Articles - Page 151

The Top 10 AI Tools for Small Business: From Automation to a Coordinated Team of AI Agents

matt-garrepy

The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) has just announced that Apache Rave has “graduated” from the Apache Incubator to a full-fledged Top-Level Project (TLP). This indicates that the community and the products have been have all come together and been well-governed enough to garner the ASF’s TLP status.
Apache Rave is an Open Source platform that provides “easy-to-use infrastructure for building and integrating with social media standards including Activity Streams, OpenSocial, W3C Widgets and more.”
Hippo is extraordinarily proud to have been a part of Apache Rave from its very beginning. As Ate Douma Hippo’s Enterprise Architect said,
<blockquote>
“Apache Rave takes the good bits from traditional Portals, leaves out whatever made them so heavy-weight and adds modern web technologies. We are proud to not only be an initiator, but a principal participant of this project. We plan to make Rave an integral part of our next generation context-aware content delivery platform.”
</blockquote>
Developed completely on open standards, Apache Rave is supported by a number of organizations – including corporations, non-profit organizations, and educational institutions from around the globe. Hippo is a key contributor of course, but other organizations include The MITRE Corporation, Indiana University Pervasive Technology Institute, SURFnet and OSS Watch.
Rave entered the Apache Incubator in 2011, and over that time successfully produced a number of code releases as it prepared for its production-ready v1.0. Additionally, the project received an “Honorable Mention” in the 2011 Open Source Rookies of the Year awards.
<blockquote>
“We are extraordinarily excited to have so many participants and committers to the Apache Foundation,” said Jeroen Verberg CEO of Hippo. “We have more than 70 people on the Hippo Team – and the fact that we have 11 of them as Committers to the Apache Software Foundation speaks volumes about our commitment to Open Source and Open Standards. The Apache Rave project is really an important development for how Social Media will be included in enterprise content management. We really look forward to the continued collaboration in this community.”
</blockquote>
For more information about ASF and Apache Rave, we invite you to visit their blog: http://bit.ly/HgX1tz

