What to Watch Out for When Upscaling with a CMS

Growth and positive change are always welcomed in professional organizations and endeavors. However, sometimes this can also present new challenges.

Particularly when an individual or organization has gotten used to a content management system, upscaling can be tough. Adding new content types, new clients, new members, and new devices can present certain struggles that those using the system must overcome.

Every CMS has its own level of scalability and its own features to help usher in growth. Knowing what to look for (and what to watch out for) during this expansionary period is important.

Beware of Compatibility Issues

When it comes time to expand your use of a CMS, you should be aware of potential compatibility issues. Let’s say the system you have is optimized for creating spreadsheets or ledgers for tracking financial data. If you’re looking to use a new type of document or file extension in the same program, you should check to make sure its supported.

Many of the top CMS programs on the market are designed to be flexible with the types of files that can be used. But this doesn’t mean that is always the case – check ahead of time and see if there are any add-ons that you need to install to make sure your CMS keeps working as intended.

There’s also the possibility that you may want to add new devices and new locations. Cross-platform functionality is a popular feature of the top CMS providers out there, but its always good to make sure your system supports the changes you want to make.

Ensure You Can Manage Permissions Properly

Let’s say you’ve just landed a new client, or hired a new employee, and you want to make sure they can use your CMS comfortably for collaborative projects.

However, you may not want the new party to have access to all information within a system. They may have a specific area where they need to work or a specific type of data they need to access. When you’re adding people to your CMS, you need to make sure you can give them the appropriate permissions to access only the information they need.

Keeping permissions and account management under control is vital for maintaining organizational privacy and making sure information doesn’t end up accessible by unauthorized parties.

Make Sure the Support is There

No matter how you want to expand your use of a CMS, you need to make sure you can get your questions answered quickly.

Ensure that you have resources on hand to help you troubleshoot and debug any problems you encounter. This will help you upscale easier and make the experience simpler every time from then on out. See if your CMS provider offers email and phone support, or, better yet, in-person techs to help you with your upscaling activities.

When you’ve gotten comfortable with a CMS, you want to ensure you can keep using it even as your operations grow. Though scaling up does present a few curious problems, the benefits it offers can make it well worth the added effort.