1. Home
  2. Content Management Systems (CMS)
  3. Titan CMS Reviews
  4. User Review of Titan CMS
Take your Manufacturing Website to the next level
Updated July 07, 2015

Take your Manufacturing Website to the next level

Jeanine Hantke | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

6.1

Modules Used

  • content managment
  • comment & rating
  • smart search
  • user managment
  • titan admin

Overall Satisfaction with Titan CMS

As a food serving equipment manufacturer, Server Products utilizes Titan CMS for a public website with a product catalog of 500+ products; with a single (public) website administrator. Data node filters assists with product selection and a modified ecommerce Shopping Cart facilitates a Request for Quote to a user’s choice of equipment dealers for competitive pricing.

The sites' Find a Dealer or Rep lookup also uses a data node filter. Titan CMS has allowed us to transition from duplicating the management of 300+ contacts to one Excel file upload into Titan CMS.

The Intranet is populated by department based content coordinators, directed by an Intranet Administrator.

  • Utilizing a Filter to determine what shows on a page saves countless hours of configuring content that should be displayed on a page - it's been a lifesaver how easy it is to set up too.
  • Smart Search takes the search box and makes it magical. Common misspellings and alternate names can still send a user to the proper page!
  • Data nodes and filters can also be configured to Find a Dealer, Doctor, Location etc. It puts the power into a users hands and makes is easy to use.
  • Adding link analytics to find broken links would be helpful.
  • Overwriting an existing file in a file pile, during initial upload could be made easier. Time spent tracking down an original on your network (outside of Titan) to do it properly is painful.
  • A Training Video Library would be very helpful. Sometimes, just knowing it can be done and a brief visual of the concept is all you need.
  • Allowing users to request a quote that goes directly to their choice of dealers has proven to be highly effective in lead conversion.
  • Our Intranet has improved employee efficiency and reduced wasted network space from duplicate copies.
  • Filters have allowed users to quickly find their dispensing, warming or chilling equipment solution, proven with conversions to dealer lookups and quote requests.
It worked great that Titan CMS was developed by a local company (we're both in Wisconsin). Not only that, they have user group meetings twice a year which highlights what others are able to accomplish with the same software - immensely helpful. Support calls are handled in a timely manner even when it's an emergency i.e. site unexplainably down. Even after 9 years of use, the software updates always keep it relevant with what us developers are looking for and what is trending.
Titan CMS works well for our small team of authors and I have heard first hand how companies with hundreds of authors use it too. In years past the software was weak for handling multiple language sites, if this is your need take the time to evaluate how this process works and will integrate with your translation providers. I've had great success using Titan CMS to manage a large product catalog with heavily detailed pages.

Titan CMS Feature Ratings

5.9
WYSIWYG editor
8
Code quality / cleanliness
8
Admin section
9
Page templates
5
Library of website themes
3
Mobile optimization / responsive design
3
Publishing workflow
8
Form generator
3
6.4
Content taxonomy
8
SEO support
5
Bulk management
7
Availability / breadth of extensions
5
Community / comment management
7
5.0
API
5
Internationalization / multi-language
5
8.0
Role-based user permissions
8
CMS programming language or framework ()
Not Rated

Using Titan CMS

15 - It's a small group of users that manage our content. Public content, site IA and UA are controlled by Marketing (with an IT background). Intranet is also run by a single admin with department representatives that validate relevant content within the department. Most positions did not have or need any formal training save for the two admins.
2 - A content author that uses preset templates and multistep workflow would only need good communication skills and nothing beyond a simple text editor. Organization skills are most valuable. Think of a library of items and how people would find them. Not only on the display side but in the CMS workstation. It needs to be clear, concise and well thought out to stand up to years of content additions, new top tier content and future site redesigns. Learning Titan CMS is only the method in which to deliver the organized content - the easy part.
  • Public website - listing 500+ products and allowing a user to quickly filter down to the proper equipment to fit a need
  • Intranet - keeps forms handy for multiple departments especially HR - they have more than many realize.
  • Dealer Lookup - find a dealer by location and classification.
  • Request a quote - shopping cart functionality that requests a product quote to user chosen dealers
  • Dealer and Rep lookup
  • Request a quote
  • Use tags and filters to allow users to quickly find an equipment solution for their need
  • Content marketing integration
  • Micro sites
  • Deeper analytics functionality
Love the product, great support for new ideas and any troubleshooting that comes up. Constant additional functionality being added to "base" product. Remember when friendly URL's were a common stumbling block with CMS software, Titan was proactive to phase that out even when it required extensive code work.

