Current Situation
Broadcast-grade CMS with website and mobile app tools sometimes referred to as web content management (WCM) systems allow users to create, edit, and publish digital content such as text, embedded audio and video files, and interactive graphics for websites. For users that do not have coding skills, these systems make the process of uploading and writing content simple by offering theme-oriented templates for unique design. CMS/WCM systems are generally used in collaborative scenarios where multiple team members can monitor and manage web content. To qualify for inclusion in the CMS/WCM category, a product must provide web-based editing and publishing capabilities for text, image, audio, and video files; offer templates for content creation; and allow collaboration and approval for content creation.
Goals and Objectives
Modern cloud-based “headless” CMS systems provide advanced feature sets:
Automation and optimizing of content editing/creation via AI
Workflows and content authoring – strict organization of workflows and content authoring tools to insure governance and accountability
Integrations, roles, and users/collaboration
Ease of implementation and scalability
Security – Headless CMSs are known to lower the risks of a DDoS attack and any other types of attacks in providing content that is through a read-only API or content separation.
On-premises vs. SaaS hosted – A CMS hosted in the cloud as SaaS, such as through Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure, ensures that you are offered the optimum security, performance, and availability of any updates that come your way.
Marketing/SEO-fit – make sure to investigate an API-first CMS that allows you to A/B test with your audience, optimize your content and images, and provide SEO support to rank on Google search results accordingly.
Extensibility – A headless CMS’s only job is not to just present the front-end presentation layer, but also to allow extensibility throughout the backend via API to support external and internal applications that can help drive your digital experience and content strategy.
White Labeling – Ensure that your CMS allows you to white label to use and overwrite with your own domain, styles, and configurations.
Automation into API
Service Level Agreements (SLA) that offer a yearly uptime percentage of at least 99.9%
Locked-in/flexibility – CMSs can be prone to developer lock-ins and thus, reduces the autonomy of your marketing team and bottleneck scalability. A headless CMS allows you to give the right tools for autonomy.
Scalability into mobile apps, IoT, AR and VR, wearables, etc.
Omnichannel – Customers are looking for storytelling and brand experiences that move with them seamlessly across different platforms and devices.
Localization
Digital Experiences (DXP) – A headless CMS provides an optimal customer experience.
Personalization
Technology Deployed
Headless CMS technology and architecture.
Cloud-based SaaS hosting with major service providers such as Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, IBM, Oracle and others.
Integrated OVP, Video Player and Mobile Apps
Social, interactive, polling, gaming and data services platform integration and publishing
eCommerce platform integration and/or module
Use Case Summary
The three best use cases for headless CMS are
1. Improving the digital experience on existing web applications and mobile apps
With many organizations operating many legacy web applications and mobile apps, headless CMS solutions allow them to offer a more modern UX/UI experience without the costly need to replace legacy applications.
2. Reaching customers on emerging touchpoints
As IoT platforms expand in adoption and maturity, organizations need a CMS or ecommerce platform that can deliver content to, or processing orders from these channels. A headless CMS or ecommerce application can do both. A headless platform will be able to integrate to the underlying framework used by smart devices (e.g., Google Home, Alexa) to deliver experiences.
3. Ground-up builds for digitally native startups
Digital is transforming every industry, virtually. As you may have guessed, they’re using headless to do it. Therefore digitally native start-ups are building consumer apps using dozens or even hundreds of headless microservice applications that plug into a single company-built presentation tier.
This cross-functional front-end code creates continuity in the user experience and theoretically makes organizations faster in delivering on their mission while also making organizations more responsive to changing customer expectations.