4 Ways to Survive a CMS implementation in Your Higher Education Institution

Most likely if you haven’t already implemented a content management system in your institution you will one day soon. The web is a crucial marketing channel for higher education marketers due to the rising popularity of online enrollment and engagement. With such a large target audience and a high number of content contributors, it is no longer viable or efficient to be running your website with reliance on IT, or highly technical individuals for website updates. As a result, more and more institutions are turning to content management systems as a solution. Implementing a CMS can sometimes be a complicated task, especially in higher education, so we’ve put together a list of our top tips for surviving a CMS implementation.

1. Make sure you understand what your requirements are before you start evaluating vendors. It is important when you are choosing a CMS that you are looking at solutions which have the core functionality that you actually need. Ensuring that you have chosen a CMS that fully meets your needs and can help you reach goals makes for a much easier implementation and training process. Doing a comprehensive analysis of what your organization actually needs, can help choosing your CMS and ultimately implementing it a much simpler process.
2. Don’t get more functionality than you need.  Many CMS solutions are much more complex or too simple for the goals that your organization wants to accomplish. Tools like these are a hassle to implement, and come with an ugly learning curve and often defeat the purpose of trying to make your web content management easier! 
3. Make sure your solution offers training and support. So you think you’ve chosen a vendor, but do they offer training for their solution? You should be choosing a content management system that is easy for non-technical users to pick up quickly and easily, but that doesn’t mean some training isn’t necessary. Choosing a solution that offers training to simplify the implementation process is very useful for a smooth transition, especially in institutions where multiple users across different faculties and with a wide range of web experience will be using the application. 
4. Have a strong website management process in place. One of the best ways to ensure a problem-free implementation is to make sure that you’re not entirely relying on your CMS to solve all of your website problems. If your organization doesn’t have a solid content strategy in place, then a CMS can only do so much to improve your web presence. It’s important that when your CMS is implemented you also have the content development strategy, resources and infrastructure in place to make sure it’s a successful initiative.

Posted by Amberlie Denny at August 30, 2010 8:00 AM

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