With the abundance of ROI calculators on the web, one might believe that ROI calculations are as simple as plugging some numbers into a spreadsheet. However, these spreadsheets gloss over the intangible benefits of content technologies, while at the same time providing a false sense of rigor for the so-called “measurable items”. So, what should you do?
How do you know if a web content management system is right for you? This post is the first of a series that discusses just that. Today, I will begin with an overview of the major considerations for ROI and then in subsequent posts, drill down into the details.
ROI considerations fall into four categories. The first two are related to costs, while the second two categories are about gains.
Acquisition
There are a number of fixed costs associated with the acquisition of a new CMS product. Most apparent is the actual licensing fees associated with the product. What is often forgotten is the time and money you spend evaluating different products. Be careful not to forget this cost when determining the potential return of a CMS.
Deployment
Once you have purchased the CMS, you now have to configure and deploy the product. Major costs here are training development staff, development of templates for the CMS, training of content authors, purchase of new hardware and the effort to migrate the existing content and/or produce new content.
Operation and maintenance
Now that your CMS is up and running, you should be able to reap the rewards of increased operational efficiencies. Once the CMS is deployed and ready to go , IT staff should be able to remove themselves from the day-to-day running of the site and hand off content control to the authoring group. Content owners are able to more quickly and frequently update the site.
Web experience
The final category is how does the CMS aid in the overall experience of the end-user and allow your organization to derive more value from site visitors? This is not such a simple answer, but areas to consider may include increase brand consistency and equity, a higher level of user engagement, improved methods for tracking and converting visitors to customer . . . the list goes on and on.
Conclusion
The above is a very simple overview of a very complex topic. In the posts that follow, I will outline each category in more detail give some concrete examples and some guidelines on when to include or exclude them from consideration.