September 22, 2025
Digital Optimism is High, But Infrastructures Aren’t Keeping Pace
In a time of near-constant digital evolution, the mood among IT and marketing decision-makers in the UK is surprisingly upbeat. New research from Forrit shows that almost two-thirds feel either inspired or excited about changes in the technology landscape; with emerging tools, especially in AI and personalisation, sparking fresh ideas about what’s possible.
But that optimism is tempered, as Forrit’s Rob Stacey identifies, with over two in five finding it difficult to keep up with the pace of change, and over a third feeling weighed down by the sheer number of marketing technology solutions on the market.
Where motivation is high but execution is lagging, the limiting factor often isn’t vision. It’s the infrastructure, and increasingly, the fear of disruption; what many leaders describe as ‘integration anxiety’. When the risks of change feel higher than the rewards, inertia takes hold.
Expectations Are Evolving; the Foundations Must Too
Content Management System (CMS) platforms have evolved far beyond static content management. Today, they are the infrastructure underpinning seamless digital engagement. Leaders are looking to their systems to support personalisation, experimentation, and omnichannel agility. Increasingly, these expectations include robust security, real-time scalability, and compliance by design.
But many organisations are still wrestling with systems that weren’t built to meet today’s demands. Nearly a quarter of leaders say their current CMS poses a security or compliance risk, with another quarter pointing to the inefficiencies of their CMS as limitations. And for 29%, scalability remains out of reach, especially when international expansion is on the horizon.
Marketers, meanwhile, are being asked to unlock more value from increasingly complex data sets and simultaneously keep up with AI, automation, and shifting consumer expectations. For 43%, the real challenge is making sense of the abundance of data, with another 41% citing the pressure of constant learning and adaptation. AI is moving faster than most organisations can adapt, and the worry is not only about keeping pace but about being left behind altogether; what might be called an ‘obsolescence dread’. Tools that feel cutting-edge today can quickly appear outdated, and that sense of constant acceleration is adding pressure to already stretched teams.
This creates a cycle of hesitation. Leaders know their current tools are holding them back. But the perceived pain of migration, such as disruption, integration risks, obsolescence, and the resource burden, slows progress. The result is a growing gap between ambition and execution.
Complex Tech Sacks, Constrained Teams
Across industries, CMS platforms are showing signs of strain. Integration issues come out on top as the most common frustration, with 38% of IT and marketing leaders saying their CMS struggles to connect with other systems. Just behind that are problems delivering content across various formats and platforms (32%), followed by usability concerns, especially for non-technical users, which affect nearly a third (30%).
These pain points show up in real ways, including slower workflows, duplicated efforts, and limited space for experimentation. For teams expected to deliver faster, more personalised, and increasingly compliant digital customer experiences, these frustrations are an impediment to tangible progress.
Compounding this is the proliferation of tools. Almost two in five organisations now use multiple CMSs, with this very complexity cited as a barrier to change. Leaders want to move faster, but when foundational systems are fragmented, the cost, both in time and resources, can be difficult to justify. It’s no surprise that 44% of respondents cite integration with existing systems as the biggest obstacle to CMS transformation, tied equally with the resource burden of managing change.
This is where integration anxiety comes into sharp focus. The fear of breaking what is already in place, even if it is imperfect, often outweighs the appetite for innovation.
Digital Collaboration as a Catalyst
This is where the conversation must change. Not towards more tools, but towards better foundations and stronger alignment between marketing and IT. Many of the challenges cited, whether integration, scalability, or security, sit at the intersection of these two functions. Yet while 98% of organisations report some collaboration, only 17% say it happens consistently. This gap matters.
When IT and marketing work side by side, not just in moments of crisis but as part of everyday practice. Integration becomes a shared responsibility rather than a blocker. Teams can collectively weigh risks, test new approaches, and build confidence that transformation won’t compromise performance. Collaboration reduces the paralysis that complexity creates.
This shift is already underway. In many organisations, the boundaries between roles are blurring. Marketing is now deeply reliant on technical skills, while IT leaders are increasingly involved in shaping customer engagement. Rather than two separate functions, they are becoming part of a single growth engine; focused not just on tools, but on delivering consistent value across every customer touchpoint.
Ease of use still matters, with the majority (84%) of decision-makers saying it plays a key role in how they evaluate CMS platforms. Right behind it comes scalability, personalisation, and integration. These are the essentials of a digital ecosystem that can evolve with the business. But despite their importance, many platforms still struggle to get them right.
It’s also clear that there’s an appetite for change. For instance, 38% of organisations say they now select CMSs through a blend of internal decision-making and partner guidance; which is a signal that businesses are looking to align technology more closely with strategic goals. Finding the right solution requires clarity on needs, capabilities, and what’s holding progress back. But critically, it also requires the right people working together. Technology alone cannot close the gap; collaboration must lead.
Moving Forward With Purpose
Digital transformation is now the fabric of how organisations work, grow, and connect with their audiences. As experiences become more tailored, regulated, and data-heavy, the platforms powering them must be built to keep up for the long-term.
That requires preparing for what’s next: scaling globally, testing quickly, and staying agile as AI continues to evolve. It also calls for breaking down the structural divides between IT and marketing. As new roles and skillsets emerge, the most forward-looking organisations will treat them not as separate functions but as part of a unified commercial team, aligned to shared outcomes like growth and customer value.
Innovation isn’t about chasing the next shiny tool. It’s about building the conditions where change can happen, at pace and at scale. And often, the strongest condition is trust; between CMS infrastructures, and just as importantly, between teams.
