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News about Headless

<h4>Snapshot</h4><ul><li>Contentful just launched new products and capabilities focused on digital teams.</li><li>Features include enhancements to its Contentful Platform, Contentful Studio, and Contentful Ecosystem. </li><li>The new Experience Builder provides deeper visual composition capabilities.</li><li>Generative AI has been introduced for content and image creation along with AI-powered partner integrations.</li></ul><hr /> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-sloan-213515/">Steve Sloan</a> is excited.And why shouldn’t he be? There’s a lot of cool stuff happening under his watch. As CEO of <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/contentful">Contentful</a>, he’s manning the helm at a leading content platform, deftly navigating the choppy waters of composable and staring down the waves of change with innovative solutions.“We’ve seen a lot of evolution in the past five or six years,” he said in our recent chat. “This space is pretty different than it was in 2017 or 2018. And honestly, there's a lot going on, but I think it's an incredibly exciting time.”Steve took the wheel in 2019, just as the composable threshold was being breached in earnest (and the pandemic was still on the horizon). As he observed, a lot has changed – but Contentful has been a steady engine of headless innovation through this modern era of transformation.That trend line is about to get longer. Today, the company <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/livestream/">announced</a> the launch of several new products and capabilities to its composable platform – including AI-powered advancements – that effectively unlock all digital content across an organization to deliver impactful experiences at scale. There are three key components to the company’s announcement: high-utility enhancements to its Contentful Platform, the new Experience Builder in its Content Studio, and the expansion of partnerships and technologies in its Contentful Ecosystem. Contentful has also incorporated a variety of generative AI-driven capabilities within each leg of the tripod.I spoke to Steve about the new products and capabilities, which will be the central topic of discussion at the company’s last two stops of its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/storylines/">Storylines Tour</a> in Silicon Valley and Berlin later this month. I was also treated to a demo preview from Contentful’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/maireado/">Mairead O'Donovan</a>, Chief Product Officer, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/satyak/">Satya Krishnaswamy</a>, VP of Product Management.<h3>Delivering meaningful AI to Contentful users</h3>As indicated, AI is intricately woven through each of the three areas included in the announcement, providing new capabilities that solve problems for digital teams. Steve shared a bit on the genesis of the investment, and how AI is providing some of the connective tissue across its new offerings.“In the last 18 months, it became clear that we need to help the entirety of the digital team, not just the developers,” he shared. “And so we're endeavoring to do that. That's number one. But number two has been the emergence of generative AI. For content and experience creators, the opportunity to use these tools to create more variants for personalization was an obvious story, and a lot of people have talked about it. The piece that I think was less obvious, we realized coming out of an experiment we did.” As Steve described it, they compared <a target="_blank" href="https://openai.com/">ChatGPT</a> with several other emerging generative AI platforms, giving them all the exact same task with a standard rubric for quality. What they discovered is that their accuracy was anywhere between 60% and 80%. “In my job, being right 60% of the time? That’s not good enough,” he remarked. “Particularly if there's anything at stake – including our reputation. The models are great in terms of being predictive, but they’re frequently based on a broad set of contexts. The biggest challenge is how do you train your model on the content that is most trusted? Your bots will only be as good as the content or the data on which they have been trained.”<hr /><h4 style="text-align:center">In the last 18 months, it became clear that we need to help the entirety of the digital team, not just the developers. And so we're endeavoring to do that.”</h4><hr />Here's where Contentful saw an opportunity to thread the needle. By helping customers increase access to their most trusted content – from CMS to CDP to DAM – they could further scale the creation of rich, omnichannel experiences. This led to the evolution of orchestration across systems, but it also allowed AI to be focused on the right content to train models for maximum accuracy and efficacy.  “As an API-first platform, [our users] store lots of trusted content directly in Contentful,” Steve said. “But then you also have important content that lives in other systems that can be trusted. In Contentful, we can make it easy to include content you use across any device or experience. But it's also used as the place in which you can train your models.”As Steve noted in the company’s press release, generative AI has ushered in a new era – one where we all can accelerate creativity by leveraging the power of machines to improve speed, experimentation, and collaboration. This will have a significant impact on how we create, deliver, and interact with content.“At Contentful, our vision is unlocking the power of digital content for our customers, and we are already enabling this power through our latest composable content capabilities, infused with the power of AI, with more planned on our product roadmap to help digital teams reach their full potential.” <h3>Orchestrating everything in the Content Platform</h3>The enhancements to the Contentful Platform are plentiful. At their core, they enable developers to break down content silos and orchestrate content from any source across an organization. The net effect: teams create and deliver digital experiences at a faster clip but with brand governance, consistency, and scale.Contentful’s references and cross-space references effectively “unlock” content from different systems – think DAMs, PIMs, and commerce platforms – as well as within Contentful itself. This helps teams efficiently leverage all their content for reuse in any digital experience across brands, regions, and use cases.“As you know all too well, work happens in silos,” Steve emphasized. “A lot of stuff gets handed off via email, and all these other very, very clunky ways of working. And going back to grumpy customers, they get really frustrated with it taking too long because different teams work in different ways. So, the ability to bring that together? We think that’s really compelling.”The embellishments to the Content Platform also include enhanced enterprise governance and security, including an expanded EU data residency footprint to help address data protection and compliance needs. From an AI perspective, the platform also features an AI Content Type Generator, which was previously announced. It streamlines the content model creation process so developers can accelerate time to market. As Steve noted, this is a useful attribute for a marketer, but also a tool that improves how people work together. <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:82.87%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/10/contentful-content-modeler.jpg" /></figure>Another great enhancement is the generative AI-based Visual Content Modeler, which creates the baseline for someone who isn’t as technical to set up the structure at the beginning of the process. This enables marketers to start the process and reduce the burden on developers.  “One of the things we also saw was that creating content models – thinking about content in a structured way – it's just not something that everybody knows how to do. But it's essential to be able to be able to scale your experiences over time and make them consistent.” <h3>Visually composing with the new Experience Builder in Contentful Studio</h3>In my demo with Mairead O'Donovan and Satya Krishnaswamy, I was blown away by some of the new features in the Contentful Studio – namely, the new Experience Builder. <img style="width:54.31%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/10/contentful-mairead-satya.jpg" />Contentful Studio already empowers digital teams – including marketers, designers, and content creators – to manage and even visually assemble digital experiences for any channel, all without developer support. The Experience Builder takes composition to the next level. It provides a familiar, easy-to-use visual canvas that allows users to create on-brand experiences using their own design system components with a structured content foundation. This enables teams to combine creativity with governance to ensure consistency and scalability across every experience.As Satya walked me through the demo, I was immediately impressed by its elegance and simplicity. The UI was clean and compact, providing quick access to component libraries and content elements. It all felt very easy. <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:80.01%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/10/contenful-experience_builder.png" /></figure> With Contentful’s enhancements around external reference consolidation – and the use of its GraphQL API – all of the assets being used are complete with detailed information from their source system. For example, if a product originates in commercetools, Contentful delivers all of the relevant product information in JSON. Marketers no longer have a blind spot with just a product ID or have to go back to an outside system. Contentful delivers it all in a single call. Pretty slick. AI is also present throughout the Studio experience. Users can access the improved Content Generator to quickly create or recommend content, translations, and SEO keywords. The built-in AI Image Generator can also be used to render or manipulate images on the fly. <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:80.35%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/10/contentful-ai-image_generator.jpg" /></figure> “This new set of products is really directed at non-technical marketers,” Steve said. “And because it's built directly on top of Contentful, they still have all the benefits of structured content, which allows them to store, manage, and scale any type of content delivered to any device anywhere in the world in milliseconds. So you get all the benefits of the platform, but you have a purpose-built tool for non-developers.”<h3>Expanded partnerships and integrations in the Contentful Ecosystem</h3>According to the press release, the Contentful Ecosystem includes a growing portfolio of solution and technology partners, all with the goal of helping customers get to market faster with impactful digital experiences – the kind of experiences that meet customer expectations and drive business value. As part of the announcement, Contentful has added <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/newsroom/">new partnerships and enhanced integrations</a> from a deeper bench of best-in-class enterprise solutions. This includes <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/aws-joins-mach-alliance-as-enabler-member-reflects-growth-of-cloud-native-solutions">AWS</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/salesforce-unveils-composable-storefront-a-digital-commerce-solution-to-help-retailers-go-headless-fast">Salesforce</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sap.com/index.html">SAP</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://segment.com/">Twilio Segment</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/commercetools-acquires-frontastic-adds-composable-frontend-capabilities-to-headless-commerce">commercetools</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/bigcommerce-review-an-easy-to-use-choice-for-ecommerce-shops">BigCommerce</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://cloudinary.com/">Cloudinary</a>, and WPP – enabling digital teams to improve accessibility, analytics, and performance, simplify front-end dev, and streamline content operations to bring differentiated experiences to life quickly. This adds to the 80 partners that are already building on Contentful. As Steve pointed out, the growth in the ecosystem is being driven by composability – and choice. “Earlier on, there was this notion that we want to create great experiences on top of a cohesive platform,” he reinforced. “But customers demanded choice, right? And so giving them the opportunity to use the tools they need, not just the tools you happen to have – I think it's a very, very different orientation than the DSPs that are monolithic."AI is also present in the ecosystem, largely due to the focus on artificial intelligence by other technologies and solution providers. Advancements from partners include the new AI Content Detector from <a target="_blank" href="https://writer.com/ai-content-detector/">Writer</a>, which enables users to assess content that might be generated by AI so that they can maintain transparency and integrity. Additionally, the <a target="_blank" href="https://surferseo.com/">Surfer SEO</a> app delivers AI-driven search engine optimization, helping digital teams drive website traffic more effectively. <h3>What’s the availability and cost of the new features?</h3>Most of the new products and features are generally available and will begin rolling out in a limited, early-access program. Customers can expect additional announcements and updates to follow, particularly on AI. Contentful is finalizing the pricing and packaging details, which it plans to announce at a later date. For more info, you can visit <a target="_blank" href="http://contentful.com/whats-new">contentful.com/whats-new</a>.<h3>The Takeaway</h3>It’s hard not to be impressed with the scope of new features that Contentful has introduced, particularly its new Experience Builder. That said, on the AI side of the ledger, the market is drowning in noise – and it’s become exceedingly difficult to communicate real differentiation when many features swimming in a sea of sameness. What I really appreciate about Contentful’s approach is its focus on the customer. While others rushed to add AI, they took their time experimenting – but also breaking down the voice of the user to understand what’s at stake. They also doubled down on their efforts to solve real problems with orchestration, which unified content in new and impactful ways while providing the added benefit of training AI more effectively. And all their innovation was amplified by a deeper investment in their partner community. It looks like a win-win-win. As Steve mentioned, the word “trust” is going to be at the top of our collective AI vocabulary list. That’s a human construct, by the way – something AI can’t grasp. That means we need to focus on the right training, governance, and guardrails to deliver something that can truly be trusted. “A big part of it comes back these grumpy customers and understanding what their pain points were,” he conveyed. “They're really the inspiration for everything we're building, and our solution partners helped us discover those moments of pain and possible ways to solve it. We have a very active Partner Advisory Board, where we work with CTOs who are very close to our shared customers and their challenges. And we spend a lot of time getting input from them, finding creative ways to solve this next generation of problems.”

