Articles - Page 112

Agentic AI for Agencies in 2026

bmckeiver

Contegro is a commercial Website CMS solution for medium to large organizations that is targeted at design focused Web Design, Graphic Design and Advertising agencies looking for a high end Website CMS for their clients.
Contegro’s key point of difference over other Website CMS systems is that it removes the developer from the website lifecycle. Allowing design focused companies to deliver functionally rich websites, without the need to employ developers for any coding. This is achieved by building in an extensive level of control within the User Interface, providing partners with all the control they need to produce functional, high end websites while providing their clients (the end-user) with total control over the management of their content within a very user-friendly interface.
In a nut shell, it simplifies the website development life cycle while delivering a feature-rich, technically advanced website solution for their client.
Due for release on November 17th, Contegro's fourth rendition of their popular WCMS is still in testing but we've been granted a chance to dig deep and see what this system is made of.
Contegro has a number of addon modules that can be used to extend the system to allow for additional functionality. The modules available include: Blog, Directory, Document Library, E-Card, E-Commerce, E-Commerce Lite, Email Marketing, Form Builder, Image Gallery, Investor Relations Suite, Microsite Ability, Podcasts, Product Catalog, RSS reader, Seminar, Store Locator, Vehicle Booking and Voting Poll. For more descriptions, see <a href="http://www.contegro.com/Contegro-CMS/Add-on-Modules/default.aspx">Contegro Addon Modules</a>.
When you first log in to the Administrative Interface for Contegro, you are greeted with a familiar look and feel to what you would expect from a Windows Desktop:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/contegro-management-console-mozilla-firefox_2010-11-19_09-13-57-580x407.jpg" alt="Contegro 1" />
Double clicking on the editor on the Contegro web desktop pops up an editor that allows you to browse the various aspects of the site and edit them.
Within editor view, there are three icons located on the right side of the window that allow you to switch between the various modes:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/contegro-management-console-mozilla-firefox_2010-11-19_09-16-05.jpg" alt="Contegro 2" /> 
The icons in order that they appear are: Preview, Compact Edit and Preview Edit.
Preview mode should be pretty obvious. It shows you a preview of the site without any obstructions. Compact edit shows the site layout with the individual module boxes and no previews available:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/contegro-3-580x242.jpg" />
Lastly, Preview edit shows the site as you see below:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/contegro-4-580x300.jpg" alt="Contegro 4" />
Right clicking on any of the pages on the left pane brings up a context menu with various options:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/joomlacode-mozilla-firefox_2011-03-24_09-48-03_fwbwtg.jpg" />
Do you wish to change the order of your pages? You can do so by simply clicking and dragging the page to it's new location directly from the left pane of the window in the screenshot above.
Should you move a page to a new parent page, you will be prompted to create a 301 redirect to ensure that you maintain your search engine visibility. This is a handy and well thought out addition that makes rearranging your site's structure less daunting.
Modifying the individual modules is easy to do as well. You simply click on the wrench icon and a new window with the various settings for that module appears. Let's say you want to change the categories to display by order of popularity instead of by name. Simply click on the wrench for the category list:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/contegro-6-580x459.jpg" alt="Contegro 6" />
There is a dropdown menu available called “Group Items By:” that you can simply adjust to use popularity. It's as simple as that. As you can see, there are plenty of options and ways to customize the individual modules to best suit them to your needs.
Each area of the template can be given a specific set of design rules or CSS attributes and you can see how this works very easily. Simply drag your module from the left pane of your website to the middle pane and the module will automatically reskin itself based on the CSS attributes of that pane. This saves you a ton of time when it comes to making adjustments to your site's appearance.
Adding modules to your site is also fairly straight forward. To add a module to an area, click on one of the green + signs beside your module name:
This will bring up a dropdown box for you to select your new module from. In the drop down box are a number of modules for you to select from.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/contegro-7.jpg" />
Editing content and settings from here is as simple and straight forward as clicking on the appropriate icon. Should you wish to edit content, for instance, you can simply click the icon for editing and up pops the window:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/contegro-8-580x394.jpg" />
Right now, the editor shows the full set of available options but can easily be restricted to show only specific buttons, should you wish.
The file explorer can be found by clicking on the Document icon on the Contegro desktop. This window allows you to browse the hierarchical structure of your documents and images as well as manage the contents within.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/contegro-9-580x353.jpg" />
As you can see in the screenshot above, you can also edit the metadata of the individual documents as well as their access levels should you choose to do so. One thing I encountered and I initially found a bit inconvenient is that there does not appear to be a way to upload multiple documents to the repository from this application. It seems to only allow you to upload them one at a time.
I was informed, however, that there is a document Library add-on module that is used for managing large volumes of documents as it takes away the manual linking. The Document Library includes an import feature that allows you to zip all documents and import as one file and is ideal for managing from 100 – 10,000 + documents.
When it comes to managing images, you can easily select and upload multiples in one go and it uploads them quickly without issue.
Moving to the security management aspect of the product, I found access permissions to be quite easy to configure with numerous restrictions that can be applied quickly and easily:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/contegro-10-580x438.jpg" />
What I especially like is the ability to modify HTML Editor Permissions. Often in my consulting work, I am asked if the systems that are available can be made as simple as possible and this is a great way to do so. You can restrict the toolbars within the editor to only show the basics so as not to overwhelm those who are not as comfortable with technology. This is a great addition and you don't have to hunt and peck around the software to find it, which is nice.
Developers will love the template management that Contegro offers as well. You can add, move, replace quickly and easily from the template menu. There is also the ability to lock the module in place so it cannot be moved, allow or disallow additional modules to be added to a defined template area and allow or disallow module deletion.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/contegro-11-580x351.jpg" />
Creating new templates is quick and easy and you can specify custom CSS files to use for each template within the system. Contegro also allows you to create and add snippets of code into your templates quickly and easily. To find your available snippets, simply click on the Contegro start menu, Content, Snippets. You will be able to see all prepopulated snippets and be able to quickly and easily insert your own.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/contegro-12-580x446.jpg" />
Once you've created a snippet, adding them to your template is as simple as selecting the template area you wish to add it to and selecting it from a drop down list.
Workflow management is an integral part of any CMS and Contegro is no exception to the rule. It has an extensive 2 &amp; 3 step workflow process that can be managed down to page level. To setup workflow for different groups, click on the Contegro Start Bar &gt;&gt; Accounts &gt;&gt; Administrator &gt;&gt; Group Permissions.
Do you need the ability to manage multiple sites? Contegro can easily handle this as well. New sites can be created directly from within the CMS using the following menu item:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/contegro-13.jpg" />
Once created, switching is as easy as selecting the new site from a popup on the right side of the screen.
Conclusion
In summary, if you are a developer or designer looking for a stable product with plenty of functionality that offers scalability, ease of use and excellent security management then Contegro is a great choice.
With it's easy to use template system, ability to integrate code snippets and multi-site management capabilities.. Contegro is sure to be a hit among the design community.
Do you wish to learn more? Check out these videos showcasing Contegro's capabilities:
<ul>
<li>Content Editing plus Image &amp; Document Upload – <a href="http://video.ushost.contegro.com" target="_blank"></a></li><a href="http://video.ushost.contegro.com" target="_blank">
</a><li><a href="http://video.ushost.contegro.com" target="_blank">Introducing Contegro –  </a><a href="http://video.ushost.contegro.com" target="_blank">http://video.ushost.contegro.com</a></li>
</ul>
Alternatively, you can peruse their user guide here: <a href="http://www.contegro.com/UserGuide/" target="_blank">http://www.contegro.com/UserGuide/</a>
Website: <a href="http://www.contegro.com">http://www.contegro.com</a>