Hippo Proud To Be Part of Apache Rave Top-Level Project

mike-johnston

Many businesses face the same problems and as a result, the planet’s sharpest minds have attempted to find solutions. Two such people are Geoffrey Moore, author of the widely popular book “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-Marketing-High-Tech-Mainstream/dp/0060517123" target="_blank">Crossing the Chasm</a>”, and Malcolm Gladwell, author of “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tipping-Point-Little-Things-Difference/dp/0316346624/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1496153158&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=the+tipping+point" target="_blank">The Tipping Point</a>”. Both of these books compliment and even reference each other in their comprehensive look at the major problem all businesses and products face: How do you reach mass-market adoption?
Even the largest corporations ask themselves this question when rolling out new products or new services offerings. Throwing money at this universal problem is not the answer. In fact, there is no singular answer but an organic evolution that, when carefully examined, is a map to mass-market adoption. This map is laid out for the world to see in both of the aforementioned books but today; we’re going to use these books as a framework to discuss how global organizations have finally crossed the chasm and are in the process of reaching the tipping point when it comes to cloud computing.
It’s impossible to discuss cloud computing without discussing Amazon Web Services, the true catalyst that eventually led to mass adoption of cloud computing technologies. Yes, there is a number of cloud computing providers today, but in 2006 when AWS was founded, Google and Microsoft hadn’t even considered building their own cloud offerings. Google Cloud launched five years later; Microsoft Azure launched four years later. Despite Amazon being first to go “all-in” with their new offering, it took a few years for their technology, particularly their EC2 server offering, to reach a level of maturity where early adopters would dip their toes in the water. At that time, the technology simply wasn’t ready, and the business world viewed the cloud as unreliable if they even considered it at all. That all changed with a few visionaries that paved the way for the rest.
Around three years after the founding of AWS, a number of startups trying to disrupt their respective industries experimented with cloud computing to varying degrees of success. Between 2008 and 2011, everything changed when startups that were “early adopters” of cloud computing technologies such as Spotify, Netflix, Airbnb and Twilio showcased the benefits of cloud computing to the world through the massive adoption of their respective products. Despite this success and newfound attention focused on the cloud, it was still too early for widespread adoption, even by Fortune 500 companies.
A perfect storm came together that knocked down the concerns most had about cloud computing, namely security and reliability, and would eventually lead to an urgent race to the cloud. Of course it all started with AWS in 2006, but it would take a few years for AWS to even reach the technological maturity required to scale cloud technologies. With the advent of IoT, or the “Internet of Things”, large organizations started to use IoT technologies like smart home products and wearables, and everything from cars to tractor-trailers and oil drills were outfitted with sensors. What these mega corporations didn’t know at the time was these new technologies in IoT were all cloud-based. Suddenly the cloud became much more appealing.
While IoT was getting all of the publicity, AWS continued to iterate and expand their cloud offering. Tech enthusiasts who had adopted cloud technologies began rapidly developing tools to complement and enhance existing cloud technologies. The igniting spark that led to the race to the cloud was the ability for organizations to configure their cloud environments using fully scripted architecture, as well as the evolution, price reduction and availability of server redundancy, namely across multiple regions. What previously took organizations months to complete could now be done in minutes. While it used to take months or weeks to update Solodev to its latest software version for our customers, it now takes the simple click of a button. While IT departments across the globe began their research into the cloud years beforehand, they now had the data to prove the value of the cloud to decision makers at their organizations. In 2014, cloud computing finally crossed the chasm, shifting from limited usage by early adopters to more broad adoption by what Geoffrey Moore refers to as “the early majority.”
