Articles - Page 117

Agentic AI Is Coming. Is Your DXP Ready?

dsfaltudo

If you haven’t already noticed, video and the Internet go together pretty darn well.
From video-based social media to on-demand movies, video content is everywhere, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. Businesses large and small are making use of video to demonstrate their products, provide information, and above all, win custom.
Launched in 2013 out of Rockville, Maryland, <a href="http://www.uscreen.tv/" target="_blank">Uscreen</a> is a platform built to sell video content, allowing visitors to either download or stream the good stuff from any device. Vendors using Uscreen can set their content to be sold or rented, and can also run a video subscription service.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-1700x0.jpg" alt="Uscreen" />
Impressively, Uscreen already boasts of delivering over 10,000 videos per month, despite being less than two years old as a standalone platform.
<h2>A Flexible Video Storefront</h2>
Speaking of videos, here's a quick video demonstrating some of Uscreen's key features.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzcX2qFNvKc
Essentially, Uscreen enables you to create a digital storefront, similar to that of most other eCommerce websites. Visitors can then browse through your visual collection before deciding on how they wish to pay for, and eventually view the content.
Here's an additional breakdown of Uscreen's features:
<ul>
<li>Uscreen gives you a fully customizable storefront to post and sell videos to your customers. The platform also handles all transactions &amp; eCommerce duties.</li>
<li>Viewers can stream videos on any device including phones, tablets, TV’s &amp; Apple Airplay. They can do so at anytime, anywhere. Plus, they can even download them, if you allow them to.</li>
<li>Viewers can Buy, Rent, or Subscribe to any of your videos, you set the price and manage your subscriptions via your Uscreen publisher admin area.</li>
<li>All videos are protected with a proprietary DRM &amp; encryption, giving you optimum security across the board.</li>
<li>Dedicated iOS &amp; Android apps make the viewing expereince more enjoyable, and videos more accessible.</li>
</ul>
Furthermore, when viewers access your streamed video content, Uscreen gives you the ability to; offer different content chapter and episode markers, link to PDFs and other webpages, and more — all within the same window. Thus, the potential for what Uscreen could be used for, is intruiging.
One of the standout business models which crossed my mind when exploring Uscreen, was online training and education, although the possibilities are endless. 
<h2>Providing The Video Dimension</h2>
Remember when having a blog was the latest “new dimension” for online businesses?
Well, now that blogs are pretty much necessities, the newest dimension on the block is video content. It’s easy to interact with, highly effective at conveying messages, and it’s an excellent opportunity for brands to show yet more personality.
Uscreen is giving brands that outlet in a manageable way.
The pricing structure, which starts from $49.95 per month plus a 15% revenue share, doesn’t freeze out startups or small businesses. Rather, it’s a professional video selling and streaming service for the masses. Now that's an exciting prospect.
To find out more about Uscreen, <a href="http://www.uscreen.tv/" target="_blank">visit their website</a>.

Uscreen: Sell Videos, Simply

mike-johnston

Squarespace had perhaps one of the most unusual ads during this year's Super Bowl. Featuring Jeff Bridges, the ad focused on Mr. Bridges saying “OM” while sitting beside a sleeping couple, watching them sleep.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/3041798-inline-i-1-jeff-bridges-om-ad-super-bowl.jpg" />
While it is admirable that they are attempting to help promote and support Mr. Bridges endeavor to sell his album of relaxing sounds and vocalisms to support charity, the video ends up coming across as not only baffling as an advertisement but also creepy (at least to this guy).
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BKIlfLReHyo?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I personally see it as a hugely expensive waste of advertising dollars. Not only that, but if anything, I see it as driving people away from the product, not towards. Perhaps I'm wrong.
What do you think? Does this make you want to <a href="https://www.squarespace.com">Sign up for Squarespace</a>?

