Organisations only using a third of their data and content sources effectively

New research from Hygraph, the next-generation headless Content Management System (CMS) with content federation, has found 84% of organisations believe their existing CMS is preventing them from unlocking full value from their data and content. Consequently, they think only a third (35%) of their current data and content sources are being used effectively.

Hygraph’s ‘Future of Content’ report uncovers the CMS challenges businesses face in delivering digital experiences for users. The report details the findings of a global survey of 400 professionals in product and engineering roles across the U.S., UK, and Germany.

The majority (92%) of organisations say their content and data sources are currently siloed, with 38% describing it as “very siloed”. This means the work required to integrate all these sources is both time-consuming and expensive. More than three-quarters (77%) say they need to build and manage custom software to link various content and sources with their existing CMS. Almost nine-in-ten (88%) respondents say building custom software is an innovation bottleneck.

“Many existing content management systems are struggling to deliver the modern, seamless, digital experiences that users and customers demand,” comments Michael Lukaszczyk, Co-Founder and CEO at Hygraph. “Without a future-proof CMS, organisations risk amassing significant technical debt maintaining a patchwork of integrations. This will slow down digital innovation at a time when it should be accelerating,”

CMS challenges are restricting revenue opportunities

According to the respondents surveyed, the top five challenges they face with existing CMS’ are:

Changes can only be made by a small number of people with the right skills (46%)

It is difficult to add new types of data and content to their products and services (40%)

Integrating their CMS with other systems (36%)

It only works with a limited number of content types (34%)

They cannot expose multiple data sources and make real-time updates without creating copies (28%)

The impact of these CMS challenges can be significant for businesses. Just a third (34%) of respondents say their organisation’s CMS is very effective at underpinning new digital services. Over three-quarters (77%) state the difficulty of exposing and using existing data and content in their digital services restricts their revenue opportunities. A further 76% say technology constraints are preventing them from empowering more content creators within their organisation.

“To compete in the content economy, organisations need to unlock value from content without bottlenecks or migration and duplication issues. Content federation leverages all data sources across business infrastructure, and delivers it exactly where needed. As well as supporting content-rich applications, this approach alongside a headless CMS can accelerate innovation and revenue opportunities,” says Lukaszczyk.