The document discusses the importance of cultural fit in selecting a content management system (CMS) beyond just technology fit. It outlines various elements to consider including agency relationships, web team competencies, and future ambitions, along with an analysis framework for evaluating current CMS situations. The author emphasizes that finding a perfect cultural fit is rare and managing expectations is crucial for successful CMS adoption.

1. Avoiding a CMS
misfit - going beyond
technology fit and looking at
cultural fit
Perttu Tolvanen, Web & CMS Expert, @perttutolvanen
1
North Patrol Oy 2014 / 2014-02-04 / CMS Expert Group / Copenhagen

2. -
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Advisor for large web projects
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© 2014 North Patrol Oy
-
Vendor-neutral CMS consultants
Helsinki-based, but most clients
operate in Northern Europe /
Scandinavia / Russia
CMS selections and partner
selections for large projects
Founded 2012, growing

3. Agenda
Requirements &
technology fit
we know – what
else needs to
considered?
3
North Patrol Oy 2014
Cultural fit as an
idea and as
approach to
selecting
products that
live “with you”
Elements of
cultural fit, eg.
community fit,
partner fit, roadmap
fit, ecosystem fit …

4. Elements of CMS selection
-
1) Concept
requirements &
technology fit
2) Cultural fit
getting along the
following five years
getting along the first
year or so
3) The random
stuff: politics,
existing
partnerships,
who likes who,
the money
North Patrol Oy 2014
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Background for this model is in
”current situation analysis”
projects where clients have asked
North Patrol to evaluate the
current state of CMS and give
recommendation of development
efforts (eg. continue with the old
or buy something new)
Typically this model is used to
give structure to interviews of key
stakeholders, editors, web team
members, marketing people…
Sometimes the client has already
done concept designing,
sometimes they are just
beginning…

5. Overview of cultural fit
The
Client
• Current state analysis as a starting point:
– How does the client operate their Websites
currently? How many people, what roles and
competences? What kind of software
development has been done to the current
platform?
– What kind of existing partnerships? What
kind of improvement expectations?
– What kind of future ambitions? What kind of
ambitions does marketing have? Business
divisions? IT?
– What kind of integrations and add-ons is
required in the future?
2. Style of inhouse software
development
1. Current agency
relationships
3. Web team
competences
4. Content
producer network
5. Partner
competences and
availability
6. Roadmap
ambitions
The
Client
CMS
7. Add-on /
integration
expectations and
availability
The
Client
8. Ecosystem
expectations and
availability

6. 1. Current agency relationships
• How does the client operate
right now with agencies?
• Eg. Does their marketing
work tightly together with
the web team / agency or
do they just ”order stuff”
from them?
1. Current agency
relationships
a) Creative partner
agency
In-house team
(eg. media companies)
c) Strong technical
partner
b) Ad agency +
technical partner

7. 1. Current agency relationships
• How does the client operate
right now with agencies?
• Eg. Does their marketing
work tightly together with
the web team / agency or
do they just ”order stuff”
from them?
1. Current agency
relationships
a) Creative partner
agency
In-house team
(eg. media companies)
c) Strong technical
partner
b) Ad agency +
technical partner

8. 2. Style of in-house software dev
• Is the CMS seen as a
platform or as a tool?
• How much custom
development the client has
done to the current
platform? Is it businessspecific tailoring or general
add-ons?
2. Style of inhouse software
development
a) ”Build everything
on top of CMS”
b) Integrate to other
systems
c) CMS as a tool,
Website as a standalone service,
minimum integration

9. 2. Style of in-house software dev
• Is the CMS seen as a
platform or as a tool?
• How much custom
development the client has
done to the current
platform? Is it businessspecific tailoring or general
add-ons?
2. Style of inhouse software
development
a) ”Build everything
on top of CMS”
b) Integrate to other
systems
c) CMS as a tool,
Website as a standalone service,
minimum integration

10. 3. Web team competences
• What kind of competences
does the ”core web team”
have? Search engine
optimization? Marketing
optimization?
• Eg. What kind of future
plans there is to expand the
web team?
3. Web team
competences
a) ”Web marketing
team”, 5+ people
b) Web team has inhouse developer /
front-end skills
c) Communication
team is responsible
for the web, 2-3
persons

11. 3. Web team competences
• What kind of competences
does the ”core web team”
have? Search engine
optimization? Marketing
optimization?
• Eg. What kind of future
plans there is to expand the
web team?
3. Web team
competences
a) ”Web marketing
team”, 5+ people
b) Web team has inhouse developer /
front-end skills
c) Communication
team is responsible
for the web, 2-3
persons

12. 4. Content
producer network
4. Content producer network
• How many content
producers there are?
• What is a typical task for a
normal content producer?
• How often different tasks
are done?
b) Large network of content
producers that have specific tasks
(think global brands)
a) Large network, decentralized, independent
authors (think universities)
c) Centralized
content editor team