The perfect storm also included the aging of outdated technologies and data centers built during the early days of the Internet. As these data centers began to age to obscurity, the major decision organizations faced was whether to renovate their data centers, requiring a massive investment, and keep everything on-premise – or – to move to the cloud where they could scale for increased productivity and efficiency on all fronts. With the advent of technologies like continuous integration, AWS CloudFront, Chef, Docker and hundreds of other tools, organizations could now control their computing resources and speed up software updates while keeping their websites and applications redundant across multiple servers in different regions with absolutely no downtime.
Around 2015 or 2016, cloud computing finally reached the tipping point and became adopted by its many skeptics and conservatives. As a result, a race to the cloud began and is still in full swing as Fortune 500 companies try to catch up to smaller, more agile organizations who found success faster in migrating their operations into true “cloud-based” businesses. Solodev was a part of the early majority of cloud computing, beginning our efforts to rebuild Solodev for the AWS Cloud in 2013 once the technology had fully matured in a way that was scalable, reliable and affordable. After three years of rebuilding the Solodev <a href="https://www.solodev.com/" target="_blank">Content Management System</a> (CMS) to be a true cloud-based solution, the timing couldn’t have been better as the year Solodev was named the “Best Cloud CMS” was the same year cloud computing truly hit its tipping point. Despite being a relatively small software company, we have the expertise and agility to help Fortune 500 organizations move their massive ecosystem of products, services, websites and applications to the cloud and saw it first hand after appearing at Amazon Web Services re:Invent in 2016.
Almost every single phone call, email or inquiry Solodev receives involves large organizations trying to move to the cloud—and we are uniquely positioned to serve that need. Being early in the adoption of cloud computing, the Solodev team has experience with the kind of innovation that most large conglomerates simply can’t risk. It was our belief in the cloud, and our commitment to unlocking the potential of the cloud in the enterprise CMS industry, that brought us to the point of being able to take advantage of the tipping point and bring other organizations to the cloud. Today the tipping point has been reached, and in one-way or another, everyone is moving to the cloud. Now, the real focus is on how to truly build a “cloud-based” business rather than simply making your product or service available on the cloud.
For more information on how Solodev can help bring your organization to the cloud visit <a href="https://www.solodev.com/" target="_blank">www.solodev.com</a> or call 1-800-859-7656
<h3>About the Author</h3>
<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mooreshawn/" target="_blank">Shawn Moore</a> is the founder &amp; CTO of Solodev and the driving force behind the Solodev Web Experience Platform. A visionary leader, Shawn has strategically grown Solodev from its inception as a small <a href="https://www.solodev.com/blog/">web design</a> company to a successful software company that services clients across the nation and has been named to the Inc. 5000’s fastest growing private companies for the past two years in a row.
Winner of several industry awards for Best CTO and CIO, Shawn Moore is changing the content management landscape with Solodev. With over a decade of executive experience serving as CEO of Solodev and COO for software company Helium Flash, Shawn has the industry knowledge and product passion that continues to drive the development of the Solodev Platform. He is a graduate of Stetson University and often speaks on IT related trends and topics at conferences and universities across the state.

