Negosentro.com | How to Choose a CMS for Your Business | To aid with the running of any enterprise, the right software is required. Typically, this equates to a content management system (CMS) that generally handles a range of data including customer details, inventory, purchases, etc. Since this technology has been around for a while though, there is a wide selection available on the market. How can you find the best of the best then? If you spot a CMS with any of the following qualities, chances are you are onto a good thing for your business.
Flexible PIM Features
A successful business needs a range of quality products to sell to their target audience. It also needs to track each item, which can be difficult without a proper digital database. The best CMS platforms will incorporate a number of product information management (PIM) features including:
- Comprehensive data searching
- Handling of marketing & publishing
- Full product performance analysis
- Simple data governance & inheritance
These PIM systems will incorporate all product details from multiple sources, putting them in a centralised location for greater ease-of-access. This will avoid repetition and wasted man-hours. The platform will also allow you to edit, manage and share your product information across a range of systems and channels. This applies even if you are purchasing your wholesale goods from a number of dealers all with their own individual styles, formats and preferences.
Full ERP Integration
Another key segment of your business activities will be enterprise resource planning (ERP). A top-of-the-line CMS will give you the ability to integrate with any ERP systems you have running, allowing you to handle a range of important matters through the one system. These include:
- Product planning
- Service delivery
- Manufacturing costs
- Marketing strategies
- Inventory management
- Payments & transactions
A well-built CMS will enable you to continue using your current systems by simply installing them on your computers and integrating them with the programs you are currently using. In this way, there is no complete system overhaul during setup. There also won’t be a steep staff learning curve while you train everyone on how to use a range of new business software. The right CMS will solve all of these issues while still providing you with complete ERP capabilities.
Made for Growing Businesses
You will also have to ensure that the CMS you choose will be able to grow with your company. Always double check how many users and products the program can safely handle without any slow-down, crashes or other similar tech issues. The top CMS platforms will be able to cope with hundreds of individual users. They will also be able to deal with catalogues featuring millions of different products.
By making the right choice here, you can expand your product line and hire new employees without worrying about your current CMS becoming obsolete. After all, you don’t want to have to switch to a new program just when your business starts becoming successful. It’s easier to choose software which can adapt to your growing business needs – and the best will be able to do this with ease.
User-friendly DAM Interface
Another essential area in which these platforms will need to excel is digital asset management (DAM). Over time, the number of documents, images, videos, etc. that your business collects and creates will grow. A top level DAM system will help manage all of these, allowing you to:
- Switch between different asset versions
- Conduct complex searches with ease
- Convert between different format types
- Manage access and permissions
- Create web portals for asset uploads
By offering all of these abilities, this DAM solution will allow you to manage your important digital assets without wasting any time or resources. Everything will be accessible through your chosen software with staff being able to search, manipulate, and share pictures, presentations, and much more with a few clicks of the mouse. You also won’t accidentally lose any important company information either.
Instant Online Updates
As a growing business, you will be constantly on the lookout for new channels through which to sell your products and services. If something changes though, for example you modify your inventory data or your contact details, manually updating all of these different channels can take time that you simply don’t have.
With a first-class CMS at your back, updates will be instantly sent off to all online stores and retailers where your product is being sold. You simply need to alter the information within the system and then these changes will be completed automatically in all web-based channels. Multi-channel marketing software like Matrix CMS takes a lot of the hard work out of publishing your new information across the internet. It will save you time and money, while ensuring everything remains up-to-date around the clock.
Compatible with All Systems
One last feature you should look for in a CMS is that it can be used with PCs and Apple computers. If it is compatible with mobile devices such as iPhones, iPads, Androids and Windows phones, this is even better. Since your employees may be using their own devices, you really can’t control which brands they use. Thus, it’s important to choose a CMS which works well across a range of platforms.
The right choice will help you avoid difficult setup procedures where you try and connect different devices or software to the one network. By installing the same CMS program on all computers, tablets and mobiles, everything will link together without much headache. This means you can then quickly benefit from these systems without the need to wrestle with them in the setup phase.
Of course, these are only a few aspects which you will need to consider for your business. This should give you an excellent overview of how to go shopping for CMS software and make a smarter choice. With the right platform installed on your corporate computers, you will find that tracking, recording, and updating important details such as recent purchases, customer trends and levels of stock can be done quickly, accurately and efficiently without much effort at all.
