The challenges in museums’ online collections, and what is finally changing
By 2030 the EU mandates cultural heritage online — and cloud-based platforms are shifting the question from “should we digitise?” to “which approach fits us?”
Museums are humanity’s cultural memory. Think of a regional art museum or local history institution with fewer than 50 staff: thousands of objects meticulously catalogued, years of curatorial expertise in spreadsheets, and a feeling that the digital world is leaving them behind.
By 2030, the EU Digital Strategy mandates that all cultural heritage should be accessible online. For every Rijksmuseum with a modern platform, there are dozens stuck in “digital purgatory” — knowing they need to be online, unable to figure out how to get there.
The custom-build trap
For fifteen years the standard advice was: commission a custom website. What worked in 2015 may not work in 2026. Museums increasingly realise that technology integration matters more than innovation — solutions that connect to existing collections databases, scale gradually, and don’t require throwing out years of cataloguing work.
Emerging trends
Some countries (France, the Netherlands) build centralised national infrastructure — standardised and stable, but one-size-fits-all and politically vulnerable. An alternate model is commercial SaaS platforms — typically €200–€800/month — where the vendor maintains the infrastructure and integrations. MuCoDi focuses on the Nordic market with a headless CMS approach.
The shift
Modern cloud services get collections online in weeks instead of years; digital engagement increases 30–60%. The biggest win: budgets get redirected from technical infrastructure to programmes and exhibitions — the museum’s actual mission. The conversation is shifting from “should we go digital?” to “which digital approach fits our institution?”