Johannesburg, 03 Sep 2013
The building and maintaining of a first-class Web site has, in more recent years, become a top priority for many organisations. Whereas previously Web site visitors would engage when they were ready, today's users expect a far higher level of engagement. This, in turn, has led to a more significant exchange between the user, the brand and the Web site.
"Customers are expecting to access your Web content seamlessly, not only in a highly tailored and contextualised experience, but also across myriad channels and devices," explains Rudie Bronkhorst, Account Manager at IT solution provider, Datacentrix. "A scalable, interactive Web site that can handle traffic and day-to-day transactions provides an opportunity to engage customers with targeted interfaces and establish meaningful connections.
"As Web strategies evolve though, companies need to ensure that their content management systems keep up," he continues. "This means that tools able to meet the demands of the rapidly changing Web experience are required, and these solutions must not only provide a number of features as well as support the complexity of robust Web sites, but also be easy to use and allow for rapid content creation, management and publishing."
According to Bronkhorst, organisations that are seeking new, agile solutions to help them differentiate their market presence by personalising and improving the overall customer experience on their Web sites, should be looking towards a Web experience management tool to meet these specific needs. "This type of tool will allow a company to strengthen positive relationships with customers before, during and after the interaction, through omni-channel touch points, multiple languages and across an array of devices."
A solution of this type, like OpenText's Web Experience Management (WEM), can combine the following:
* A large set of features for creating engaging online experiences. This would include structured and rich media content, as well as both user-generated and business content.
* An out-of-the-box approach to Web content life cycle management, all managed from a best-of-breed, Web-based application;
* A native dynamic delivery model, for highly personalised experiences with targeted content that is always up to date;
* A flexible approach to a content repository that enables organisations to leverage existing content and data by putting it under management;
* A robust set of content staging mechanisms to deliver the content to various applications and Web initiatives; and
* A standards-based J2E E architecture to fit in the most demanding IT organisation requirements.
By approaching Web experience management in this manner, businesses will experience a number of benefits, including improved customer experience, with more meaningful dialogue, the alignment of IT and business digital strategies, processes and technologies, and the optimisation of marketing effectiveness. In addition, this approach allows for maximum customer retention, broadened brand awareness and provides increased revenue potential.
"Not only this, but Web experience management can also assist companies in search engine optimisation, by providing features such as metadata management, search, analytics and recommendations. Furthermore, this type of tool can help ensure that customers are viewing a Web site the way it is meant to be seen - regardless of the device or platform from which request is made," says Bronkhorst.
"At the same time, the key is to invest in a Web experience management solution that is simple to use, where functions including the creation of a campaign microsite or updating content on the Web site will not require specialised skills or much involvement from the IT team," he concludes.