Having moved a large media co from bespoke systems which worked this way, I couldn't disagree more. Separate frontend and backend systems are an absolute maintenance nightmare and kill time to market which is the lifeblood of any online commercial endeavour. Apart from being extremely dated (c. Vignette) that architecture is a technical conceit which doesn't put business needs first. It is easy to build and easy to secure but that doesn't make it a useful longterm solution.