Report:

A: This research covers a 26-criterion evaluation of the top content management system (CMS) providers in the market. It evaluates vendors across current offering capabilities (content creation, aggregation, orchestration, delivery, architecture, and community), strategy (vision, innovation, roadmap, partner ecosystem, pricing, and global delivery), and market presence. The report assesses how each provider measures up in helping enterprises orchestrate digital experiences, deliver on no-code and best-of-breed promises, and gain operational efficiencies through evolving generative AI capabilities.

A: Digital experience leaders should use this research to evaluate and select the right CMS provider for their specific needs. The report provides detailed vendor profiles with strengths and weaknesses, best-fit recommendations for different use cases, and a downloadable Excel-based vendor comparison tool that allows clients to customize criteria weightings. Leaders can use this to understand which vendors excel in orchestrating digital experiences, delivering composable architectures, providing low-code/no-code capabilities, and supporting future innovations like edge computing and anticipatory personalization.

A: To be included in this Forrester Wave evaluation, vendors must meet three mandatory requirements: 1) Serve as a primary web content management solution with proven experience delivering to large enterprises in the Forbes Global 1000, demonstrating measurable impact on digital business results; 2) Generate at least $35 million in annual recurring revenue specifically from their web content management product; and 3) Demonstrate significant Forrester client mindshare through repeated client interest expressed in inquiry calls, shortlist reviews, or guidance sessions.

A:

• Annual recurring revenue below the $35 million threshold for CMS products
• Lack of proven experience as primary CMS solution for Forbes Global 1000 enterprises
• Insufficient Forrester client mindshare or evaluation interest
• Focus on non-web content management use cases or adjacent markets
• Declined participation in the evaluation process or provided only partial contribution
• Did not meet the evaluation materials submission deadline of June 21, 2023

A:

• Ability to unlock new business value by orchestrating digital experiences and managing content curation across different visitor types and devices
• Delivery on no-code/low-code and best-of-breed promises through composable architecture with connectors/plug-ins to adjacent applications like DAM and e-commerce platforms
• Operational efficiencies through evolving generative AI capabilities for content creation, while balancing need for copy editing and quality control
• Level of product R&D investment in content orchestration capabilities
• Fidelity of composable features and low-code/no-code UI capabilities, including assessment within vendor roadmaps
• Industry-specific business benefits from AI capabilities to bolster team performance
• Practitioner and developer community strength and support programs
• Global delivery and translation capabilities for multi-geography deployments
• Integration capabilities with existing technology stack and adjacent systems
• Pricing transparency and flexibility aligned with enterprise budget constraints

A:

• Acceleration of digital-first as the de facto consumer choice through the pandemic
• Need for strong collaboration tools as workplaces shift to hybrid work
• Heightened urgency to enhance customer experiences after two consecutive years of CX Index score declines during macroeconomic headwinds
• Businesses investing in new digital business lines in market
• Universal adoption of headless (API-based) experience delivery across all evaluated CMSes
• Integration of generative AI for content creation and operational efficiencies
• Movement toward edge intelligence implementation (40% of global business and tech professionals have moved beyond piloting)
• Evolution toward orchestrating anticipatory digital experiences through intelligent workload distribution
• Deep-learning-based intent recognition, transcription, and object detection models for modular content experiences
• Adoption of composed architectures aligned with MACH principles (microservices-based, API-first, cloud-native SaaS, headless)

A: Current Offering evaluates a vendor's existing product capabilities across content creation, aggregation, orchestration, delivery, architecture, and community support - measuring what the solution can do today. Strategy assesses the vendor's future direction through their vision, innovation capacity, product roadmap, partner relationships, pricing approach, and global reach - measuring where they're headed and how they plan to get there.