Contentful Unveils New Features and AI-Powered Capabilities to Accelerate Creativity for Digital Teams 

matt-garrepy

JoyConf Stories: Netlify’s Matt Biilmann on the Power of the Storyblok Partnership

A lot of things happen under the hood when modernizing software. As the saying goes, we aren't always privy to how the sausage is made. But when it comes to UI, everything's above the fold, making it one of the most important expressions of a platform's evolution.
Yesterday, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/agility-cms-introduces-simplified-pricing-tiers-for-headless-content-management/">Agility</a> – a headless CMS that positions itself as the premium content platform – announced the completion of a comprehensive design system refresh in its new user interface. The company is "putting the finishing touches" on its new UI, and plans to have it fully running on June 30th. Until then, the classic UI will be available to current users.
According to the company's press release, Agility's design, product, and customer success teams spent the last three months listening to customer feedback and implementing improvements to elevate the design and accessibility of its platform UI.
"The design system refresh in our new UI is a reflection of our dedication to listening to our customers' needs,” said  <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelvarty/" target="_blank">Joel Varty</a>, CTO of Agility, emphasizing the company's commitment to innovation and customer-centric solutions.
<h2>A refreshing refresh of UI and enhanced CMS features</h2>
Agility's design system refresh is more than just a visual upgrade – it introduces a number of new features and enhancements aimed at empowering users with increased efficiency and an upgraded user experience. This comes a few weeks before the new UI will have full feature parity and become the default within the platform.
"The implementation of these new features is a direct response to our customers' needs," said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jina-zohori/" target="_blank">Jina Zohori,</a> Head of Customer Experience at Agility. "Our goal was to improve the overall accessibility and usability of the UI design system, and we are confident that the enhancements we've made will have a significant positive impact on our users' workflows."
Here are some of the highlights users can expect from the new UI:
<ul>
<li>New Filters: The interface now boasts enhanced filters, allowing users to precisely search content items, pages, assets, and more. This feature significantly improves efficiency and user experience.</li>
<li>New Advanced Global Search: The upgraded global search functionality offers users a powerful and flexible data searching and filtering experience within a single component, enabling swift access to the desired information.</li>
<li>New Org Selector and Instance Manager: Simplifying navigation and management across multiple instances and organizations, the new org selector and instance manager streamline user workflows and enhance overall usability.</li>
<li>Navigation Panel Enhancement: Responding to user feedback, Agility has introduced a darker, high-contrast navigation panel, reducing eye strain and improving focus during prolonged usage.</li>
<li>Heartbeat Indicator: With a new heartbeat indicator, users now receive visual updates on ongoing events and tasks, ensuring they remain informed and engaged with key activities.</li>
<li>Collapsible Properties and Activity Feed Sidebar: The refreshed UI features collapsible properties and an activity feed sidebar, maximizing screen space for the main content and providing users with a more immersive experience.</li>
<li>Pagination instead of Infinite Scroll: Agility has replaced infinite scroll with a pagination feature, resulting in improved navigation, reduced lag, and easier return to specific content points.</li>
<li>Horizontal Breadcrumb Navigation: The introduction of horizontal breadcrumb navigation enhances tracking and navigation within complex directory structures, simplifying user journeys.</li>
<li>Table Column Reordering: Users can now effortlessly reorder table columns, significantly enhancing data analysis and comprehension capabilities.</li>
<li>Visual Model Editor with Drag-and-Drop: Agility's updated visual model editor empowers users to create and edit models interactively through an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, further enhancing usability and productivity.</li>
<li>New Asset Manager: The newly integrated asset manager significantly improves the organization and accessibility of digital assets, ensuring efficient project resource utilization and seamless collaboration.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Leveraging customer feedback to build a more effective UI</h2>
According to the company's press release, Agility remains committed to continuously enhancing its product offerings based on user feedback and evolving market demands. The UI refresh is a testament to Agility's dedication to delivering exceptional user experiences and ensuring maximum accessibility for all users.
"We are excited to unveil the design system refresh in our new UI, which is a result of intensive collaboration with our customers," said According to <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dluxdesign/" target="_blank">David Babijaev</a>, Product Designer of Agility's new UI. "By incorporating their feedback, we have created a more intuitive and user-friendly experience that will empower our users to achieve their goals efficiently and effectively."
If you're interested in learning more about Agility's new UI, the company is offering a session entitled "Unleash the Power of Agility: Mastering the New UI" on July 26th at 12 PM EDT. Users can sign up through their Agility account.
<h2>About Agility</h2>
Agility is a leading provider of Headless CMS solutions, offering businesses an ultimate content management system that is personalized, scalable, and future-proof. With its API-first approach and flexible architecture, Agility enables brands to effortlessly create and distribute captivating content across various channels. Their commitment to delivering personalized white-glove service and addressing unique challenges makes them the top choice for enterprise-level businesses in need of composable solutions. Experience the transformation of your content management strategy and the achievement of your business goals with Agility: Your Voice, Your Way.

Agility CMS Unveils Refreshed UI, Delivering Enhanced User Experience and Accessibility

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Agility logo against a digital wave background

There’s a little-known psychological condition called footballis doldrumus that affects millions of people each year.
This peculiar phenomenon strikes around mid-July – the “dog days,” as we say – causing North American football fans to incessantly pine for the pigskin. The hotter the summer, the more intense the craving. And this has been a hot one.
Symptoms include (but are not limited to): listing the season opener as a holiday on your Outlook calendar, leaving messages on refrigerator wipe boards that read “6 weeks left ‘til kickoff,” and waking up from a deep sleep and shouting first and ten for no apparent reason.
It’s a sinister malady that Joel Varty is undoubtedly familiar with, given his own experience on the field. When we met in New York City this past May, he told me about his son’s goal of playing football at the collegiate level, and perhaps one day in the NFL. I learned later that Joel played during college, and has a passion for coaching. 
As a victim myself of footballis doldrumus, talking with Joel was a bit like a support group on multiple levels. I resisted any mention of Tom Brady for fear of getting too off-topic (or sounding like an insipid fanboy), and we focused instead on the real-world challenges impacting the content management game.
In his role as Chief Technology Officer at <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/agility-cms-introduces-simplified-pricing-tiers-for-headless-content-management/">Agility</a> – <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/">a headless CMS</a> – Joel is facing a deep bench of competitors with similar strengths on the field. As many platform features become commoditized, executing the right plays to differentiate is essential to win.
When I learned that Agility was releasing new updates to its UI, I caught up with Joel to learn more about his company’s strategy and get his perspective on the marketplace. We talked about how composable is changing the game, why trust is critical to customer experience, and how he’s quarterbacking his own way to victory.
<h2>Coaching the long game in CMS </h2>
Like most content management veterans, Joel’s path to product was circuitous. While playing football at the <a href="https://www.uoguelph.ca/" target="_blank">University of Guelph</a> in Ontario, he parlayed a love of prose into programming and graduated with honors in English and Computer Science.
It’s not an uncommon story in the development world. Some of the best coders I’ve ever worked with started analyzing James Joyce before JavaScript.
Guelph is also where Agility’s CEO, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonvoigt/">Jon Voigt</a>, attended – and the two have been teaming up ever since. They both endured the rise and fall of the dot.com era, and that lead to a stint of website consulting gigs that encompassed the buildout of their own CMS.
“[I think] everyone has said, ‘hey, I can build my own CMS’ at some point,” he recalls with laughter. “We started ours around 2005 and kept doing it because we really like working together. But by 2017, we decided we didn’t want to build websites anymore – we just wanted to build a CMS, and we think headless CMS is the way to go.”
Joel also said that one of the catalysts for this shift in priorities was the maturity of the Agility CMS itself. Not only was it stable and trusted at a foundational level, but it now had enough customers running on it to make financial sense. As a totally bootstrapped company with solid profitability, they were able to sell off some of their existing contracts in 2018 and go all-in on the CMS.
<hr />
<h4>“I think where Agility shines isn't in a specific vertical market. It's with folks who have complex, unique needs – and you have to approach those in a special way. We love to teach our partners how to do that.”</h4>
<hr />
“It was really hard to let go,” Joel admitted. “Giving [our business] to partners was a double-edged sword, but it was great to stop competing with our partners. We were always the first party vendor building stuff, so we didn't feel it was fair to have a product we have an upper hand with.”
I asked Joel how they made the transition successful, particularly around client care. I’ve heard this projects-to-products story many times, but the failures often come from a lack of top-down leadership and cultural investment – like a self-inflicted form of pass interference. 
“We actually looked at our core values as a company, and really focused on teaching,” he said, “so we took the lessons we’ve learned and started teaching our partners how to do things. I think where Agility shines isn't in a specific vertical market. It's with folks who have complex, unique needs – and you have to approach those in a special way. We love to teach our partners how to do that.”
Teach... or coach? Either way, Joel and his team have made the knowledge transfer a big part of the Agility experience. This includes clear documentation, tutorials, transparent practices, and regular communication with their community of users. 
<h2>Outplaying sameness with service </h2>
At a recent event, I was discussing the headless CMS category with several attendees, and the subject of commoditization came up (as it frequently does). One of the pedaled analogies was that DXPs are akin to “apples and oranges” based on their feature sets, while headless CMSes are more like red apples versus green.
I asked Joel about this swelling box of apples and how he views the commoditization challenge.
“It’s interesting because there's almost more of a move to be enough of the same so that you're recognizable across vendors – like things have to be ‘same enough,’” he observed. “If you're too different, that's not actually a good thing, because it's hard to compare in a DX or composable space. So we strive to be ‘same enough’ while being unique.”
Commoditization is a real threat, but Agility is rising above the challenge by investing in its customer experience. This is embodied by its “White Glove Service,” which assures each client receives human interaction – which Joel admits is a challenge for most vendors as it inhibits scalability. But when the average lifetime of an Agility customer is eight to ten years, there’s value in this hands-on approach.
This felt like a key differentiator to me, so I asked if it was a key selling point for Agility.
“We haven't been using it enough,” Joel said. “We need to listen more to that part of our customers’ reactions. Our product was built based on customer feedback, and that's how we decide what we're going to do. It's 100% customer driven. We spent a lot of time and effort tracking what people say and want regarding features. And that's how we decide what we build into the product.”
To that end, Agility continues to provide transparency around its roadmap, engaging with its users via <a href="https://roadmap.agilitycms.com/tabs/3-launched" target="_blank">roadmap.agilitycms.com</a> around ideation. Joel said developers are very vocal within their community, but Agility strives to ensure that marketers and business decision-makers have a voice. That’s important, given the critical role of content operations within most enterprises.
“Our ideal customer needs to understand the value of content,” he explained. “Sometimes it's the developer, an information management role, a head of marketing, a CTO – maybe even the CEO of a smaller company. But if they can get the value of that content… then that’s going to be a good fit for Agility.”
<h2>Tackling the composable hype-cycle with trust</h2>
As a headless CMS, I asked Joel what he thought about the growth of composable and the advent of <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/wrestling-with-category-confusion-in-the-dxc-slackdown/">DXC (digital experience composition)</a> and other categories emerging in the space. On the one hand, DXC vendors like <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/uniform-raises-28m-in-series-a-funding-round-for-composable-dxp/">Uniform</a> are solving the visualization challenges for headless CMSes. But are these TLAs (or “three-lettered acronyms” for the unindoctrinated) helping or hindering our understanding of the composable space?
“My opinion is those acronyms are holding us back as much as they bring us forward,” he said. “They give us something to talk about, but you always have to go beyond that. There's always some explaining that has to happen when you're talking to someone who actually wants to use this in their business. I think it comes down to having more trust between people.”
That trust is hard-earned, as Joel explained. <a href="https://www.cineplex.com/" target="_blank">Cineplex</a>, one of Agility’s customers since 2007, has relied not just on its CMS, but on the expertise of a team that understands their business imperatives. Over the years, trust in Agility has guided the cinema giant’s digital transformation, from site rebuilds to infrastructure changes. This ingredient of trust has shaped Joel’s perspective on composable, which is as much about the business considerations as the technology posture.
“I think the idea of enterprise software should mean long-term ROI, not just fast ROI,” he said. “How can you take a piece out and put it back in, or fix something that you don't like? That, to me, is like the best of composable.”
I probed further about the importance of composable standards and the rise of the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen/">MACH Alliance</a> over the last few years. The organization has advocated for best-of-breed technologies that meet the rigid standards of MACH (Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS, Headless). Are relationships with vendors in DXC, e-Commerce, search, and other categories becoming an important growth channel for headless CMS?
“Yes, and the long-term goal is to have a combination of technology and relationships accelerated, where it's like a pre-built stack or grid that everyone knows works,” he said. “So CMS is going to be hosted here, and it will have this for search, this personalization, and this for commerce. We know how it all works together – and everyone trusts it.”
Joel admitted that we might be three or four years away from any broad market buy-in, suggesting that it’s still a hard sell given the institutional culture of some IT departments. This is why the efforts of thought leaders within the MACH Alliance community have been key to advancing the growth of composable.
“They won’t get it until they trust it,” Joel punctuated.
<h2>Agility’s new UI delivers more than a fresh uniform</h2>
I heard Agility’s plans for its new user interface some time ago, well before its scheduled GA. While modernizing a UI is an accepted part of any software lifecycle, it offers as many opportunities as challenges. Most people loathe change – so any modification can be met with temperamental responses. That’s why this UI "refresh" is as much about empathy and sentiment as it is about systems and processes.
I wanted to hear how Agility approached this undertaking, and what stood out for Joel.
“Interestingly enough, we started this new UI project about 18 months ago,” he revealed. “The last time we redid our UI was in 2015, and Jon [our CEO] and I knew that you always do it once and then refresh it after everyone's already had a chance to see it. We started base testing with cohorts of new or existing users, and we actually brought design in-house – which, for a smaller company, was a big deal. We also have this amazing person who A/B tested different things and conducted interviews to determine what makes [users] feel better. And we focused as much on that as we could and tried to be very consistent about how we handled content.”
As Joel detailed the process, it was clear his team didn’t cut things out or remove extraneous elements just to satisfy the simplification goal. To his point, CMS users claim to want all the features – even if they won’t be using them.
“There's a real balance there,” he continued. “But overall, we wanted things to be faster and easier across the board and ultimately make people feel better.”
I had a chance to peruse the new UI while comparing it to the classic version (which will continue to be available to users). Right off the bat, the visual design system is cleaner and more streamlined, offering a modern lightweight experience that feels more like an app. The main navigation panel provides more contrast, aimed at reducing eye strain during prolonged use. The authoring tools are still intuitive and familiar, a staple of Agility's previous UI. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/07/agility-new-ui-2023-1024x692.jpg" alt="New Agility software UI" />
You can read about the full scope of features <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/agility-unveils-refreshed-design-system-in-ui-delivering-enhanced-user-experience-and-accessibility/">in our previous post</a>, but a few stand out, including new filters that offer augmented search. Users will find the new org selector handy, and there’s a slick heartbeat indicator coming that will provide greater visibility around specific events and tasks. Also noteworthy are the drag-and-drop model editor and the table column reordering, both designed to simplify and accelerate tasks.
You can check out the UI for yourself by creating an Agility account at <a href="http://www.agilitycms.com">www.agilitycms.com</a>. While Joel and his team are still fine-tuning some details, scope creep has pushed the original launch date into late July – a frustrating reality of software launches.
“But I think it will be worth it,” he said. “Our company anniversary is July 19, so I'm kind of thinking maybe that's a good day.”
<h2>Keeping the game fun – even with AI on the field</h2>
I’ve already waxed extensively about Joel’s affinity for football. But that affection is grounded by a deep gratitude for his family and their shared pastimes. Much like his dual pursuits of literature and computer science, he blends a love for athletics and a passion for art and scholarship in his life outside Agility.
“I am super blessed with two really, really cool kids,” he said glowingly. “My son plays football, and I've been a dedicated ‘dad coach’ for that. But my daughter is super into theater, and I love directing, being on stage, or getting involved from a community standpoint. It's got nothing to do with technology – it's just having fun.”
As we rounded out our time together, the subject of AI meandered into the conversation. What does Joel think about the advent of this technology and its impact on content? He has, after all, helped shape the CMS space over the last two decades. What does the world look like now that ChatGPT is a growing fixture in the creative process?
“I look at it like this: ChatGPT needs us,” he said. “It copies ideas. Nothing comes out of thin air, and someone has to come up with the ideas.”
Kind of like a quarterback audibling on the field. Sometimes, human instinct takes over – no matter how rehearsed the play might be. And while AI may prove its worth as a key automation tool, it’s heartening to hear from a content veteran that people are still core to the process.
As a headless CMS in a densely-packed market, Agility is executing in all the right ways. And with so many seasons under its belt, the platform and its people have proven resilient in the face of change. That speaks volumes about its vision and go-to-market strategy, which gives it a strong position in the new composable game. 
I still reserve the mantle of GOAT for Tom Brady, but Joel definitely has my vote for the “CMS Hall of Fame.”

