Pre-Built and Custom CMS - Which One is Best Applicable for Your Business?

To begin with let’s understand, what is Content Management System (CMS)? A content management system (CMS) is a software program that allows broadcasting and formatting of the digital contents in a consistent and controlled manner. It promotes collaborative publishing, which allows variable levels of access to different content managers. It also make sure that the content is structured consistently, which helps the organization to protect the secret data and present the data which are important to the shareholders.

Choosing a content management system can be complicated if not applied well. Without a clearly defined set of requirements, you will be influenced by those fancy functionality that you will never use. So it is important to define your requirements and need before you are going to opt for the CMS for your organization.

Now there are two types of CMS available; one is pre-built and other is custom. Looking at the above point one should go for custom CMS, because in custom you can define each and every module as per y our wish and requirement whereas on the other hand; pre-built CMS like WordPress, Drupal, Expression Engine, etc. have their pre-defined usages.

Here, we are not trying to prove that pre-built are not worthy enough. If it solves your purpose and justifies your task then you should go for it. No doubt pre-built are inexpensive than the custom ones as the custom one are built from the scratch whereas pre-built are implemented on the organization with minor changes and needs. Nevertheless, both Custom and Pre-Built Content Management Systems (CMS) offer similar kind of benefits to the organization with no realistic kind of limitations, but here; for most of the businesses, budget is the key factor in deciding between the two.

Whether you need an application or not?

First decide whether you are going to have a custom application on your website or not. So, if your websites needs any custom functionalities opting for custom CMS might be a better choice. Whereas in the pre-built one; your developers have to follow the existing protocols and architecture when developing the custom application which will take more time than building something without any limitations.

Who are your users?

Who are going to use it i.e. who will manage the CMS? Here, each CMS will handle users and roles differently. So if you have a multi-tiered organization with a very vivid work flow process, a custom CMS is a better solution. In pre-built CMS, it already has its roles placed for the users, so it is always little confusing to use it.

Better Updates

If you have a pre-built solution, updating them time to time is pretty much required to make it work as per the need and requirement; which is ultimately expensive. Whereas a custom made is made after looking at all the set of requirements and it provide an ultimate solution to the organization means it hardly needs any update until and unless a new set of requirement arises which need to be added on. So if your company deals with something which requires alteration quite often then custom made CMS could be a drawback as it lacks in support and upgrades.

Finally, both have pro and cons, as an organization you have to find out the requirements, if it ask for pre-built ones then you can easily move towards it but if your company needs custom functionalities then opting for custom made CMS might be beneficial. We hope this brief description has helped you to understand the points while choosing the CMS for your business solution.