Should Your Web Content Management System Run In The Cloud?

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Run In The Cloud?

The Answer Should Be “Yes” More Often Than You’ll Admit Today by Ted Schadler

September 11, 2015

Key Takeaways

The Cloud Is Finally Coming To Web Content Management Systems

The cloud is slowly but inevitably coming to the enterprise WCM market because of its significant benefits, including faster deployment, always-current software, better support for mobile devices, and ability to scale to hundreds or thousands of sites.

What Scenarios Are Best Suited To WCM In The Cloud?

Four scenarios cry out for cloud deployments: less customized experiences; dealer or franchisee networks with hundreds of thousands of stores or agents or dealers; multiproduct and multicountry companies with a separate site for each brand and country; and short-lived sites, including microsites and landing pages.

First Ask, “Why Not Use SaaS For WCM?” Despite the slow embrace of SaaS by major WCM vendors, including Adobe and Sitecore, eventually every digital experience will run well in a SaaS model. Forrester believes that AD&D

Why Read This Report

Web content management (WCM) systems are the cornerstone of digital experience platforms. But these tools have been slow to come to the cloud. Both vendors and end-user companies are to blame. WCM vendors worry about the impact of the cloud on their traditional business models and software architectures. Application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals have let customizations and security impede their cloud embrace. But vendors and service providers are growing their cloud WCM businesses. And firms are realizing that faster deployment, always-current software, better support for mobile devices, and the ability to scale to hundreds or thousands of sites make the cloud attractive for more scenarios all the time. AD&D pros should first ask, “Why not use SaaS [software-as-a-service] for WCM?” before considering other cloud options. In this report, we catalog the cloud offerings of 30 WCM vendors to help you choose the right solution for your WCM initiative.

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Notes & Resources

Forrester interviewed 34 vendor and user

companies, includ ing Acquia, Adobe, Automattic, Backbase, Bridgeline Digital, Clickability

(Upland Software), CommerceTools, Contentful, CoreMedia, Crafter Software, CrownPeak, Demandware, DNN Software, e-Spirit, EPiServer, eZ Systems, GX Software, Hippo, HP, IBM, Jahia, Kentico, Liferay, Magnolia, Microsoft, OpenText, Oracle, Percussion, SDL, Sitecore, Telerik, Upland Software, Weebly, and Wix.

The Cloud Is Finally Coming To Web Content Management Systems

WCM systems are the cornerstone of digital experience platforms. Because of its convoluted history of customized web experiences, these tools have been very slow to come to the cloud. Both vendors and companies are to blame. Despite the enthusiastic support for cloud overall from companies, only one in three of 127 software decision-makers Forrester recently surveyed said that running digital experience software in the cloud was a critical or high priority.1

Even so, the cloud is slowly but inevitably coming to the enterprise WCM market because of its significant benefits, including faster deployment, always-current software, better support for mobile devices, and ability to scale to hundreds or thousands of sites.2_{Read our recent report on making} the cloud a foundation of your digital experience platform strategy to learn more.3_{WCM vendors now} recognize they need to step up and deliver cloud software solutions at every entry level (see Figure 1): › All WCM vendors’ products can run infrastructure-as-a-service. In this cloud model, you run

WCM software on cloud infrastructure rather than in your own data center. The benefits of this include faster deployment, dynamic scaling, and protection against denial of service attacks. The downsides are that you still have to buy, implement, upgrade, and operate the software. In this model, enterprises can run their own software on public cloud infrastructure from Amazon Web Services, IBM, Microsoft, Rackspace, or Verizon.

› Most WCM vendors now support digital experience platform-as-a-service. Vendors like Adobe and IBM offer single-tenant applications on cloud infrastructure. They and service providers like Accenture and SapientNitro have invested in automation, dynamic scaling, and subscription pricing. This is the most common cloud model for enterprise digital experience software today. The benefits of this model include rapid deployment, dynamic scaling, outsourcing, and sometimes, subscription purchasing. The downsides typically include higher price, minimal customization, and some loss of control over upgrades.

