Sound Idea Digital, among many things, manages website content for numerous companies including South Africa’s Kenwood, Braun and Delonghi Group. They are one of the many companies that invested in the EPiServer as their Content Management System (CMS). I had to learn how to use the EPiServer for the first time, in order to manage the content on their websites. This has been a refreshing experience and also an interesting one. I thought to look into the EPiServer’s place and role in the market to discover why businesses would choose this CMS instead of any of the other thousands of open source CMS systems out there.

What is EPiServer?
EPiServer is a closed source content management system that allows you to edit and add content to your website. It assists businesses with social and online communication functions to optimise your digital marketing. EPiServer is also an e-commerce software system, meaning that it enables you to provide electronic transactions on your website for online shopping.

Who is using EPiServer?
EpiServer’s position in the market is growing at a rapid pace and it is internationally used. According to EPiServer Vice President, Bob Egner, they have a solid and expansive network of 750 global partners currently helping to cement their ability to provide a visionary platform to digital leaders.

EPiServer is ideal for companies that want to consolidate their many international websites to one place where it can be properly managed. It is a good fit for companies that are seriously committed to growing their digital presence. Open source CMS systems are usually free and are commonly used when companies don’t have the budget to invest in a top of the line CMS like EPiServer that gives you all you need to build your online presence.

Now, I am not saying that open source CMS systems cannot give you all you need, but I guess it would depend on the needs of your business. As Bob Egner puts it, when it comes to finding the right fit for your business you need to think about 3 things.
1) The process and workflows that your organisation needs
2) The people who operate that process
3) The technology that implements or automates the process.

According to Alexandra Abrahamsson, Sales & Partner Manager at EPiServer South Africa , the EPiServer platform is helping over 130,000 web editors deliver the best customer experiences. The 2014 stats reveal that EPiServer is currently being used on 20,000 digital marketing and e-commerce sites, by more than 5,000 customers worldwide.

Handy functions on EPiServer
I am hardly an expert on all CMS systems out there. However, I can give my opinion based on the experience I have had with the system in the past few months. There are a few functions worth mentioning that forms part of the all-round impressiveness of the system.

The Compare function lets you compare your South African site with the UK or Australian site to see how they have implemented or configured their settings, so for a first time user, rather than figuring it out, you can duplicate the settings and Bob is your uncle!

Episerver Social Reach function is available now and this is truly a handy tool to have in your CMS. You can type one message into the social reach function that you want to be sent out via different and multiple social media channels eg. Facebook or Twitter. It then tracks the success of your campaign in real time and you can view from the CMS how your message appears in the different platforms.

There is also the EPiServer Mobile Pack which gives you a fast and easy way to get mobile site up. It allows you to re-use content on all channels so you can easily take information from your website and move it across to mobile device You can  preview what the site will look like on mobile and also record your mobile website stats on Google analytics.

EPiServer seemed difficult to grasp at first because the functionality didn’t seem logical, however, the more I’m exposed to it and figuring out what I can do with it, the more I am starting to value the system for what it is. And what it is, is an extremely flexible and all round intelligent system. I rate it cool!