From Crossing the Chasm to Reaching the Tipping Point

To wrap up our elcomCMS featured week, we’re taking a look at Elcom Technology’s latest eBook; “<a href="http://a-social-intranet?utm_campaign=8%20Signs%20you%20need%20an%20intranet&amp;utm_content=8%20Signs%20eBook&amp;utm_medium=Social&amp;utm_source=CMS%20Critic">8 Signs You Need a Social Intranet</a>”.
<img alt="Elcom_Logo_EWCM_Positive.jpg" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/P_-4209t6RAymr8QRYWn_9Vm4V8xZWtGjAbOIZ62pktga1KMbabiTzwg0ds_8UizkLV9FkymhDP7tbSltoYtED9vTaopQJRdlPNaql3kVbAosGq-Z5SlcESAeO9zsbxZ2RKAtAFt" />
So far during this, I’ve looked at elcomCMS’s <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/elcomcms-cms-lms-intranets/">stance as a CMS, LMS and Intranet solution</a>, its aim to <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/elcomcms-motivating-workforces-increasing-productivity-driving-sales/">supercharge the productivity of workforces through social intranets</a>, and its <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/powering-powerful-brands-how-elcomcms-drives-hyundai-online/">solutions for Hyundai in Australia</a>.
In fact, one of the ways elcomCMS was able to help Hyundai in Australia, was through the implementation of a social intranet.
<h2>What is a Social Intranet?</h2>
An intranet helps to bring an organisation together in order to communicate and collaborate faster and easier.
Features like user profiles, asset management, workflows and directories help to unite each and every worker with the information they need – and fast.
elcomCMS has all of that, but it also goes a step further.
Social elements have been blended into the mix, giving Elcom’s intranet solution a casual twist.
Social feeds for example, similar to the ones found on Facebook or Twitter, give staff members a way to promote ideas, share opinions and ask for assistance, without having to leave the intranet.
Plus, the usage of blog posts, forums, social Q&amp;A, hash-tagging and @tagging, all help to round off a traditional intranet with all the modern social trimmings. A social intranet.
<h2>The Pain Points</h2>
Elcom Technology’s eBook focuses on the core pain points felt by brands large and small.
For example, workers often struggle to access documents when out of the office. Elcom claims to have the solution:
<blockquote>
“Information on your intranet should be accessible from anywhere, anytime on any device. Your mobile intranet is the key to closing that next deal, training your staff, auditing compliance, finishing projects on time and supporting everyone’s need to get the job done efficiently.”
</blockquote>
Additionally, Elcom’s eBook tackles the problem of meeting management, which is a typically tiresome process:
<blockquote>
“Create the event and agenda, post to the calendar, trigger the invitation and all the reminders to send automatically to the group, then use your social stream to post changes and drive them back to the calendar for updates.”
</blockquote>
<h2>Download the Free eBook</h2>
<a href="http://a-social-intranet?utm_campaign=8%20Signs%20you%20need%20an%20intranet&amp;utm_content=8%20Signs%20eBook&amp;utm_medium=Social&amp;utm_source=CMS%20Critic">8 Signs You Need a Social Intranet</a> is an eBook that is totally free to download. You only need to sign up with your name and email address in order to access the document.
Furthermore, you can visit elcomCMS via our CMS Directory for more information.

