What Next for Web CMS Vendors?

by Kasman Thomas
09-Oct-2008

In research for the Web CMS Report 2009, just released today, I’ve undertaken vendor briefings, customer de-briefings, product demos, and miscellaneous discussions with key personnel (including some senior VPs) from more than a dozen Web CMS vendors, ranging in size from tiny 20-person boutiques to billion-dollar behemoths. It’s interesting to compare where the various companies are now to where they were six months or a year ago. Not just the companies themselves, but their products, customers, partners — the whole CMS ecosphere.

A few vendors have managed to break free from the pack, establishing footholds in new markets based on some combination of product features and marketing strategy that happens to hit a sweet spot. But for many, the sweet spot remains elusive. The rush to add social micro-applications and AJAX-driven interfaces has, for many, has siphoned off R&D cycles without yielding the kind of differentiation that can take a plain-vanilla offering to the next level. For other vendors, there have been no product releases or upgrades at all this year — which in this market is like taking a step backwards. And yet, nearly all the tools keep selling.

Continues at CMS Watch