Weird Squarespace Superbowl Ad Features Jeff Bridges Watching You Sleep

<a href="http://www.sdl.com/" target="_blank">SDL</a>, one of the world's leading customer experience management solution providers, has released some updates to its Customer Experience Cloud, <a href="/sdl-launches-sdl-customer-experience-cloud-aiming-to-deliver-personalized-customer-experiences/" target="_blank">which was initially launched at the beginning of 2014</a>.
As always, the goal with modern customer experience management is to give a consistent, yet contextualised experience to each and every customer. SDL have recognised this need, stating that,
<blockquote>
“[This new] unified suite of offerings centers on four key pillars: Digital Experience, Knowledge Center, Customer Analytics and Language to meet the needs of today’s global organizations.”
</blockquote>
<h2>Value “Within Days”</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-1700x0.jpg" />
Here's a breakdown of what SDL's Customer Experience Cloud enhancements:
<ul>
<li>Digital Experience: SDL's Customer Experience Cloud solution helps brands engage customers through contextually relevant experiences. This includes a set of <a href="http://www.sdl.com/cxc/digital-experience/" target="_blank">digital experience</a> accelerators that allow the creation of adaptive web and mobile experiences that offer re-use of content, assets, customer profiles and rules without the need to be developed individually.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Knowledge Center: SDL's <a href="http://www.sdl.com/cxc/knowledge-center/" target="_blank">Knowledge Center</a> facilitates the creation of consistent brand journeys with key capabilities allow for the creation of dynamic product knowledge views that offer a superior experience for documentation and self-service support scenarios by providing the same brand richness as done for marketing experiences.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Customer Analytics: With its customer analytics technology, SDL has added the ability to model a single view of the customer that aggregates all customer data including profile, situational data, transactional data and third-party data that’s available within the enterprise to drive a segment of one experience which enables real-time analysis of the customer experience.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Language: SDL provides global brands the ability to effectively communicate across regions and languages ensuring organizations are communicating in the language of the customer. New <a href="http://www.sdl.com/cxc/language/" target="_blank">language</a> enhancements include SDL’s Targeted Industry Language Platforms for Travel &amp; Hospitality, Life Sciences, Financial Services and Digital Marketing; organizations can now cater to the terminology and language nuances required for these targeted industries.</li>
</ul>
SDL's CEO, Mark Lancaster, was full of praise for his company's latest release:
<blockquote>
“SDL is laser-focused on helping brands create better customer experiences, and we realize that doesn’t end with marketing. Our technology combines a rich expertise in language with a common data layer and the first context engine to simplify and unify the channels brands need to outperform competitors world-wide. Our Customer Experience Cloud begins delivering value within days, allowing organizations to focus on engagement and creating brand advocates, ultimately growing the bottom line.” 
</blockquote>
To find out more about the SDL Customer Experience Cloud, you can read the <a href="http://www.sdl.com/about/news-media/press/2015/sdl-enhances-customer-experience-cloud-to-deliver-the-only-global-ready-customer-experience-suite.html" target="_blank">official press release</a>.
Also, be sure to <a href="http://www.sdl.com/cxc/" target="_blank">visit the SDL website</a> for further information.

SDL Rolls Out Customer Experience Cloud Enhancements

<a href="https://wpengine.com/" target="_blank"> WP Engine</a>, a leading SaaS content management platform for websites and applications built on WordPress, has launched a brand new GeoIP feature, built to empower WordPress website marketers.
WP Engine provides hosting, backup, and technical support services for WordPress websites and apps. It caters to everybody, from bloggers to enterprising companies.
Delivering personalized content on a regional basis is becoming increasingly important. WordPress marketers will be particularly excited though, as this new prospect, titled <a href="https://wpengine.com/blog/wp-engine-geoip-plugin-now-available-wordpress-org-repository/" target="_blank">WP Engine GeoIP, </a>  allows marketers to offer personalized content even by postal/ZIP code.
<a href="/wpengine" target="_blank"> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wp_engine_logo_bb700x0.png" alt="WP Engine" /> </a>
<h2>WP Engine Hit New Heights (And Locations)</h2>
WP Engine GeoIP allows marketers to target Web content to users based on their physical location, without using third-party IP detection. GeoIP enables global brands to take a geomarketing approach to foster a more relevant, targeted, and personalized user experience down to a user’s country, state, city, and even ZIP code.
<ul>
<li>Powerful Geo-Targeting Capabilities:  create a personalized user experience by showing content especially useful or relevant to visitors on a location-by-location basis.</li>
<li>Same Old High Performance:  GeoIP is a native feature to WP Engine’s platform, there is no speed or performance loss associated with using a third-party service or the need to exempt pages from caching</li>
<li>Enhanced Marketing Effectiveness:  Brands can save marketing/advertising dollars by leveraging WP Engine’s native GeoIP functionality, reducing the need to rely on third-party IP detection tools, as well as boosting efficiency of advertisements through a localized approach.</li>
</ul>
Tomás Puig, Director of WP Engine Labs, made these comments upon the unveiling of WP Engine GeoIP:
<blockquote>“WP Engine is committed to driving better solutions for makers and marketers at global brands who are looking to improve the customer experience and be more effective with their marketing strategy. WP Engine Labs continues to provide innovative solutions built directly into the WP Engine platform, without hindering the world-class performance our customers expect from us.”</blockquote>
<h2>A Step Towards WordPress CXM?</h2>
WP Engine used to be a highly respected hosting company for WordPress users. But this update makes it more than just that.
Make no mistake about it, WP Engine has just taken a sizable step towards becoming a WordPress-dedicated customer experience manager. Personally, I'm excited to see what they'll introduce next.
To find out more about WP Engine GeoIP, <a href="/wp-engine-unveils-geoip-wordpress-marketers-can-now-deliver-location-specific-content/" target="_blank">check out their blog announcement</a>. There, you'll find an explanatory eBook, as well as some FAQs.
Also, be sure to check out our <a href="/wp-engine-review/" target="_blank"> WP Engine Review</a>.