Contegro Review - A review of version 4.0

mike-johnston

SocialEngine have released version 4.8.3 of the non-hosted flavour of their social networking CMS, <a href="https://www.socialengine.com/" target="_blank"> SocialEngine PHP </a> .
Coming out of the box completely unbranded, SocialEngine PHP can be customized endlessly. Also, thanks to the large SocialEngine Community, a hug range of addons and themes are available to apply to your SocialEngine website.
With SocialEngine PHP 4.8.3, HTML5 video compatibility has been introduced, alongside a number of bug fixes.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/se2.png" alt="SocialEngine" /> Here's an overview of what's new:
<h3>Features:</h3>
<ul>
<li>Added ability to upload and encode HTML5-compatible videos</li>
<li>Added HTML5 video player on mobile</li>
</ul>
<h3>Bug Fixes:</h3>
<ul>
<li>Site-wide statistics now work in Chrome</li>
<li>Corrected an issue where auto-suggest would only suggest friends</li>
<li>Corrected an issue where mobile sign-ups didn’t require a photo in spite of it being required</li>
<li>Login history is now sorted by timestamp by default</li>
</ul>
<h3>Other:</h3>
<ul>
<li>Removed deprecated/unused functions (If you have a lot of 3rd party addons, contact them to ensure everything still works)</li>
<li>Corrected some typos in the Engine library</li>
</ul>
<h2>Uploading HTML5 Videos on SocialEngine</h2>
HTML5 video support is obviously the big news here, and I'm sure many SocialEngine users will be excited at the prospect. However, there are some steps you'll need to take before you're up and running.
To be able to upload HTML5 video, your SocialEngine FFMPEG must be compiled with h264 encoder support. Also, HTML5 Support must be enabled in your SocialEngine PHP video settings.
If that sounds a little too technical for you, SocialEngine have put together a walkthrough video:
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/J4cYUE2fCMM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
You can download SocialEngine PHP 4.8.3 from the SocialEngine Client Area .
Also, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/social-engine/" target="_blank"> SocialEngine via our CMS Directory</a>.

SocialEngine PHP 4.8.3 Released with HTML5 Video Compatibility

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.django-cms.org/">django CMS</a>, the free and open source platform trusted by NASA, L'Oreal and other major brands, is on the brink of releasing its latest version in the form of django CMS 3.2.0.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/djangocms_green909x0-is.png" />The first release candidate is scheduled for the beginning of October 2015, but today we're taking a quick look at the Preview Release, which was recently made available.django is encouraging its users to put this Preview Release to the test, in order to help them iron out the more subtle issues ahead of the final version.<h2>Touch Support, An Improved Interface &amp; More</h2>According to the django team, “[Version 3.2.0] brings various performance and user interaction improvements such as touch support and a much improved structure board.”<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/preview-1_png_1170x0_q90_subsampling-2492x0-is.png" />Here's a summary of what's new with django CMS 3.2.0:<ul><li>Full touch support (Tablet, Tabletops, Phablets)</li><li>Enhanced and polished user interface</li><li>Much needed improvements to the structure board</li><li>Enhancements to components such as modal, sideframe and the toolbar</li><li>Significant speed improvements on loading, http requests and file sizes</li><li>New <a target="_blank" href="https://github.com/divio/djangocms-admin-style">djangocms-admin-style</a> look &amp; feel</li><li>Restarts no longer required when changing apphooks</li></ul>​So, in line with their publisher-friendly ethos, django seems to be gearing their platform towards publishers on the move with mobile-friendly interfaces. Never a bad idea in today's multi-screen world.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/preview-4_png_1170x0_q90_subsampling-2492x0-is.png" />For more screenshots and information on this release, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.django-cms.org/en/blog/2015/09/25/django-cms-32-preview/">check out django's official blog announcement</a>.You can also explore more of <a href="/products/django-cms">django CMS via our CMS Directory</a>.

