Content management systems (CMSs), which have been the backbone of digital experiences for decades, are about to undergo a fundamental transformation—one that goes far beyond just managing and delivering content.

"We are extremely early in this journey," says guest speaker Chuck Gahun, Principal Analyst at Forrester, during his Webflow Conf presentation. While businesses have been focused on using AI for operational efficiencies like copy generation and transcription, Gahun suggests we're just scratching the surface of what's possible. "Generative AI wasn't really imagined to help with operational efficiencies, which is where we have been stuck."

The numbers paint a compelling picture of what's at stake. When consumers have good digital experiences, 48% will refer your company to others. Yet, only 34% of marketing decision makers are currently prioritizing consistent and connected messaging across channels. This gap between potential and reality hints at the massive transformation ahead—one that will reshape how we think about content management, digital experiences, and the nature of how brands connect with their audiences.

Shifting to dynamic experiences

The traditional marketing mantra of "right message, right channel, right time" is being challenged by a fundamental question: How can any brand truly know the "right time" to reach a consumer? As Gahun points out, "How are you going to know when somebody wants to buy a pair of sneakers? How are you going to know when somebody's inspired by a piece of clothing?"

This challenge is pushing the industry toward a more dynamic, AI-driven approach. With 95% of U.S. consumers having "a smartphone in front of their face," as Gahun notes, there's an unprecedented opportunity for always-on, personalized engagement. But this requires a complete rethinking of how content is created, managed, and delivered.

Consider how our interfaces with content have evolved: from PC and mouse to browsers and search, then to devices and apps, and now to AI interfaces and agents. This evolution isn't just about technology—it's about fundamentally changing our knowledge economy. "Right now, our knowledge is largely related to what we have put out on the web," Gahun explains. "But our knowledge economy as organizations is a lot deeper than as it includes tacit knowledge."

Entering the era of dynamic content systems

The future of CMSs will operate across four key dimensions: 

1. First, the interface itself is evolving from today's visual builders to AI-powered content generation. 
2. Second, consumer experiences will progress from basic personalization to truly dynamic, individualized content delivery. 
3. Third, marketing experiences will transform from low-code tools to sophisticated application generation platforms. 
4. Finally, content generation will be powered by large language models (LLMs) that understand both domain expertise and tacit knowledge.

"It's going to be unlikely that any person…in a certain amount of time will get the same content or digital experience," Gahun predicts, "because your AI ecosystem will know something about you that is different than the person sitting next to you."

This shift is already beginning. While some organizations are still investing heavily in traditional approaches—like a financial institution that has spent $9 billion over 15 years trying to bring people to their .com site—only 26% of decision-makers are thinking about the broader ecosystem opportunities that lie ahead.

Building for an AI-powered future

As organizations prepare for this new era of content management, the technology landscape itself is evolving rapidly. "Global AI software spend is poised to grow very rapidly over the next four to five years," Gahun notes, pointing to increasing investments in AI-powered platforms and tools.

This growth will enable new capabilities that extend far beyond today's content management systems. For example, future systems will be able to:

• Generate and optimize campaigns in real-time, automatically adjusting content based on performance
• Create on-demand UI interfaces tailored to different departments within organizations
• Perform complex content migrations by training LLMs rather than manually moving assets
• Deploy localized applications and content experiences automatically across different geographies

Perhaps most intriguingly, we may enter an era where content items are not stored in repositories any longer. "Maybe we'll come to an era where content is dynamically generated, delivered to your consumer, and then it's gone," Gahun suggests. "And if you ever want to see it again, you already are storing the prompt, and it will be dynamically generated for you."

The implications for marketers and content creators matters. Rather than focusing on creating and storing massive libraries of static content, teams will need to become skilled at creating frameworks and parameters that guide AI systems in generating dynamic, personalized content experiences. This shift will require new skills, new tools, and (perhaps most importantly) new ways of thinking about what content management really means.

The new content ecosystem

The future isn't just about creating more content—it's about making existing content work harder and smarter across an interconnected ecosystem. "It's not that we need to generate more content," Gahun emphasizes. "It is that we need to take the content we have and have it serve experiences in a much more dynamic fashion, powered by AI."

This shift is already visible in how content will be delivered. Take a typical product page, for example. Rather than simply pulling static content from various systems, future platforms will dynamically generate marketing copy, localize images in real-time, and adjust content based on individual user context—all powered by AI and delivered through sophisticated API architectures.

The key to success in this new landscape lies in what Gahun calls "content derivatives." Organizations need to think beyond traditional content types and taxonomies, considering how a single piece of content can be dynamically transformed for different channels and contexts. "My high recommendation to all Forrester clients," he notes, "is to go through this process and stop on step six [content derivatives] and really figure it out... because one day soon you're going to have machines reading that content. And that will be your opportunity to get into [experiences] that you were never in before."

Looking toward the future of CMS

The transformation of content management systems isn't a distant future—it's happening now. Gahun suggests that significant changes, particularly in delivering value from dynamic digital experiences, will emerge in less than two years. This rapid evolution will require organizations to:

• Think beyond their own websites to focus on ecosystem-wide content delivery
• Prepare for AI-powered, dynamic content generation at scale
• Consider how their content can be shared and transformed across multiple channels
• Understand that consumers will increasingly control when and how they engage with content

"We're going to have individualized content instead of the right message," Gahun concludes. "It's going to be on the right channels because I'm going to be there. I am the one that's asking for it." This shift from brand-controlled messaging to consumer-activated experiences represents the next frontier in content management—one where AI, dynamic experiences, and interconnected ecosystems come together to create truly personalized digital experiences.

Watch the full presentation here.