WP Engine Unveils GeoIP: WordPress Marketers Can Now Deliver Location-Specific Content

BlackMonk 3.5 has arrived, and it brings about an array of new and exciting features.
The Banglore based CMS was founded in 2012 and specialises in powering online magazines, business directories, community portals and more. You can explore more by reading my full <a href="/blackmonk-cms-review/" target="_blank">review of BlackMonk CMS</a>.
Newly implemented features include; new responsive templates, minimalistic UI that brings content to the center stage, and more.
<h2>New Reporting &amp; Online Directory Capabilities</h2>
BlackMonks's online directory model is based on the traditional subscription model that has remained an industry favourite for years. BlackMonk v3.5 adds a new dimension though, by merging the traditional subscription model with commission-based coupon sales.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/6d90a859-6367-4d2b-b9d8-afd011236710_1700x0.jpg" alt="BlackMonk 3.5" />
BlackMonk users can now allow directory subscribers to sell coupons on the website’s deal store. Merchants can add deals via their directory listing, set coupon inventory and receive payments through an online/offline mode. The system allows publishers to set commission rates, automate all financial computations.
Improved reporting is also a part of BlackMonk 3.5. Users now have access to enhanced reports where they  can track traffic, monitor business performance and keep tabs on revenues.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/204a3653-85fd-41ba-b830-54d087d35013700x0.jpg" alt="BlackMonk 3.5" />
The advanced reporting system provides a convenient way to track more than 100 KPIs across variable timelines. It enables users to find answers to questions like: which area of website is most popular with users, which service earns maximum revenue, what kind of content is shared by users – and so forth.
<h2>Better Looking, &amp; More Mobile-ready</h2>
BlackMonk users can now maximize the visual impact of their website and promote readership by making content more accessible. 
BlackMonk provides mobile ready <a href="http://opal.blackmonk.com/" target="_blank">Opal</a> and <a href="http://ivory.blackmonk.com/">Ivory</a> templates – featuring content focused design that allows users to browse and read content with ease. The new templates ensure great content presentation across all sections of the website, no matter what device the visitor is using.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/0da114c2-00e9-4401-8ffc-25e2e9198bf4700x0.jpg" alt="BlackMonk 3.5" />
BlackMonk 3.5 also introduces the advanced inline editor that allows publishers to create pages with rich formatting, photos and videos. This is something that I mentioned should be implemented in my full <a href="/blackmonk-cms-review/" target="_blank">review of BlackMonk CMS</a>.
However, unlike conventional WYSIWYG editors, where content is edited within a small text area, the inline editor gives the experience of editing a live web page. The handy context menu provides all the formatting plus media insert options, and can be invoked with a single click.
Further new features include enhanced content syndication and rich Google snippet optimization.
To get the details of everything BlackMonk v3.5 introduces, check out <a href="http://www.blackmonk.com/blog/2015/01/blackmonk-v35-the-most-advanced-web-portal-software-for-online-publishing" target="_blank">their official blog announcement</a>. 
And of course, you can <a href="http://www.blackmonk.com/" target="_blank">visit their website</a> to explore their platform further.