A Look at The django CMS 3.2.0 Preview Release

The <a href="http://hgt14.onehippo.org/" target="_blank">2014 Hippo Get Together</a> was held on May 16th, in the heart of a sunny, serene Amsterdam.
The CMS Critic team were in attendance, in the form of Mike Johnston and myself.
On the morning of the event, Mike and I made our way to the venue – the trendy Amsterdam Trouw Club – before taking up our front row seats. As usual, we were <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic" target="_blank"> live-tweeting the event</a> from start to finish using the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23hgt14&amp;src=hash" target="_blank"> #HGT14 hashtag</a>.
For some very quick highlights of the Hippo Get Together 2014, check out Hippo's brilliant, “HGT14 In 64 Seconds” video below. You might even catch a glimpse of the CMS Critic team!
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/95676527?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
<h2>Marketing Versus IT &amp; The Future of Hippo</h2>
The event was being presented by Hippo's Community manager, Bas Van Leeuwen. He welcomed everybody formally before handing the stage over to Tobias Jeger – Hippo's Lead Developer – to kick off the first talk.
Tobias wasted no time, jumping right into the Marketing vs IT dilemma which many companies face. A worthy topic to get the audience's juices flowing.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/tobias_jeger2.jpg" alt="Hippo Get Together 2014 Tobias Jeger" />
Tobias Jeger – Hippo Get Together 2014
Being on the IT side of the fence, he put forward some of the key flash points between the two opposing sides, highlighting how marketing teams could improve their approach.
<blockquote>Tobias Jeger, Hippo CMS Lead Developer: “Marketing, if you want us (IT) to be happy, please respect our development best practices.” <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23HGT14&amp;src=hash"> #HGT14 </a>
— CMS Critic (@cmscritic) <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic/statuses/467211222937792512"> May 16, 2014 </a></blockquote>
Immediately after Tobias Jeger's presentation, marketers everywhere will be pleased that they got their rebuttal through none other that Sonja Wraith, Hippo's head of Marketing.
She offered up some highly interesting statistics regarding the IT vs Marketing clash, and drove home the lack of support marketers generally get from their friends over in IT.
<blockquote>Sonja Wraith, Hippo CMS Marketing VP: “61% of marketers feel that the IT department does not support them.” <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23HGT14&amp;src=hash"> #HGT14 </a> <a href="https://twitter.com/sonjawraith"> @sonjawraith </a>
— CMS Critic (@cmscritic) <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic/statuses/467213368961814528"> May 16, 2014 </a></blockquote>
Sonja Wraith ended the quasi-debate on a positive note though. She underlined the need for both marketing and IT teams to work on improving communication and collaboration in order to bridge the gap between the two sides.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sonja_wraith.png" alt="Sonja Wraith Hippo Get Together 2014" />
Sonja Wraith – Hippo Get Together 2014
Before the Get Together's first Coffee break, Arje Cahn, Hippo CTO, wrapped up the points put forth by Tobias Jeger and Sonja Wraith, and gave a brief insight into how Hippo CMS is working to help bring the two feuding sides together.
He touched on Hippo's aim to introduce A/B Testing features, as well as their brand new user interface, which is currently in the works.
<blockquote>Arjé Cahn, Hippo CTO: “We're working on a new UI that works well on all devices, looks better and is more efficient.” <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23HGT14&amp;src=hash"> #HGT14 </a> <a href="https://twitter.com/arjecahn"> @arjecahn </a>
— CMS Critic (@cmscritic) <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic/statuses/467223340835684353"> May 16, 2014 </a></blockquote>
<h2>Hippo Essentials, The New UI &amp; Happy Hippo Customers</h2>
Hippo Product Manager Oscar Scholten also used his time to discuss the upcoming <a href="http://www.onehippo.org/library/essentials/hippo-developer-essentials.html" target="_blank">Hippo Essentials</a>, a frame work offering a range of tools designed to help get Hippo projects up and running faster than ever before.
He mentioned the integration of Hippo certified plugins, video plugins, &amp; other key features like blogs and banners, all of which are needed to start projects quickly and effectively.
<blockquote>Oscar Scholten from Hippo “With Hippo Essentials we wanted people to have better out-of-the-box experiences when they start projects” <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23HGT14&amp;src=hash"> #HGT14 </a>
— CMS Critic (@cmscritic) <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic/statuses/467249019514023936"> May 16, 2014 </a></blockquote>
Hippo's Get Together also offered some high profile customers a chance to air their experiences with the platform.
Hugo Valk for example, the lead developer of <a href="http://www.ibridge.nl/ibr/home/index.xml" target="_blank">I-Bridge</a>, a Randstad company, presented some interesting insights into how Hippo CMS helped build their online presence better than ever before. He detailed how Hippo had an immediate impact on things like site speed and general SEO.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/hugo.png" alt="Hugo Valk Hippo Get Together 2014" />
Hugo Valk – Hippo Get Together 2014
Speakers from <a href="http://www.elasticpath.com/" target="_blank">ElasticPath</a>,  <a href="http://www.finalist.nl" target="_blank">Finalist</a> and <a href="http://www.oracle.com/index.html" target="_blank">Oracle</a> also delivered presentations.
Anton Bensdorp from Hippo also expanded on Arje Cahn's earlier mention of Hippo's new user interface. He spoke about the need to revamp Hippo's UI to help support new, less experienced user types, relocate functionality &amp; to also accommodate different screen sizes.
<blockquote>Anton Bensdorp from Hippo: “We're changing the UI to support new user types, relocate functionality &amp; to support diff screen sizes.” <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23HGT14&amp;src=hash"> #HGT14 </a>
— CMS Critic (@cmscritic) <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic/statuses/467290676624130050"> May 16, 2014 </a></blockquote>
He also touched upon a handy new feature of the new UI, which allows publishers to view autosaved content edits,which are individually presented in an accessible list. The ideas is to make edits easier to track, and content easier to publish.
<h2>Open Source, Open Friendliness</h2>
Away from the scheduled talks and presentations, Hippo Get Together 2014 offered up an extremely pleasant atmosphere.
The Club setting was about as unique as they come – but it worked. There was plenty of space to move around and converse, meet new people and hear new Hippo-related stories. Everybody seemed to have a blast.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/hippo2700x0.png" alt="Hippo Get Together 2014" />
The Friendly Atmosphere of Hippo Get Together 2014
A number of friendly Hippo representatives were on hand throughout the coffee breaks and lunch times, holding flowers – an indicator that they were there to help out and answer any questions.
Hippo T-Shirt were handed out and quick thrown on by attendees. Many though, were already rocking the Hippo T-Shirt from the 2013 Get Together. That tells you all you need to know about the passionate and loyal Hippo community, which only continues to grow.
All in all, the event was a resounding success. Attendees had fun, heard some juicy insights into the future of Hippo, and got to celebrate the nature of open source software.
To top it all off, attendees were invited to join the Hippo team on a boat trip through Amsterdam to cap off the evening. What more could you ask for?
For more information on the Hippo Get Together 2014, <a href="http://hgt14.onehippo.org/" target="_blank">check out their official website</a>.

Looking Back on The Hippo Get Together 2014

Although document management system (DMS) execution requires an understanding of the <a href="http://www.efilecabinet.com/what-is-a-document-management-system/">solution’s features</a> and the impact of their benefits, a strategy involves myriad components: organizing content in an intuitive way, creating a buy-in to follow the strategies, and incentivizing this buy-in from the top down.
Although DMS improves content and information strategies, it can have the opposite effect if the organization’s strategy has too many unregulated components. For instance, focusing on the two most important content management goals of the organization is more important than organizing DMS around fifteen goals.
Even if the two aforementioned goals have subsections that could in and of themselves be construed as independent goals, creating a strategic umbrella will effectively guide employees within the organizaation.
<h2>Document Management Strategy Should Make Processes Transparent</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/woman-typing-writing-windows_1579x0-is.jpg" />
Whether through phased implementation and deployment, all-at-once implementation and deployment, or localized vs. dispersed deployment, all employees, not just executives, should understand the roadmaps, strategies, and processes surrounding the installation and use of a DMS solution. Otherwise, DMS will not be fully potentiated and generate less ROI.
<h3>Rerouting the Content Revolution: Cloud Technology’s Impact</h3>
DMS is one of the enterprise technologies most responsible for introducing organizations to the cost-efficiency, security, and other benefits of <a href="http://www.efilecabinet.com/efilecabinet-online/">cloud-based document management</a> technologies. If hybrid solutions do not supplant the cloud vs. on-premise distinction, the cloud will continue to garner a greater market share of DMS users.
So much so, in fact, that the International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates in its <a href="http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS40846815">Worldwide Content Collaboration Forecast</a> for 2015–2019 that the cloud for this market will grow 23.1% annually over this four-year period, whereas on-premise solutions will stagnate, growing 0.9% annually over this four-year period.
<h3>Resolving Information Overload in Knowledge Workers During DMS Deployment</h3>
DMS benefits both knowledge and process workers, but in two different ways. The knowledge worker will require a different deployment road map to adhere to than the process worker.
Knowledge workers’ biggest challenge in DMS deployment will entail identifying and making use of the insight relevant content will provide. For instance, financial professionals will need to determine which documents and content matter to their business objectives by virtue of this content’s information.
Although DMS vendors are steadily gearing features and product development toward knowledge workers, the process worker benefits more from going paperless via DMS than any other worker demographic.
<h3>Workflow and the Paper Free Document Management Process During Deployment</h3>
The process worker, as stated above, is affected most immediately by the paperless component of DMS, relieving them of burdens involving printers, fax machines, and paper filing.
For the process worker outside the office, these benefits can be made most immediate through DMS vendors’ mobile applications. Additionally, if deploying a DMS for an organization comprised of process workers, such as a construction company, going paperless can eliminate the need to bring blueprints to construction sites, keeping important plans safe from decay and weathering.
<h3>Ensuring Document Management System Throughput Continuity</h3>
As mentioned earlier, throughput measures a scanner’s automated ability to upload a certain number of documents and content to a DMS. A common error post-deployment, however, is forgetting to continue the throughput process.
Doing so duplicates information, attenuates the ROI of DMS, and confuses employees. Although roughly 70% of content worldwide is already digital, the content not uploaded to the DMS can compound quickly. Therefore, post-installation throughput to the DMS is important as mail or other paper documents arrive at physical office locations.
However, bringing throughput continuity to its fruition will require understanding how the digital space can be just as disorganized as filing cabinets and other physical storage spaces—particularly if DMS is not utilized correctly.
Ensuring the relevant use of Zonal OCR, file versioning, metadata, and other DMS functions can prevent digital data from being stored outside the DMS system. Digital information can be stored in many, many different places—making it arguably more disorganized and unstructured than even traditional paper-based office processes.
Developing a protocol for uploading all content to the DMS can preclude this issue. Generally speaking, most vendors provide solutions designed to harness an organization’s content in its entirety. Thus, choosing to not upload all information to the DMS prevents the system from being utilized to its fullest potential.

