Once upon a time, there was a woman named Jane. Jane worked in the marketing department of SanCorp and desperately needed a website to support a new campaign about how natural gas could actually reverse climate change and increase energy security. Her IT department offered her a SharePoint site to be delivered within 3 months at an internal cost of $1,000,000. Although her budget had been sufficient, the last site they built for her was ugly and by the time it launched, the campaign had already ended.
So Jane turned to her marketing agency and asked what they could do for her. They got her a site for £200,000 and delivered it the next month. Voila! Jane had a new marketing site that outperformed SharePoint in every way. WordPress had now taken hold in yet another big company. They lived happily ever after… true story (it’s not really a true story).
We’ve worked hard to make Angry Creative one of Sweden’s leading WordPress agencies. This article isn’t about why you should use WordPress, it’s about introducing ourselves as an agency ready to provide solutions to large businesses, examining some of the challenges WordPress poses to the enterprise market, and summarising our view of the enterprise market.
WordPress? Big business? Really?
It seems that it’s only in the last few years that WordPress has been given “big business ready” status – and definitely not by all IT departments, but in reality WordPress has been big business ready for years – check out this impressive list of brands Matt Mullenweg refers to:
WordPress is also used to power websites for some of the world’s largest and most security-conscious organisations, including Facebook, SAP, Glenn Greenwald’s The Intercept, eBay, McAfee, Sophos, GNOME, Mozilla, MIT, Reuters, CNN, Google Ventures, NASA, and literally hundreds moreMatt Mullenweg on Quora
WP Engine also has an impressive growing list of major clients.
So why should your business use WordPress? Traditionally, WordPress adventures among large enterprises have mainly focused on content-heavy requirements like blogs and news sites. As the WP ecosystem has grown and matured, the number of business problems that can be solved using WordPress as a platform has dramatically increased. Here are just a few examples:
- Full content management of group, brand and campaign websites.
- Marketing automation through integration with tools like Pardot and Hubspot.
- Ecommerce – including exotic uses like selling subscriptions, events, access to content and more, all from one platform.
- Community, forums, support and membership sites (including premium content).
- Crowdfunding.
- Intranet or project communication tools.
- Job boards.
The huge development of the WordPress ecosystem means that it’s almost impossible for any competitor to compete. So why is it still difficult for agencies offering WordPress solutions at a fraction of the cost of typical enterprise licence fees to secure larger clients?
Face your WordPress fears
WordPress can be difficult for businesses to manage:
- The core software is free, open source and community-owned
Amazingly, the fact that there is no licence fee to pay is actually a barrier in some organisations. Procurement departments may see the lack of a licence as a lack of accountability for the software’s ability to deliver the desired results. However, it is definitely not the case that just because you pay for a piece of software that claims to perform certain functions, it is a guarantee that it will actually work for your business – any investment in software requires expertise and should be based on detailed requirements and expectations. We’ve had contact with a number of large organisations that are locked into software products that are damaging their business because they can’t afford to switch, or because so much has been invested in these proprietary, licensed products that no one can bear to admit it was a mistake. - There is no official helpline to call and open support cases with
That’s why building your website with a WordPress agency like Angry Creative gives you someone to contact if something goes wrong. We see a website as a process and a relationship, not just a project. Often an initial project is required for us to get to know each other enough to trust each other and start working together optimally. It is therefore really important that we plan from the beginning to work together even after the initial project, whether it is on a support or ongoing development basis. - Open source licensing affects the assertion of IP rights
GPL, copyright and open source software is a common concern, but the situation is actually quite clear. We wrote a blog post to introduce the key concepts (with a lawyer). As long as you go into an open source project with your eyes open about licensing, you will usually find that licensing favours innovation and creates value. - There is no one to certify people or agencies as qualified or experts
There is a WordPress VIP programme with a (mainly US-based) cabal of the biggest WordPress agencies enrolled as partners. It’s definitely a sign of trust, but it’s a pretty exclusive club and the choice for non-US organisations is quite limited. We do our best to establish our credentials using a range of sources – partners, client reviews and business network memberships – just see our footer for examples. However, to date there is no equivalent of ‘Microsoft gold partner’ for WordPress (“host” although we are an approved provider by Microsoft). We get the majority of our business by building on business relationships and networking, and we think in some ways that’s a better basis for a vendor relationship. - WordPress agencies are different
WordPress agencies tend to be smaller and made up of people who are drawn to WordPress, not least because of the counter-culture. There aren’t many of us driving BMW M3s and wearing expensive suits. It’s a cultural issue, but culture is important. I learnt a long time ago that there is a ceiling to the value of the pitches I could win wearing jeans, a t-shirt and my cycling jacket. I promise that when you invite us to your fancy office, we will dress nicely, shave and be able to communicate professionally with your team.
- There is still a perception that WordPress is insecure
There are more frequent updates than with many enterprise software products, but to call WordPress less secure is simply not true. - Open source agencies are finding it harder to compete
While doing research for this article, I found this interesting take on the enterprise software market about how licence fees help pay for software vendors to get through the enterprise software procurement market. In summary, it’s about how large organisations and governments often have a policy of finding cheaper and open source alternatives. The long and expensive processes they use for procurement are an effective defence against open source consultants who have cheaper fees and pricing to buffer lost sales.
With WordPress’ rapid evolution, more and more large companies are facing the challenge of finding people who can help them make the best use of the platform. All of this means there’s an incredible opportunity for WordPress agencies that have the ambition, ability, and capacity to work with the world’s biggest companies. As WP Engine (a key partner for us) proves time and time again, innovation is driven by enterprise-level companies down to smaller businesses over time. Ultimately, that’s one of the reasons why open source software is a positive asset to humanity; once it’s built, it’s there for everyone to use to create value.
If you work with WordPress for larger corporate operations, tell us what you think. Did we miss anything? Did we make you think? Did we make you cry? If you’re not a big company or a WordPress agency, good job you read this far. I’d love to know what you think too.
If you’re a big company looking for a smart, passionate WordPress agency, don’t hesitate to contact us!