BlackMonk v3.5 Released

Images are an integral part of the web. Without them, we would have no choice but to stare at blocks of boring text, with no pretty pictures to liven things up.
<a href="https://chevereto.com">Chevereto</a> is a CMS that allows users to create their own image hosting websites, where website members can upload and manage their images, for online publication or otherwise.
Founded in 2007, Chevereto has released over 100 updates and they have three major releases already since its initial release.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/favicon-1.png" alt="Chevereto" style="max-width:300px" />
With a sleek user interface, front-end content management, privacy layers, and social signups, Chevereto offers an interesting prospect for both personal and community use. But now, with an Arvixe-powered price plan, Chevereto is offering quite the deal for those looking to launch their own image hosting website.
<h2>A Tempting Arvixe-inspired Bundle</h2>
Valued at $150, Chevereto’s new “<a href="https://chevereto.com/pricing">Network License Bundle</a>” is available at just $48, thanks to sponsorship from the widely respected hosting company, Arvixe.
The bundle includes 1 year of Arvixe hosting, along with a Chevereto Network License, which boasts multi-domain support, lifetime updates, and no license renewal fees.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-user-albums700x0.jpg" alt="Chevereto" />
The deal is worth considering even for those with hosting in place, as the Chevereto Network License is effectively on offer for almost half the original price. Not a bad deal at all.
<h2>Trusty &amp; Feature-filled</h2>
Chevereto is a platform that is big on trust.
I had the chance to converse with the founder, Rodolfo Berrios, about his product, and he told me:
<blockquote>“The licenses that we offer are lifetime; which means one lifetime payment for upgrades and support. Users don’t need to worry about yearly fees or anything like that. We love our license model because users gets something that will never expire and they can enjoy updated software and support always.”</blockquote>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/devices700x0.png" alt="Chevereto" />
Not to mention, the <a href="https://chevereto.com/features">plethora of features</a> on offer make Chevereto a powerful platform, capable of supporting advanced image sharing websites.Such features include Amazon S3 and FTP multi-servers, multi-language support for 22 languages, CDN readiness, mobile readiness and more.
To find out more about Chevereto, <a href="https://chevereto.com">visit their website</a>.
Also, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/chevereto/">Chevereto through our CMS Directory</a>.

Chevereto: An Image Hosting CMS With a Tempting Arvixe Hosting Bundle

Today, I'm going to announce the winner of two Critics Choice CMS Awards, Best eCommerce for Enterprise and Best eCommerce for SMB.
<img style="display:block;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;max-width:188px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bestenterpriseecommerce2014.png" /> <img style="display:block;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;max-width:188px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bestsmbecommerce2014.png" />
The winner this year (who managed to score a double win!) is none other than...
<img style="max-width:338px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bigcommerce.png" />
<a href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/">BigCommerce</a> has really shown they are one of the top contenders in the eCommerce marketplace. Their platform is second to none and, as far as we are concerned, there simply is no other platform better deserving of these two awards.
Learn more about Bigcommerce in our CMS directory here: <a href="/products/bigcommerce/">Bigcommerce</a>.

2014 Winner - Best eCommerce for Enterprise and Best eCommerce for SMB

Best Small Business E-Commerce 2014 Ribbon

Call Tracking + AI 

Call Tracking + AI that Turns Calls into Leads

#ffffff

Today, I am announcing the winner of the 2014 Critics' Choice CMS Award for Best Enterprise .NET CMS.
<img style="max-width:188px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bestenterprisenetcms2014.png" />
This is always a difficult category given the vast majority of enterprise CMS are written in .NET. We have, however, come to a decision this year as to which should end up taking the award. The winner for this year is none other than…
<a href="http://www.sitefinity.com"><img style="max-width:400px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sitefinitylogo_wtagline_rgb400x0.png" /></a>
Sitefinity takes the prize this year given their high level of activity in 2014. With all of their strong releases and their acquisition by Progress Software, they are poised to do some amazing things in the next few years.
Congratulations to the team at Sitefinity on their win. Learn more about Sitefinity in our CMS directory here: <a href="/products/sitefinity/">Sitefinity</a>

