A CMS TechSavvy's marketing team can run

TechSavvy Corp. builds software for other companies, but its own website ran on a content management system (CMS) that only developers could use. Every content change went through the IT department and took 3 to 5 days, sometimes weeks. The company moved to a new CMS that its marketing and content teams can run themselves. Content updates now take less than 2 hours, and IT support tickets about website content fell 80%.

The client

TechSavvy Corp. is a mid-sized software development company with 250 employees, founded in 2010. It specializes in cloud computing and mobile applications and does custom software development for clients ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies, with projects in finance, healthcare, ecommerce and education.

Its marketing and content teams have 15 people with backgrounds in digital marketing, content creation and graphic design. As the company added services and clients, the website needed updating more and more often, and those 15 people needed IT's help for even minor changes.

The problem

The CMS dated from the company's early days, and it had become a bottleneck. It had five main problems:

1. Simple content updates required HTML, CSS and JavaScript, which shut out the non-technical staff.
2. Every change, from a product description to a blog post, went through the IT department. That took 3 to 5 days, and sometimes weeks during busy periods.
3. The rigid structure made new page layouts and dynamic content hard to build, so marketing couldn't try different content approaches.
4. There were no built-in SEO tools, which made search best practices hard to apply.
5. There was no analytics integration, so the marketing team couldn't see how visitors behaved or how content performed.

The result was slow updates and a marketing team that couldn't respond quickly to market trends or customer feedback. In a market where speed matters, the company was at a disadvantage because of its own website tooling.

What we built

After reviewing its needs with the TechSavvy team and comparing options, we chose a CMS built for non-technical users that could still scale with a growing tech company. The new system has:

• a drag-and-drop interface for creating and editing content;
• customizable templates and layouts;
• built-in SEO tools;
• user roles and permissions;
• an API for connecting other software;
• an architecture that scales as the company grows;
• analytics and reporting.

We customized the system to match TechSavvy Corp.'s branding, with templates that follow its visual identity and custom content types for presenting its software projects. We connected it to the company's customer relationship management (CRM) system and its marketing automation tools, so the marketing team can manage leads, track customer interactions and personalize content from inside the CMS.

How the work was done

The project ran in five stages.

Choosing the CMS. A team from marketing, IT and management evaluated several options for ease of use, scalability and integrations. After demos and trials, they picked one with a scoring matrix that weighted ease of use, customization, security and long-term cost of ownership.

Customization and integration. We worked with TechSavvy's IT team and the CMS provider to apply the company's branding, build custom templates and content types, and connect the CRM and marketing automation tools.

Training. The company put serious effort into getting people to use the new system. Training included hands-on workshops for the marketing and content teams, user manuals and video tutorials, and one-on-one sessions for anyone who needed more help. Sessions covered finding your way around the CMS, creating and managing content, using the SEO features and using analytics to plan content. Advanced sessions trained the power users who would create templates and administer the system.

Content migration and testing. We wrote a migration plan to move all existing text, images and documents accurately, and used automated scripts where possible to reduce errors and save time. Testing covered every feature, checked that the content had moved correctly, measured performance under different loads, and ended with user acceptance testing by the marketing team. Every issue found was logged and fixed before launch.

Launch and support. The new CMS went live in phases, starting with the company blog and then extending to the whole website, so problems could be caught and fixed early. A support team of our people, TechSavvy's IT staff and the CMS provider handled questions in the first weeks after launch through a help desk system. After that, users had a way to report issues and suggest improvements, and the marketing team had regular check-ins.

Results

Efficiency:

• Content update time went from an average of 3 to 5 days to less than 2 hours.
• Marketing team productivity rose 40%.
• Content could be updated in real time, so the team could respond faster to market trends and customer feedback.

The team's experience:

• 95% of the marketing team reported high satisfaction with the new CMS.
• Time spent training new team members on content management fell 60%.
• Team members collaborated more because sharing and reviewing content was easier.

Growth without IT:

• The team added three major new sections to the website in the first six months without IT help.
• A customer portal was built on top of the CMS.
• The site handled a 30% increase in traffic after a major product launch.

Search and leads:

• Organic search traffic rose 25% within three months of launch.
• Bounce rate fell 15%.
• Leads from the website rose 35%, which the company put down to a content strategy based on data.

IT workload:

• IT support tickets about website content fell 80%.
• The IT team moved 20% of its time to strategic projects, including a new mobile app.

What the company took from it

TechSavvy Corp. pointed to five things. A system non-technical staff can use lets them manage content on their own. A flexible structure lets the site grow with the company. Connecting the CMS to existing systems keeps the workflow in one place. Thorough training and support drive adoption and cut long-term support costs. Regular feedback keeps the system matched to what the team needs.

If your team waits on a developer for every website change, our web development team can help you plan a move to a system your staff can run. Tell us how your site is managed today.