Evaluating Titan CMS and Competitors

Yes - We used Dreamweaver to create static HTML pages. Titan allowed us to take our website from 150 pages to over 1000; with a single administrator. Enhanced product detail pages have allowed us to increase conversions 10 fold. Smart Search has taken our site search above and beyond the irrelevant results most people were accustomed to getting on a site.
  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Product Reputation
  • Vendor Reputation
  • Positive Sales Experience with the Vendor
Product usability was first and foremost the most important. We have a single administrator that does every thing from content creation to user admin. Being able to automate content that is displayed using tags and filters has allowed us to expand the site 10 times over and be a leading industry website for content and usability.
There really isn't much I would change other than have a clear timeline for completion and possibly put functionality in stages of what needs to be functional to launch and what can be added shortly after. We ran into some content issues late in the game and almost missed a critical launch date because we were trying to focus on all the functionality (even things 3 levels in) vs. top tier and required elements.

Titan CMS Implementation

Talk to your project manager for Titan early on in development about minimalizing customizations. It seems obvious, but many times they do what you ask in the respect of "This is how we do it now, make that happen in Titan" vs. think of how Titan can deliver the same results within the confines of the base software. It's not a fault, just human nature.
  • Implemented in-house
Yes - We started with an overall project scope meeting with all the stakeholders. Next was a Discovery phase to vet out any new functionality that may need to be added or find alternate was to accomplish the same visual affect for a user. For extensive wish lists, which happens more often then not, the project is broken into phases and development begins.
Change management was a big part of the implementation and was well-handled - Our latest site instance was a complete redesign - nothing was saved - even product images. For this process, everything was evaluated, what should stay, go, look, feel, functionality, IA, UX...everything. Even with all this the experience was great. Taking a fresh look at how to serve up the best user experience from the ground up makes everything else fall into place.
  • Figuring out the user progression for a quote request to multiple dealers was tough. Each dealer was to only see their name on the recipients list with a master list of recipients going to our administrator. It took a few tries to get this going correctly.

Titan CMS Training

  • In-person training
  • Self-taught
It was customized to include screen shots of our site and how users can access the content that only pertains to them as well as advanced training sessions for admin duties and everything that goes along with it. Training is in small groups and can be private (your company only) if you like too.
No, I wouldn't recommend setting up a new site without training, but for a content author or even an editor it can be trained internally with a 1/2 hour session. That would include having the user open the screens, get familiar and do a few test documents. Not too hard at all. If you're doing admin or design work, than I would recommend training. It's not that you won't figure it out, but will you figure it out quickly enough to be most productive out of the gate. Better to learn it upfront and not have to redo anything.

Titan CMS Support

I give a rating of 9 out of 10 only because sometimes when we call support the problem is fixed for us, but the explanation is vague or none at all. We prefer to know what was done and if possible, if there was something we could have done to prevent needing to call support for it. Not a big deal really.
ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
No escalation required
Immediate help available
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
None
Yes - Going for premium support allows our admin to forgo having to go through hoops to validate the need for support for each and every instance - oftentimes to those who wouldn't know the value of the service or support anyway. It also saves accounting time from having to process a PO and cut a check for each instance too.
I can't think of a time when we didn't get exception support for Titan CMS. Each and every call to support (mind you there hasn't been a lot of calls/emails) has been followed up and solved or escalated without having to wait in limbo. Our project manager for Titan has been a great liaison for their tech support people regarding personal knowledge of our current setup.

Using Titan CMS

Everything we've needed to accomplish, Titan CMS has been able to accomplish. From multiple levels of user rights, document rights, tagging pages and documents to make filters do the work of content displayed on a page - it's all easy to set up too. Creating a content rich product detail page template and customizing a ecommerce cart to work for those using a dealer network - needing a request for quote, to go to dealers instead of a self checkout.
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
None
  • setting up content filters
  • renaming tags
  • image library - upload one version and multiple sizes (that you preconfigure) are auto created
  • verwriting an existing document
  • filter in user management doesn't always find a person quickly