I’ve seen this time and time again: big corporations making the automatic assumption that because they are large, they must purchase a similarly large and expensive content management system.

This is not the case.

In many cases, even large organisations have pretty simple web content management needs. Conversely, some small organisations have tremendously complex and expensive CMS needs.

When considering the purchase of a CMS, focus on the complexity of your site, in terms of user interaction, integration with other business systems, etc. Also explore the complexity of the back-end needs for the CMS. These two factors will then determine the type of CMS that you purchase.

Factors that aren’t generally an issue:

• size of the organisation
• number of sites
• size of the site(s)
• number of authors

Start by defining your business requirements for the content management system. Then assess the marketplace as a whole (not just the larger vendors) to identify potentially-suitable options.

Taking this approach may lead to the purchase of a smaller CMS, thereby saving your organisation tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you do end up spending a lot on the CMS solution, at least you will have confidence that it’s money well spent.