How to Align a Document Management System Strategy and Execution

CoreMedia is a leading provider of Web Content Management (WCM) software to organizations demanding engaging, context-driven online experiences for their customers regardless of channel or touchpoint.
We had a chance to have a chat with Glenn Conradt, VP of Global Marketing and asked him about the company, it's claim to fame and how best it can help customers achieve success online.
CC: What can you tell us about CoreMedia?
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/glenn-conradt-photo-100x100.jpg" alt="Glenn Conradt" />
GC: Over 14 years ago when CoreMedia delivered its first system to manage a media clients website, the internet was in its infancy and most of us were unaware of how this medium would impact our personal and business environments.
CoreMedia’s close roots to the disruptive and demanding challenges of the media and telecommunications industry has ensured its organic growth and technological leadership since then and today it is the platform of choice for many of the highest traffic portals in Europe and around the world. While competitors continue to provide the delivery of static websites, CoreMedia in 2006 pioneered the ability to deliver personalized content in real-time with it’s Content Application Engine and followed this up as the first vendor to deliver integrated social media functionality. While the market was talking multi-channel, CoreMedia was talking and delivering multi-touchpoint.
Today CoreMedia, while a late entrant into the North American market, is able to address the complexity of managing the online ecosystem, ensure high performance and reliability, while delivering a personal, mobile and social user experience. As a result, organizations can more effectively execute their online strategies to engage consumers, build customer loyalty and ultimately drive greater revenue and profitability, even in the most complex, highly-trafficked environments.
CC: What are the main products that CoreMedia offers and how do they integrate / communicate with one another?
GC: CoreMedia’s core product is CoreMedia CMS. The latest version, CoreMedia V, manages and delivers every type of digital content for the Web including text, video, images, music and complex multimedia. Designed to make content management easy, it features a highly customizable user interface and out-of-the-box editorial tools and workflows that can be tailored to the way web managers work. We will be rolling out CoreMedia VI towards the end of the year – and introducing a new way of working with content – so be on the lookout!
CoreMedia CMS is comprised of three primary product sets: CoreMedia Adaptive Products, which enables enterprises to deliver context appropriate content to users based on the interaction between the user, environment, device and content; CoreMedia Social Products, which enables enterprises to engage with users via social network integration and community building; and CoreMedia Open Products, which allows seamless integration with back-office systems, core applications and business portals based on open standards. All of these products are integrated into CoreMedia CMS.
CC: There are many claims on the CoreMedia website with regards to the ROI and other benefits to using CoreMedia products. How do you back up these claims? Do you have case studies to prove these statements?
GC: We do!  Hundreds of companies worldwide place their trust in content management software from CoreMedia. Our customers use our software to run their corporate websites, intranets and high traffic portals offering video services, e-government, shopping and customer services. CoreMedia technology helps media businesses with their cross-media publishing, provides social software to help companies manage their change to Enterprise 2.0 businesses and protects content with a standard suite of software for digital rights management.  You can check out some case studies below:
https://www.coremedia.com/en/Case-Studies/1482.html?queryParameter=1592
CC: What was the biggest CoreMedia success story of this year for your company / clientele?
GC: It’s been a great year for CoreMedia thus far; we’ve expanded our presence in the US with the opening of an office in San Francisco and a growing marketing, sales and professional services team. We’ve seen significant traction with our WCM technologies in Europe and Asia as companies evolve the ways in which they engage with their customers online, so our North American expansion was a natural next step.
On the customer front, the last year has seen some significant growth.
1.      Earlier this week we announced a <a href="http://www.coremedia.com/web-content-management/news-events/press-releases/internet-broadcasting-and-coremedia-to-offer-cloud-based-web-content-management-solution-for-media-companies-/-/1602/7466/-/_lyqnxwz/-/index.html">major deal with Internet Broadcasting</a> to replace their current web publishing solution with our Cloud-based technology platform.
2.      We completed a project with Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). <a href="http://www.aamc.org/mededportal">MedEdPORTAL</a> is an interactive web portal designed to promote educational collaboration by facilitating the open exchange of peer-reviewed teaching resources such as tutorials, virtual patients, simulation cases, lab guides, videos, podcasts, assessment tools, etc.
3.      We were also incredibly excited to support the official portal for the largest sporting event in the world earlier this year; our selection and the subsequent success of the website was a huge affirmation of the reliability and scalability of our solution that we’ve been promoting.
4.      In what is believed to be the largest technology investment ever by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, CoreMedia was chosen as their online publishing platform. “Unleashed”, the first of three sites that were to be migrated, went live recently.
We’ve also seen tremendous recognition for the importance of web content management. In Gartner’s recent WCM Magic Quadrant, they predicted that WCM software will generate more than $1 billion in revenue for its vendors, up from $890 million in 2009. CoreMedia fared quite well in this year’s report- from 2009 to 2010 we experienced significant movement up and to the right to the Visionary quadrant. We feel this is a huge endorsement of our strategic focus over the past year, and plan to continue this momentum with a number of significant announcements on the product and customer side, further growth from our North American operations, and expansion of our partner ecosystem.
Lastly, we launched our new corporate website, reflecting our new branding and an improved user experience – and obviously built on our own CoreMedia CMS platform.
CC: Why do you feel CoreMedia is unique in its offerings?
GC: We covered our ability to deliver content in context, but another unique element to our story is how we can handle even the most intricate content situations. As a result of extensive M&amp;A activity and additions of layers of new technology systems and applications, the content organization within many large organizations can be incredibly complex. Content is often spread across silos, in many different systems and repositories. CoreMedia is able to make these complex scenarios simpler, providing a robust, scalable solution for organizing and managing content between heterogeneous systems, whether internal or external. Our platform leverages open standards to easily integration with external systems, including ERP, CRM, digital asset management and video repositories. This easy integration ensures seamless content management and delivery from one single source, and makes our platform an ideal solution for companies that have a complex, highly trafficked environment.
In addition to being able to handle complex environments, CoreMedia excels at creating and publishing digital content of any type from text to rich media in a highly personalized way, creating a truly engaging experience for Web users. Our Content Application Engine enables organizations to automatically adapt content to the user’s context at that point in time- factoring in user ratings and comments, GPS information, device parameters, time of day/year, or user profile data from CRM and other back office systems- to create a personalized user experience. This is a huge advantage, especially factoring in the burgeoning number of web-enabled mobile devices, in addition to the basic Web.
