Your CMS might be the heart of your digital presence, but it’s not the whole body. You’ve got analytics tools, CRMs, form builders, marketing automation platforms, and probably a random Zapier flow or two duct taped to the whole thing.
So the big question is this: does your CMS collaborate, or does it throw tantrums when asked to integrate?
Because if every connection feels like a cursed ritual involving APIs, documentation rabbit holes, and desperate Stack Overflow threads, your CMS is not being a team player.
Integration Shouldn’t Feel Like a Battle
Here’s a fun red flag. If you have to say “Let me check if our CMS supports that” every time a new tool is proposed, it’s a problem.
Modern teams expect interoperability. Your CMS should connect easily with:
- Google Analytics, Matomo, or whatever analytics suite you use
- CRMs like Salesforce, HubSpot, or even that oddball your sales team swears by
- Email marketing platforms like Mailchimp or Constant Contact
- Digital asset managers, payment gateways, and scheduling tools
- Accessibility checkers, translation services, and more
None of these should require a custom plugin, a dev sprint, and three weeks of QA just to set up.
The Headless Trap
A lot of CMS vendors try to cover this with phrases like “API first” or “headless by design.” That sounds great until you realize it means your marketing team now needs to understand GraphQL just to see a page preview.
Do not get us wrong, headless has its place. But there is a difference between flexible and frustrating. A good CMS supports integrations with clean APIs and offers built in tools or connectors that let non developers actually use them.
What Playing Nice Looks Like
Concrete CMS supports integrations with popular platforms out of the box and does not force you into one specific architecture. Whether you are using RESTful APIs, embedding tools with iframes, or pulling content via feeds, it works with you, not against you.
You can manage forms, campaigns, and even analytics tagging without needing a developer to babysit the process. And if you do need to go custom, there is a full featured API with clear documentation.
That is what “composable” should actually mean: tools that snap together without breaking your workflow.
Your Stack Should Work Together, Not Against You
You do not need a CMS that tries to do everything. You need one that supports the stack you already have, without trying to be the jealous overachiever in the middle.
If your CMS makes every integration a painful compromise, it is time to find something more cooperative.
Stop Forcing the Friendship
Your CMS should be a good neighbor, not a walled garden. When it plays nice with the rest of your tools, your whole team wins.
Ready to work with a CMS that understands collaboration? See how Concrete CMS connects with the tools you already love.