Why Content Management Systems are like Model Airplane Kits

Understand that buying/building a CMS is very different than most product purchases. It’s more like buying a model airplane kit than it is a finished product. With a model kit, you most certainly are going to paint it yourself. You’ll add the authentic plane markings and insignias yourself. The kit has all the parts you need, but you still need to put it together. There are all kinds of kits, some easy to assemble, some requiring a lot more skill, some just for show, some actually functional with radio controlled engines that you can take out to the parking lot and fly around.

Commercial CMS’s come with nice white papers and reassuring text on the website, and, most dangerously, salespeople paid on commission and so will promise that “of course our product can do so-and-so”. The problem is that the slick presentation and sales job may fool you into thinking that you are buying a product–but you will probably be getting a kit.

Content management vendors understand that people want products, or “solutions”, and not kits. So they sell it that way. ( So do the model kits makers. There’s always a nice photo of the plane on the box, but when you open it, it’s just a tray of grey plastic.) But at the same time, customers ask them for customization options. So the CMS vendor has to make a product that is configurable, skinnable, and flexible. Some of them achieve that, some of them don’t. The more customers ask for features though, the harder it is to make it all work together. That’s why there is usually a “professional services” offering as well.

You may already understand this. But if you are new to content management, it is worth saying: expect the time/cost to customize and integrate to be a significant part of the work. Choosing a CMS product is just the beginning.