And speaking of devices- mobile capabilities are another key differentiator for CoreMedia. CoreMedia’s strategic partnership with Sevenval addresses this trend by enabling businesses to immediately deliver Web content customized to both the individual consumer and the parameters of their specific mobile device- we support over 11,000 of them!
CC: How does CoreMedia assist customers, learn about, interact with, and best present their products to their customers?
GC: Businesses recognize the importance of providing excellent cross-channel experiences to improve the customer experience. In fact, a recent Forrester Research study showed that 80 percent of customer experience decision makers said that improving cross-channel interactions was one of their key priorities in 2010. Consumers consistently rate satisfaction levels for cross-channel experiences as poor, however, so it is apparent that businesses often struggle to deliver.  Organizations that wish to engage with their customers online must move beyond just delivering web content to various touchpoints, such as a mobile device, PC or social media platform. They should instead consider how content will be consumed by creating a personalized experience that addresses the user’s context (e.g. device, physical location, time-of-day, season, social networking “Likes”, relevant friend recommendations, etc).  This is the benefit that CoreMedia can deliver to our customers- helping them improving the quality and consistency of their interactions with their audience by supporting multiple channels and devices with a single core content offering that automatically adapts to each user as an individual. By intergrating content within social media networks like Facebook, organizations are able to engage directly in online customer discussions, making the dialog with their customers two-way rather than just one way.
From a bottom line perspective, CoreMedia provides organizations with a more cost-effective way of engaging with customers, no longer making it necessary for various departments to have their own in-depth technical expertise to communicate across different touchpoints. By delivering relevant and contextualized content, companies can capture customer mindshare, build brand loyalty and ultimately drive revenue. It also drives down the cost of managing and delivering digital content, and increases conversion rates and revenues through more precisely targeted cross-sell and up-sell opportunities. And finally, improved self-service applications can empower customers to help themselves, either directly or through self-supporting communities, reducing the impact on already over-stretched contact center resources.
CC: Your website states that CoreMedia WCM allows users to maximize their return on engagement. Can you define this term (as you see it)?
GC: Consumers use several sources of information before making purchase decisions – they may seek independent opinions, speak to customer service agents, or examine goods physically. And they are accessing information via myriad channels, including mobile devices, social media and company websites.  As a result, there are endless opportunities for brands to engage directly with their customers. Without a solution that converts channels into touchpoints to engage with consumers in a contextualized way, you risk losing business. By synchronizing, updating and optimizing your digital content and delivering relevant content as and when your customers’ needs and situation changes, you can quickly increase the return on your customer engagement, making each interaction productive and ultimately more profitable.
CC: What is the CoreMedia Social Software package and the Social Application Connector and how can they assist customers make the most of their content?
GC: CoreMedia Social Software enables businesses to turn their websites into vibrant online communities. It offers all of the features that a community demands – personal profiles, preferences, blogs, discussion boards, forums, ratings, comments and tags. CoreMedia Social Software is a comprehensive solution designed to be low maintenance, giving you the opportunity to listen to, learn from and engage with users.
By creating a community around your products or services, businesses can empower users to help each other to resolve issues, thus dramatically reduce the support costs;
get invaluable feedback on your current products and services through ratings and comments; follow the threads on discussion boards and forums to get instant insights into what is really on the minds of their users; and create forums around specific products and services, gauge opinions, test new ideas and get honest feedback quickly.
CoreMedia Social Application Connector enables companies to engage directly with social networks, listening to the discussions and making your content freely available.
Since users meet, discuss and share ideas all over the web and, in particular, on social networks, CoreMedia Social Application Connector enables businesses to build an application inside social networks so they can listen to the discussions and put across their point of view.  Businesses can deliver content on their website based on feedback from social networks to ensure that a seamless conversation runs between the corporate website and independent social networks.
CC: What do you feel has been the greatest advancement in WCM/CMS market over the past year or so?
GC: First generation WCM technology delivered static websites. The trend to “rip and replace” these older technologies is driving by the emergence of the mobile, social and personal web. The rapid adoption of mobile technologies by consumers has placed entirely new demands on how companies manage and distribute content to their customers. Providing rich user experiences across a growing number of devices while ensuring brand consistency and cost efficiency requires a non-siloed approach. CoreMedia’s extensive work in mobile-forward Europe, together with our partnership with Sevenval, has enabled us to provide a scalable, cost effective and consistent Web experience from a single source that automatically adapts to over 11,000 mobile devices. While many WCM vendors have inadequate responses to the mobile trend, there is a clear absence of any, apart from CoreMedia, that can address this while enabling social dialogue and a personalized contextual experience.
CC: What is your vision for the next couple of years in this market? How has CoreMedia positioned itself to be the “go to” player?
GC: The mobile Web channel has often been treated as an afterthought, with poorly-conceived Web content and an unsatisfactory Web experience for the customer. In the US and Northern Europe, however, mobile penetration is approaching 100 percent, and Gartner research indicates that mobile devices will overtake PCs by 2013 as the primary channel for Web access.  There are also reports showing that China is skipping PCs altogether, using mobile devices as their sole connection to the Internet; this phenomenon is happening in Africa, as well. CoreMedia is helping meet the consumer demand for personalized, consistent, context-specific content that is tailored to their individual needs, preferences and device.
Rather than treating multi-channel as a barrier to content delivery, CoreMedia’s latest generation of context-aware content management effectively treats each interaction as input for a more sustained customer relationship, cumulatively gathering knowledge about the customer and engaging consumers in way that creates added value for them while still delivering greater returns for the enterprise. CoreMedia’s Web CMS enables enterprises to create a truly engaging experience for users across multiple touchpoints, treating customers as individuals through websites, mobile phones, PDAs and iTV, as well as through social media channels. Our software automatically adapts the content and layout of a Web site to the unique capabilities of a mobile access device, such as navigation concepts, screen sizes, browsers, markups and multimedia formats.
The release of CoreMedia VI at the end of 2010 will challenge the outdated and siloed content models that have been unable to keep pace with the complexity of managing content and multi-touchpoint delivering across the online engagement ecosystem. A new approach is needed and we believe that CoreMedia is well positioned to deliver.
Learn more about Core Media and their offerings here: <a href="http://www.coremedia.com">http://www.coremedia.com</a>

