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A Guide to
Web Content
Management
for Multichannel
Delivery
I
n the good old days, web content management
(WCM) technology primarily served to deliver
content to a website—hence the name. At best,
“multichannel” referred to the ability to deliver
content to more than one type of website (e.g., an
intranet and a public-facing website) or, the ability
to repurpose experiences using a simplified template
to make it palatable on mobile devices. Multichannel
means a lot more now.
Of course, things have changed drastically. In a mul-
tichannel world, you have to address mobile devices of
varying sizes and capabilities, as well as consider watch-
es, bands, glasses, and interfaces still to come—not to
mention a plethora of distribution arteries. You’ll find
variability within each category too. For example, some
of the capabilities that may impact the type of content
that can be delivered are whether or not the device is
touchscreen or keyboard-based or has GPS capabilities.
DO YOU STILL NEED WCM?
So if your digital engagement happens through all
these devices and not just a website, do you still need
30 E C O N T E N T M A G . C O M
APOORV DURGA
WCM? Based on what clients tell Real Story Group, the
answer is a big “Yes.” Your WCM system will still be the
place where your editors and marketers craft content and
experiences for people in mobile environments. In fact,
if you are publishing content to a website and sending
some snippets to, say, a watch, you could consider WCM
as a single repository instead of duplicating your content
for each target environment.
Also, recognize that for targeting such multichannel
use cases, you will almost certainly need more than a
WCM platform. You’ll likely need specialized mobile
delivery tools with capabilities such as mobile middle-
ware, notifications, and device adaptation in order to be
able to service those devices. You will probably want to
use these mobile middleware tools in conjunction with
your WCM platform, which will serve as a digital content
repository.
WHAT SHOULD YOU LOOK
FOR IN A WCM PLATFORM?
You will need to assess the preparedness of your
WCM systems to deliver via the mobile channel and

evaluate an adaptation to both platform and process.
Most WCM vendors will tell you that they support mul-
tichannel delivery. However, similar to all other features,
what you think a platform can do and what it actually
does can be two very different things.
The extent to which content-technology vendors sup-
port multichannel delivery varies substantially in both
form and depth. You need to be cognizant of several key
issues when selecting a product and creating a site for
delivering content to non-PC-based devices.
The extent to which content
technology vendors support
multichannel delivery varies
substantially in both form
and depth.
When considering using a WCM system to deliver
information in a multichannel scenario (via middle-
ware tools or otherwise), two very important aspects
emerge:
1. The capability to create, store, and manage content
in a device-agnostic way—You should be able to create
content without regard to the target device types. This
means that the WCM system should support a strong
separation of content from presentation so you can adapt
content at the time of presentation. In addition, the WCM
system should have an above-average API for remote
access to WCM content and services. It should also al-
low you to integrate with the middleware tools of your
choice.
2. The WCM system should be aware of the capabili-
ties and limitations of specific wearable devices—Your
WCM system should be able to take appropriate steps to
mitigate limitations and take advantage of device-specific
capabilities. An obvious example of this would be the
screen size of the wearable or the availability of specific
sensors on those devices.
At first glance, these two requirements seem contra-
dictory. The first one says the WCM system should be
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device-agnostic; the second one says it should be aware
of device capabilities. However, both of these are neces-
sary if you want your WCM system to deliver content
in a truly multichannel fashion.
Aside from what’s been previously mentioned, you’ll
want to look closely at a key set of capabilities in any
WCM tool. At the very minimum, you should look for
the following:
• The ability to publish in a decoupled mode. You may
need to push raw content out to mobile devices and
not HTML streams.
• Availability of APIs that can easily publish to external
applications, including native and hybrid apps
• The ability to preview content on mobile devices. Con-
tent creators should be able to preview content as it
would appear on mobile devices. And this preview
should not be limited to two or three broad, generic
categories (e.g., phone or tablet); there should be facil-
ity to preview across a wide range of specific devices
and, potentially, apps too.
•S
 pecial workflows targeted at mobile delivery
• The ability to decompose and target content and expe-
riences for different devices without duplicating effort
• The ability to adapt content, digital assets (audio and
video), presentation, and other aspects based on the
capabilities and limitations of target devices
WCM tools can be used in conjunction with other
specialist tools for managing content and delivering it
to different channels, including non-PC devices such as
wearables and mobile phones. In fact, most vendors will
tell you they support mobile devices. You should care-
fully vet those claims and, in particular, look for at least
the features mentioned in this article.
APOORV DURGA IS AN ANALYST AT REAL STORY GROUP. HE COVERS SEARCH,
WEB CONTENT AND EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENT, PORTALS, DIGITAL MARKETING,
SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING, MOBILE, AND SHAREPOINT. COMMENTS? EMAIL
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR TO ECLETTERS@INFOTODAY.COM.
N o v e m b e r 2015 EC o n t e n t 31
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