You've heard software vendors banging on about Headless for a while now, but it's never quite made sense what it means. Below you'll learn what it means, why it can be beneficial and when it might be overkill and you can answer some questions that'll help determine if it's the right next step for your company's digital operations
And now for our best explanation of what a Headless CMS is:
Imagine you're a chef focused on creating the perfect dish—soup. Your kitchen represents a headless CMS, dedicated solely to crafting the content, while the presentation and delivery are handled elsewhere.
The waiters, akin to APIs, connect your soup with its final destination. Whether it's served in a fine dining setting with elegant silverware or packed for takeaway in a spill-proof container, the waiters ensure that the presentation is tailored to the eating environment.
The dining venues—be it a website, a mobile app, or an in-store kiosk—are the head applications that display your soup. They adapt its presentation to fit their unique settings perfectly, ensuring every guest enjoys their meal exactly where and how they prefer it.
Who is
for?
To extend the metaphor above, if you're a small local restaurant, with dishes being handed almost straight from the pot to the diner's table, then the extra complexity of the 'headless setup' is overkill. Whereas for Honest Burger or Wagamama, with in restaurant, delivery and meal-kits and more, the 'headless approach' makes so much sense, versus having separate kitchens.
We'll leave the analogy there, but hopefully you can see that there are contexts for businesses that mean having a headless setup, or architecture, makes a lot of sense - indeed, for most organisations of a certain size, this approach is the 'modern' way to go as part of a composable ecosystem of technologies driving your business.
Below we've listed out some of the pains and challenges that we've seen organisations facing that led them to migrating to a Headless architecture.
Having to
Create and duplicate the same content in multiple CMSs
A headless CMS allows you to store and manage your content from one central repository. This setup enables you to publish the same content across multiple platforms (like websites, mobile apps, and digital kiosks) without duplication, ensuring consistency and saving time.
Struggling to
Launch new tweaks (features or content) to your website
Built your website
Several years ago and now the CMS version is out of support?
A headless CMS is less likely to become obsolete because the backend where content is managed can evolve without impacting the frontend delivery. Regular updates and upgrades are handled more smoothly, ensuring your technology stays current without disruptive overhauls.
Worried about
Security and compliance with regards to your website?
Headless CMS enhances security by separating the content delivery from the content management. This isolation helps prevent direct attacks on the content repository through the presentation layer. Additionally, a headless CMS makes it easier to implement consistent security policies and comply with data protection regulations, as updates and patches can be applied more swiftly and effectively.
Challenges customers are often facing before considering moving to a Headless CMS
CASE STUDY
Argus Media
Argus Media, the leading independent provider of price information across the global energy and commodity markets, has partnered with Codehouse on delivering powerful digital capabilities to their users and their internal marketing teams since 2016. In 2024, they pioneered their digital future by migrating to Headless.
Context
Website was last redesigned in 2017 and needed refreshing. They wanted their front-end 'head' experience to have content from multiple 'bodies'.
Path to Headless
Codehouse helped Argus Media upgrade their existing back-end CMS to be on the latest version and decoupled the front-end application.
Outcomes
Page load speed for the Argus Media website has improved 200%, with the company's SEO performance ranking on their top keywords improving on average by 5 SERP positions. From a technical perspective, they are now serving content directly to the website from multiple sources, and have faster feature release cycles.
Have questions or just want to discuss your progress? We're here to help!
Ready to talk?
James Mayhew
Commercial Director
Codehouse
