Research firm Gartner has released its Magic Quadrant report for web content management platforms, naming Adobe, Sitecore, IBM, HP, Oracle and Acquia as leaders.
For the evaluation of the vendors, Gartner defined web content management as:
“The process of controlling content to be consumed over one or more digital channels through the use of management software based on a core repository. These may be commercial products, open-source or hosted service offerings.”
Important features for a WCM platform include content creation and deployment, digital asset management and the ability to adapt content in real-time to customer interactions.
Here’s how Gartner rated the top platforms:
To download a free copy of the report click here (registration required).
Here’s what Gartner had to say about each of the top platforms:
Acquia
For websites built using the Drupal platform, Acquia is the way to go for content management. It has the advantage of being an open platform that can quickly innovate and add new features by leveraging the Drupal community of developers. However Gartner cautions against Acquia’s user experience for content creators which it says “continues to lag behind that of the market leaders who have focused on easy and flexible content creation and editing.”
Adobe
Adobe’s Experience Manager gets high marks for its integration with Adobe Analytics and Target, easy to use interface and ability to handle mobility. While Gartner acknowledges that Adobe has “enormous market momentum,” it says many organizations complained that installing and incorporating Adobe’s complex products into their existing portfolios is difficult, and not to mention more costly than other WCM platforms. Overall Adobe was rated the highest in ability to execute.
HP
Gartner thinks this is HP’s comeback year after its disastrous acquisition of Autonomy. This is based on the strong integration of its customer experience management systems. The report says “The synergies it offers between LiveSite and Idol are unique within the market, and its coupling of LiveSite and Exstream (its customer communications management solution) is leading.”
IBM
IBM’s Web Content Manager received high ratings for its catering to smaller businesses with several out-of-the-box templates that will quickly facilitate web content creation. However despite its effectiveness, IBM simply isn’t that well known among most customers, and inevitably gets left off shortlists. Gartner recommends that “IBM needs to showcase, more visibly, examples of innovation where IBM Web Content Manager has contributed significantly to more leading-edge context-aware solutions that drive digital effectiveness.”
Oracle
Although Gartner places it in the “leader,” it didn’t sound too impressed in the report: “Gartner has yet to see Oracle WebCenter Sites appear frequently in selection contexts outside of those where the audience has already heavily invested in a strategy based on other Oracle products.”
Sitecore
Sitecore has emerged as a worthy competitor to Adobe Experience Manager, especially with the launch of its own data repository to work alongside its customer experience management platform. Despite a high level of customer satisfaction reported, Sitecore faces an uphill battle since it doesn’t offer as many products as Adobe does within its Marketing Clouds, leading marketers to perceive its offering as lacking a broad array of capabilities. They also reported problems of integration with Sitecore’s partner platforms.