2014 Critics' Choice Award Winner - Best Enterprise .NET CMS

DNN has announced the general availability of DNN Evoq 8.
<a href="http://www.dnnsoftware.com/" target="_blank">DNN Software</a> provides a suite of solutions that make designing, building and managing feature-rich sites and communities fast, easy and cost-effective. DNN Evoq Content is used by thousands of businesses worldwide, including a number of Fortune 500 companies. DNN was also the <a href="/2014-critics-choice-award-winner-best-small-to-midsize-business-net-cms/" target="_blank">2014 Critics' Choice Award Winner for Best Small to Midsize Business .NET CMS</a>.
According to DNN, Evoq 8 seeks to empower modern digital marketers by giving them easy access to all of their digital assets regardless of where they are stored. Marketers can also publish content to any online channel, personalize it to each visitor, and measure its effectiveness.
<h2>Bridging The Multi-channel Gap</h2>
The most obvious enhancement brought about by DNN Evoq 8 is the new, streamlined interface, with layout and editing capabilities that are more efficient than ever before.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/dnn-evoq-8-challenges700x0.png" alt="DNN Evoq 8" />
DNN Evoq 8 also brings about the following new features:
<ul>
<li>Content Personalization: Content personalization is seen as an essential digital marketing capability that increases conversion, according to recent research by Econsultancy. Evoq 8 enables customers to build personalization rules that tailor site content based on visitors’ profiles. Rules are based on geography, account registration (i.e. registered versus non-registered users), gender, age, recent visits, referral source, search terms and ad clicks.</li>
<li>Page-Level Content Analytics: Statistics on page views, referrers, unique visitors and conversions are presented as an overlay on each web page, via data collected and managed by Evoq. Any marketer, regardless of their level of proficiency with analytics, can immediately understand how content is performing, without navigating to a separate web analytics system.</li>
<li>Centralized Access to Cloud-Hosted Content Repositories: Evoq 8 includes built-in connectors to Box, Dropbox, Amazon S3, and SharePoint, making it easy to access any piece of content or digital asset from a single window. This capability allows marketers and content producers to use their preferred content storage service or use multiple services, without moving files, duplicating effort, or wasting valuable time.</li>
<li>Advocate Marketing: Evoq 8 enables Marketers to activate the brand advocates already on their webiste by rewarding them for sharing content on their personal social networks. The advocacy marketing capability is integrated with Evoq’s native gamification engine, and engages customers by issuing challenges, tracking challenge completions, and awarding points, badges, or other designated incentives.</li>
</ul>
Furthermore, Evoq 8 allows marketers to quickly and easily integrate their websites with Marketo.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/dnn-evoq-8-analytics700x0.png" alt="DNN Evoq 8" />
Navin Nagiah, CEO and President of DNN, gave some insightful comments regarding the release of DNN Evoq 8:
<blockquote>“We’re seeing a big shift in the digital marketing landscape.
Marketers have to coordinate the publishing and tracking of content to multiple channels and systems, beyond their own websites – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, campaign microsites and landing pages, CRM systems, and marketing automation systems. From a marketing solutions perspective, on the one hand are traditional Web CMS for content publishing; and on the other hand, there are now more nascent solutions from young companies rooted in predictive analytics, personalization, and content marketing. Marketers are desperate to bridge that gap.
With Evoq 8, we will be one of the few companies to straddle both worlds and deliver measurable ROI to customers. Evoq pulls content from any repository, pushes it to any online channel, and measures its effectiveness.”</blockquote>
<h2>Live Webinar &amp; Product Demonstration</h2>
DNN will be showcasing a demonstration of Evoq 8 during their upcming webinar, schduled for Wednesday, January 28, 2015 at 9am PT (12pm ET). The webinar is open to the general public.
Visit DNN’s website to <a href="http://www.dnnsoftware.com/resources/webinars/build-world-class-digital-experiences-with-evoq-8/view/webinar?utm_medium=text_link&amp;utm_source=DNN-Press-Release&amp;utm_campaign=webinar_invite_jan282015" target="_blank">register for the webinar</a>.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/dnn-evoq-8-assets700x0.png" alt="DNN Evoq 8" />
To find out more about DNN Evoq Content, <a href="http://www.dnnsoftware.com/" target="_blank">visit their website</a>.
Also, be sure to discover more about <a href="/products/dnn-evoq-content/" target="_blank">DNN Evoq Content through our CMS Directory</a>.

DNN "Moves Beyond Web Content Management" With The Release of DNN Evoq 8

<a href="https://ghost.org/" target="_blank">Ghost</a> has released some improvements which will help make tag management a tidier experience.
Recently crowned the <a href="/2014-most-promising-cms/" target="_blank">2014 Critics' Choice Award Winner for Most Promising CMS</a>, Ghost is proving to be an exciting blogging platform, which now releases mini-updates like these on a very regular basis.
Ghost users can now edit and delete their tags in Ghost.  Additionally Ghost users can personalise tag archives by adding cover images and meta data. This allows existing tags to be tidied up a little, both in terms of spelling, quantity and categorization.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2015-01-13-at-14-05-37700x0.png" />
As usual, Ghost Pro users will find this feature enabled automatically, while those self-hosting will need to <a href="https://ghost.org/download/?__hstc=10303082.e349d0ad7a5666a28a9feace53e2dd1f.1416486488818.1422275546673.1422296414441.10&amp;__hssc=10303082.2.1422296414441&amp;__hsfp=3780233567" target="_blank">update to Ghost version 0.5.8</a>.
For more information on Ghost's new tagging system (including a handy GIF showing this new enhancement in action), <a href="http://blog.ghost.org/tag-management/" target="_blank">check out Ghost's official blog announcement</a>.
To find out more about Ghost, <a href="https://ghost.org/" target="_blank">visit their website</a>.