Free eBook: 8 Signs Your Brand Needs a Social Intranet

From the announcement:
Good news churches &amp; ministry website owners!  We've released the fourth update to Ekklesia 360 since we launched ‘Foundations' in October (see Ekklesia 360 Foundations Project Announced).  On occasion releases that do not impact user experience directly will be released on a ongoing basis but releases that include new or changed features will have an accompany blog post.
<ul>
<li>Nav items are more easily editable to point to any URL and can open in a new window.</li>
<li>Resellers can now view current site information from “Site Config” header menu.</li>
<li>Events can now push status updates to Twitter and Facebook (like sermons and blogposts).</li>
<li>Images can now be featured with individual blog posts.</li>
<li>RSVP and purchase confirmation emails now can include custom form information.</li>
<li>Books and Booklists are now automatically assigned to the Site Group by default.</li>
<li>Improved the Role list screen for users with role permissions.</li>
</ul>
Watch a brief video and read about other improvements at the <a href="http://bit.ly/bTj506" target="_blank">Ekklesia 360 CMS Update</a> page.

Fourth update of Ekklesia 360 - Foundations now available

It’s time to kick off another featured week, this time with Solodev, winner of our People’s Choice Award for “Best Cloud CMS of 2016”. Solodev is a cloud-based enterprise-grade <a href="https://www.solodev.com/" target="_blank">web experience platform</a> designed to empower organizations and developers to build beautiful websites and deliver amazing digital experiences.
Launched in 2006, Solodev is well established in the content management space, serving clients across the globe in a wide range of verticals.
As new trends and practices have emerged in the CMS space, the Solodev team has carefully constructed its latest software release with two major points of focus: the digital experience and their new cloud infrastructure.
Solodev’s latest release comes with a marketing toolbox to help marketers and content authors tailor the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/inside-the-machine-of-the-digital-experience/">digital experience</a> to the end user. Additionally, Solodev is now fully optimized for the entire Amazon Web Services product suite, giving users the ability to rapidly deploy websites with unparalleled levels of security and scalability. As they pivot towards the cloud and digital experiences, Solodev continues to add to its existing functionality and pave the way within the enterprise WCMS industry. Solodev also released their first flavor of their platform for Windows adding to an already lengthy list of achievements in 2016.
Over the next five days we will be reviewing the three pillars of Solodev:
<ul>
<li>The Solodev Web Experience Platform</li>
<li>Solodev’s New Cloud Environment</li>
<li>Solodev’s New U.S. Based Enterprise Support Offering</li>
</ul>
The Solodev Web Experience Platform
Solodev is a platform that boasts interactive page building, built-in analytics, landing page creation and management, a framework to easily build custom applications, and the ability to deliver the right experience to the right audience at the right time through content targeting to different customer segments. But perhaps most importantly for big brands, Solodev has the security and scalability that comes with being housed in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud.
Enterprise Content Management in the Cloud
Solodev’s move to the cloud allows brands to leverage Solodev as a SaaS (Software as a Service) solution. That means once you’re signed up your brand will have everything it needs to kick off its large-scale web project, instantaneously. Solodev delivers robust support for elastic load balancing, auto scaling, global CDNs, and disaster recovery – keeping customer data safe and secure across Amazon Web Services global network of state-of-the-art data centers.
AWS provides a cloud-based experience with world-renowned infrastructure and rapid content delivery. Solodev hasn’t tried to re-invent the wheel here; they’ve used the best technology to support their platform. It’s that simple.
Thanks to that intelligent decision, Solodev users benefit from:
<ul>
<li>Scalability
<ul>
<li>Elastic Load Balancing</li>
<li>Auto Scaling</li>
<li>Elastic File Storage</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Global CDN
<ul>
<li>AWS CloudFront</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Availability Zones</li>
<li>Security
<ul>
<li>24/7/365 Monitoring</li>
<li>Server Redundancy</li>
<li>Network Firewalls</li>
<li>IP-based restrictions</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<a href="https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure/" target="_blank">*Click here for a map of Amazon Web Services availability zones</a>
The benefits of Solodev’s AWS Cloud Infrastructure don’t stop there, though. The sheer amount of server availability zones across the globe puts your website close to your audience, no matter where they are in the world.
Furthermore, Solodev is capable of scaling up resources at any time (like, during peak hours or peak season), before scaling them back down again during quieter periods. And what’s more is, you only pay for the resources that your sites uses. Now that’s intelligent.
Superb Support Options
Solodev offers an unparalleled online knowledge base packaged with hundreds of pages of documentation and how-to-guides and videos to guide you through using the Solodev Platform. Solodev also rolled out an online support ticketing system that is available to all Solodev users. This is further backed by an industry leading web development blog that equips readers with the knowledge they need in order to build better websites, particularly on the Solodev Platform.
And if all of that isn’t enough, Solodev released a new offering called “Solodev Launch” that can provide dedicated launch teams to augment your internal IT department “a la carte” with your online project development needs.
Getting Started with Solodev
Solodev offers three subscription plans for brands to get started with their platform. Plans start from $99/month as shown below.
<ul>
<li>Small – Single Server Instance ($99/month)</li>
<li>Medium – Single Server Instance ($399/month)</li>
<li>Cluster – Multi Server Cluster ($1,830/month)</li>
<li>Enterprise – Multi Server Cluster (Call 1-800-859-7656 for details)</li>
<li>Enterprise – On-Premise (Call 1-800-859-7656 for details)</li>
</ul>
*For more information on Solodev Pricing, visit their pricing page.
To learn more about Solodev, check out their website at <a href="https://www.solodev.com/" target="_blank">www.solodev.com</a> and their <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/products/solodev-cms/" target="_blank">Solodev CMSCritic Listing</a>. And of course, be sure to stay tuned for more featured coverage during this Solodev featured week.

