Looking at the WCM landscape, the market has changed dramatically. From not so open to pre-dominantly open source software, WCMs have come a long way. The fundamentals of WCM haven’t changed. Infact over a period of time some of them have gone on to become more prominent. These systems are now more focused on differentiating themselves to deliver a customized digital experience to their customers through multiple channels such as mobile, web etc. Today this has become even more critical for marketers where access to smart and cheap technology is blurring the digital gap.

Today cloud computing is significantly impacting how Web Content Management systems are perceived and consumed by marketers. Not too long ago, cloud was a mythical concept which was used thinly by larger enterprises with a very distinct role. Designing and deploying a cloud-based solution was complex and CIOs were skeptical of exposing their critical data on cloud. Owing to disruptive changes coupled with greater emphasis on cost savings led to emergence of cloud.

As a matter of fact, cloud has come to the fore as a key differentiator. Driving customer experience or digital experience (DX), the more popular jargon, has dictated terms and challenged the conventional business practices. Marketers and digital practitioners are focusing more on delivering and managing engagement levels across digital channels.

To deliver highly personal experience to your customers is key to achieving success in today’s hyper competitive world; which is inundated with solutions which are similar in nature. Modern day Content Management Systems must deliver this capability effectively or fear the risk of losing relevance.

Of the models of cloud computing, PaaS has started to make significant headway and is poised to take WCM by storm. It helps enterprises by removing the need to build or extend infrastructure to complete a new initiative. Instead it offers ready architecture which is customizable for businesses as per their requirements. By automating processes, right from deployment to configuration, marketers are able to improve the pace of delivering digital experience to their customers.

But the true benefit of PaaS model is -it enables the enterprise to move quickly. In today’s competitive market it is important that organizations are prepared to adapt new ways to communicate with customers and new content channels. Moreover, it allows the content marketers to maximize the opportunities along with mitigating the risks. It enables them to focus more on delivering the results keeping the customer journey in mind rather than worrying about back-end operations. This accelerates the backend integration process and allows running repeated content on the front and manage things with minimum customization on the backend, along with offering ample opportunities to augment content structure and content authoring.

PaaS model allows the WCM system users to import and store information which makes it easy for them to search, access and repurpose it later. It offers a platform to customize workflows and campaigns for development of web content. And because cloud computing is such a large sphere and due to its API utilization approach to build components, organizations can easily integrate their systems with other third-party technologies. And implement and customize it as per specific needs.

So, what’s in store for marketers in 2017 and beyond? The future of WCM belongs to vendors who are quick and open for innovation at every juncture. A platform for digital business, a platform for innovation, a platform on cloud is what vendors should strive for. There are many in the present day offering PaaS based WCMs and a lot more trying to catch up but the ones with focus on enabling Digital Transformation will truly flourish. Their ability to put customer first across all interactions and experiences is where the winning and losing will be decided. Interesting playing field for marketers in the horizon, where no matter what happens, they are going to emerge as ultimate victors.