Ghost Tidies Up Tag Management

Founded back in 2001, <a href="http://www.crownpeak.com/" target="_blank">CrownPeak</a> is now a widely respected enterprise CMS solution.
CrownPeak isn't just popular though, it's also an award winner. After securing its place as a <a href="http://www.crownpeak.com/Press/CrownPeak/20141023-CrownPeak-Named-a-Visionary-by-Gartner-for-Web-Content-Management.aspx" target="_blank">“Visionary” in 2014 Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management (WCM) by Gartner, Inc</a>., CrownPeak recently went on to become the <a href="/2014-critics-choice-award-winner-best-cloud-cms-for-enterprise/" target="_blank">2014 Critics' Choice Award Winner for Best Cloud CMS For Enterprise</a>.
I recently had the pleasure of asking CrownPeak's CEO Jim Howard a few questions about the history of CrownPeak, some of the platform newest features, and where he sees the industry heading in 2015 and beyond.
<h2>About Jim Howard</h2>
Jim is focused on advancing CrownPeak's leadership in the cloud services marketplace. Under Jim’s leadership since its founding in 2001, CrownPeak has become the enterprise's only open cloud service for web experience management. Among the companies in the CrownPeak client roster today are Prudential, Diageo, Skype, MetLife, BNY/Mellon, Intuit, Oppenheimer, Zoetis and Eli Lilly.
<img style="max-width:200px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/jim_howard_headshot200x0.jpg" />
CrownPeak has been named as one of the 100 most influential companies in Online Content by eContent Magazine, named as a “cool vendor” and a “visionary” by Gartner, and was chosen as an
SIIA Codie Award finalist for Best Content Management Solution three years in a row.
Jim’s professional background combines extensive startup experience with years of software development and professional services delivery and management. He has spent the past eighteen years working with web content management, analytics and search technologies. Jim previously held senior executive positions in professional services management, sales, and operational management with companies such as USWeb, MarchFIRST, and successful startup, W3-design. Jim holds a degree in Chemistry from the University of Delaware.
<h2>The Interview</h2>
<h3>You founded CrownPeak in 2001 alongside Carl Sutter, the current Chief Product Officer. What were your aims at the start of this journey?</h3>
Carl and I came from one of the big internet consulting firms together. We had been installing and integrating on-premise Web Content Management packages for the previous few years. We both believed that the leading products in the WCM market at the time were simply too hard to get live and too hard to manage. These products essentially became bottlenecks to effective, agile digital marketing. We founded CrownPeak to offer a very cost-effective and results-focused set of WCM tools and services for the managers of websites – only delivered as a service, not installed. This was before the term Software-as-a-Service was even defined, although other startups like Salesforce were helping us to prove the delivery model.
CrownPeak became the first “CMS as a service” to target small to medium-sized businesses. We had to achieve the dual goal of highly efficient management for us and very cost-effective delivery for the customer.
Our engineers worked hard in those early years to build a single unified platform that separated the presentation layer for users on the front-end from all the infrastructure we managed for them on the back-end. That’s something we all take for granted today. From the beginning CrownPeak has been “true SaaS”, and we still offer the market’s only multi-tenant architecture. We’re also the first and only “low-code” development platform in the sector.
<h3>Have those aims changed at all?</h3>
Or, perhaps more appropriately, what additional aims have you adopted since co-founding CrownPeak, perhaps in response to evolutions within the industry?
We have evolved our capabilities a great deal over time, becoming a fully cloud-based solution that manages the entire digital customer experience across web, mobile, social. The platform now provides data-driven personalization, testing and targeting, digital asset management, search, behavioral analytics, and more than 60 out-of-the-box integrations with best of breed data and content sources.
We think we’re the most open and interoperable enterprise WCM on the planet! We have also evolved the company's focus. In 2010 we made a major shift to focus on the large enterprise customer because our platform offers scale and performance advantages to global companies with very complex web portfolios. One of the great advantages of our platform is the ability for many different project teams to implement projects simultaneously, sharing standard workflows, templates, designs, assets, integrations, content and data.
This ability to centralize the architecture but decentralize creation of great digital experiences is game changing for large distributed enterprises – particularly in highly regulated industries like healthcare and insurance where security and compliance are paramount.
<h3>Recently, you guys released a new Digital Asset Management Solution. Tell us a little bit about that.</h3>
We dedicate about a third of our product roadmap to feedback from customers, and back in 2013 they ranked Digital Asset Management as their top request. Because we are a cloud solution, when we roll out a new capability it’s available to every customer immediately. The DAM offering has met with huge success: we've seen almost 100% adoption.
This is a big deal because many DAM products go unused for web and mobile content management because they are “bolt-on” additions that don’t fully integrate.
This requires extra steps for designers and content authors when manipulating, deploying and managing digital media files. CrownPeak DAM is an integral part of our platform which means that assets can be curated, standardized and policed to design and launch consistently branded experiences on a global basis. We created a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlzLAmRXehg" target="_blank">3-minute video</a> recently that describes how it works.