› Relatively few WCM vendors have digital experience platform SaaS offerings. SaaS is the purest form of cloud delivery in which the software vendor owns, operates, and upgrades the software and infrastructure. The benefits of SaaS include rapid deployment, dynamic scaling, frequent updates, subscription purchasing, and protection from denial of service attacks. Vendors such as Acquia, Crownpeak, DNN Software, and Hippo offer SaaS services today.

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FIGURE 1 Understanding Cloud Deployment Options In Digital Experience Platforms Digital experience platform on infrastructure-as-a-service Digital experience platform-as-a-service Digital experience platform software-as-a-service Time to deploy Months Weeks or months Days or weeks

Dynamic scaling You manage Vendor & you manage Vendor manages

Commercial terms License It depends Subscription

Ability to customize Customizable Some customizing Configured

Ability to integrate Few limits Some limits Many limits

Software responsibility You Vendor Vendor

Upgrade timeline You decide Often quarterly Sometimes daily

Who operates the platform?

Vendor or service provider staff Your staff

The Trouble With On-Premises WCM Solutions Is Time, Hassle, And Rigidity

Firms have lived with on-premises software for 40 years because they had no choice. But it was never easy to buy and deploy software in a corporate data center, even with today’s virtualized infrastructure. On-premises solutions:

› Can take a long time to get up and running. The capital procurement process and software deployment processes can take more than a year to complete. One AD&D professional sighed, “Marketing wants this up in running by next quarter, but I can’t deliver until next year.” This is a dealbreaker for fast-changing digital businesses. Firms can deploy software in the cloud in months, weeks, or even days in some cases.

› Require an army of technicians to install and operate the hardware and software. Firms need technology specialists just to maintain servers, allocate storage, manage bandwidth, plan and administer new instances, install software patches and upgrades, and monitor and continuously address security issues. In one published cost comparison, we found that email, for example, was cheaper to run in the cloud for even very large firms.4_{The same is true for web content management.}

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› Suffer from deployment exhaustion that prevents continuous improvement. On-premises digital experience projects typically suffer from a bipolar attention and investment syndrome. After an intense period of investment and deployment, executive attention and budgets move onto the next important project, leaving the website trapped in software that gathers dust. We often hear from clients that are running 10-year-old software for their most important digital presence. This won’t happen in the cloud because vendors add features all the time.

What Scenarios Are Best Suited To WCM In The Cloud?

These scenarios cry out for cloud deployments (see Figure 2):

› Less-customized experiences. The days of highly customized websites are ending as vendors improve WCM integrations, companies standardize digital delivery and build APIs to their systems of record, and platforms use better software architectures to isolate customizations in components. When modernizing your platform, don’t just lay new tar over old cow paths. Instead, revisit the purpose and value of the experience and use standard, cloud-based functionality wherever possible. › Dealer or franchisee networks. The cloud, and SaaS in particular, is best if you run hundreds of

thousands of stores or agents or dealers. Weebly has landed one of the world’s biggest realtors with its SaaS offering and Acquia, CrownPeak, DNN Software, and Hippo continue to win in this situation. Why? Because a centralized development and branding team can quickly deploy sites for each partner in the network.

› Multiproduct and multicountry companies. If you must deploy a separate site for each brand and country as pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies do, the cloud is your friend. One pharma company uses Acquia SiteFactory and a centralized template and content repository and operating model to quickly spin up hundreds of sites, often 50 or more each month. The SaaS model makes this affordable and straightforward. Imagine having to stand up separate servers and staff for each brand and country. Absurd.

› Microsites, landing pages, and other short-lived sites. When marketers launch a campaign, they need a landing page to capture leads and extend the experience. This kind of informational site with regular links into the customer relationship management (CRM) system is a perfect place for the cloud, and SaaS in particular. Hippo is winning business here, as is Crownpeak.