A Chat with Glenn Conradt of Core Media

WP Engine, the managed WordPress hosting and security solution, today announced WP Engine Automated Migration.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wp_engine_logo_bb_700x0.png" />Previously this year, WP Engine took an interesting step towards WordPress Customer Experience Management, as it unveiled GeoIP functionality. This gave marketers the power to deliver location-specific content.
Let's take a look at what this latest update brings.
<h2>Faster &amp; Less Technical Website Migrations</h2>
Available as a WordPress plugin, WP Engine Automated Migration enables simple and seamless migrations of WordPress websites to WP Engine’s managed WordPress hosting platform.
Once installed, the tool cuts out the most technical steps it typically takes to fully migrate a site to WP Engine. In fact, a full migration can now be as fast as 30 minutes, thanks to this latest update.
WP Engine Automated Migration creates less work for developers and for marketers. It is a powerful migration solution free from the technical overhead migrations often require.
Furthermore, the plugin reduces the costs typically associated with a full site migration by eliminating the need to pay an additional vendor to move your site from one platform to another.
Jason Cohen, founder of WP Engine, had this to say upon the announcement:
<blockquote>
“At WP Engine, we keep the customer at the forefront of everything we do. We are constantly innovating and building new tools to make our customers’ lives easier. It’s great to hear that developers and marketers are as excited as we are about our new Automated Migration solution.
Migrating sites from one platform to another has previously been an expensive and lengthy process, so we’re looking forward to helping more businesses move across to our platform quickly and easily.”
</blockquote>
To find out more, and to sign up for WP Engine, <a href="/wpengine" target="_blank">visit their website</a>.

WP Engine Announces Automated Migration Solution for WordPress

Semrush - Be an SEO hero

Be an SEO hero with Semrush

#ffffff

Everyone is singing the praises for Chorus, Vox Media’s own CMS and the platform behind the recently launched <a href="http://www.vox.com/" target="_blank">Vox.com</a>.  
 Patrick Thornton of the <a href="http://interchangeproject.org/2012/05/10/chorus-the-best-content-management-system-i-have-ever-heard-of/" target="_blank"> Interchange Project</a> calls it, “the best CMS I’ve ever heard of.” 
 The New York Times credits it for the success of the Vox Media, while even Eric Eldon, of the rival blog <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/07/a-closer-look-at-chorus-the-next-generation-publishing-platform-that-runs-vox-media/" target="_blank"> TechCrunch</a>, is “very impressed”, and calls it a next-generation platform competing against those that are decades old. 
 But perhaps the best vote of confidence comes from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Klein" target="_blank">Ezra Klein</a>, the man steering the wheel of Vox.com. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ezraklein.jpeg" alt="Ezra Klein" />
Ezra Klein – Vox Media
Ezra Klein is best known as the founder of the  Washington Post ’s <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/" target="_blank"> Wonkblog</a> and the publication’s loudest online voice – until he resigned from this lucrative job that garnered him fame and fortune. The reason boils down to the content management system in place.   
Klein, 29, felt that print journalism is outdated in that its publishing system revolves around publishing daily papers. He believes the future of journalism is online, and wanted new and effective technology that reflected this. That’s what Vox Media offered.
So, what is it about Chorus that causes competitors to swoon and journalists to quit their high-profile jobs? As you might expect, there’s more than one reason to love it.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/vox.png" alt="Vox Media" />
<h3>Unilateral Editorial Workflow</h3>
Story assignments, schedules, editing, and all other workflow items are synced with both the user ID system and the publishing system. That makes it easier for users to organize their projects and move them along to the next step. This is a modern feature at a time when competitors are still organizing with whiteboards, spreadsheets, or third-party systems like Basecamp or Asana.
<h3>Automatic Reference and Linking</h3>
Chorus is doing most of the duties of online journalists for them! It conducts automatic word scans, then finds and links it to other related texts. It also brings up relevant (and licensed) photos and videos available for use. That frees up the writers to focus more of their time on writing.
<h3>Specialization</h3>
This dream CMS is always updating; it refuses to lose any of the ground it put between itself and its competitors. Do you need a home page that features real-time updates without refreshing? Done. Shortcut keys for faster navigation through the comments? You got it. Part of the allure of Chorus isn’t what it does, it’s what it can do.
<h3>Solidarity</h3>
A user ID can get you anywhere, with easy transfer between sites. Comments can become easily become posts, and commenters can easily become authors. But doors can just as readily be closed, and administrators can ban certain users (or groups) from commenting.
<h3>Statistics</h3>
A lot of online industries are number games. With a simplified dashboard and a direct connection to Google Analytics, the staff can see clearly and quickly just how each post is doing. But that’s not even the best part. A special analysis examines past data, Google search trends, and other secret sources unrevealed to the public to suggest the best possible date and time to publish your story.
<h3>The Bottom Line</h3>
Last month, Vox Media launched Vox.com with Klein at the helm. 
 It’s still too new for a definitive pass/fail, but we can say that we like its fresh new look and modern, easy-to-browse style. 
While it’s not fair to attribute the success of Vox exclusively to its CMS, we can certainly assert that Chorus played a large part in attracting the talents of Klein and his team. And on top of all the other praise Vox.com is getting, that’s really saying something.

Singing the Praises of Chorus

To help their users complete more sales, <a href="https://selz.com/" target="_blank">Selz</a> has released an Abandoned Cart App – an essential feature for the modern eCommerce platform.
Selz is a increasingly popular online selling solution that can be integrated into existing websites, or set up as a standalone store. They release regular and relevant updates, which is always a positive sign in my eyes.
<a href="https://selz.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/selz-1_700x0214x0-is.png" /></a>
According to Selz, 63.85% of customers abandon their carts at the checkout stage. That's an alarming figure, and one that Selz is trying to shrink with this update.
<h2>Bring Those Customers Back</h2>
The Selz Abandoned Cart App automatically detects abandoned carts and helps bring those same customers back via email.
Selz users are given full visibility around who abandoned their cart, and what products they were going to buy.
Customized and thoughtfully timed emails can then be configured to be sent out to those deserters, letting them know that their cart is ready and waiting for them to complete their purchase. Merchants can also opt to send another follow up email if the cart remains abandoned.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2015-09-21-at-5_00_17-pm501x0-is.png" />
If the system works, and a customer returns and converts, Selz users will see a ‘Recovered’ tag attached to that particular sale in their admin panel.
The only down side is that the app doesn't come free. There's a 14 day free trial to ensure it works for your audience, but thereafter, <a href="https://selz.com/apps/detail/55cbf1df3f64cafb6a27531c" target="_blank">it'll be $4.99 per month from the Selz App Store</a>.
To find out more about this new app, <a href="https://selz.com/blog/the-abandoned-cart-app-is-here/" target="_blank">read Selz' official blog announcement</a>.
For more information on Selz, <a href="https://selz.com/" target="_blank">check out their website</a>.