13. 4. Content
producer network
4. Content producer network
• How many content
producers there are?
• What is a typical task for a
normal content producer?
• How often different tasks
are done?
b) Large network of content
producers that have specific tasks
(think global brands)
a) Large network, decentralized, independent
authors (think universities)
c) Centralized
content editor team

14. 5. Partner competences
• What is expected from the
partner? User-experience
skills? Concept design skills?
Training support for content
authors? Integration skills?
• What kind of project
manager would be ideal?
• Do we want specialized
partners or a ”fat cat”
partner?
• Are we skilled in partner
management?
5. Partner
competences and
availability
a) Creative CMS partner
b) Technical CMS
partner
c) Technical development
partner

15. 5. Partner competences
• What is expected from the
partner? User-experience
skills? Concept design skills?
Training support for content
authors? Integration skills?
• What kind of project
manager would be ideal?
• Do we want specialized
partners or a ”fat cat”
partner?
• Are we skilled in partner
management?
5. Partner
competences and
availability
a) Creative CMS partner
b) Technical CMS
partner
c) Technical development
partner

16. 6. Roadmap
ambitions
6. Roadmap ambitions
a) eCommerce ambitions
• Where is the company’s
web presence going?
Towards ecommerce?
Deeply integrated order
tracking? Automatic
content suggestions?
Automated email
marketing?
e) Multilanguage ambitions
b) E-service ambitions
(think government)
c) Development
platform ambitions
d) Marketing
optimization
ambitions

17. 6. Roadmap
ambitions
6. Roadmap ambitions
a) eCommerce ambitions
• Where is the company’s
web presence going?
Towards ecommerce?
Deeply integrated order
tracking? Automatic
content suggestions?
Automated email
marketing?
e) Multilanguage ambitions
b) E-service ambitions
(think government)
c) Development
platform ambitions
d) Marketing
optimization
ambitions

18. 7. Add-on expectations
• Does the web team expect
that new things can be
experimented fast and
cheap? (”WordPress-style”)
• Is the web team trying out
every new social media
platform when it comes
out?
7. Add-on /
integration
expectations and
availability
a) ”We know what we are
doing” – just give me a
basic system that works
b) ”We want to
develop lot of new
stuff fast and cheap”
c) ”We want to try new
stuff all the time”

19. 7. Add-on expectations
• Does the web team expect
that new things can be
experimented fast and
cheap? (”WordPress-style”)
• Is the web team trying out
every new social media
platform when it comes
out?
7. Add-on /
integration
expectations and
availability
a) ”We know what we are
doing” – just give me a
basic system that works
b) ”We want to
develop lot of new
stuff fast and cheap”
c) ”We want to try new
stuff all the time”

20. 8. Ecosystem expectations
• What kind of training and
manuals does the web
team expect?
• Are there expectations of
code sharing with partners
or with other userorganisations?
• (Does the web team expect
that knowledge of this CMS
will be good ”careermove”?)
a) ”We roll our own, just
give me a support
forum”
c) Professional manuals,
training possibilities,
reference clients nearby
8. Ecosystem
expectations and
availability
b) ”We want new
friends, career-boost
and free beer”

21. 8. Ecosystem expectations
• What kind of training and
manuals does the web
team expect?
• Are there expectations of
code sharing with partners
or with other userorganisations?
• (Does the web team expect
that knowledge of this CMS
will be good ”careermove”?)
a) ”We roll our own, just
give me a support
forum”
c) Professional manuals,
training possibilities,
reference clients nearby
8. Ecosystem
expectations and
availability
b) ”We want new
friends, career-boost
and free beer”

22. Analysis: Cultural fit
The
Client
• Example results:
– Drupal has strong agency support, especially
from creative agencies.
– Drupal has an extensive add-on ecosystem
and there are available expertise and training
possibilities in the area.
– EPiServer is feature-rich for the centralized
web team and user-friendly for the expanding
content producer network.
– EPiServer also has a roadmap that fits with
the ambitions of the marketing department.
• And like in technology fit… there rarely is a
perfect cultural fit. You just have to get the
expectations right!
2. Style of inhouse software
development
1. Current agency
relationships
3. Web team
competences
4. Content
producer network
5. Partner
competences and
availability
6. Roadmap
ambitions
The
Client
CMS
7. Add-on /
integration
expectations and
availability
The
Client
8. Ecosystem
expectations and
availability

23. Examples of cultural CMS misfits
personal favorites
1.
Going Drupal without in-house development team or without development-focused
attitude…
2.
Going EPiServer or SharePoint and expecting lots of free add-ons and widgets…
3.
Going Drupal and expecting the partner to ”know the product”…
4.
Going EPiServer and expecting the partner to be skilled in designing impressive
websites and consulting in web marketing…
5.
Going Drupal and expecting the community to develop all the modules that the
organisation needs in the future…
6.
Going Drupal and expecting that it somehow supports a strong web team to do a lot
of stuff without buying expensive development time…
Note: Examples are true-life stories from Finland

24. Thank you.
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North Patrol Oy 2014 / www.northpatrol.com