There are several reasons why organizations invest in their online infrastructure, typically with a CMS as the central piece of software. It is clear that the online channel is getting important as a serious business channel and that dialogue is going digital. The number and business value of digital channels are also increasing every day with web, mobile and applications as some of the most central. With that in mind I believe an investment in digital channels is a strategic decision impacting the entire business.

Not an IT decision

The digital infrastructure needs to be strategic and the business owners need to be involved. If the decision is left for IT only the success is heavily depending on IT to anticipate the business needs. While there are great IT teams out there, I have seen too many failed projects to believe it is fair to leave the IT standing in the rain. If management and the business owners fail to pay the attention I have to question they understand the strategic nature of such a decision.

Dive into the strategy

For a digital strategy to be implemented successfully and a suitable CMS for the strategy to be selected, one has to start with the strategy. Defining the business goals for the organization and how the digital channels are going to contribute to this is key. This is the starting point of a good dialogue between potential client and vendor.

Once the definition of the digital channel contribution is defined the main scenarios can be outlined. A scenario can be things like detailed description of a multi channel publishing process with premium for-pay content to campaign management in a multi branded environment with measurement on the effectiveness of each campaign

Prototype and discuss

Since most of these scenarios involve both complex processes and dialogue between people and systems it is clear that a simple matrix comparison type of selection process will not work. Here the client should outline the few most important scenarios and ask the vendor to build a prototype showing the 3-5 most important scenarios to the client. 

This type of process dives right into what the client wants to achieve and is an excellent way to differentiate the different vendors. The vendors also have a very clear view of what is required by the software and can see if the match is good and if it is a purchasing process worth proceeding in. It also removes much of the time required to fill in large RFP documents that have little value for both the client and vendor.

Cut to the Core

Summarized - I believe that digital needs to be part of the overall business strategy. And when an organization is to select a potential vendor, cut to the core and define the main scenarios and use that as the first selection criteria.