<h3>CrownPeak boasts a heavy focus on making digital marketing easier for enterprises. Of course, the marketing vs IT balancing act has been the subject of debate for a long, long while now. How does CrownPeak respond to this very real issue?</h3>
I'm really glad you asked this because I think that debate is missing the point. Over the last decade, IT has faced their hardest challenge ever: to provide a direct web and mobile interface to every system they support for every line-of-business… and to do it securely. During this same period of incredible change, IT has also had to enable digital marketing, a relative newcomer to the world of technology automation.
There is no debate that IT must support marketing, and that it's been a challenge. We like to think that the CrownPeak brand is about giving greater freedomto both sides. For enterprise marketers, they become more self-reliant and free to launch great digital experiences faster. Their agencies receive greater creative freedom, flexibility and agility when designing those experiences. And technical folks, they are freed from complex integration problems and a flood of marketing support tickets!
However, there are two much more interesting debates that I end up writing a lot about <a href="http://www.crownpeak.com/Blog/Index.aspx" target="_blank">on my blog</a>. First, what is the role of marketing today? Second, how is IT tackling the challenge of developing a unified approach to customer experience management? In regard to these more relevant questions, we are focused on enabling digital marketing teams and other teams managing customer experiences to be highly successful and freed from the chores of software development.
We are also focused on enabling IT with a platform to deliver on their much broader customer experience management mandate. CrownPeak allows the entire organization to take advantage of the content, designs and integrations created by marketing across every other digital customer touchpoint. This means customer service and support – the sum total of digital experiences that inform greater customer loyalty and lifetime value.
<h3>2014 was a good year for CrownPeak, recognition wise. As many of our readers will know, you were named the winner of the 2014 Critics’ Choice Award for Best Cloud CMS For Enterprise.</h3>
<h3>Plus, Gartner recognized CrownPeak as a “Visionary” on its 2014 Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management, lauding the platform’s commitment to cloud delivery. Two impressive achievements.</h3>
Why do you think CrownPeak was so successful in these two instances?
We have gained customers and thus recognition because we have a much better solution to two key business problems. We allow global companies to standardize on a web and mobile platform without creating a bottleneck.
Second, we empower large enterprises to take advantage of the great content, design and integration work they have done with marketing and sales experiences and easily extend that work across all other lines-of-business. CrownPeak easily integrates with whatever marketing technology our customer is already using. Our platform has proven the scale and performance that enterprises expect. Here in the middle of our second decade, I’m very optimistic about what we’ve built and where we are headed.
<h3>With that being said, can you tell us anything about what 2015 has in store for CrownPeak clients?</h3>
CrownPeak is the enterprise’s only open cloud platform for managing web experiences, and remains a fiercely independent one at that! Looking out across other software sectors, cloud services have largely won the day because they are open, agile, more architecturally flexible, and provide significant economic advantages.
In 2015, CrownPeak customers will see more interoperability via a whole range of native content and data integrations with other cloud service providers. Our customers will gain added agility via a big push to make the platform even faster and simpler to implement. And our customers will gain further flexibility as we help them to manage the “front-end” of web applications built on the major stack providers like IBM and Force.com.
<h3>And finally, if you had just three short sentences to sum up why an enterprising company should choose CrownPeak over any other solution, what would they be?</h3>
CrownPeak is not for every customer out there.  We have built this platform for large, global organizations managing many web/mobile sites and looking to offer a unified digital customer experience.  So with that as the starting point:
First, CrownPeak provides the best solution ever built for global mult-site management because our open cloud platform eliminates the production bottleneck.
Second, due to our low-code development approach combined with our elastic computing architecture,  it's possible to centrally control the platform but decentralize creation of solutions.  In other words, every brand, market or functional group around the world can develop their solution on the central platform – taking advantage of all content, assets, designs, models and integrations – without risking compliance, security or performance.
Third, the platform can be used as a universal customer experience platform, where solutions created on the platform can be “front-ends” for portals, e-commerce, line-of-business applications, mobile app management, or secure document management repositories. Was that three sentences or four? Well anyway, you get the point! Thanks for asking.
<h3>Thank you for your time, Mr. Howard!</h3>
For more information on CrownPeak, <a href="http://www.crownpeak.com/" target="_blank">visit their website</a>.
Also, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/crownpeak/" target="_blank">CrownPeak via our CMS Directory</a>.

