Item: Optimizely Content Management System
Rating: 10
Author: Bhavik Patel

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are system integrators, previously integrating Ektron and Episerver, now Optimizely Content Cloud. We have done implementations for the California Employment Development Department and currently for the California Highway Patrol. The main issue we solve with these implementations is to empower organizations to quickly and effectively publish web content with an easy-to-use interface with workflows for content governance and compliance.

Pros and Cons

Very effective content management interface, with drag-and-drop capabilities.
Great ability to customize workflows to fit an organizations web content lifecycle.
Effective mechanisms for multi-site implementations allow multiple sites to be hosted in a single solution.

Integrations with personalization products at Optimizely (on the roadmap with Optimizely One).

Return on Investment

Greatly reduced time to publish web content.
Reduction in manual processes to get content published (workflows within the system).

Time to Value

It was quick to implement. We are system integrators, and so working with new products can be challenging. Optimizely's documentation, specifically, was easy to read and developers on our team were able to quickly build solutions using the system. In addition, the code-first approach to building using Optimizely CMS was extremely effective and time-saving for developers. Lastly, the deployment architecture for Optimizely on-premise and PaaS deployment is simple and straightforward as compared to other enterprise WCMS solutions (like Sitecore).

Alternatives Considered

Sitecore Experience Platform, WordPress, Drupal and Adobe Experience Manager

Optimizely CMS is part of a more composable suite when it comes to DXPs. With that, some other systems like Sitecore Experience Platform are monoliths, which makes the development and maintenance of those products fairly complex (this includes system architecture). In our experience, Optimizely makes it simpler to implement solutions in a rapid manner and "tack on" additional products if needed as organizations grow and are able to leverage that functionality.

Key Insights

Do you think Optimizely Content Management System delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Optimizely Content Management System's feature set?

Yes

Did Optimizely Content Management System live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Optimizely Content Management System go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Optimizely Content Management System again?

Yes

Likelihood to Recommend

Very well suited for organizations that want an enterprise solution for web content management, as opposed to open-source products (such as WordPress or Drupal). These primarily include marketing websites, where content must be published frequently with appropriate content governance. Also, it is a great platform for multi-site, allowing content to be controlled in a centralized place for multiple websites. Content authoring interfaces are intuitive and allow for quick publishing by business users as opposed to technical teams.

Optimizely CMS is a great DXP for the investment.

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with Optimizely Content Management System