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Real Story Group Finds Web CMS Marketplace Is Diverging

Products and Platforms Present Different Risks for Content Management Technology Customers

Boston, MA / Washington, D.C. / The Hague, NL / Delhi, IN – 19 January, 2011 – The Web Content Management (CMS) marketplace is dividing into two distinct segments – Platforms and Products – which present different risks and opportunities for customers, according to new research released today by independent analyst firm Real Story Group (formerly CMS Watch). 

Platform-oriented CMS tools require more development time and resources, but yield more power.  Product-oriented offerings can be launched more quickly, but lack long-term flexibility.

Platform-oriented WCM Vendors

Platform-oriented CMS vendors are engaged in an escalating “features arms race” to adopt more new media functionality and maintain higher price points against substantial pressure from increasingly impressive product-oriented WCM vendors (see next section).

“There are some key exceptions here,” notes Real Story Group founder Tony Byrne. “The largest ‘enterprise’ vendors continue to be distracted by broader Document & Records Management ambitions and their CMS tools tend to exhibit slow innovation and update cycles.”

Real Story Group
            2011 Web CMS Platform Analysis
Download: Larger JPG | TIF

Real Story Group’s “Web Content Management 2011 Cross-Check™” charts represent four key dimensions -- Size, Focus, Vendor Evolution, and Product Development -- that supplement functional and cost/value analyses in any major procurement decision.

Product-oriented WCM Vendors

The major themes for product-oriented vendors are profusion and steady progress. Most of these vendors are doing well in the marketplace, which contributes to the highly fragmented nature of this space. 

“With respect to risk, these tools tend to be less turbulent in terms of product updates,” says Real Story Group Analyst Apoorv Durga.  “Customers are more likely to face institutional/vendor risk here, given that these are mostly smaller companies or open source projects undergoing transition.”

Real Story Group
            2011 Web CMS Product Analysis
Download: Larger JPG | TIF

In the end, each buying organization must balance its appetite for change and risk against a vendor’s orientation.  “What represents a high risk to one customer may represent a chance for innovation and a competitive advantage to another,” notes Real Story Group Analyst, Adriaan Bloem.  “Alternatively, what represents a staid and slow-moving product set to one customer may represent stability and low risk to another.”

Real Story Group customers can download complete, vendor-by-vendor analysis in a new Advisory Paper, "2011 Web Content Management Market Analysis."

For more about Real Story Group's vendor evaluations, consult www.realstorygroup.com.

 

About

Real Story Group is a uniquely “buy side” analyst firm, working solely for MarTech platform buyers and never for vendors.

RSG provides research and advisory services to help customers optimize their MarTech stacks. RSG evaluates Web Content & Experience Management, Digital Asset Management, Customer Data Platforms, AI for Marketing, Omnichannel Content Platforms, Journey Orchestration Engines, Email and Marketing Automation, Marketing Attribution, Ecommerce, and Personalization Platforms.