How a CMS evolved to become a critical backbone of many UK-based businesses

With the emergence of the Internet, the competitive landscape changed drastically. Companies were no longer limited to their geographical location to serve customers but could reach across the globe.

The promise of the Internet was huge, but it took time to materialize. This has been due to technological development as well as adoption by business users.

Websites for businesses

When the Internet was introduced in the UK, it took time for local businesses to pick up. Typically companies would have their own online ‘business card’ where they share their location, services, and other relevant information to customers. This is also the time of the first Content Management Systems (CMS) that came into play. Using a CMS, business owners were able to build their static pages on the Internet with convenience.

The rise of e-commerce

With static websites, it is hard to conduct any form of trade. To do so, you need to have information about your stock, conduct payments, and offer a personalized experience (e.g., through users being able to provide their details). This has been the next wave of CMS development. With open-source systems such as WordPress, it became possible to manage your websites. These systems were equipped with a database, allowing the admin to write content and publish it into the front-end. This has been the start of a revolution in the CMS world.

From local clothing stores to bakeries

Since the concept of a CMS is simple and intuitive, many local businesses in the UK jumped the bandwagon. They can easily maintain their websites themselves and share the latest news with their target audience. This is expanded with simple webshops that can be integrated into the CMS, such as WooCommerce for the WordPress CMS. Lots of organisations enjoyed growth and were able to target customers across the UK and even abroad.

More advanced capabilities are needed in today’s environment

Although the ‘traditional’ CMS has brought lots of potential to UK businesses, more advanced capabilities are needed. The Internet is not limited to websites any longer. With interactions of customers in-store, through applications and third parties, it is increasingly relevant to share information across channels uniformly. This is possible through a headless system, such as an Angular CMS.

What is headless?

With a headless CMS, we refer to a system that does not have a front-end. This means that content is being written and marked-up, and shared with a broad range of front-end (i.e., channels). Hereby you can execute an omnichannel strategy, being able to supply content to your website, applications, and third parties. Since the content is being supplied from a single system there is a single source of truth, which helps your brand’s communication and marketing.

Comparing the headless CMS options

Interested to learn more about the possibilities? You can find a headless CMS comparison online to see what works for you. Do make sure that you understand your requirements to select the system that suits your needs.