The CMS evaluation criteria and process is extensive and ongoing. Many companies provide a feature matrix to allow a pseudo comparison but the reality is for something to be called a CMS in our book it must have a specific feature set or we don't even look at it. What is important to us is the PEOPLE behind the product and the user manuals, the training courses and the support and upgrade performance. We always ask "how many releases have you had in the last year?". This tells us a lot about commitment to continual improvement and whether their focus is on the product or its sales.

Buying a CMS is akin to investing in a company. Despite what you are told it is NOT EASY to change your CMS. The more people using the product, the more viable the company, the more confident you can be. For this reason we have no problem recommending our clients take maintenance contracts for our CMS applications, in fact we recommend it. By paying a percentage of the original license fee you will receive updates for the product. This provides CMS companies an ongoing revenue stream that funds their research and development and improvements in your CMS. It is easy to see a business model in this scenario that works, and that goes for the customers and the CMS vendor. Do not EVER buy a CMS on price alone. A cheap CMS will almost always blow the budget. N4B has CMS products that cover the technology and budget range. First let's talk about your functional requirements, and then let's talk about budget.

If your web designer or Systems Integrator says "We have our own CMS!" then smile and ask the following questions;

    1    Can I see the user manuals?
    2    When is your next training course for programmers?
    3    Do other developers use the 'product'?

Even one 'No' should be enough to rule them out conclusively. Do not buy a CMS that is not a 'product'.