Playing to Win in the Headless CMS Game: Interview with Joel Varty, CTO at Agility CMS

<hr /> Hey, it’s Friday, folks! Queue the confetti!!!If you don’t already have a skip in your step, I highly recommend adding some music to your current situation. And if you happen to stumble upon a terrestrial ‘80s rock station or Spotify playlist, maybe you’ll <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_for_the_Weekend">get lucky and score some Loverboy.</a>As those Canadian crooners have maintained for almost a quarter of a century, everybody’s working for the weekend…Of course, “working stiff” anthems aside, Murphy’s Law is also a song on repeat, particularly in the digital world. We’ve all heard the macabre pipe organ play when a “503: Service Unavailable” message appears on screen where a website homepage should.Why on Friday? And why does stuff invariably hit the fan at 4 PM, just as Happy Hour starts calling your name?That’s the central premise of a fictional yet highly relatable blog series from <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelvarty/">Joel Varty,</a> CTO at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/agility">Agility CMS.</a> It’s called “The Incremental Approach,” and across four snappy installments, it weaves a sordid tale of haywire and hope – and how a leaked press release turned a Friday afternoon into a ring of fire (hats off to the OG loverboy, Johnny Cash).I won’t give too much away, but this engaging series reminded me of the many lessons we learn along the way, and how there’s no replacement for real-world experience. For those of us responsible for the uptime of high-availability website workloads, “game day” testing our infrastructure for unexpected traffic spikes, outages, and other scenarios is essential. But there are always things we can’t see or prepare for – even with the best runbooks and failovers in place. For those situations, we need human assets. Seasoned leadership. Teams that are ready to think on their feet and bring unconventional ideas to the table.As Loverboy might say, the trusted people who have a piece of your heart. If your Friday is dragging, inject it with a little fun! This story has everything you want: drama, intrigue, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/nextjs">Next.js.</a> All the trappings of a world gone mad, and how a headless CMS – and its intrepid team – saves the day.Tapping his signature humor, Joel traverses his own playlist of hits, from how a CDN can turn a sad song into a happy one, how running code at the edge can rock the room, and how incremental steps can rewrite the lyrics and take a whole new tune to the top of the charts. You can read the series here:<ul><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://agilitycms.com/blog/the-incremental-approach-go-to-market-in-less-than-half-the-time-part-1">Agility CMS: “The Incremental Approach” – Part 1 </a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://agilitycms.com/blog/the-incremental-approach-go-to-market-in-less-than-half-the-time-part-2">Agility CMS: “The Incremental Approach” – Part 2 </a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://agilitycms.com/blog/the-incremental-approach-go-to-market-in-less-than-half-the-time-part-3">Agility CMS: “The Incremental Approach” – Part 3 </a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://agilitycms.com/blog/the-incremental-approach-go-to-market-in-less-than-half-the-time-part-4">Agility CMS: “The Incremental Approach” – Part 4</a></li></ul> <hr /><h4 style="text-align:center" id="looking-for-guidance-on-agility-cms?-talk-to-an-expert.">Looking for guidance on Agility CMS? <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/contact">Talk to an expert.</a></h4><hr /> <h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:31.83%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/01/cms-connect-2025-logo.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-connect-25"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">CMS Connect 25</a></h4>August 5-6, 2025 – Montreal, CanadaWe are delighted to present the second annual summer edition of our signature global conference dedicated to the content management community! CMS Connect will be held again in beautiful Montreal, Canada, and feature a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. Join vendors, agencies, and customers from across our industry as we engage and collaborate around the future of content management – and hear from the top thought leaders at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference exclusively focused on CMS. Space is limited for this event, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">so book your seats today.</a>

Hey Loverboy, Don’t be Heartbroken: Agility CMS Offers Levity and Lessons in ‘The Incremental Approach’ 

<hr /> Headless CMS platforms are enabling users to have more freedom and choice when it comes to content delivery. This includes expanding their bench of connector resources and juicing their overall API capabilities. <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/agility">Agility CMS</a> has long been a forward-thinking provider of <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-content-management-system-cms">headless content management</a> solutions, and they're continuing to bolster this trend with a new set of capabilities. This week, the company announced the launch of its revamped <a target="_blank" href="https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/announcing-dotnet-7/">Microsoft .NET</a> Starter, along with an exciting new <a target="_blank" href="https://graphql.org/">GraphQL</a> Beta.With .NET 5 approaching its end of life, the move to .NET 7 ensures future readiness and significantly improves performance, making it a compelling choice for developers looking for speed and efficiency. The GraphQL Beta feature offers more control over data retrieved from Agility's APIs, allowing users to select specific properties and tailor their content queries precisely to their needs.With these updates, Agility is endeavoring to deliver more power and flexibility to developers and businesses, allowing them to manage content delivery more efficiently. “GraphQL is quickly joining REST as a de facto standard for developers,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/playing-to-win-in-the-headless-cms-game-interview-with-joel-varty-cto-at-agility">Joel Varty</a>, CTO of Agility. “This starter for .NET utilizes GraphQL as an example for empowering developers with more fine-tuned control over their API requests. This enhancement marks a significant step forward in our goal to enable businesses to leverage the latest technologies effectively.”As headless CMS platforms go head-to-head in an increasingly composable, hot-swappable world, Agility is doubling down on real value. By developing cutting-edge features that reduce friction and expand capabilities, the company is reinforcing its commitment to enhance the developer experience.<h3>Leveraging the .NET starter as a differentiator</h3>Starters are incredibly handy resources in the headless CMS toolbox. Agility's upgraded .NET Starter fully supports .NET 7, making it easier for developers to build powerful web applications using Agility CMS. The .NET Starter serves as a complement to Agility CMS's existing <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/nextjs">Next.js</a> starter, providing versatile options for frontend development. With these assets, organizations can accelerate their development of more immersive omnichannel experiences. It's another example of how the headless CMS is supporting its customers, partners, and broader user community with the essential resources to be successful. According to Varty, building websites and web applications with .NET 7 and Agility CMS offers a beautiful, performant experience for users. At the same time, it delivers an amazing experience for both developers and editors. This squares with the platform's mission to empower both personas to create stunning digital experiences. “We believe editors should have full control over the pages on their website and should not rely on a developer to create new pages for them,” said Varty. “Our .NET starter simplifies this process by seamlessly sourcing content and automatically generating website pages based on the sitemap in Agility CMS. This unique approach puts the power in the hands of editors, enabling them to dictate the pages' availability, URLs, and the specific UI components that constitute each page.”Agility's holistic approach helps ensure a more harmonious collaboration between editors and developers, resulting in seamless and efficient digital experiences. For example, using Agility's Layouts and Components, editors can easily compose various content types and determine their precise placement. Meanwhile, developers can play a crucial role in defining the available components in the CMS and their respective fields. The .NET Starter, just like its Next.js counterpart, empowers businesses to create flexible, composable solutions. This composability aligns with Agility's vision of enabling headless CMS users to choose and switch frontend technologies according to their preferences – all while maintaining the same content management capabilities.<h3>Expanding API capabilities with GraphQL Beta </h3>A significant highlight of this release is Agility's GraphQL Beta. Developers now have the option to utilize GraphQL alongside the <a target="_blank" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Fetch_API">Fetch SDK</a>, allowing them to pass typed objects and GraphQL queries to retrieve the data they need from Agility CMS with unmatched precision. This new feature allows for more efficient and fine-tuned data retrieval, enhancing the overall developer workflow.Businesses are encouraged to explore the GraphQL Beta feature in Agility's .NET Starter. While the .NET Starter has received positive initial feedback, Agility CMS remains committed to continuous improvement and welcomes suggestions for further enhancements.For more information on Agility's .NET Starter and GraphQL Beta, you can <a target="_blank" href="https://agilitycms.com/docs/dotNet/agility-net7-updates">visit the company's website.</a>