Interview With Jim Howard, CEO of CrownPeak

Today I'm going to announce the winner of the Critics' Choice Award for Best Small to Midsize Business .NET CMS.
<img style="max-width:188px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bestsmbnetcms2014.png" />
When it comes to the small to midsize market, one CMS stands out from the rest of the crowd in both popularity and capability. This was an easy pick for the judges this year. The winner of the 2014 award for Best SMB .NET CMS is…
<img style="max-width:400px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/dnn_fullcolor_pos400x0.jpg" />
Congratulations to the team at DNN Corporation on their win. Check them out in our directory here: <a href="/products/dnn-evoq-content/">DNN Evoq Content</a>

2014 Critics' Choice Award Winner - Best Small to Midsize Business .NET CMS

<a href="http://www.nuxeo.com/" target="_blank">Nuxeo Platform Fast Track 7.1</a> has been released, bringing about new features such as enhanced computed picture views and workflow graphs.
Nuxeo, an open-source content management system used mainly by architects and building developers to build, deploy, and run content-centric business applications, has coincidentally just been announced as the <a href="/2014-critics-choice-award-winner-best-open-source-java-cms/" target="_blank">2014 Critics' Choice Award Winner for Best Open Source JAVA CMS</a>.
<img style="max-width:345px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/nuxeo_logo-1.png" />
<h2>Foundations For Major Innovations Laid</h2>
Nuxeo Platform Fast Track 7.1 makes it simple to declare new metadata read / write processors and metadata document property mappings. It provides the features needed for using this mapping in custom automation chains context.
With the Nuxeo Platform FT 7.1, developers can easily configure metadata extraction and edits on metadata embedded files, such as:
<ul>
<li>Office, PDF metadata</li>
<li>EXIF, IPTC, XMP metadata</li>
<li>Media information (especially on video, pictures, and sound)</li>
</ul>
Furthermore, Nuxeo now offers the ability to easily declare and configure new views using Automation Chains. This enables developers to offer end users a selection of file sizes that can easily be downloaded from the summary tab.
Nuxeo Platform Fast Track 7.1 also introduces an upgraded visual editor for workflow processes. The enhancements include a grid-based system, better auto-layout engine, and snappy grid underlying the designer. It also allows workflow designers position elements more easily.
Regarding the release, Eric Barroca, Nuxeo CEO, made these comments:
<blockquote>“We are pleased to release our first Fast Track of 2015 and the first of the 7.x series. This release includes enhancements to the platform to further support developers as they efficiently build and manage their applications. We are also laying the foundation for major innovations in upcoming Fast Track releases.”</blockquote>
To learn more about Nuxeo Platform Fast Track 7.1, <a href="http://www.nuxeo.com/media-center/nuxeo-sets-stage-2015-fast-track-7-1/" target="_blank">check out the official announcement</a>.
Also, don't forget to explore more of <a href="/products/nuxeo/" target="_blank">Nuxeo via our CMS Directory</a>.

Nuxeo Platform Fast Track 7.1 Released

Weglot - The easiest way to translate a website

The easiest way to translate a website

#18164c

Explore a wide range of informative articles, insights, and industry updates. Stay informed and ahead of the curve with our diverse collection of news and posts covering the latest trends and developments in the industry. Page - 117

News

Call Tracking + AI that Turns Calls into Leads

The easiest way to translate a website