Many content management system providers are moving their offerings to the cloud—or at least providing both hosted and on-demand options—and it seems that the security issues of cloud computing are becoming less and less of an issue for large enterprises. Earlier this week, software provider BMC announced that it would be adopting Clickability’s cloud-based content management platform. Interested in the trend of CM systems migrating to the cloud, enterprise software pundit Phil Wainewright sat down with Clickability CEO Jeff Freund to discuss the general concerns.
They determined the overarching issue to be the need for businesses to employ more dynamic web sites, and sites that provide the same use experience—that is, emanate the core business value—for both the business’s constituents, prospective leads, and customers. Web sites are no longer just platforms for comparison shopping, and with this in mind many content managing systems are widening their reach. Freund stressed that for a site to deliver that core value, it needs to be able to interact with the proprietary company’s CRM and marketing automation platforms. This necessary interaction is part of why CMS on the SaaS model is so handy—cloud-computing provides quicker integration.
In addition to being more cost-efficient than on-site systems, CMS in the cloud gives users quicker deployments in several areas. For instance, given the sheer amount of web content available, and the number of innovations that help people create innovations—and the speed with which these products become available—content management systems need to quickly accommodate this perpetual transformation, and the SaaS model can do this. Freund also notes that the cloud allows user to see their results faster, intimating that Clickability has seen integration times that are from a quarter to a tenth of the time it would take with a traditional on-site platform.
Cloud computing previously had benefits countered by seemingly obvious detriments, but it is interesting to see how it is gaining ground, and who will follow BMC’s footsteps in stepping from behind the firewall.
[Photo courtesy of blackgirlnerds.]