Exploring the Solodev Web Experience Platform

<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/deploy-scalable-cost-effective-websites-in-minutes-using-solodev/" target="_blank">Yesterday we discussed Solodev's new cloud infrastructure built layer by layer to give customers the full power of Amazon Web Services</a>. The final pillar of Solodev is Support and in 2016, Solodev decided to take their support offering to an entirely new level. Here’s a list of some of the new additions to Solodev’s support offerings:
<ul>
<li>24x7x365 HelpDesk</li>
<li>Enterprise Support Plans</li>
<li>Staff Augmentation Services</li>
<li>Onboarding Teams</li>
<li>Video Tutorials</li>
<li>Technical Documentation</li>
<li>Solodev Web Development Blog</li>
<li>Customer Success Engineers</li>
<li>Phone Support</li>
</ul>
Solodev now offers standard support to all customers while also offering enterprise support plans at an additional cost. Standard support plans include HelpDesk access to submit support tickets, phone support, and access to Solodev’s technical documentation, instructional videos, and web development blog that posts daily code tutorials.
<h3>Solodev Launch: Deliverables Tailored to your Needs</h3>
Solodev’s new enterprise support offering, Solodev Launch, is a collaborative team-based approach individually tailored to customers’ business goals and site objectives. Although Solodev Launch is extremely enhanced support, it also serves as an extension of your marketing, development, design, and IT departments and can fill any roles missing on your team. Solodev Launch has a single purpose – to help Solodev’s customers get up and running as quickly and effectively as possible.
<h3>Enterprise Support: When Downtime is Not an Option</h3>
Solodev’s enterprise support plans give you access to in-house developers at Solodev who can assist you with diagnosis, repairs of site functionality, module implementations, system integrations, and platform customizations. Customer Success Engineers enhance your technical team, help champion best practices and help ensure consistency and accuracy with your Solodev deployment.
Sometimes waiting even for a couple of hours is just not an option which is why Solodev’s enterprise support ensures you don't have to wait your turn to get help. With their 1 hour, 24×7 response time you can sleep better at night knowing support is just a phone call or email away.
Solodev has an array of web related roles that can fill in the missing roles on your team. Whether you need a quick help with your design, integration or enterprise training, you can source professionals to ensure your projects turn into a success.
<h3>What's Ahead for 2017?</h3>
As you can see Solodev didn’t just move to the cloud or roll out a new release of their product this past year. Solodev made massive upgrades and added onto their product offering as they plowed through their product roadmap. Solodev turned their offering into a well-oiled machine and, quite possibly, the only turnkey enterprise CMS solution on the market of its kind. With an enterprise grade web experience platform backed by a carefully crafted cloud infrastructure sitting on Amazon Web Services and robust enterprise support offerings to ensure customer success, Solodev is definitely the CMS to look out for in 2017.
Solodev is currently offering a 14 Day Free Trial of the Solodev Web Experience Platform. This includes an instance of Solodev on an Amazon EC2 server as well as 50GB of storage, 2GB of memory, as well as email and chat support. You can also purchase <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/seller-profile?id=8e11c912-6253-41b8-b065-bf32bd27911b" target="_blank">Solodev on the AWS Marketplace</a> with plans starting at $99/month.

Ensuring customer success every step of the way

Call Tracking + AI 

Call Tracking + AI that Turns Calls into Leads

#ffffff

After a few months of alpha and beta versions the first stable version of Elxis CMS 4.0, codename Nautilus, is here. This version includes a number of bug fixes, improvements, library updates, new interface languages as well as a few new features.
Along with the stable version an update patch for all beta versions was also released and you can download it from <a href="http://www.elxis-downloads.com/">EDC</a>. Since version 4.0 rev1358 Elxis has multilingual XML parameters and a new configuration option named SITELANGS. This new option allows you to limit the displayed languages in Elxis frontend only to specific ones (the default option is to use all available languages). With the release of the stable version we strongly encourage you to download and use Elxis 4.0 instead of the old series 2009.3.
For those currently running older versions of Elxis, you can see the differences in this comparison between the two editions.
More info: <a href="http://www.elxis.org/">http://www.elxis.org/</a>

Elxis CMS 4.0 (Nautilus) is available

Social networking CMS <a href="http://elgg.org/" target="_blank">Elgg</a> has released two important security updates for two of their current versions. Elgg 1.8 has received version 1.8.19, whilst Elgg 1.7 has been upgraded to  1.7.22.
Elgg is a free and open-source social networking software that has been around since 2004. The popular platform provides a robust framework on which to build all kinds of social environments, from a campus-wide social network for your university, school, or college or an internal collaborative platform for your organization to a brand-building communications tool for your company and its clients.
Features and functionalists include blogging, microblogging, file sharing, networking, groups, and much more.
The security fixes in both of these new security updates will help to enhance the security of the “Remember Me” feature and also introduces measures to prevent brute-force attacks of the “Remember Me” cookie. This upgrade will invalidate all “Remember Me” cookies for admin users, so admin users may need to log in again.
<h3>Other changes in 1.8.19 include:</h3>
<ul>
<li>Fixed numerous PHP warnings.</li>
<li>Groups: Corrected breadcrumb for group discussion pages.</li>
<li>Fixed RSS validation for the River RSS feed.</li>
<li>Moved Site Secret update to configure -&gt; advanced.</li>
</ul>
However, perhaps more importantly, Elgg have also strongly encouraged their 1.7 users to make the migration to 1.8 in lieu of Elgg 1.9 releasing.
<blockquote>Users of 1.7 should migrate to 1.8 ASAP as Elgg 1.7 will no longer be updated when Elgg 1.9 is released.</blockquote>
For more information on the release of Elgg versions 1.8.19 and 1.7.22, check out Elgg's official blog. Both versions can also be <a href="http://www.elgg.org/download.php" target="_blank">downloaded here</a>.
Additionally, you can explore more of Elgg via our CMS Directory.

