Content Management Systems: What Are the Advantages of Headless CMS? [5 Reading Tips]

Content Management System Reading Tips — Source: Unsplash/Headway

Flexibility is essential in this day and age. Those who rely on traditional, inflexible systems simply cannot keep up with challenges increasing day by day. This also applies to content management systems, which are only competitive in their flexible, headless form these days.

Content Management Systems: Headless Is the Future

Originally, the main task of a content management system was to edit website content in the back end, store it in a database and then publish it online via a created view. Today, however, a traditional website is only one of many channels for distributing content. Smartphones and tablets are making apps and hybrid forms such as progressive web apps popular; social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat present content in yet another way. This is where a traditional content management system reaches its limits, as it is not designed to provide data outside of its own template engine.

A headless content management system consists of a back end, a database and an API. Data and content are distributed via this API and can therefore be retrieved with different programming languages. The advantage: content only has to edited once before it can be distributed to different channels. However, development continues not only in terms of the variety of distribution channels. Trends are clearly moving towards better usability, towards intuitive operation of content management systems.

Content Management Systems: Bloomreach Shows What Flexible Means

Bloomreach Experience Manager is particularly focused on content commerce since Bloomreach started out as a personalisation platform for e-commerce.

Upon request, the Java-based Hippo CMS can also be installed separately as a smaller open source variant. The CMS offers extensive features and supports the implementation of websites of any complexity with a lot of content. Besides websites, Facebook Pages, mobile content for smartphone and tablet apps as well as content for partners and affiliates can be implemented, too. Bloomreach is considered an omnichannel solution that can bring together content from different sources and distribute it in various formats.

In addition, the system comes with comprehensive targeting and personalisation features to build a personal connection with each visitor and deliver relevant content right from the start. In Gartner’s analyst report focused on the United States, Bloomreach was ranked among the leading CMS providers last year.