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FIGURE 2 How Cloud Deployments Improve Common WCM Scenarios

SaaS offerings cut time to deploy and overall cost of operations through better economics and a more turnkey service. For highly customized integration, use PaaS and not SaaS.

Smaller companies or less-customized scenarios

Technology managers can set up standard templates, content assets, and workflows — a site “factory” — that each dealer can then administer on their own. Firms gain control over critical elements while distributing responsibility to business practitioners.

In this scenario, technology managers can standardize content, templates, and permissions while giving control to country and global product teams to create sites for their product and market.

Application development and delivery professionals can set up permissions so marketing practitioners can create, launch, and retire a landing page all by themselves. Proper use of workflows can control the chaos and supports the retirement of sites at end of life.

Dealer or franchisee networks

Multiproduct and multicountry companies

Landing pages and other short-lived sites

Scenario How does SaaS help?

First Ask, “Why Not Use SaaS For WCM?”

Despite the slow embrace of SaaS by major WCM vendors including Adobe, Sitecore, and IBM, most software will eventually run as a service. These vendors have avoided SaaS because it disrupts their business models, software architectures, and partner channels. We explain the vendors’ point of view on SaaS further in the last section of this report.

So while it might take a decade or longer for every digital experience to run well in a SaaS model, it’s only a matter of time before anybody spinning up a new experience will use SaaS. To get into this mindset and begin the journey to cloud benefits, Forrester believes that AD&D professionals should start by eliminating SaaS for the WCM initiatives before considering other deployment options. Only security uncertainty or thorny integration should move you away from the cloud (see Figure 3). Follow this decision process:

› Ask, “Can we find a SaaS solution that meets our security and customization needs?” WCM vendors are rapidly advancing their SaaS solutions. We plan to evaluate these vendors in a forthcoming Forrester Wave™ to help you make the best choice.

› If not, then ask, “Can we deploy our preferred WCM as platform-as-a-service?” Every WCM vendor we track offers this option. Be careful to read the fine print on the offering so you know who is responsible for what: security, software updates, scaling, and so on.

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› If not, then ask, “Can we deploy our preferred software on cloud infrastructure?” This option is always available to you because Amazon Web Services, IBM Softlayer, Microsoft Azure, Rackspace, and dozens of other cloud infrastructure suppliers are ready to host your application. › If not, then deploy on-premises and be prepared for another decade of drudgery. This is the worst outcome for agility and relevance in the age of the customer. Every software bit you deploy on-premises is a bit that will hamper your ability to rapidly deliver what customers will need next.

FIGURE 3 Only Security Uncertainty And Thorny Integration Should Push You Away From The Cloud

Master The Cloud Options Of WCM Vendors

When considering a cloud solution, make sure you know who is responsible for what, where it runs, what you are sharing, what you have control over, and what service levels you can expect. To make smart cloud choices, start by understanding what vendors really offer. To clarify the cloud landscape, we categorize vendor cloud solutions in three layers (see Figure 4).5

IaaS SaaS PaaS Need for security and compliance Need to customize and integrate High Low _High On-premises

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FIGURE 4 The Cloud Deployment Options Of 30 WCM Vendors

EPiServer (Ektron) Digital Experience Cloud

Yes Yes Yes The combined EPiServer and Ektron runs cloud solutions on cloud infrastructure. Its converged “Digital Experience Cloud” runs on Microsoft Azure with some single- and some multi-tenant components.

DNN Evoq Content OnDemand

Yes Yes Yes DNN Software hosts a single-tenant solution on Microsoft Azure. The enterprise edition runs as a PaaS.

Crafter Software

(Crafter CMS) Yes Yes Yes Crafter Software runs in a variety of models, including in amultitenant environment on Amazon Web Services. Acquia SiteFactory No Yes Yes Acquia hosts Drupal and extensions on Amazon Web

Services. Some capabilities are available in the multitenant SaaS version.

Vendor/product IaaS PaaS SaaS Notes

Web content management system running on . . .

Contentful Yes Yes Yes Contentful offers a content management system with APIs for content workflow and delivery running as PaaS or multitenant SaaS on Amazon Web Services.