Agility CMS Unveils New .NET Starter and GraphQL Beta

<hr /> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jina-zohori/">Jina Zohori</a> is a customer fanatic. OK, maybe customer-centric is more corporately apropos. But given her passion and gusto, fanatic feels a little more on target. It reflects her enthusiasm for championing success at a human level – and bringing <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/agility">Agility CMS's</a> powerful yet simple solutions to content creators and developers.She also sees this rabid customer commitment as a holistic calling, one that marshals an entire organization's collective efforts.“Being customer-centric isn't just marketing's job, or sales’ job, or customer success,” she said during our chat at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/the-deep-dish-on-composable-6-tasty-takeaways-from-the-mach-alliances-2025-conference">“The Composable Conference”</a> a few weeks ago. “It's an engineering job. It's everybody's job. Technology is for everybody. And that experience, driven through our technology, doesn't have to stop at our customers.”That attitude is one of the many reasons why Jina is a rockstar leader – and exactly what Agility CMS needs to navigate the dense and fiercely competitive jungles of the headless CMS landscape. As president, she combines her tech savviness and business acumen to drive strategy and meet the needs of her users, especially those in the deep trenches of digital experience and content creation.When I met with Jina at the recent <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/the-composable-conference-2025-takes-shape-as-mach-alliance-announces-speakers-and-new-events">MACH Alliance conference in Chicago,</a> I was eager to talk to a headless CMS that was a member of the open, best-of-breed cabal. This year’s conference modified the formula a bit, and I wanted some perspective on what’s changed through the CMS lens – and how the Alliance is continuing to support the goals of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-content-management-system-cms">content management systems. </a>This is a key question, especially as the market wrestles with questions about the ROI of composable strategies. As stories of failures and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7310313384015511552/">contradictory posts by VTEX</a> color the decision-making, customers are looking to their trusted SIs and vendors to help them navigate the complexities.As a 22-year veteran of the space, Agility is taking it all in stride. A big part of their success? You guessed it: customer centricity. And as Jina explained, that’s manifested through Agility’s focus on meaningful outcomes.“Our bread and butter isn’t just our content management system as a platform,” she said, “but the experience you gain through that as an editor, as a developer, and of course as an end user consuming that content on the front end.”<h3 id="the-evolution-to-headless-cms">The evolution to headless CMS</h3>While we didn’t go deep into the archives, Agility’s heritage is arguably one of its key advantages. With more than two decades under their belt, they’ve seen market opportunity and turmoil – and continued to persevere. Over the years, the Canadian-born and bred platform has earned a stellar reputation, powering large-scale enterprise brands like Cineplex, Scotiabank, and Mitsubishi Electric with its headless CMS. Like many of its legacy peers, life began as a solution to a common agency problem.“When we were building sites for our customers, we realized, 'Hey, it'd be really great if we had a CMS for this,'" Jina said. "Not only would we be able to have everything housed in one really nice package, but it would give the customer more autonomy, so they're not reliant as much on the developers, which would be us at that point.”As a consultancy, building websites opened more doors for implementing their homegrown CMS. As the footprint expanded, the mission shifted from easing the burden for their internal developers and giving more ownership and domain to their customers.The pivot to a headless CMS architecture came later, as CEO and co-founder <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonvoigt/">Jon Voigt</a> and CTO <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelvarty/">Joel Varty</a> saw the advantages of decoupling to provide even greater control and autonomy for developers. According to Jina, this journey began before the headless “Gold Rush.”“Prior to ‘headless’ being coined as a term, we were already looking at how we become more cloud-native, API driven, and decoupled,” she said.It wasn't quite SaaS at that time, but as Jina explained, Agility was aiming for greater flexibility and optionality, so the front end – whatever it might be, whatever channel the presentation layer should be – provided greater freedom and control.“It allows users to just be able to do more.” And the rest, as they say, is history. From an architectural perspective, Agility’s scalable and flexible posture makes it a seamless solution for composable stacks. I’ve spent a lot of time in the Agility UX, and it reflects thoughtful and persistent innovation. The company makes a conscious effort to engage customers around product betas to help perfect their tooling, which has resulted in its <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://agilitycms.com/product/web-studio">rock-solid Web Studio</a> and other features that put the headless CMS over the top. <h3 id="the-road-to-mach">The road to MACH</h3>Agility has been a member of the MACH Alliance since mid-2023. Since then, the Alliance has ballooned to well over 100 member technologies, many of which have aligned to deliver a myriad of composable solutions. As Jina described, the MACH ecosystem of partners – and the resulting collaboration – has really made an impact for Agility.“What MACH does for us is it gives us that sense of community,” she said. “Not just headless in the CMS space, but all these other vendors that come together and provide a full composable solution. Which, again, gives more autonomy to our customers to be able to easily plug and play with different technologies to fit their stack and their needs to better service their customers.”<h3 id="mapping-the-future-with-ai">Mapping the future with AI</h3>AI was on everyone’s mind at “The Composable Conference,” from agentic AI to agentic commerce and beyond. Like all of its other endeavors, Agility has been careful and intentional around its AI roadmap, blocking and tackling around the hype and engaging with customers around their practical and “blue sky” wish lists.Being at the conference helped crystallize things for Jina – and reinforce Agility’s approach.“Obviously, AI is a big part of what our future roadmap looks like,” Jina said. “But being really strategic and listening to these kinds of stories helps refine that for us. So there's an idea of what you think your customers would want, and you're like, okay, I'm gonna give them AI. But really, how is it impacting their day-to-day experience in our platform to do more with less?”As Jina explained, Agility’s AI play is focused beyond the low-hanging fruit, focusing on tangible ways to make their product experience easier, smoother, and more enjoyable to use.“You're on the platform for eight hours a day sometimes,” she reminded me. To that end, usability is key, and AI should help simplify everything from block editors to manipulating pages and templates. “We're really focused on that day-to-day usage and how we enhance and make that better for our users.”<h3 id="takeaways-from-“the-composable-conference”">Takeaways from “The Composable Conference”</h3><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/the-deep-dish-on-composable-6-tasty-takeaways-from-the-mach-alliances-2025-conference">As I've written about previously,</a> this year’s MACH Alliance confab provided different tracks for attendees, designed for the early “MACH Curious” to “Active” and “Pro” practitioners. Obviously, Agility falls into the latter, and I wanted Jina’s perspective on what stood out.“I've been hearing some of the stories from potential customers, and a lot of the MACH Alliance members are telling us about their pain in the beginning of moving towards a composable stack,” she said. I heard this from attendees as well. She noted that some of this angst might have come from the lackluster promise of easy-to-use software combined with a gap in proper training – or even the introduction of “green” staff with limited experience.One of the big changes Jina zeroed in on was the shift in narrative surrounding use cases. Based on her observation, last year’s content focused more on vendors and how their composable tech stacks were central to solving problems. This year, brands took center stage, and customer experience was the focal catalyst for composable transformation. Interestingly, Jina gained a lot of perspective on this from attending the “MACH Curious” sessions.“I wanted to [know] what triggers people to want to move to a composable solution,” she said. “If they're solving these problems with their monolithic solution, and it’s doing the thing it's supposed to do – the website's up, it's running, it's great, it's converting – what's triggering you to think about what else you can do to make things easier?”Smart. And as Jina noted, uncovering the factors requires a deeper dive with the people working on the product and the solution, and the brands in attendance were openly sharing their lessons on a multitude of dimensions. She found this to be incredibly refreshing.“I love that we're [putting] customers first,” she said exuberantly. “It's not all about how I use these really great brands to build out my tech stack, and now we're making X/Y dollars. A lot of the presentations actually had some of the metrics completely wiped out. Because it wasn't about that – it was about the customer experience.”An “agile” conclusion if there ever was one. Here’s six minutes with Jina:  <figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://youtu.be/dIXrxCrTBho"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dIXrxCrTBho" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure> <hr /><h4 style="text-align:center" id="looking-for-guidance-on-agility-cms?-talk-to-an-expert.">Looking for guidance on Agility CMS? <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/contact">Talk to an expert.</a></h4><hr /> <h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:33.07%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/05/contentcon25-logo-1747412490394.png" /><h4 id="contentstack-contentcon-25"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.contentstack.com/contentcon">Contentstack ContentCon 25</a></h4>June 3-5, 2025 – Chicago, USAThe future of digital is waiting for you! Contentstack presents ContentCon, the premier event for digital teams and industry leaders who are reimagining the future of digital experiences. Join us for two days of transformative presentations and workshops designed to help you put personalization and AI strategies into action. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://contentcon2025.site.zuddl.com/">Register today! </a> <img style="width:31.83%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/01/cms-connect-2025-logo.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-connect-25"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">CMS Connect 25</a></h4>August 5-6, 2025 – Montreal, CanadaWe are delighted to present the second annual summer edition of our signature global conference dedicated to the content management community! CMS Connect will be held again in beautiful Montreal, Canada, and feature a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. Join vendors, agencies, and customers from across our industry as we engage and collaborate around the future of content management – and hear from the top thought leaders at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference exclusively focused on CMS. Space is limited for this event, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">so book your seats today.</a>

MACHtales: Voices from “The Composable Conference” with Jina Zohori of Agility CMS

