Who’s out there
In this report, we review three ASP-based CMSes and discuss what you can expect if you decide to outsource your content management.
ATOMZ Publish
Atomz is best known for its hosted search service, now used by more than 50,000 Web sites. The company’s CMS, Atomz Publish, reflects an understanding that many customers just want to get a CMS rolling fast—with role-based security and workflow and XML-based separation of content and presentation. Anyone with a working knowledge of HTML can use it to set up a system that non-technical folk can update easily. And—partly because Publish is built on open-source technology—the price is right. Customers typically pay between US$15,000 and US$75,000 per year, depending on the number of users and the number of pages.
Atomz doesn’t include hosting your site in that fee, because the Publish system posts flat pages to your server. This has several advantages: you don’t have to worry about your ASP scaling sufficiently to meet increasing traffic, since it’s up to you to add hardware. And, a static site will be available on your server even if the ASP goes down.
Typically, Atomz customers take existing HTML pages and convert them to templates by inserting special tags around the areas in which changing content will be plugged in dynamically. Simple WYSIWYG layout tools aid in design. The tagging process automatically creates content entry forms that non-technical users employ to post content to the site. Atomz provides a full range of options for administrators as they set up and assign tasks for site editors.
Updating content is simplicity itself. Each site editor has his or her own task list, which is a jumping-off point for using forms to create or edit content. Designers and administrators can navigate what amounts to a mock version of the site, with little icons flagging dynamic areas of the page. Administrators can also easily create pick-lists to add metadata keyword to content. In addition, content can be flagged for cross-posting, so the same text or image appears in multiple templates. Atomz also supports infinite versioning, where you can save and roll back to any number of previous versions of pages.
Recently, Atomz rolled out a major upgrade to Publish’s workflow features. The software can now extend its access rights management to user groups, tasks can be reassigned, and you can add comments to tasks and trace them through various stages of a project. Best of all, the new version adds e-mail notification along with support for parallel approval processes, an invaluable feature when multiple departments are involved.
Clearly, HTML jockeys can use Publish to whip up a template-driven site quickly and easily. You won’t find site traffic reports, personalisation features, or anything sophisticated on the content-delivery side, since the site is hosted on your server. But Atomz Publish is a fine, quick-to-market solution for those already adept at publishing flat pages and whose needs for sites with dynamic interaction are minimal.
Clickability CMware
You’ve probably used Clickability’s Save This, Email This, and Print This utilities without knowing it, since these ASP-based services appear on over 140 Web content sites.
Clickability’s first ASP-based Web publishing solution, dubbed CMWare, is part of an ambitious, modular suite of services called the Intelligent Online Publishing System (I-OPS). I-OPS collects and interprets data about visitor interaction, so you can change the mix of content accordingly. With this degree of interactivity, it’s no surprise that, unlike Atomz or CrownPeak, Clickability hosts your Web site as well as the CMS.
To launch a site, you don’t need all of I-OPS—or even all three components of CMWare. If you like, you can stick with CMWare’s core content management solution, CMPublish, or you can add CMCreate, a content-sourcing and aggregation service that feeds CMPublish—plus CMDistribute, a syndication service for publishing to multiple servers and devices.
Clickability’s CEO John Girard claims ROI on his product is high. “Our pricing is very-aggressive—a complete solution is typically only a small multiple greater than what the publisher is currently paying for bandwidth. This means that our customers can show a positive ROI in less than three months.”
To get rolling, you simply hand over the graphic design to Clickability, and the company does the rest according to your specifications, from creating the templates to building the content-entry forms. (In future versions, the company plans to supply a complete library of templates and self-service tools, but for now Clickability does it all.) CMPublish throws in a generous helping of high-end features, including versioning with rollback, an advanced content search function, dynamic previewing, and fully configurable workflow. You can also have Clickability run staging and production servers in parallel, enabling you to develop a new version of the site using live content—and even push new templates live without taking the site offline.
Unlike Atomz Publish, which lets you click through a mock version of the live site to find editable content, CMPublish opts for a conventional, forms-driven user interface. The basic work area is logically divided into content entry, media placement, destinations and scheduling, and a history of previous versions. The content-entry forms lack WYSIWYG features and hyperlinks must be inserted manually. But the destination screen, which lets you click through an expanding site tree to place content, is pretty slick.
The most unique aspect of Clickability’s publishing solution is IMWare, the other half of the I-OPS package. This bundles together Clickability’s Save This, Email This, and Print This utilities—and reports the number of times visitors use them to rate the value of content, rather than relying on traffic numbers alone. (In a future version due out this year, IMWare will feed this data back into CMWare, which will automatically elevate high-value content in your site’s rotation.) IMWare costs an additional US$350 to US$5000 per month, depending on the features you choose to implement and how much customisation you need.
The completeness of Clickability’s offering—plus the sophisticated feedback mechanisms made possible by a fully hosted solution—make CMWare an appropriate solution for big, elaborate content sites. But the modular nature of I-OPS also lets you start small and add functionality as you need it. The cost starts a bit higher than other services, but solid content management, innovative interactivity features, and the luxury of not having to maintain server hardware make Clickability’s solution worth a serious look.
CrownPeak Advantage CMS
CrownPeak’s Advantage CMS is a sophisticated product that reflects the extensive experience of the company’s management team. In Advantage CMS, you’ll find many features offered by high-end systems, including document versioning, support for multiple languages (including Chinese), slick WYSIWYG content editing, and workflow with e-mail notification. As you read this, the company should be rolling out a development environment to support do-it-yourself template modifications and even custom extensions to the CMS itself.
CrownPeak claims that customers typically spend US$60,000 for the first year. However, CEO Jim Howard told us that he aims to make the pricing in Australian dollars similar to US.
“So if it were US$60,000 we could make it about $60,000 Australian,” he says.
The initial implementation fee includes training, integration (with LDAP directories, for example), and template creation (you provide the design and CrownPeak does the HTML). The remaining first-year cost estimate goes to the subscription, which buys you ongoing CMS support and maintenance. Sounds reasonable, especially considering that Advantage CMS is built on Microsoft technology (Windows 2000, SQL Server, VBScript, IIS, and so on) rather than on open source.
The standout feature of Advantage CMS is its mature DHTML user interface, which makes editing template content a breeze. To update content, you navigate a version of the site that flags editable page areas and even enables users to add annotations. Click through, and Advantage CMS delivers knockout content update features similar to Microsoft Word’s default editing and formatting toolbars, spell checking included. Moreover, unlike most CMSes, you can add links to other pages on your site using pick-lists instead of inserting HREF statements and cutting and pasting URLs.
The administrative features are just as slick. Access to the system is role-based, which administrators can craft from scratch. Users can even play multiple roles, with a table to keep track of who can do what. A different workflow can be assigned to every asset, and a complete version history enables you to roll back to any previous version. Those who place a high priority on integration with other systems will like Advantage CMS’ support for SOAP, XML, and ODBC.
The new developer toolkit for Advantage CMS gives customers access to the templates, which are treated as documents—so ordinary business users can edit them or change their layout using WYSIWYG editing and formatting tools. Among other things, this enables you to work on a site redesign while people are still using the system and push the new design live without affecting content. In addition, a new HTML import feature makes it easy to suck an existing site into Advantage CMS. And more advanced developers will enjoy several amenities, including the ability to create interactive forms and syntax highlighting and checking.
If you want an ASP-based CMS that publishes static pages to your own servers, you’d be hard-pressed to find a solution with more power and usability for everyone from content editors, to template designers, to administrators.
