Q: Is CrownPeak CMS a stand-alone application?
A: Yes.  CrownPeak CMS is a stand-alone application, and can be purchased separately.  The same is true with CrownPeak Search. 

Q: Do we lose some features or functionality by choosing CrownPeak CMS, which is a hosted application?
A: No.  CrownPeak CMS, unlike every other hosted content management system on the market today, is an enterprise-level application.  By that, we mean that it has as many or more features and as much flexibility as any web content management system on the market.  CrownPeak has been selected by eWeek, InfoWorld and ZDNet as the top hosted content management system on the market, and was selected by InfoWorld as the top web content management system overall – bar none.

Q: Will we lose control of our data or our application by working with a software service?
A: No.  External developers can implement and manage the CrownPeak system. In fact, we are one of the most flexible and developer-friendly applications on the market. We support integration with other platforms and applications in dozens of ways – more than almost any other application in our sector. We also offer to add API calls required by developers for specific projects.

Q: Should I be worried about security with a hosted software application like CrownPeak CMS?
A: No. If your content is intended for use on a web site, then a hosted content management solution is not going to make your content less secure. In fact, CrownPeak provides 24-7-365 security management on our application and application environment, and may also increase the security of your web data by closing your site to alternate methods of updating content.  CrownPeak CMS also has specific security features built directly into the application.

Q: What expertise do we need to work with the CrownPeak software?
A: CrownPeak is designed for the non-technical business user to operate, with minimal training.  An administrator of the system can add new users, change permissions, adjust workflow, etc., with no technical knowledge.  A developer with strong HTML and ASP/VBScript skills can implement and manage every aspect of the CrownPeak system. A developer with good HTML skills but no ASP/VBScript capabilities can still adjust templates for look and feel, manage site navigation, and perform any other layout or look & feel change to a template.  Developers working in environments like IBM’s WebSphere or Microsoft’s .NET can integrate easily with the CrownPeak system using Web Services or other standard connection methods.

Q: Does CrownPeak CMS host our web site as well?
A: The CrownPeak system publishes approved pages and assets out to the live web server. We offer Web Hosting as an optional service, but don’t require it.  We can publish into any live environment, and currently publish into dozens of different data centers and hundreds of different environments. 

Q: We have other applications running.  How does CrownPeak CMS integrate with other applications?
A: Almost every web site today has forms, user tracking, authentication, or some other type of server-based interactivity.  We integrate easily with these functions.  Likewise, content is often published from the CrownPeak system and other systems, like an e-commerce application or a database application. CrownPeak integrates with applications like these simply and easily. 

Q: Does CrownPeak CMS support Web Services?
A: Yes. We have provided native support for Web Services since our inception, as well as other connection methods, including SOAP, ODBC, SMTP, FTP, SFTP, and HTTP. We also provide native support for XML/XSL.