Selz Releases Abandoned Cart App

<a target="_blank" href="http://www.bitrix24.com/">Bitrix24</a>, the popular CRM and collaboration tool, has made a significant set of announcements.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bitrix24_logo_400x0.jpg" /> The platform – which is a little over three years old – has over 800,000 signups and 4.5 million users, and is set to gain a few more with the news of a free basic plan which now boasts a long list of new features. Bitrix24 also Best CMS for Corporate IntranetsSuch features include; CRM report dashboards, task dependencies, custom fields, email tasks, and much more. Let's take a closer look.<h2>A Seriously Major Bitrix24 Update</h2>One thing's for sure; this is a big Bitrix24 update.The actual CRM update brings about a long, long list of additions. We're talking about a new dashboard with reports on leads and also on quotes and invoices. But that's certainly not all.Here's a full list of what's new:<ul><li>Ability to add email recipients to activity stream posts</li><li>Tasks to email, email to tasks</li><li>Email to chat</li><li>New Bitrix24 instant messenger</li><li>Bitrix24.Softphone</li><li>Gantt chart with dependencies</li><li>New task reminder options</li><li>Restrict task scheduling to work days and work hours</li><li>New mobile tasks</li><li>New push notifications</li><li>Collaboration between users with different Bitrix24 accounts</li><li>New pricing and discounts</li><li>Gantt zoom in/out</li><li>Task dependencies</li><li>Workday/time scheduling restrictions</li></ul><h2>Mobile Updates Included</h2>Bitrix24's mobile-version CRM has been enhanced, too. When receiving an incoming call for example, users will be able to view the client’s full profile.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/crm_-_en_-_1178x0-is.png" />The mobile version also now has a fully featured VoIP softphone, as well as quick replies from push notifications via Apple Watch and Android Wear, providing easy access to live chat.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/applewatch_-_en259x0-is.png" />Overall, it's safe to say that the Bitrix24 team has worked hard on this robust update. More interestingly though, is their move to provide a totally free plan, opening the door to customer relationship management for countless small-to-medium sized businesses across the world. Good on them.To find out more about this update, checkout the Bitrix24 blog announcement. Also, be sure to checkout the video presentation of the new update.

Bitrix24 Unveils Free CRM Plan & Flurry of New Features

Kentico is one  of the most popular .NET Content Management Systems in the marketplace (<a href="/kentico-the-cms-for-the-net-generation/">review</a>) and we wanted to take some time to learn more about their product and their companies goals. Mr. Petr Palas, founder and CEO was gracious enough to spend some time with us and answer a few questions.
CC: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your relationship with Kentico. Are you a founding member? How did your interaction with Kentico come about and what did you do previously?
<img title="petrp" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/petrp.gif" />
PP: Before starting Kentico Software, I worked as a product manager in the .NET component industry. Back in 2004, there was no decent or true .NET CMS on the market and many companies were developing their own CMS. I saw an opportunity to create a content management system and offer it to web agencies. So I started Kentico Software. Our first client was Gibson Musical Instruments. Six years later, they're still using Kentico for their main corporate website.
We are a private, profit funded company without debts or external funding and we've been profitable since year one. We experience more than 100% growth of revenue annually since inception and currently have 65 employees, 2,500 clients, almost 5,000 active web sites and 1,200 active partners worldwide across 84 countries.
CC: What is the primary focus of your company? What type of corporations / organizations do you primarily focus your attentions on and why?
PP: Kentico CMS is a highly flexible and scalable solution designed to cover the small brochure sites to multi-site to multi-national projects of Fortune 500 companies. Our customer is anybody who needs a full-featured .NET CMS that is easy to use, flexible and backed by excellent support.
Still, there's one significant group of clients that we focus on – the web agencies who use Kentico CMS as a platform to create client websites. We've built a lot of our business helping web agencies deliver high quality websites on time and with fewer resources. Unlike many other CMS vendors, we’ve made a strategic business decision to not compete with our channel of solution partners and integrators by not offer our own professional services – instead, we direct these clients with integration requirements to our recommended solution partners.
CC: How does Kentico assist customers learn about, interact with, and best present their products to their customers?
PP: I would say the most important benefit of Kentico CMS is the ease of use. I’m sure every CMS vendor will tell you that their CMS is easy to use, but I say this based on the feedback we consistently hear from our clients.
For example, from web agencies that have  deep experience with several CMS products, Kentico is very intuitive for non-technical users, they do not need to spend a lot time training their clients and they receive fewer calls from end users in comparison to any other CMS product. This is really critical for the success of any CMS project – if your CMS is not user friendly, the content administrators won't use it and you will end up with outdated website that doesn't deliver expected results.
CC: Do you feel your product is unique in its offerings? If so, why?
PP: Of course our CMS offering is unique. One of several unique values of Kentico is the completeness of the solution. Other vendors often rely on third-party products in such areas as e-commerce or social networking. This often leads to a poor user experience, architecture full of compromises, a more costly implementation and often leaves clients with software that cannot be upgraded due to compatibility issues with third-party products and the latest version of the CMS. The fact that you receive all features directly from Kentico means you also benefit with lower initial and ongoing costs and dramatically lower project risks.
Kentico CMS is particularly strong in two feature areas: rapid website development and multi-site support. While many products offer various drag-and-drop interfaces, Kentico provides a complete environment for creating websites through your browser. It means that web developers without extensive .NET knowledge can work in a front-end portal interface and your more experienced developers can focus on complex .NET coding using the integration Kentico CMS offers with Visual Studio.
Kentico CMS is the only commercial .NET CMS vendor who built multi-site support into the core of the system. It means you don't have to make compromises with half-baked multi-site architecture. And we have clients who successfully deploy hundreds of websites centrally managed in a single installation.
CC: What do you say to those that scoff at the security and stability of the .NET framework when compared to other technologies?  What has .NET enabled you to do better?
PP: As a software vendor who has been using the .NET platform for 6+ years, we believe that .NET is the best platform for our clients. It's secure, stable and provides enterprise-level scalability. Unlike other platforms, .NET is backed by Microsoft who continues to invest resources in maintaining and extending their core platform. We have seen Microsoft very responsive to security issues and bugs.
As a Gold Partner we work closely with Microsoft to provide what we believe is industry leading integration of Kentico CMS with Visual Studio. The combination of the Microsoft platform and Kentico CMS allows our clients to develop websites with tools they are already know in a secure and robust environment.
CC: What is your vision for the next couple of years in this market? How has Kentico  positioned itself to be the “ go to” player?
PP: As we have seen the overall WCM market will continue to mature. Customers will expect even more features and value for their investment. This is an area where Kentico has always been strong – delivering solutions for real-world scenarios, easy to implement, easy to use, and has low ongoing technology costs.
This philosophy had a significant impact as we looked at our own product roadmap. We saw that online marketers are a huge under-served area. Right now, we're working on Kentico CMS 6.0 that will dramatically improve the way that marketers can generate new business for their companies. The new on-line marketing functionality will empower every marketer to optimize their website for higher conversion rates using A/B and multivariate testing, provide visitors with personalized content and deliver qualified leads to their sales team. Unlike other solutions that are too complex for non-technical users and require full-time staff to keep them running, Kentico will bring these features to marketers who need an immediate ROI without growing their budget.
CC: Online marketers have definitely been getting noticed more and solutions (whether integrated or separate packages altogether) are starting to get more functions within CMS like Sitecore for example. What will Kentico do that will make it the more appealing option?
PP: We have been watching the online marketing space closely. Like any new technology we see that it’s expensive, requires extensive integration and increased deployment and maintenance costs that are out of line with customer expectations. As we talked to customers we saw the technology had matured but neither the acquisition, integration, or maintenance costs have. Kentico Enterprise Marketing Solution that will be introduced with version 6.0 next year will deliver an easy to use, cost efficient solution that is fully integrated with other CMS functionality. Our customers are very excited about this new functionality – we would love to show you more as we finalize our development.
CC: What was the biggest Kentico success story of this year for your company / clientele?
PP: We see more clients deploying Kentico for major sites with extreme traffic. Newsmax, Conduit, Motors.co.uk, Gibson or Blackboard are just a few examples of such sites.  As an example, the Newsmax site serves 20 million page views per month, with over a million pieces of content, while running on a single, stand-alone production server. We also see more web agencies standardize on Kentico as their core platform and offering Kentico as an alternative to Ektron or Sitecore, because they don't have to spend the majority of the project budget on licenses and can spend more time on delivering a successful website to their clients.
CC: You’ve recently celebrated 6 years of fantastic growth coupled with a continually expanding staff, what do you attribute this success to?
PP: First of all, we were fortunate to enter the .NET CMS market at the right time. Growth and success are easy, if you follow the core principle that is part of the Kentico Software culture – keep delivering what your clients asked for. We're not just implementing fancy new features, but we continue to improve existing functionality based on client feedback. Of course, we wouldn't be so successful, without our loyal partners who successfully adopted Kentico CMS as their core platform for creating websites.
CC: What do you feel has been the greatest advancement in WCM/CMS market over the past year or so?
PP: I would say the major advancement was the fact that WCM is no longer considered to be just about managing content. People expect that a CMS should do everything they require to support their web strategy and succeed with their on-line presence. They want a solution that will allow them to sell products on-line, engage with clients in social networks and integrate with their existing systems, such as ERP or CRM.
Also, site owners want to see measurable results and an optimized visitor experience, so they get the most from their investments. This is what we understand under the term WEM. I think this is so important version 6 of Kentico CMS will have a heavy focus on this.
CC: How do you define the term ‘CMS’?
PP: In Kentico, we believe that a Web Content Management System should provide marketers and developers with everything they need to achieve their goals on-line. Whether they need to publish search engine-optimized content, sell products on-line, integrate social networks or improve their marketing results, they should obtain it in a single, fully integrated solution. They shouldn't merely receive a framework and be forced to develop costly integrations of multiple specialized products, which often happens with many other CMS vendors.
Additionally, they shouldn't be forced to buy numerous add-on modules, requiring complex or even impossible upgrade paths from multiple vendors, which is quite often the case with open-source CMS systems. Kentico CMS delivers all functional components out of the box, and concurrently, offers extensive flexibility in how you use them or extend them.
CC: Thank you for your time Mr. Palas.
Want to learn more about Kentico? Read our <a href="/kentico-the-cms-for-the-net-generation/">review</a> or visit them on the web at <a href="http://www.kentico.com">http://www.kentico.com</a>