CrownPeak CMS No Yes Yes CrownPeak hosts a multitenant content repository and content deployment environment on Amazon Web Services.

e-Spirit FirstSpirit CMS Yes Yes No e-Spirit runs its managed service on cloud infrastructure, including Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. Bridgeline Digital

iAPPS Content Manager

No Yes Yes Bridgeline runs its managed service at Internap facilities or optionally on cloud infrastructure, including Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services.

Automattic

(WordPress.com VIP) No Yes Yes Automattic recently raised $160 million to help it expand itsVIP PaaS service and its multitenant SaaS service. Adobe Experience

Manager

Yes Yes No Adobe offers a managed service with the core product running as single-tenant instances with some multitenant components on Amazon Web Services.

CoreMedia CMS Yes Yes No CoreMedia runs primarily on-premises but has customers running in single- and multi-tenant PaaS models on cloud infrastructure, including T-Systems and Amazon Web Services. Backbase Customer

Experience Platform

Yes Yes No Backbase runs its PaaS solution on cloud infrastructure, including Amazon Web Services, Rackspace, and NTT Data

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FIGURE 4 The Cloud Deployment Options Of 30 WCM Vendors (Cont.)

GX Software

XperienCentral Yes Yes No GX Software runs on Amazon Web Services in a single-tenantmodel.

HP TeamSite/LiveSite Yes Yes No HP runs this product in a single-tenant model in the HP cloud; partners run it in other public and private clouds.

Jahia Yes Yes No Partners offer Jahia in a single-tenant model on cloud infrastructure.

Kentico Web Content

Management No Yes No Kentico operates on Microsoft Azure in a single-tenant model. eZ Systems eZ Publish

Platform Yes Yes No eZ Systems runs on Amazon Web Services in a single-tenantmodel. Partners also operate eZ Systems in private and public clouds.

IBM Customer or Employee Experience Suite

Yes Yes No IBM offers this solution as a single-tenant model Paas on IBM SoftLayer.

Microsoft SharePoint Yes Yes Yes Microsoft runs SharePoint in single-tenant and multitenant models in Office365; partners do the same on cloud

infrastructure, including Rackspace and Amazon Web Services.

Oracle WebCenter Sites

Yes Yes

Magnolia CMS Yes Yes Coming Partners run Magnolia in a single-tenant model on cloud infrastructure. Magnolia launched a trial for a SaaS offering in June 2015 on SysEleven, a hosting provider in Germany.

OpenText Web Experience Management

Yes Yes No OpenText and its partners run the product on Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Rackspace in a single-tenant model.

Coming Oracle plans to run this product in PaaS and SaaS models in 2015. Partners operate the product in a PaaS model today. Hippo CMS Yes Yes Yes Hippo CMS runs on Amazon Web Services with some

multitenant components and some single-tenant components.

Liferay Yes Yes No Partners offer Liferay in a single-tenant model on public and private clouds.

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FIGURE 4 The Cloud Deployment Options Of 30 WCM Vendors (Cont.)

Web content management system running on . . .

SDL Web (Tridion) Yes Yes No SDL Web runs as a PaaS on Amazon Web Services. Partners run it on Microsoft Azure.

Telerik Sitefinity Yes Yes Yes Telerik’s core product typically runs in a single-tenant model with components and the Digital Experience Cloud are multitenant.

Weebly No No Yes Weebly recently introduced an enterprise product with editing and administrative functions hosted on Weebly’s cloud infrastructure with sites running there or on partners’ cloud infrastructure.

Percussion CMS Yes Yes Yes Percussion CMS runs on Amazon Web Services and Rackspace.

Sitecore Experience Platform

Yes Yes No Sitecore runs on Microsoft Azure in a single-tenant

environment. Partners also operate Sitecore in a PaaS model.