<hr /> During a recent <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/agility">Agility CMS</a> “Ask Me Anything” webinar, I was subjected to a trifecta of “dad jokes” – courtesy of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/playing-to-win-in-the-headless-cms-game-interview-with-joel-varty-cto-at-agility">Joel Varty</a>. In addition to his part-time standup vocation, Joel is the Chief Technology Officer of the Toronto-based headless <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-content-management-system-cms">content management system</a>, where he’s spent almost two decades innovating around digital experiences and supporting notable brands like Cineplex, Mitsubishi Electric, and ScotiaBank.As a comically blessed father myself (IMHO), I appreciated his technique and material – especially the closer about a sad math book that couldn’t solve its own problems. Insert rimshot.Dad jokes aside, Joel is as cool as they come on stage. I’ve seen him bake under the hot lights of the now-famous <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/blog/2024/8/kajoo-wins-cmsidol24-montreal">“CMS Idol” competition</a>, and from my perspective, he’s one CTO who keeps his demo muscle in solid shape (I’m sure there’s a dad joke in there). As advertised, Agility’s AMA session effectively “pulled back the curtain” on its new <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://agilitycms.com/product/web-studio">Web Studio,</a> which promises enhanced features for customers to create, preview, and collaborate on web content. Web Studio reflects a tacit transformation we’ve been seeing across the headless CMS market, one where pure-play platforms have been bridging the visual gap. Content creators want a simple UI that enables them to see exactly what their stuff will look like when it’s live. At the same time, they need to collaborate with team members to preview, review, comment on, and approve their pages before publishing. Agility's Web Studio delivers the full monty and then some – with dynamite features already penciled in on the roadmap. The company has flown Web Studio with a few test pilots as part of what it calls its “Ambassador Program,” and the solution is getting solid reviews. As part of the AMA, I got a first-hand tour of Web Studio, and I concur. As billed, it’s a heckuva lot more than just a WYSIWYG editor. The entire experience feels intuitive, elegant, lightweight, and easy to navigate – and fits seamlessly into Agility’s clean, minimal framework while providing easy access to all the essential tooling. <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:66.45%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/joel-brendan-headshots.jpg" alt="" /></figure>Agility's AMA presenters: Joel Varty, CTO (left), and Brendan Cooney, Senior Manager Joel conducted the webinar with <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bmcooney/">Brendan Cooney</a>, Senior Manager at Agility. They showcased how content creation and teamwork are central to the new experience and woven into its new attributes.A bit of history on the genesis of Web Studio: It began as a feature called Preview Center, which made its debut at the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://aarhus25.boye-co.com/">Boye Aarhus 2023 Conference</a> and ended up <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/blog/2023/11/agility-wins-the-2023-small-feature-award">winning the event's coveted “Small Feature Award.”</a> The achievement sparked some new thinking – both practical and blue sky – which Joel crystallized during the AMA.“What if Brendan’s typing in a field, and then I’m typing in a field? What happens there? That snowballed into ‘now we need Figma-style comments,’ [and] ‘now we need Google Docs style content editing.’ So it kind of turned into a whole lot of things, which is really exciting for us.”Here’s a snapshot of what I saw, and what you can expect as it rolls out.<h3 id="it’s-a-lot-less-lonely-with-presence">It’s a lot less lonely with Presence</h3>One of the coolest new features in Web Studio is the Presence Indicator, which visually displays an icon of who’s online in the system. With a click, you can jump to the specific page or asset that a person is working on and collaborate in tandem. It’s simple but super handy – and editors are sure to love it.  <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:83.64%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/agility-web-studio-presence.jpg" alt="" /></figure>The Presence Indicator (appearing at the top of the Agility UI) shows other team members actively working in the system As Joel and Brendan noted, Presence accentuates collaboration in a personal way, making the experience feel like hanging out with friends. By reducing the friction to share and connect within the system, Agility is offering a more human (er… humane?) experience – one that can reduce the challenges around communicating and collaborating.<h3 id="instant-field-locking-and-built-in-commenting">Instant field-locking and built-in commenting</h3>Content collisions are a pain, but version conflicts might be a thing of the past with Web Studio’s slick new field locking feature. Simply slide the lock button into place and you effectively control your session. At the same time, your collaborators can see what fields you’re working on and what changes you’re making in real time. Users can also leave comments with total ease. Just tag a team member with an “@“ and leave a notification, comments, or even reactions. You can also resolve the comment once you reply, making the function more like a task assignment or project management feature. You can also access a full history of comments. All around, it’s definitely a win for users and teams.Once you see the commenting and collaboration tools, it’s logical to thread the needle with other communication tools in the broader ecosystem. As Joel indicated, users can expect both email and Slack notifications in the near future.<h2 id="previews">Previews</h2>Out of the box, Web Studio provides both a staging and preview environment in addition to your live view. It’s all easily within reach. You can also leverage the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://github.com/agility/web-studio-sdk">Agility Web Studio SDK</a> to decorate the fields and components. Previews also work with pages and content items. A big upgrade: you’ll be able to switch between multiple deployments, an action that's been less flexible in the past in Agility.  <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:86.64%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/agility-web-studio-preview.jpg" alt="" /></figure>Web Studio provides a seamless preview within Agility as well as easy-to-use commenting features You can also manually expand or collapse your window to preview and inspect different device sizes. That might sound like a simple expectation with most modern CMS UIs, but it's more fluid than you think. The word “silky” comes to mind, and it's worth seeing in action.One other cool benefit is the commenting mode, which allows you to click anywhere and leave comments on your preview. It's just another example of how collaboration has been baked into the foundation of Web Studio.<h3 id="decorating-components">Decorating components</h3>This is where developers can customize their components for editors. As Joel demonstrated in real time, you can access code in Agility to decorate your component fields, making it easier for developers to render changes and empower content creators to do their thing. Once his changes were complete, it was all pushed to <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://vercel.com/">Vercel</a>, and… presto. Ready in minutes.As he noted, it takes a little more time to set up new components the right way, but doing so ultimately enhances the editor experience. Joel reinforced the importance of this vital relationship between developers and content creators, and how it can unleash greater value.  <h3 id="the-critic-consensus">The Critic Consensus</h3>Visual editing and preview capabilities have become an expectation for every headless CMS. But delivering the right mix of capabilities – wrapped in a simple yet satisfying experience – is the real dealmaker. Agility Web Studio offers a differentiated visual experience and a fantastic upgrade to the platform’s easy-to-use interface. With trick features like the Presence capability, users should find it intuitive and (dare I say) fun to interact and collaborate around content. And in the high-pressure, high-stakes world of accelerating your marketing content, finding more productive and rewarding ways to make the journey is a win-win.The collaboration enhancements are slick, and the in-app commenting and task resolution capabilities are sure to please marketers, developers, and content creators alike. The seamless ability to share, review, and approve within Agility should help reduce bottlenecks and laborious back-and-forth emails.From a broader market perspective, headless CMSes continue to appreciate steady demand as fixtures across many RFPs. That’s also why we continue to see new platforms entering the market. While the noise has dampened from the peaks of 2023 and early 2024 (I must have been talking to a new headless platform every week), opportunity and choice continue to drive persistent growth.Generally speaking, choice is good for buyers. But above all, they want confidence and trust – and that’s where platforms like Agility have a key advantage in a sea of sameness. As a veteran player, they’ve amassed a solid track record with globally recognized brands, powering workloads with mission-critical performance and compliance considerations. <h3 id="one-last-note-on-the-‘art-of-the-live-demo’">One last note on the ‘Art of the Live Demo’</h3>No one wants to code in front of other people. It’s a bit like using a public restroom – which, for many people, is fraught with anxiety. When Joel started to manually update a component on the fly, he demonstrated how easy it is to customize. That said, when a few tags went off the rails, he kept his cool and made the whole process feel smooth and authentic. Call it Murphy’s Law, but there’s always a bump or two in the road. The “agility” (see what I did there?) to keep rolling when things don’t go as planned is, in itself, a testament to the presenter. If you’re evaluating a CMS, I still stand by the impact of a live demo from a qualified practitioner – bumps and all. Yes, good documentation is a must-have; ultimately, we're trying to empower our users and get out of the way. But a solid CMS in your composable stack is a critical decision, and Agility is doing it right by emphasizing the human part of its proposition.Speaking of which, you can learn more about Web Studio <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://agilitycms.com/product/web-studio">here</a>. Dad jokes not included. <hr /><h4 style="text-align:center" id="looking-for-guidance-on-agility-cms?--talk-to-us.-">Looking for guidance on Agility CMS?  <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/contact">Talk to us. </a></h4><hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-2025"><a href=" https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25">CMS Kickoff 2025</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaMeet industry leaders at our third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global CMS event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">so secure your tickets today.</a> <img style="width:30.46%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/cms-summit-25.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-summit-25"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">CMS Summit 25</a></h4>May 13-14, 2025 – Frankfurt, GermanyDon't miss the first European edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community! CMS Summit 25 will bring together top-notch speakers, our renowned learning format, and engaging social events. Hear from leading practitioners like Deutsche Bahn, Dr. Oetker, and more – and join customers, agencies, and CMS vendors as we discuss current trends and what's ahead for the content and digital experience fields. Connect and network at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference focused on CMS. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">so book your seats today.</a>

Agility CMS Web Studio Aims to Streamline Content Creation and Collaboration

<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/critics/gillian-mays">Gillian Mays</a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/critics/amit-aggarwal"> </a>is a Content Creator at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/storyblok">Storyblok</a> and a CMS Critic contributor. <hr /> Some things never change. The sky is blue, people crave connection, and content is an essential part of any modern business strategy. But other things aren’t so static. Customer expectations, technological tools, and the way essential content is managed have evolved dramatically over the past few years. The content game is about to change forever. And there’s only one skill that will matter if you want to win: adaptability.Let’s take a look at what adaptability means for modern brands and how you can leverage it for a future-proof content strategy.P.S. This article is a sneak preview of our newest whitepaper. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/lp/composable-enterprise?utm_source=cmscritic&amp;utm_medium=sponsor&amp;utm_campaign=MKT_GEN_AWA_701W600001qBJFPIA4&amp;utm_term=cmscritic">Download “The Engine of Enterprise: How Headless CMS Fuels Composable Joy” for free today</a> to get the full story.<h3 id="welcome-to-the-future.-the-only-constant-is-change">Welcome to the future. The only constant is change</h3>Modern demands haven’t just shifted. They’ve evolved at a dizzying pace: today’s users expect the latest and greatest digital experiences, and they demand it as soon as they realize it’s possible. Your content needs to be ultra personalized, lightning fast, and consistent across channels – and it needs to deliver all of that better than your competitors.But it’s not just your users who are changing the game. With AI chatbots taking the world by storm, the ability to stay visible in the era of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/mp/generative-engine-optimization-explained">Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)</a> is quickly becoming a sink-or-swim matter. It’s a brave new world, one full to the brim with possibility and opportunity. But the harsh truth is it’s also a highly competitive one.And legacy CMSs are out of their league.In a world where tech and user demands can change on a dime, meeting them with the shortest time-to-market possible is the difference between being an industry leader and fading into obscurity.  Legacy CMSs were not made for speed or flexibility. Try to force it, and you end up with roadblock after roadblock:<ul><li>Integrating new technology is nearly impossible, crippling any attempt at innovation with messy workarounds and a half-functional result</li><li>Monolithic architecture forces the same stale, single-channel content strategy as everyone else</li><li>The infrastructure lacks flexible APIs, adequate content structuring, or scaling potential – all death knells for getting discovered by AI.</li></ul>In other words, they’re incapable of adapting. In a world where everything about your content strategy can change in the blink of an eye, being adaptable is your only hope to survive. And that will require a complete shift in how you manage and distribute content.<h3 id="composability-and-headless:-a-new-era-of-content">Composability and headless: A new era of content</h3>With adaptability as the gold standard, the next era of enterprise CMS will be defined by flexibility, modularity, and speed. Your brand’s success will depend on being prepared to constantly reshape how you engage with customers on a global scale. But don’t worry – you don’t have to do it alone. With the combined power of composable infrastructure and a headless CMS, you can break down the old boundaries and deliver cutting-edge digital experiences faster than ever before.  <h4 id="the-composable-advantage">The composable advantage</h4>Composability is an agile, future-forward strategy for assembling a tech stack. Instead of an all-in-one system found in legacy CMSs, it relies on a flexible ecosystem where each part of the tech stack is a modular component.Translation: Composability offers full technical freedom.Because they’re independent components, you can add or remove them at will and without fear of disrupting any other elements. Whenever newer tech or programs come out, integrating is as easy as connecting via API.And if you’re looking to scale? Composability has the competitive edge there, too. The modularity means you can scale with precision, expanding your operations without overhauling the entire system or overpaying for parts that are fine as-is. That adaptability means you’re ready for whatever comes next, including the rise of generative AI search. Because you can integrate modular tools to support aspects like localization, metadata, and structured content, you can keep up with the ever-evolving algorithms for consistently visible content.  <h4 id="where-headless-comes-in">Where headless comes in</h4>Composability primes your tech stack for adaptability. Getting the best use out of it will require another step: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/">a headless CMS.</a> Much like how composability supports full technical freedom, a headless CMS supports full content freedom. That’s because headless CMSs operate completely differently from their legacy counterparts. Legacy CMSs are one single monolith, bundling the backend (where you create content) with the front (where it’s displayed). You’re usually stuck with that one channel of publication and whatever prebuilt capabilities the provider includes – no customization, at least not without a lot of very difficult and risky tech adjustments. But with a headless CMS, your frontend and backend are completely separated. Because your content is stored separately and sent out via APIs, you can connect to any channel. Websites, apps, smartwatches, digital displays – if it can connect via API, you can push content to it with a headless CMS. And yes, that includes technology that doesn’t even exist yet. Those APIs also mean that your choice of tech is completely up to you. Skip programs you don’t need, integrate new ones you do, and do it all without interrupting the rest of the tech stack or your content presentation. And no matter how technology or user demands evolve, you’ll never have to upgrade your entire system. Just swap outdated programs for ones that give your enterprise the competitive edge and keep going. <h3 id="the-final-verdict:-composability-or-bust">The final verdict: composability or bust</h3>A composable, headless approach is the last word in sustained content adaptability. It’s a rare silver bullet in a hyper-competitive world. No matter how big your content library is, how ambitious your growth plans are, or whatever tech curveball comes next, this approach ensures your enterprise is always ready to execute any strategy at your disposal. As the old saying goes, “You can’t control the wind. But you can adjust your sails.” For enterprises hoping to survive the future of content, failing to embrace composable will be like seafaring with a torn canvas: when you can’t capture the momentum of each shift in the breeze, those who can will be waiting for you at the finish line. Want to read more about the power of composable and headless for enterprises? <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/lp/composable-enterprise?utm_source=cmscritic&amp;utm_medium=sponsor&amp;utm_campaign=MKT_GEN_AWA_701W600001qBJFPIA4&amp;utm_term=cmscritic">Download the full guide for free today!</a> <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:31.61%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/08/storyblok-joyconf-2025-logo.jpg" /><h4 id="storyblok-joyconf-2025"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://joyconf.storyblok.com/">Storyblok JoyConf 2025</a></h4>October 14-15, 2025 – Amsterdam, Netherlands November 4, 2025 – New York, NY November 6, 2025 – Los Angeles, CAJoin us at JoyConf 2025, where the future of content meets the people shaping it. Built for developers, marketers, and digital innovators, this free conference goes way beyond product updates or yet another strategy playbook. It’s where you’ll get inspired, get real, and get connected – to ideas, to the community, and to what’s possible when you build joyfully. Whether you're building lightning-fast frontends or launching cross-channel campaigns, this is where content becomes connection and collaboration becomes second nature. Come for the talks. Stay for the community. Leave with joy. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://joyconf.storyblok.com/">Save your spot.</a>

