The nature of content dissemination and management is changing, and has undoubtedly improved. This time, With the new trends in web programming, architecture is coming Headless, or the Headless CMS. This aims to revolutionize traditional work dynamics, becoming a potential ally for content creators and web developers, as well as for companies with international business and the industrial sector.

Technology is advancing 'by leaps and boons', understanding our concerns and increasingly adapting to the needs of our business strategies, especially when it comes to optimizing creative experiences; without management or distribution obstacles. This is where the Headless CMS starts to 'shine'.

The architecture Headless It makes the creation, management and storage of content independent of UX development and design, thus providing freedom during the creative process and agility in omnichannel dissemination. This guarantees scalability and competitiveness, as well as a great user experience.

What is a headless CMS and how does it work?

Before we dive into the world of hEadless CMS and to understand its functional benefits, let's contextualize its usefulness.

Your company's Digital Marketing team is likely to work on web positioning, brand reputation or lead capture, through a structured content strategy. Among the most used tools for this purpose, you will surely find a CMS or Content Management System, such as Wordpress, Wix or Drupal.

Having a CMS within a digital marketing strategy is essential. These tools allow you to:

• Design your company's website, downloading pre-built templates
• Create, manage and update the content of your website
• Install plugins to improve or increase the functionality of the same CMS
• Store resources and databases, all within a single system

However, this integrated functional dynamic generates a 'monolithic' management that presents limitations for organizations with international business, eCommerce with complex and varied products, as well as for ambitious industrial-level projects. This happens especially when companies are not limited to a website or to a single channel and device for the distribution of content. That is why the initiative of a Headless CMS.

If you've been relying on a traditional CMS for years, right now you'll have different questions: How does a headless CMS work? What is your differential advantage? How does the user experience improve? Should I switch to a headless CMS? What is the best option? ... And it's normal! But we will come to answer all your doubts.

Understanding the Headless Architecture

As you may know, a traditional CMS unifies the management of the interface that the user sees and the repository of content, databases and resources. Un Headless CMS separates these two areas of management and development. This is the first differential advantage.

In practice, The architecture hEadless Separate the Backend Of Frontend, or in other words, the environment where the contents of the presentation layer, or user interface, are created, managed and stored, where such content is displayed.

Even so, The development Backend and Frontend you can connect thanks to the APIs, defined as Application Programming Interface; a set of mechanisms that facilitate communication between computer components.

Las APIs they allow, on the one hand, to distribute content through different digital platforms, improving your company's omnichannel strategy. On the other hand, create communication channels between different systems so that they can work together, since they usually contain information about customers, services or products, which, when integrated with the content, personalizes and adapts it, offering a better user experience.

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Key Features of a Headless CMS

Now that you have a better understanding of how architecture works Headless within a CMS, we explain its main characteristics, so you can identify how your team benefits and how content management is optimized thanks to this type of tool.

Focus on the Backend

The system focuses directly on development Backend and facilitates the creation of content, regardless of the form or channel of presentation of the same. In other words, it is not responsible for the rendering of the content, or for the Frontend development itself.

Freedom for designers

The developers and UX designers, They have the freedom to create the presentation layer that best suits business and market needs, as well as their work dynamics, allowing them to use different programming languages or editing tools.

Creative independence

Content creators have complete creative independence, as they are not conditioned to a predefined layer or presentation page, which streamlines workflow, collaboration and organization for a structured and well-defined delivery.

Streamline cooperation

The developer and publisher can work simultaneously on the same project without affecting the other's work.

A traditional CMS or Headless CMS for your company?

Understand what CMS type works best in your company, it will depend on the needs and strategies of the business, as well as on the functional preferences of your team. Pero The determining reason is the distribution of content; the number of channels, devices, and websites you need to manage.

If it's a static website, a traditional CMS is sufficient. But if your company seeks to manage content for different markets on several digital platforms and at an international level, a Headless CMS will be the most effective tool.

To give you an even better understanding of why to choose one or the other, we detail below the most relevant reasons, those that you should evaluate before making a decision.

Management and distribution

The architecture Headless centralizes content management, allowing content to be viewed wherever and however.

With a Headless CMS, content creators can manage and store content in reusable modules, without conditioning your work to the design or development of the user interface; Frontend.

The presentation becomes a strategic and customizable choice, allowing the content to be adapted to any channel, according to the needs and evolution of the market.

The developers Frontend They resort to the APIS to integrate the programming languages used, and other necessary systems, with the content, thus presenting it in the best way to any channel.

In a CMS with traditional architecture, the development areas are unified and dependent on each other; the content will affect the presentation and vice versa.