Upland Software

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What It Means

SaaS: A Vendor’s Point Of View

Application development and delivery professionals will be better buyers and implementers if they understand what motivates vendors to embrace SaaS and what they are afraid of.6_{Here’s how the} WCM vendors view things:

› The subscription model turns their license business model on its head. WCM vendors have built their businesses with software licenses — get paid upfront and hope that customers use the software. This led to a crisis of shelfware in which companies never deployed the functionality they purchased. The cloud destroys this wasted software because companies won’t renew the service if it doesn’t work or if they don’t need it. That’s why it often takes a disrupter like Acquia stealing customers to energize established vendors like Adobe and Sitecore to consider the cloud.

› It’s hard to write multitenant software for the whole WCM stack. Some WCM components are very SaaS-able, while others are not. In particular, content repositories, analytics, content workflow, and testing tools are well suited to multitenancy, while personalization and the customer database aren’t. This makes it hard for vendors to build a full multitenant SaaS offering. Even SaaS vendors like Crownpeak and Hippo mix multitenant and single-tenant software.

› Building a service requires different engineering and operations skills. The tooling to operate a massive software service takes years to build. Vendors need a high level of automation and instrumentation to operate hundreds or thousands of customers’ sites. In email, for example, Microsoft only conquered the cloud when it reorganized engineering into a cloud DevOps team that targeted cloud first and on-premises software second. IBM has done the same with its digital experience suites.

› Existing service provider partners don’t love software-as-a-service. Why? Because they can’t resell (and mark up) the software license and because the service multiplier on SaaS is lower than for on-premises software. It takes less effort to get it up and running. The effect is that while service providers like Accenture, Rackspace, and SapientNitro offer digital experience platform-as-a-service, they are not terribly excited about SaaS. But this will change, just as it did when Salesforce first attracted new cloud integrators before getting the big consultancies on board.

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Supplemental Material

Companies Interviewed For This Report

Acquia Adobe Automattic Backbase Bridgeline Digital

Clickability (Upland Software) CommerceTools Contentful CoreMedia Crafter Software CrownPeak DNN Software e-Spirit EPiServer eZ Systems GX Software Hippo HP IBM Jahia Kentico Liferay

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Microsoft OpenText Oracle Percussion SDL Sitecore Telerik Upland Software Weebly Wix

Endnotes

1_{Source: Forrester’s Q1 2015 Digital Experience Delivery Online Survey.}

2_{Cloud solutions are better for mobile devices in three ways: 1) the cloud vendor is better able to adapt its software}

to the rapidly changing mobile software and device market; 2) the cloud offers faster performance over wireless networks; 3) and increasingly, vendors such as AT&T are building direct Internet backbone links to cloud datacenters from Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure, thus improving performance and security further.

3_{Major digital experience platform vendors like Adobe and SAP hybris have embraced the cloud to deploy and operate}

their software. That’s a good thing. Customers are always demanding more, and marketers and developers need help to meet those escalating needs. The cloud helps with speedy rollout, a low-cost starting point, and an outsourced service model. This report launches Forrester’s deeper investigation into how the cloud will (sometimes disruptively) improve digital experience platforms. See the “Make The Cloud A Foundation Of Your Digital Experience Platform Strategy” Forrester report.

4_{In 2008, we analyzed the costs of running email in the cloud versus in a corporate data center and discovered that even}

firms with 50,000 people save money running email in the cloud. (This even higher number came from the drop in cost of cloud email services.) See the “Should Your Email Live In The Cloud? A Comparative Cost Analysis” Forrester report.

5_{The National Institutes of Standards and Technology has crafted a straightforward and powerful description of cloud}

computing. Source: “Special Publications,” National Institute of Standards and Technology (http://csrc.nist.gov/ publications/PubsSPs.html#800-145).

6_{Software-as-a-service (SaaS) has become the hot trend in the software market, with growth rates in vendor revenues}

that are two to three times faster than the overall software market. As growth languishes for traditional on-premises licensed software, the vendors of these products have begun shifting to SaaS-style products and delivery. See the “Be Wary Of Licensed Software Geeks Bearing SaaS” Forrester report.

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