The Future of Enterprise CMS Is Here – And Only The Adaptable Will Survive

gillian-mays

<hr /> Agencies and CMS platforms have long forged go-to-market partnerships to power channel opportunities. Recently, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/strapi">Strapi</a>, an open source headless CMS, formalized its collaboration with <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://9ea41cec.streaklinks.com/CjocxQwZmb4zhUxDAgRF8o7i/https%3A%2F%2Falloycrew.com%2F">Alloy</a> – a premier agency specializing in precision storytelling and experiences for imaginative tech brands.According to Alloy's press release, its partnership with the headless content management system will give brands the power to create modern websites with a tech-stack-agnostic solution. The open source nature of the platform, in stark contrast to many closed headless CMS platforms – along with both its managed and self-hosted options – were key factors driving Alloy's excitement around the partnership. “We’re thrilled to welcome Alloy into the Strapi Partner Program,” said <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://9ea41cec.streaklinks.com/CjocxQwKSuOqgvDqfAOmQkmZ/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fmarkaraymond%2F">Mark Raymond</a>, Strategic Partnerships Manager at Strapi. “Their proven expertise, professionalism, and presence in the U.S. market make them an ideal partner as we expand our footprint in North America. Together, we’ll empower brands to create data-rich, scalable digital experiences built on the flexibility of Strapi’s open-source CMS.”<h3 id="building-demand-in-a-competitive-headless-cms-market">Building demand in a competitive headless CMS market</h3>Founded in 2015, Strapi gives developers the freedom to use their favorite tools and frameworks while allowing editors to easily manage their content and distribute it anywhere. Companies of all sizes have built their websites and apps with Strapi, including Apple, Adidas, Walmart, JP Morgan Chase &amp; Co., and Carvana, among thousands of others. As of this year, the platform had reeled in over 66,000 GitHub stars, amassed thousands of contributors, and topped over 50 million downloads – making it the most popular open source headless CMS on the market. They’ve also secured $45 million in funding along the way.Strapi combines a dynamic content editing experience with a solid underlying system for managing structured data. This makes it a solid choice for both marketing teams who need to easily manage content and developers who need a robust system that can handle different types of relational data. We've previously spoken with <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/pierre-burgy-strapi-88671673/">co-founder and CEO Pierre Burgy</a> about Strapi's roadmap and how the platform is bringing together the best of all worlds for marketers and developers. At the same time, the company was founded by coders, and has cultivated a strong relationship and preference around its technical heritage.Strapi continues to build momentum around its ecosystem, including its <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://strapi.io/cloud">Strapi Cloud</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://market.strapi.io/">Strapi Market,</a> which expand its breadth of offerings. The company is also touting its API creation, content modeling, and delivery capabilities. It also offers an <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://strapi.io/partners">extensive list </a>of enterprise, business, and community partners in its ecosystem, specializing in everything from application development to AI.<h3 id="about-alloy">About Alloy</h3>Alloy is an integrated marketing agency that specializes in designing and building websites and products that merge elegance with cutting-edge technology. They work with customers in the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East, and the firm’s deep expertise in creating marketing strategies, platforms, ecosystems, multichannel campaigns and much more help imaginative brands engage with buyers, shape public opinion, build lasting influence and grow market share. "Strapi's open-source platform is a game-changer for our clients who want to own their technology stack," said <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://9ea41cec.streaklinks.com/CjocxQwsLK6WvlajYwr5GXhB/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Frogerfpeters%2F">Roger Peters</a>, VP of Technology at Alloy. “This partnership is all about giving clients the freedom to build and scale with a flexible, API-first CMS that integrates seamlessly and reduces the risk of vendor lock-in. We're excited to architect dynamic solutions for our clients that future-proof their brand for whatever comes next.”Since 2012, Alloy has been named a 10-time Best Place to Work, Technology Agency of the Year, and Fastest Growing Agency, and has been celebrated for Best Use of Measurement and Data. <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:31.61%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/08/storyblok-joyconf-2025-logo.jpg" /><h4 id="storyblok-joyconf-2025"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://joyconf.storyblok.com/">Storyblok JoyConf 2025</a></h4>October 14-15, 2025 – Amsterdam, Netherlands November 4, 2025 – New York, NY November 6, 2025 – Los Angeles, CAJoin us at JoyConf 2025, where the future of content meets the people shaping it. Built for developers, marketers, and digital innovators, this free conference goes way beyond product updates or yet another strategy playbook. It’s where you’ll get inspired, get real, and get connected – to ideas, to the community, and to what’s possible when you build joyfully. Whether you're building lightning-fast frontends or launching cross-channel campaigns, this is where content becomes connection and collaboration becomes second nature. Come for the talks. Stay for the community. Leave with joy. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://joyconf.storyblok.com/">Save your spot.</a> <img style="width:28.9%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/08/sitecore-symposium-2025.jpg" /><h4 id="sitecore-symposium-2025"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/">Sitecore Symposium 2025</a></h4>November 3-5, 2025 – Orlando, FLAt Sitecore Symposium, you’ll learn how to meet your customers where they are – across channels, moments, and touchpoints that didn’t exist a year ago. You’ll hear how the boldest brands in the world are transforming content into outcomes and creating experiences that are fast, relevant, and human. Join 1,500 marketers, digital leaders, and technologists in Orlando to see what’s possible when personalization scales, AI accelerates creativity, and trust becomes your competitive edge. This is the Third Wave of the Internet. And this is your moment to lead in it. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/">Get your tickets today.</a> <img style="width:31.44%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/08/cms-kickoff-2026-logo.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff26">CMS Kickoff 2026</a></h4>January 13-14, 2026 – St. Petersburg, FLMeet industry leaders at our fourth annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global CMS event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff26">so secure your tickets today.</a>

Strapi Launches Strategic Partnership with Alloy to Deliver Scalable, Data-Powered Digital Experiences

<hr /> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://agilitycms.com/">Agility CMS</a> Chief Technical Officer <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelvarty/">Joel Varty</a> just wrapped up his first YouTube video series, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGoA-Jt52_c&amp;list=PLEI81bLU4t-uzsIOt1iaykzI4ZSsNQ9ao&amp;pp=gAQB">Building with Next.js and Headless CMS</a>. It’s an 8-part series looking at the power of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://agilitycms.com/starters/nextjs">Next.js</a> when paired with Agility CMS. Next.js and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://agilitycms.com/product/headless-cms">headless CMS</a> go hand-in-glove to help <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://agilitycms.com/product/developers">developers</a> build fast, scalable, and dynamic websites. Joel’s video series walks you through integrating Agility CMS with Next.js, examining essential topics such as previewing, creating components, caching, authenticating, and more.Watch the Full Series: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGoA-Jt52_c&amp;list=PLEI81bLU4t-uzsIOt1iaykzI4ZSsNQ9ao&amp;pp=gAQB">Building with Next.js and Headless CMS on YouTube</a>  <figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGoA-Jt52_c&amp;list=PLEI81bLU4t-uzsIOt1iaykzI4ZSsNQ9ao"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UGoA-Jt52_c" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure><h3 id="the-what-and-why-of-next.js-">The What and Why of Next.js </h3> <h4 id="the-what-">The What </h4>Next.js was developed in 2016 by <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://agilitycms.com/partners/integrations/vercel">Vercel</a> as an open-source, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://agilitycms.com/blog/react-cms">React</a>-based JavaScript framework. It enables server-side rendering (SSR), static site generation (SSG), and incremental static regeneration (ISR) to optimize performance and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://agilitycms.com/solutions/modern-websites-and-seo">search engine optimization (SEO)</a>. In other words: Next.js decides the best way to show content based on how data is fetched from pages: <ul><li>SSG prepares pages ahead of time. </li><li>SSR generates them on demand. </li><li>ISR generates them statically at first, but then incrementally updates them as changes happen in the CMS. </li></ul>All these options reduce the work a visitor’s browser must do. This makes the browsing experience smoother and more efficient.  <h4 id="the-why-">The Why </h4>Both developers and marketers benefit from Next.js: <figure class="table"><table><tbody><tr><td>Developers</td><td>Marketers</td></tr><tr><td><ul><li>API Routes </li><li>Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR) </li><li>File-Based Routing </li><li>Optimized Performance </li><li>Seamless Vercel Integration</li></ul></td><td><ul><li>Fast loading speed for high-performance sites </li><li>SEO-friendliness for easy content indexing </li><li>Greater content control via headless integration </li><li>Supports <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://agilitycms.com/solutions/content-hub-and-omnichannnel-deployments">omnichannel</a> marketing activities </li><li>Real-time previews and publishing</li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table></figure>Marketing websites benefit from fast-loading, SEO-rich content. E-commerce platforms can take advantage of dynamic product pages using ISR. With Next.js and a headless CMS, your content becomes omnipresent – meaning it’s ready for websites, apps, digital signage, and beyond. <h3 id="joel’s-key-takeaway-">Joel’s Key Takeaway </h3>If there’s one thing Joel wants you to take away from <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGoA-Jt52_c&amp;list=PLEI81bLU4t-uzsIOt1iaykzI4ZSsNQ9ao&amp;pp=gAQB">Building with Next.js and Headless CMS</a>, it’s this (in his own words): “As a modern web framework, Next.js is the leader when it comes to building actual production sites for customers. A front-end developer with React skills can really level up their game by following along with this series. I see it as an opportunity for someone to take their career to a whole new level.” <h3 id="next.js-makes-a-difference-">Next.js Makes a Difference </h3>React is powerful. But by itself, it doesn’t offer SSR, SSG, ISR, SEO, or many other amazing acronyms. Next.js fills in those gaps and transforms React into a full-featured web framework. From there, Next.js: <ul><li>Spans developer and marketing needs: Developers can build quickly while content teams manage content effectively – without stepping on each other’s toes.  </li><li>Future-proofs your tech stack: Next.js works with <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://agilitycms.com/resources/guide/introduction-to-jamstack">Jamstack</a> and deploys on platforms like Vercel or <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://agilitycms.com/partners/integrations/netlify">Netlify</a>. It’s flexible and adaptable, meaning you aren’t “locked in” to, well, anything. </li><li>Powers better web experiences: Build faster, more accessible, and more scalable websites and apps without wrestling the framework.  </li></ul><h3 id="get-your-popcorn-ready-">Get Your Popcorn Ready </h3>Joel has been a mainstay within the industry for 20 years. He’s known for his engaging and insightful <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://agilitycms.com/resources/events">webinars</a>. And his ability to craft dad jokes out of thin air borders on the supernatural. All that to say, you’re going to learn quite a bit – and get some unexpected chuckles too – when you check out <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGoA-Jt52_c&amp;list=PLEI81bLU4t-uzsIOt1iaykzI4ZSsNQ9ao&amp;pp=gAQB">Building with Next.js and Headless CMS</a>.  <hr /><h4 style="text-align:center" id="looking-for-guidance-on-agility?-talk-to-an-expert.">Looking for guidance on Agility? <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/contact">Talk to an expert.</a></h4><hr /> <h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:24.53%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/03/image-1742910054704.png" /><h4 id="the-composable-conference-2025"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://machalliance.org/events/composable-conference-25">The Composable Conference 2025</a></h4>April 22-24 – Chicago, USAExperience the future of composable and MACH principles in “The Windy City” and dive even deeper into the innovative world of MACH architecture and its benefits for your business. Building on the momentum of MACH THREE, this conference will provide your teams with the expert, impartial guidance needed to craft a winning transformation strategy and leverage the latest advancements in automation and Al to maximize efficiency and drive your organization forward. This event is ideal for executives, business leaders, technologists, and everyone in between who is looking to harness the power of composable. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://machalliance.org/events/composable-conference-25">Secure your spot today.</a> <img style="width:30.46%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/cms-summit-25.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-summit-25"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">CMS Summit 25</a></h4>May 13-14, 2025 – Frankfurt, GermanyDon't miss the first European edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community! CMS Summit 25 will bring together top-notch speakers, our renowned learning format, and engaging social events. Hear from leading practitioners like Deutsche Bahn, Dr. Oetker, and more – and join customers, agencies, and CMS vendors as we discuss current trends and what's ahead for the content and digital experience fields. Connect and network at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference focused on CMS. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">so book your seats today.</a> <img style="width:31.83%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/01/cms-connect-2025-logo.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-connect-25"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">CMS Connect 25</a></h4>August 5-6, 2025 – Montreal, CanadaWe are delighted to present the second annual summer edition of our signature global conference dedicated to the content management community! CMS Connect will be held again in beautiful Montreal, Canada, and feature a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. Join vendors, agencies, and customers from across our industry as we engage and collaborate around the future of content management – and hear from the top thought leaders at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference exclusively focused on CMS. Space is limited for this event, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">so book your seats today.</a>

