Content Technology Fact Sheet

Thousands of technologies are now available to make planning, creating, delivering, and maintaining content faster and easier than ever before. 

But many organizations lack a strategy for a content technology stack. Developing one should be a top priority. Doing so will not only help you improve your content operation now, but also will set up your team for future success. 

“I have no doubt technology will be able to do much more for content in the future,” says Colleen Jones, founder, Content Science. “No matter what those technology capabilities are, companies that view content as a system will be better able to accommodate the machine capabilities and shift the roles of people to make the most of those capabilities.”

Types of Content Technologies

Content technology is no longer just about content management. Below is a sample of the types available today.

• Traditional content management systems (e.g., Adobe Experience Manager, Sitecore)
• Open source content management systems (e.g., Drupal, WordPress)
• Headless content management systems (e.g., Contentful)
• Content operations tools (e.g. GatherContent, MarketMuse)
• Content quality + standard alignment tools (e.g. Acrolinx, SiteImprove)
• Content intelligence + effectiveness tools (e.g. ContentWRX Effectiveness)
• Content marketing platforms (e.g., Contently, Hubspot)
• Content creation automated by artificial intelligence (e.g., Qordoba, IBM Watson)

For a robust list of content technologies, check out Content Technology: An In-Depth Guide. 

Trends

There’s more content technology available today than ever before, and its role inside companies has matured. 

Companies are creating content technology stack strategies. “How do you manage this complex [technology] reality? Develop a strategy for your content technology stack.” — Colleen Jones, Advanced Content Marketing on LinkedIn Learning

Organizations are changing how they use content management technology. Today, there’s much less emphasis on using product lifecycle software and protocols for email retrieval to manage content. Content management systems enabling online collaboration, project management, and data storage are still very prominent needs from technology. — Content Science, What Makes Content Operations Successful?

Companies will continue to turn to cognitive marketing. It’s estimated that 50% of companies will soon use smart systems like IBM’s Watson to automate marketing. — IDC Research

CMS is evolving, helping brands to scale content and cover more devices and touchpoints. With headless and decoupled content management systems, companies can use any front-end tool to present and deliver content beyond websites and apps, “reaching any channel from kiosks to smartwatches and even inside virtual reality headsets.” — CMSWire

Content intelligence is a priority for major companies. Forrester’s Ryan Skinner calls content intelligence “technology that helps content understand itself—what it’s about, how it speaks, how effective it is at accomplishing certain goals, what emotions it calls to mind, etc.” Right now, there are few content-focused AI platforms, but this new frontier has become a priority for major companies like Adobe and Salesforce. — Curata, Forrester

CEOs see the benefits of incorporating advanced technologies. Over 80% of CEOs consider artificial intelligence and machine learning either “very important” or “extremely important” to the future of the company.  — Colleen Jones, The Content Advantage

Uses and Benefits

Although companies see the benefits of content technology, they lack a clear strategy for incorporating these technologies into their day-to-day operations. Advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning help companies personalize content and achieve their content goals. 

Automation and streamlining frees up bandwidth to focus on big wins.  “There’s a real opportunity cost to not being able to iteratively improve content. There’s also a real opportunity cost with not being able to innovate. You’re really going to be hampered in your ability to innovate if you’re bogged down in maintenance.” — Colleen Jones, Content Insiders

Technology helps companies scale content operations. As your content program scales, technology will be especially helpful in three areas: content operations, content intelligence, and content delivery. — Colleen Jones, Introduction to Content Marketing on LinkedIn Learning

Personalizing content is one key to a successful content strategy. “Advanced personalization technology can enable you to offer content based on your customers’ behavior, their roles, their preferences, or a combination.” — Colleen Jones, Founder of Content Science 

Brands must be thoughtful in how they personalize their content. Creating personalized messages and experiences requires intimate knowledge of customer journeys, relevant content that drives action, and technology that helps deliver and measure experiences. — Gartner, Rethinking Personalization for Maximum Impact 

Decoupling for multichannel content delivery. “A headless CMS is like a traditional CMS, but without any way to present the content being created and stored within it. It simply allows for the creation, reading, updating and deleting (CRUD) of content. That might sound counterproductive at first, but the idea is that — thanks to the lack of a front-end delivery layer — brands can use any front-end tool they want to present the content, meaning they can deliver content beyond websites and apps, reaching any channel from kiosks to smartwatches and even inside virtual reality headsets.” — 34 Headless CMS That Should Be On Your Radar

Just 18 percent of marketers are currently using AI in their martech stack. Marketers who are willing to adopt artificial intelligence will advance ahead of their competition. — Content Science, AI and Automation: The Future of Content Marketing?

Consumers are ready for different kinds of content delivery: More than half of consumers are willing to use artificial/virtual reality (A/VR) technology to assess products. — Nielsen, The Future Awaits: Tech-Transformed Media Consumption

Companies that use advanced technology are more successful. Few enterprises (22%) use advanced technology like machine learning or AI for automated content delivery, personalization, generation, and measurement, but the companies that do are more likely to succeed. — Content Science, What Makes Content Operations Successful?

Power comes from marketing and IT working together, with the CMT as a liaison. “Today, companies can no longer afford separate silos between marketing and IT. The rapid collapse of these silos means that one person must be able to converse seamlessly between both groups.” — Marco Antonio Cavallo, The rise of the chief marketing technologist

Bottom Line

Content technology is evolving and improving at a rapid rate. Companies that are ready to take advantage of these tools and systems are seeing more success. They can get and keep their staff on the same page more quickly, produce higher quality content more efficiently, and develop messaging that meets their customers where they are more effectively. To accelerate content technology adoption at your organization, consider these technologies and tools for planning, creating, delivering, and evaluating your content.