Cascade Server vs Optimizely Content Cloud (formerly Episerver Content Cloud)

• Cascade CMS makes no assumptions about your content. Templates control how the content gets displayed.
• Workflows are intuitive and allow for one or more people to review content before it is published.
• The published site is static (no database connection) which allows for faster page loads and reduced risk of attack.

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• Ektron CMS is reliable and performs well. Outages are extremely rare, and the site is fast.
• The Ektron CMS content editor is easy to use, and updates can be made by non-technical people. The Ektron site synchronization process allows us to automatically publish updates every 30 minutes. This is very important to the resort's marketing efforts during the busy ski season.
• This is straight from the marketing department: 'Ektron CMS is user friendly for non-technical people, and it allows us to be more effective in our marketing efforts.

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• Cascade CMS is not an out-of-the-box pre-built system that you can install, turn on and expect to be serving sites and pages on day one. It's not a blogging system like WordPress, or a drag-and-drop system like SquareSpace (both of which I've used for their own purposes). You need to have someone tasked with management and system administration – and if you implement the on-premise self-hosted version, you ought to have several people. We have the university's IT shop handling infrastructure (server hardware, containers, clustering, operating systems, load-balancing, DNS, database servers, NAS/SAN drives), our Web & Design team managing Cascade CMS (system settings, sites, templates, permissions) and managers coordinating each respective academic unit (A&S, business, education, law, marine science).

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• Ektron's user interface could use a complete overhaul, beginning with the odd logical separation between "Library" items and "Content." From an end-user perspective these distinctions are completely irrelevant and only serve to confuse everyone.
• The way Ektron reads html in the code editor is unfathomable. White space is dealt with in a completely unconventional and error prone way and the text editor often inserts immense amounts of unnecessary markup that often causes problems and bugs.
• Ektron contains so many bugs its almost impossible to list them all. As the main editor of the website, my standard answer to any standard functionality requests is "no" because Ektron charges inordinate sums of money for those functions and even if we do custom manage our own solution, it would likely cause the entire system to crash.
• Ektron is very very slow.
• Ektron requires a seperate module for mobile/web-friendly websites. You can't just code it yourself. You have to buy their's.

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• Initially, ROI was positive - because we completely redesigned the website when we implemented Cascade.
• Over time, the inability to keep up with the latest interactive tools has reduced visitors time on site.
• Also over time, the difficulty of use has led to less buy-in by backend users, leading to outdated pages, little timely information, and lower visitors.

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• Better efficiency and control over content. Faster creation of content specifically marketing campaign based landing pages. Easier implementation and tracking site visitor info and support for mobile has been easier to maintain.
• Ektron has a wealth of features. implementing these requires in depth training and planning.

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