Cascade Server: Easy for end users, customizable for developers
July 22, 2015
Cascade Server: Easy for end users, customizable for developers
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Software Version
Standard Enterprise
Overall Satisfaction with Cascade Server
We used Cascade Server in our own organization as a SaaS Content Management System. We wanted a CMS that allowed our customers to easily manage their websites via a web-based tool. We had around 50 different websites managed within one Cascade Server instance, which allowed our customers to manage and publish their content to their websites that we hosted. We also hosted many other Cascade Server instances, and implemented it for other organizations. It was used by both the Web Development team and the Digital Marketing Team (search engine optimization).
- Very easy-to-use. I trained over 200 users, and never once heard someone say that it was difficult to figure out. People generally left the training excited to get started managing their content.
- Technology independent. We were able to put any language into it that our customers required: .NET, classic ASP, PHP, static HTML.
- Customer Support. The Hannon Hill team was truly amazing when it came to helping their customers, including us. They always went above and beyond to fix issues, help customers figure out complex methods for using Cascade Server, and general support.
- Annual User's Conference. This was a great event that brought Cascade Server enthusiasts together, and the entire Hannon Hill staff was present and available for customers to talk 1-on-1 with.
- Cascade Server had a hard time handling a large amount of data. Since it is a "push" CMS (publishes out individual files that are disconnected from the CMS, vs. a "pull" CMS, which dynamically displays the pages by reading the CMS's database), it had to index pages and content in order to build the pages. If there were a ton of items to index, it took a while to process. They were constantly improving this process, however. I would have liked to have seen an option of using a pull vs. push model.
- Cascade Server was not as "drag-n-drop" enabled as other products out there. Customers sometimes complained that Cascade Server wasn't "slick".
- Cascade Server was very developer-friendly, allowing development shops like ours to customize it the way the customer needed. However, there were many times where development was required to make an application, whereas having an app that you could just insert, style with some options, and have it work, wasn't available. Hannon Hill always provided the app code, but there was no good way to just drop it into a site...it required a good amount of configuration.
- Cascade Server filled a major void for us: allowing non-technical customers to manage their own website, without having to rely on paying a developer. This allowed us to compete with other companies by having a value-add service that ultimately could save the customer money.
- Cascade Server allowed our Digital Marketing team to easily manage their website optimization efforts without having to always utilize the development staff.
- By having a well-known CMS, it allowed our company to introduce other services (hosting, digital marketing, IT support) as additional value.
- Sitecore Web Content Management,Wordpress,Ektron Web Content Management System,Gauss
The version of Sitecore that I use right now doesn't have a UI showing the assembled web page. That suits my current company's needs, but for most people, they want to see their changes within the tool as they make them, visible within their web page. Cascade Server does that very well. We also chose Cascade Server for its search engine optimization capabilities, since that was a big part of our business. Being proprietary, Cascade Server beats out WordPess in terms of security. We had several WordPress blogs hacked, but never had Cascade Server hacked. We didn't know it at the time of purchase, but Cascade Server's support was second-to-none. I don't think we would have been nearly as successful with Cascade Server as we were without their support. The Hannon Hill people were a true selling point.