Varty’s Videos: A CTO’s Take on Next.js

<hr /> When acclaimed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/">New York Times</a> columnist <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/david-brooks">David Brooks</a> spoke at a college commencement in 2019, he observed two key emotions at play during the event. One was happiness. The other was joy.As he explained <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/07/opinion/happiness-joy-emotion.html">in an article</a> recapping his experience, “happiness” usually involves a victory for one's self, usually around personal accomplishments. “Joy,” on the other hand, is the transcendence of self—or as he put it, “the present life gives you as you give away your gifts to others.”Once upon a time, the web was a joyful place to explore. It felt new and undiscovered, a world where almost anything was possible. There were fewer walls and more open spaces, and building experiences felt creatively ambitious.My, how things have changed. In today's world of <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-content-management-system-cms">content management,</a> practitioners might struggle to say they’re happy when creating experiences—and even less happy with the CMS tools they use.But are they experiencing joy? When was the last time you felt joyful about managing content? It’s not a trick question. I think most of us in the CMS industry never really stop to think about this distinction. As it turns out, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/storyblok">Storyblok</a> has been focusing on that lack of joy—and working to bring it back. That effort has been crystallized by the launch of its new <a target="_blank" href="https://storyblok.com/lp/labs">Storyblok Labs</a>, a place for marketers and developers to get early access to the platform’s latest headless content management innovations. The goal is simple: Help Storyblok users explore and adopt its latest innovations with greater speed, intelligence, and confidence—so they can stay ahead of market trends and learn new ways to outperform competitors. These benefits are delivered in the form of new features that aren't generally available but are free to use and easy to turn on and off.Most importantly, Storyblok has thoughtfully infused joy into its Labs experience, so customers feel a sense of uninhibited wonder as they experiment with new ideas.“Creating content is supposed to be fun and full of possibilities,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/storyblok-is-writing-its-next-chapter-with-an-80m-series-c-heres-why-it-matters">Dominik Angerer</a>, CEO of Storyblok. “But for users of legacy CMS platforms, it’s become a slow and frustrating chore filled with restrictions. We believe working with a CMS should be a joyful experience that makes it easy for brands to use content to make a bigger, faster market impact. Storyblok Labs is a natural next step in driving that vision forward.” <h3 id="a-lab-that’s-purpose-built-for-exploration">A lab that’s purpose-built for exploration</h3>I’ve commented in the past on Storyblok’s clean, intuitive, super-sharp interface, which makes using its headless CMS that much more inviting. Thanks to user feedback, its UI has a lot of differentiated value baked into it, and the evolution of Labs was no exception. This is a reflection of the company’s approach to serving the needs of both marketers and developers across its ecosystem."By speaking to our customers, we were able to uncover one result our customers experience when working with Storyblok: how much easier it makes their lives,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/julius-hemingway/">Julius Hemingway</a>, Product Marketing Team Manager at Storyblok. “For many, the payoff in how we remove the barriers between developers and marketers has led to much greater productivity, which has been rewarding."On the theme of “ease of use,” Storyblok Labs establishes that in abundance. When first entering the environment, you’re greeted by a suite of tools that prioritize speed, agility, and control – all designed to help users stay ahead of what’s next and pioneer new ways of working with their teams.<figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:89.54%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/02/image-1740007620258.png" alt="A screenshot of a computer

AI-generated content may be incorrect." /></figure>Storyblok Labs provides an easy on/off capability for test driving new features. Source: Storyblok website. Each new feature in Labs offers a guided walk-through video and an interactive demo (both are high-quality assets). You can easily toggle the features on and off in your space, with higher-level admin controls to manage your team’s access—and important layer of governance that controls the guardrails around exploration.  <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:87.89%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/02/image-1740007620515.png" alt="A screenshot of a video chat

AI-generated content may be incorrect." /></figure>Storyblok Labs offers interactive videos, demos, and other feature components. Source: Storyblok website. Within Labs, you can also create a free demo space to test drive any of the new features. And as an early adopter, you get to help shape the product with Storyblok by providing your feedback at the bottom of each feature page. In this sense, it’s paving the roadmap and enhancing Storyblok’s feature set as it develops.  <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:86.83%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/02/image-1740007620282.png" alt="A screenshot of a computer

AI-generated content may be incorrect." /></figure>Storyblok Labs allows you to create your own space to explore features. Source: Storyblok website. Here’s a quick snapshot demo of Storyblok Labs:<figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWy5V3XllkU"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eWy5V3XllkU" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure> <h3 id="new-features-in-the-playground">New features in the playground</h3>While still relatively new, Storyblok Labs is already hosting a few new features that you can start playing with. According to the company, Storyblok Labs will be regularly updated with new features designed to enhance the entire content lifecycle—covering everything from ideation to creation, publishing, and maintenance.Here’s an overview of the features you can test drive today: <h4 id="ideation-room">Ideation Room</h4>Our “ideas” live in lots of different places. Drafts are often scattered across other applications, making it difficult to work together. Ideation Room is a slick workspace where you and your team can centralize everything within Storyblok and rally around the creation and optimization of content—all with the help of AI. <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:85.21%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/02/image-1740007619889.png" alt="A screenshot of a computer

AI-generated content may be incorrect." /></figure>Ideation Room provides a familiar interface for collaborating on content. Source: Storyblok website. The first thing to note about Ideation Room is the layout. It feels instantly familiar, like a Word or Google Doc, providing users with a clean canvas for creating. You have a lot of direct domain over adding links, basic styles, and more to your content. You can also leave comments, putting the collaboration features front and center. You can also toggle to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.storyblok.com/docs/editor-guides/visual-editor">Storyblok’s handy Visual Editor</a> to preview how an article will present in its published format as a blog or other content type. This is a cool solution that helps streamline the content creation process.To get more up close and personal, here's a video tour of the tool:<figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-hbLAUDB68"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6-hbLAUDB68" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure> <h4 id="ai-translations">AI Translations</h4>Translating content into different languages has become an essential tool for many brands and content professionals. Translation and localization services are handled in a multitude of ways, and often with third-party services. With Storyblok’s new AI Translations, you can translate entire pages or individual text fields with just one click—making the entire process less cumbersome to manage. <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:85.59%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/02/image-1740007620371.png" alt="A screenshot of a computer

AI-generated content may be incorrect." /></figure>Ideation Room provides a familiar interface for collaborating on content. Source: Storyblok website. AI-powered translation has become a trusted engine for handling multilingual sites, giving content professionals more accurate results when switching languages. Now, having a built-in feature will make the journey much easier for Storyblok users. <h4 id="concept-room-(preview)">Concept Room (Preview)</h4>Currently in preview, the Concept Room will enable users to map out their project structure and visually design their experiences with drag-and-drop tools. You’ll be able to link ideas directly to components in Storyblok’s Visual Editor and bring content to life faster and more efficiently. And like the other features in the Labs, you’ll be able to collaborate more fluidly on the structure of your entire project. You can sign up for launch notifications within Storyblok Labs.<h3 id="the-verdict">The Verdict</h3>“Joy” is fleeting, and any opportunity to capture more of it is a good thing. I think Storyblok’s commitment to delivering delight—through exceptional customer experiences—has served them exceedingly well. Heck, Dominik Angerer <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/storyblok-is-writing-its-next-chapter-with-an-80m-series-c-heres-why-it-matters">has personally told me</a> that he’s never had a customer leave because of his product, and that speaks volumes about Storyblok’s culture and customer intimacy.Said more simply: They understand their users. On its surface, Storyblok Labs is a kind of early-adopter skunkwork for rolling out new features. It’s an incubator for experimenting and optimizing its tools for prime time and developing an effective feedback loop within an exclusive channel. But Labs is more than this: It’s an investment in the value of partnerships, a vessel of trust for loyal and emphatic users who are on this journey together and contributing to the evolution of Storyblok’s CMS. It's also a reflection of the company's spirit, and how their people and products are delivering a missing quotient in what we do.As far as the actual features go, I really like the intention of the new Ideation Room. <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/copy-and-paste-makes-waste-not-with-pantheons-content-publisher-for-google-docs">I recently reviewed Pantheon’s Content Publisher</a> for Google Docs, and I love the idea that content creators have access to greater choice when it comes to familiar authoring tools. While not an apples-to-apples feature comparison, I dig how Storyblok is supplying a similar canvas for creating and connecting the loose parts of a content ecosystem—and driving it all back to its Visual Editor. In this sense, they’re improving the overall authoring and editing experience and attracting more users to work in its platform across the content lifecycle.Finally, the composable angle can't be overlooked. Storyblok continues to add the right kinds of features while reinforcing its value within composable architectures as the engine for powering digital experiences. Developers continue to have deep control while editors now have robust visual tools for doing their jobs more effectively. The Storyblok Labs “playground” is a great “proving ground” for nurturing these new attributes and gaining valuable insight around impact—particularly as brands build more ambitious solutions. We might not be happy with everything about our CMSes. However, some vendors are trying to think beyond the mundane and help content creators visualize a more joyful experience. As David Brooks observed, joy is all about the “present” life gives you as you give away your gifts to others.Is Storyblok Labs that “gift” to content management? I'd say it's worth exploring. <hr /><h4 style="text-align:center" id="looking-for-guidance-on-storyblok?-talk-to-an-expert.">Looking for guidance on Storyblok? <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/contact">Talk to an expert.</a></h4><hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:30.46%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/cms-summit-25.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-summit-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">CMS Summit 25</a></h4>May 13-14, 2025 – Frankfurt, GermanyDon't miss the first European edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community! CMS Summit 25 will bring together top-notch speakers, our renowned learning format, and engaging social events. Hear from leading practitioners like Deutsche Bahn, Dr. Oetker, and more – and join customers, agencies, and CMS vendors as we discuss current trends and what's ahead for the content and digital experience fields. Connect and network at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference focused on CMS. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">so book your seats today.</a> <img style="width:31.83%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/01/cms-connect-2025-logo.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-connect-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">CMS Connect 25</a></h4>August 5-6, 2025 – Montreal, CanadaWe are delighted to present the second annual summer edition of our signature global conference dedicated to the content management community! CMS Connect will be held again in beautiful Montreal, Canada, and feature a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. Join vendors, agencies, and customers from across our industry as we engage and collaborate around the future of content management – and hear from the top thought leaders at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference exclusively focused on CMS. Space is limited for this event, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">so book your seats today.</a>

