what you want is to very concisely drive these stakeholders down a very specific path to extract very specific feedback, in a quantifiable manner from them. You want feedback that is actionable when making your decisions. To be able to think of ways of corralling these folks is a skill; don't be fooled into thinking this is so easy. But you should definitely give it a try. Good luck!
Are the sales and marketing departments using the CMS?<p>Talk to the content managers and people that will be using it every day. Ease of use is key in a CMS. Most enterprise CMS will have functional parity but vastly different UX/UI.
I'm in marketing and do most of my work in a proprietary CMS.<p>1. See if it has to integrate with any software. Find out what marketing really really needs to still have, and what they could switch out if necessary.<p>2. See what they do. What kind of changes they need to make and how often. Find out what sorts of changes cannot wait weeks for an IT ticket.<p>This could narrow it down, and then you can get input from the other departments and iterate toward a decision.<p>Then have them play with it. They'll probably say oh shit, why can't I just do _____.
I've rarely worked on a project where this wasn't mandatory. In fact, marketing frequently owns the budget for our projects and for software licenses. They are easily swayed by savvy sales teams that show off a smoke and mirrors demo so make sure you explain the actual cost involved of customizing a system because it's usually more than the cost of licenses.
At a company I previously worked we tested three different options before settling into one.
Yes it takes longer but everyone involved had hands-on experience and could give real insights based on their usage.<p>In the end, the company is now using several: SugarCRM enterprise, Alfresco, Target Process, Github, etc., based on solving different needs and goals.
That's a pretty good idea, actually. Especially if you're working in a big company. It might take a while to get things off the ground, but selecting a CMS should not be JUST a technical problem; it should be an organizational "problem".
Drupal is opensource and doesn't require a licence. It can also be hosted on premise or in cloud. My org uses a multisite setup of Drupal. <a href="https://www.drupal.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.drupal.com/</a>
See also CMS Critic (<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.cmscritic.com/</a>).<p>That said, <i>everybody</i> seems to move to Wordpress these days. It’s not nearly as diverse as it used to be.
Given that they are ultimately the end-users, you'll want to involve them. Spend some time going through their process. Job shadow them and see what they do. A lot of times, things that they say may not be what they do.
As long as you're only involving the key decision makers, I don't see it being a problem. Might actually help the IT guys in the long-run as they know what to expect from the marketing and sales departments.