Website factory: a powerful digital device to develop your activities!
The website factory is a set of digital solutions to optimize the creation, development and management of a great number of websites within a single organization. It’s indeed a factory, characterized by the industrialization of production, testing and maintenance processes.
This digital factory aims to facilitate the implementation of large-scale or complex web projects. It is intended for companies needing to operate various domains and decline numerous websites, according to the evolution of their operational, commercial and communication objectives.
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Website factory : identify your needs before you start
To determine if your projects warrant a website factory, there are a few questions to ask yourself:
- How many websites do you need?
- Will these websites have themes, content, users, etc. in common ?
- Does data sharing between these sites require you to be connected to all of them?
- Should the administration of these websites be centralized?
Above all, the website factory is an effective resource for the fast-growing company that needs to rapidly expand its online presence. It promotes the realization of complex projects, such as those involving cloud instances, an extranet and the integration of several third-party systems.
A site factory offers many advantages, including the following :
- The quick deployment of multiple sites (an accelerated time-to-market);
- Reduction of unit production costs for each site;
- Centralization of monitoring instruments;
- Lower overall site maintenance costs and a more appreciable ROI;
- The pooling of resources (technical teams, hosting, etc.);
- Compliance with corporate governance rules;
- The harmonization, but also the personalization of content;
- The integration of production tools;
- Simplifying ERP and management of : products, media, CRM, DAM, PI, etc. ;
- Facilitating the monitoring of production activities by sector, country, contributor... ;
- The establishment of a common digital (and communication) strategy;
- The security of a common back-office for the company's websites.
Website factory: its uses and operation
The website factory lends itself to a variety of uses and industries. It allows the factorization of the code and the functionalities to generate various autonomous sites, but linked; the pooling of hosting and a content production and publishing solution, as well as the synchronized management and maintenance of these sites.
In addition, it is suitable for groups of companies, particularly those with geographically dispersed branches and offering a variety of brands, products and services.
How does the website factory work?
The website factory is built up by developers based on a list of features, formats and settings such as domain name, site title, languages, etc. These elements are used to create the architecture of a site, in order to put it into service. Moreover, the website factory can also offer the option of duplicating a site and reproducing its structure and contents. Each site resulting from the factory is independent of the others. Site administrators can subsequently be responsible for managing, modifying the content and running the site. However, it is possible that specific features or content are common to all sites ordered by the customer.
Note that the website factory is built from a CMS. This is a content management system, or a program for creating a website, a blog or even an e-commerce website. There is a wide range of software for this purpose. Of course, some technologies are more popular with developers than others.
Technologies used to create website factories
CMS software, or the main technologies for implementing factories at sites, can be divided into 3 main categories: open source CMS; proprietary software, as well as Software-as-a-Service (including cloud-based solutions).
- Open source CMS
Open source (the code is available to anyone), CMS software can be downloaded for free, as there are no license or upgrade fees, or contracts. However, you will probably need to employ developer services to:
- technical assistance during installation and configuration;
- customization to extend the software beyond the main offering;
- integration of compatible models, add-ons and plugins;
- the training of your IT technicians;
- support, including regular software updates.
Examples of open source CMS software: WordPress, Drupal, Magento and PrestaShop.
- Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) CMS
SaaS CMS are cloud hosted content management systems, as opposed to CMS solutions on locally hosted sites. The cloud provider provides its customers with web content management software, as well as web hosting, on a subscription model.
In particular, using a Saas CMS allows you to easily transfer and store a large volume of data over the Internet and to benefit from upgrades, as well as technical support from the cloud provider.
Examples of SaaS CMS solutions: Google Cloud Platform and OVH Cloud.
- Proprietary CMS
Proprietary or commercial CMS software is designed in-house by an agency or company for a specific use. The latter owns the CMS that it has developed. The code for such a CMS is developed in SaaS and therefore developers outside the company cannot access its source code unless they obtain user rights. To use a proprietary CMS, you will need to:
- purchase a license to use the software;
- pay monthly or annual fees for updates or support;
- pay additional charges for customization and upgrades, as well as training and technical support or continued use.
Examples of proprietary CMS software: Sitecore and Sitefinity.
Esokia is in charge of developing your site factory!
Are you looking for the best developers to set up your site factory?
Call on Esokia!
Our digital agency can design the ideal website factory to:
- Simplify your governance;
- Increase your online presence;
- Help you save money in your IT developments.
Why choose us ?
- We have the skills required: teams of experienced developers.
- We use the best technologies to deliver quality IT products to you.
- We offer you support throughout your digital projects.
Our favorite technologies to create factories at sites:
- Wordpress
Adaptability, speed of installation, ease of use, variety of themes, plugins and widgets, etc. 42% of the web runs on WordPress, the world's most popular CMS.
- Drupal
Outstanding features, easy content creation, reliable performance, excellent security, flexibility and modularity. Over a million websites operate on Drupal.
- Magento
State-of-the-art, user-friendly software, custom components, full APIs, extensibility, flexibility, etc. Over 150,000 merchants use Magento as an e-commerce solution.
- Prestashop
Secure, scalable, flexible and sustainable solution for e-commerce projects. 300,000 merchants around the world have chosen PrestaShop to develop their online business.
Other CMS software we use:
We use several other technologies to create website factories: Sitecore, Sitefinity, Google Cloud Platform, OVH Cloud, etc. If you have a specific technology in mind, let's talk about it! Esokia adapts to your needs.