In addition, in these traditional management systems, the content flow is unidirectional and its visualization is possible only through a single presentation layer, or a pre-designed and modifiable web template, which although it can be made responsive, will always depend on the initial design, so it is not customizable.

Velocidad

The architecture Headless keeps your company at the forefront. Developers can use the best technologies and the most modern frameworks to increase the speed of platforms and customize, with greater flexibility, the interface and user experience.

Los Headless CMS increase the speed of content distribution platforms and channels thanks to the use of APIs, which allow the integration of high-performance page rendering methods, such as a Server Side Rendering (SSR) or a Static Site Generation (SSG).

Also, The speed in delivering content to the end user is higher, thanks to development independence and the use of a powerful CDN, or a Content Delivery Network. It is an extensive network of interconnected servers worldwide, which speed up the distribution of content, wherever and whenever.

A CDN stores a local copy of all the content, files and resources of a digital platform on servers around the world, allowing the final content to reach the user faster, as it brings them closer to their geographical area.

So, let's remember that the 'strong point' of a Headless CMS, is the possibility of presenting the same content on different digital platforms and devices in a personalized way. And if we add to this the possibility of presenting it in different parts of the world at high speed, thanks to the integration of a CDN, results an excellent user experienceand, above all, a unique competitive advantage: Speed and personalization, an excellent combination!

Unlike a traditional CMS, in an Headless CMS the CDN replicates the content from the independent Backend and reflects it in different Frontend or presentation layers.

In a traditional CMS, the CDN is integrated through plugins and replicates the content Backend always showing up in the same development Frontend, since it is a unified management system.

Another aspect to keep in mind is that In a traditional CMS, the use of plugins usually affects the speed and performance of a website.  

However, if the content you want to present is aimed at the same market and you don't intend to internationalize your services for the time being, there will be no need to deploy a large CDN. In fact, many web hosting services integrate a basic distribution network that you can take advantage of.

Flexibility and integration

As we mentioned earlier, a Headless CMS provides The developers Frontend the opportunity to work with modern programming languages and frameworks.

Traditional CMS are not usually compatible with the latest technologies on the market and can take time to update them, limiting development to specific vendors.

Instead, an architecture Headless is much more flexible and agile. This is because:

• APIs facilitate communication between different programs and optimize the user experience. This happens not only at the presentation level, but also at the creation and personalization of content, also integrating CRM systems, PIM, ERP or analysis, translation and automation tools.
• The centralization of content and the independence of development areas allows large companies outsource processes in their different markets or countries, without having to duplicate or redo content. This streamlines the work of digital agencies that have freedom of management, providing autonomy to all the teams involved.

Security

Companies with international business and e-commerce with a wide variety of products usually offer personalized experiences, and for their optimization, they must collect a large amount of information about their users, so they need to keep that data safe.

Un Headless CMS stores all data in the cloud and makes constant backups. In addition, by separating development areas, it reduces opportunities for cyberattacks.

Monolithic CMS use plugins for most of their functionalities, adding code fragments that can violate web operation and facilitate the path for hackers.

Architecture-based tools Headless

At Novicell we are experts in solutions Headless, that is, we specialize in the implementation of CMS and e-commerce systems that separate the presentation part from the content. This allows for greater flexibility and scalability in the development, as well as in the design, of websites and applications.

In addition, we are official partners of companies that offer architecture-based tools Headless and we offer you modern and efficient solutions to promote the growth of your business and increase your online presence.

From Novicell we can help you implement solutions for the following solutions Headless:

Contentful

Contentful is one of the main solutions Headless CMS, since it allows users to create, store and manage content in one place and distribute it through multiple channels, such as web applications, mobile applications and voice devices.

Sitecore

Sitecore goes beyond a CMS, a solution Headless focused on the user experience, which allows companies to create, manage and optimize the customer experience at all touchpoints.

It combines its CMS with analysis, marketing automation and personalization tools to help companies better understand their users and offer them relevant and personalized experiences.

Umbraco

Umbraco is an open source CMS based on Microsoft .NET which allows its users to create and manage websites and applications, can be used both as a traditional CMS or in an architecture Headless, where the backend is separated from the frontend, allowing greater flexibility and scalability in content delivery.

If your intention is to build new creative experiences focused on customer needs, through an omnichannel strategy, trust an architecture Headless, which provides speed and adaptability, combining flexibility with reliability and innovation with security.

Un Headless CMS will allow you to respond quickly to emerging market opportunities, as well as streamline the creation, management and presentation of content. Are you joining the change?

Looking for a headless CMS? Contact us!

We help you decide on the headless tool that best suits your business needs. We also accompany you in the implementation and strategy processes.