Can content management be ‘joyful’ again? Storyblok Labs promises fun and possibility in its innovation playground  

<hr /> It wouldn’t be December without a Christmas story that warms your heart. Especially if it’s three sizes too small. Of course, every good holiday tale needs a protagonist who experiences some magnificent transformation. So let’s start with a little Scrooging before pouring the spiked egg nog.Our merry friends at <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/storyblok">Storyblok</a>, a headless CMS that has positioned itself simply as a “content management system,” recently published some sobering survey data. The big takeaway: 93% of marketers and developers say their current CMS is falling short of expectations, and a lot of the frustration stems from integrations.To that end, the consensus among survey participants is that platform integration failures could impact revenue this holiday season, a time when brands and retailers are banking on digital commerce to stuff their annual stockings. ‘Twas the nightmare before Christmas? Indeed. And it's likely to result in an urgent call-to-action to improve reliance on the stack – specifically the CMS layer – in 2025. Ho, ho, hold on a minute. It’s not to say that cheeks aren’t rosy in other areas of the digital marketing machine. The study indicated that businesses are spending an average of over $453,000 on martech per year. That’s healthy by any measure, but the effectiveness of that investment could be in jeopardy if <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-content-management-system-cms">content management systems</a> aren’t living up to their fullest potential. So what’s a brand to do? It’s not as simple as asking Santa for a solution. According to <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/storyblok-is-writing-its-next-chapter-with-an-80m-series-c-heres-why-it-matters">Storyblok’s CEO Dominik Angerer</a>, whom I’ve spoken to multiple times this year, the core challenges can be traced back to legacy systems that lack flexibility and interoperability – and a move to headless could turn that lump of coal into a diamond.“This survey shows that many companies are hitting the limits of their current CMS,” he said. “They are dreaming of a CMS that’s keeping all their systems in sync without constant workarounds.”And dreaming of sugar plum fairies who deliver an easy transition, right? Therein lies part of the problem: moving to a new CMS can be costly and time-consuming, and embracing composable architectures (more the domain of large enterprises) can take years to fully realize. Time is also tight, and organizations need to move quickly, especially when the holiday blitz is a 'Blitzen. This is why many platforms have embraced a multi-CMS ecosystem – with a strong reliance on headless platforms – to roadmap a more holistic solution. But is headless really the panacea for all these challenges? Let’s unwrap some of the data that Storyblok left under the tree.<h3 id="deck-the-halls-with-integration-frustration">Deck the halls with integration frustration</h3>With customers like Adidas, Netflix, and Disney on its roster, Storyblok has cultivated deep insights around use cases and patterns for headless CMS at a global enterprise level. That was clearly a benefit when conducting the research, which reflects how some of the world’s biggest brands feel stymied by outdated legacy tech stacks that can’t keep pace with their evolving needs.For the research itself, Storyblok surveyed 300 IT and marketing leaders at global businesses, a third of which had stated revenues of over $100 million. Participants were asked a range of questions about their company’s CMS with an explicit focus on the arc for integrating new tools and applications as part of their existing tech stack. One important note, which speaks to the reality of the enterprise market and a smidge of headless bias: all surveyed companies in the report use monolithic CMSes. That’s not a shocker, but it’s a relevant assumption that the data might be telegraphed around inherent criticisms of large enterprise CMS and DXP platforms. To that end, 93% of respondents aired grievances, specifically around the limited integration options with other services and tools in their tech stack. Two in five also stated that they are constantly in need of a better integration experience, while a quarter found integrations “difficult,” illustrating the urgency for more flexible solutions.So much for the “seamlessly integrates” tagline that often accompanies the marketing around many platforms in the ecosystem. Humbug.<h3 id="all-i-want-for-christmas-is-up-to-date-content">All I want for Christmas is up-to-date content</h3>Outdated content is an epidemic, particularly for highly distributed global organizations – and it’s not just at the CMS layer. Maintaining up-to-date digital assets has been a precarious function as well, which is why we’ve seen significant investments in <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/cloudinary-assets-brings-new-ai-powered-features-to-its-api-first-intelligent-dam">AI-powered capabilities across DAMs and PIMs</a>. As Dominik Angerer stated in <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/storyblok-is-writing-its-next-chapter-with-an-80m-series-c-heres-why-it-matters">one of our previous interviews</a>, “A CMS can’t just be a place where your content is sent to die." And yet, it often is for so many companies – something the research also manages to codify. According to the study, frustration over outdated content continues to be a widespread problem. Most respondents reported that 20% to 30% of their CMS content is no longer relevant, with only one-third updating content on a monthly basis – or less. To make matters worse, 37% admitted to not having an audit or update process that works for them. Translation: there’s no reliable governance, which can result not only in poor experiences for users but also financial and even legal liabilities. <h3 id="jingling-with-marketers-and-developers">Jingling with marketers and developers</h3>The elves aren’t playing nicely in the workshop – a fact we’ve been abundantly aware of for quite some time. As headless CMS platforms rose in popularity, marketers were left in the cold, becoming more reliant on developers to modify their digital experiences. At the same time, monolithic CMS and DXP platforms inherited more complexity (often through acquisitions), resulting in a similar paradigm.I’ve been chatting about this with <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/uniforms-enterprise-visual-workspace-unifies-content-data-ai-and-technology-in-a-single-cloud-for-marketers">industry leaders like Darren Guarnaccia</a> for the last few years. In 2023, he noted that while composable headless technologies are a boon for developers and technical audiences, “it’s been kind of horrible for the businesses.” This reality underscored the mad rush to add visual building, previewing, and editing capabilities to CMS tooling – from <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/optimizely-introduces-new-saas-cms-with-visual-builder-for-marketers">Optimizely</a> to <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/agility-cms-web-studio-aims-to-streamline-content-creation-and-collaboration">Agility</a> – and nearly every platform now has it as an expected feature. But these new capabilities are still catching up, and technology isn’t the only sore spot. According to Storyblok’s research, the collaboration between marketers and developers continues to be strained, with 40% saying it’s either “ineffective” or “nonexistent.” That’s a big number, and likely reflects some of the cultural challenges that exist between marketing and IT functions.What’s at the core of this rift? Basic stuff, really. For example, a marketer might want to update a post or make fast edits across multiple pages. Unfortunately, in many legacy CMS deployments, that might require the help of a developer each time (Darren referred to these instances as “tickets,” which those of us with support experience know all too well). This is because certain types of changes in a CMS are often complex and can ripple across an entire site. Of course, this back-and-forth can create huge bottlenecks and delays, utlimately adding months and potentially extra zeroes to the cost of a project. But Dominik feels this is where a modern headless CMS can differentiate and solve the problem. “A headless CMS can eliminate these holdups,” he said. “These flexible, integration-friendly systems meet the needs of both marketers and developers.”<h3 id="last-christmas,-i-gave-you-my-content…">Last Christmas, I gave you my content…</h3>And the very next day? Well, at least some users start a slow, downward slide toward CMS regret. In fairness, the honeymoon might last a little longer. But when you’re sold on the potential of “seamless integrations,” only to find that things aren’t so seamless, it feels like Krampus coming down the chimney. At this time of the year, brands are under increased pressure to drive conversions and sales. Clearly, some teams are disillusioned by their experiences and most of the blame lands in the boots of the tech stack. And yet, the problems persist. Storyblok published a previous study that revealed almost half of all businesses are literally “embarrassed” by their website. Ouch. That same report also found that business leaders estimate a poor website UX leads to $72,000 in lost sales each year.To be sure, there’s some predictable marketer’s lament in all of this (every brand pro is on a quest for what they don’t have). But it does codify how disappointing a legacy CMS experience can be for many users and organizations – despite spending all that previously mentioned cheddar on martech. Looking ahead, integration will continue to scale in importance. This is due to the accelerating growth of new technologies and the persistent need to manage data from multiple systems. According to Storyblok, this must be prioritized – because what’s at stake is the continued erosion of time, money, and resources.There are many choices when it comes to CMS platforms. Most are solid in their own way, and it’s usually not just the architecture or functionality that makes them naughty or nice – it’s how they’re applied as part of a broader stack. In some cases, headless is an ideal solution. But when a decision about any CMS isn’t carefully approached, it can result in a less-than-satisfying outcome.In terms of reaching the limitations, some practitioners might be approaching their problems from the wrong vector – and certain strategies could be employed to resolve the bottlenecks and challenges. In this case, headless CMSes have an advantage when it comes to integrating with other solutions that displace the issues or extend capabilities in the right way. That said, large enterprise DXPs have made significant headway when it comes to delivering more modular solutions for their customers, which can offer some of the same benefits of interoperability and API-driven integration. Do you mine a lump of coal, hoping it keeps burning? Or do you make the leap to something new? This realm of optimization is something that many organizations will be wrestling with as they assess the 2024 holiday season and beyond. The good news: we’re talking about the challenges, and working to overcome them.Who knows? Maybe next Christmas will bring some cheerier numbers. Until then, we'll be making our list and checking it twice. <hr /><h4 style="text-align:center" id="looking-for-guidance-on-storyblok?--talk-to-us.-">Looking for guidance on Storyblok?  <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/contact">Talk to us. </a></h4><hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-2025"><a href=" https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25">CMS Kickoff 2025</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaMeet industry leaders at our third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global CMS event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">so secure your tickets today.</a> <img style="width:30.46%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/cms-summit-25.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-summit-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">CMS Summit 25</a></h4>May 13-14, 2025 – Frankfurt, GermanyDon't miss the first European edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community! CMS Summit 25 will bring together top-notch speakers, our renowned learning format, and engaging social events. Hear from leading practitioners like Deutsche Bahn, Dr. Oetker, and more – and join customers, agencies, and CMS vendors as we discuss current trends and what's ahead for the content and digital experience fields. Connect and network at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference focused on CMS. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">so book your seats today.</a>

Legacy CMS leaving a lump of coal in your stacking? Research says the best gift could be headless

Opinion: Universal CMS? From a pragmatist, it’s not yet so "Universal"

andrew

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