Interview with Petr Palas, Founder and CEO of Kentico

The very first beta of the popular open source content management framework, Drupal 7 has been released. Drupal 7 brings about a ton of changes such as:
<ul>
<li>revamped user interface</li>
<li>a new admin and default core theme</li>
<li>image handling in core, fields (CCK!) in core</li>
<li>module and theme upgrades from within the browser</li>
<li>an automated testing framework with over 24,000 tests</li>
<li>improved security and scalability</li>
<li>revamped database</li>
<li>AJAX and file systems</li>
<li>jQuery 1.4, jQuery UI 1.8, RDFa</li>
<li>many more</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2010-10-07-at-5_32_26-am-580x258.png" alt="Drupal 7 Admin Interface" />
Please see <a href="http://drupalcode.org/viewvc/drupal/drupal/CHANGELOG.txt?revision=1.373&amp;view=markup">CHANGELOG.txt</a> for a comprehensive list of all improvements in Drupal 7 or <a href="http://drupal.org/drupal-7.0-beta1">download</a> your copy today..

The first beta of Drupal 7 is now available for testing

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.prestashop.com">Prestashop</a>, the rapidly growing eCommerce solution, has just unveiled its latest version in the form of PrestaShop 1.6.1.It's been over a year <a href="/prestashop-1-6-released/">since the release of PrestaShop 1.6</a>, and just a few months since the unveiling of <a href="/prestashop-cloud-review/">PrestaShop Cloud</a>, the worlds first totally free, yet premium-grade cloud-hosted eCommerce solution.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/gi_149548_vertical-logo-2015.png" />It's worth noting that this update comes just days after <a target="_blank" href="https://www.prestashop.com/en/press-releases/2015/06/22/corinne-lejbowicz-as-the-company-s-new-ceo/">PrestaShop announced the arrival of their new CEO, Corinne Lejbowicz</a>. She thrived at organizations such as AOL and Vivendi, and will be looking to push PrestaShop to new heights.You may have also noticed that PrestaShop now has a new and quirky logo.With this latest update, PrestaShop have served up performance enhancements and some design tweaks to their Back Office. Lets take a closer look.<h2>Better Looking At The Back &amp; Faster Everywhere</h2>Cosmetic adjustments have been applied to the PrestaShop Back Office, mainly in relation to contrast and visibility in the navigation. Changes include new logos, images, colors, and a few other design elements.PrestaShop has also worked on improving the installation process, the update process, the search function and back office controls.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/new-design-b-2-1024x528793x0-is.png" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/new-design-b-2-1024x528793x0-is.png" />As for performance enhancements, PrestaShop has targeted SQL queries. Thanks to some optimization, PrestaShop stores are now up to 200% faster at carrying out back office operations. Which is impressive.The optimizations also mean that stores will be better equipped for traffic spikes.Finally, PrestaShop 1.6.1 sees the insertion of 15 new options into the “Advanced EU Compliance module”, helping European merchants meet the legal requirements of their land with greater ease.To find out more about PrestaShop 1.6.1, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.prestashop.com/blog/en/delivering-new-improved-v1-6-1-0/">check out their blog announcement</a>.Also be sure to explore <a href="/products/prestashop">PrestaShop through our CMS Directory</a>.

PrestaShop 1.6.1 Released With Performance Improvements & Back Office Facelift

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