Elgg Release Security Updates & Encourage 1.7 Users to Migrate

Ecwid, the ecommerce platform that makes it a snap for anyone to sell their products anywhere, has launched a fully automated sales tax and VAT solution for online merchants, in partnership with TaxJar. Previously, online sellers had to determine sales tax and VAT rates and complicated rules to configure data tables manually, in order to determine when, and how much sales tax to collect at checkout. Further, online businesses were required to keep up with new laws and regulations in every location where they sold products, just to remain compliant. During the periods nearing monthly or quarterly sales tax deadlines, these merchants were forced to sort through complicated spreadsheets reflecting their sales histories, so they could create and remit sales tax filings across various states.
Effective immediately, all premium Ecwid merchants have built-in access to highly-accurate, automated tax calculations using TaxJar’s SmartCalcs technology in the US, Canada, Australia and the European Union. Additional countries will follow soon. In addition, in late summer, Ecwid merchants also will be able to connect their online store (as well as other channels they may be utilizing like eBay or Square) to TaxJar’s automated reporting and filing technology, in order to fully-automate sales tax management.
“TaxJar is committed to providing full sales tax automation to small and medium sized businesses,” says Mark Faggiano, founder and CEO of TaxJar. “A few years ago, we set out on a mission to bring the most modern technology available to solve the sales tax pains of merchants, in a way that is both affordable and extremely easy to use. Partnering with Ecwid enables us to work with the leader for small business ecommerce in order to reach and alleviate sales tax woes for millions of online sellers globally.”
“Ecwid is committed to providing an e-commerce platform that makes selling online extremely easy and productive for small businesses globally. Yet, ask any online seller about managing sales tax, and they cringe,” says Jim O’Hara, president of Ecwid. “Providing our new automated tax calculation feature powered by TaxJar that essentially eliminates our customers’ concerns when it comes to sales tax helps us deliver on our promise and make our merchants more successful.”
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/ecwid">Learn more about Ecwid.</a>

Ecwid is First SMB e-Commerce Platform to Provide Both Fully Automated and Logic Based Sales Tax and VAT Calculation

Solodev’s cloud infrastructure put them on the map at Amazon Web Services re:Invent 2016 beginning with the release of the new Solodev Web Experience Platform, when they were announced as one of twenty AWS partners to join AWS SaaS Subscriptions program shortly after becoming the world’s 1st Enterprise CMS available On-Demand. In addition to winning our People’s Choice Award for “<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/solodev-cms-winners-of-the-best-cloud-cms-award-now-available-in-the-aws-cloud/" target="_blank">Best Cloud CMS</a>” of 2016, Solodev launched their first iteration for Windows on the AWS Marketplace. The combination of these major strategic moves has positioned Solodev as both an innovator and thought leader in enterprise cloud computing in the CMS space.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i3w-GC_KXjc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Before taking a deeper dive into Solodev’s Cloud Infrastructure, let’s look at a few of the core benefits of hosting your website in the cloud with Solodev and AWS:
<ul>
<li>Deploy content to customers anywhere in the world quickly, with no need to build a data center or find a co-location provider</li>
<li>Automatically scale capacity up and down as your business requires</li>
<li>Improve resource utilization and pay only for what you use</li>
</ul>
Now let’s take a deeper look at Solodev’s state of the art cloud architecture.
<h3>Scalability</h3>
Solodev utilizes several tools to help your website scale along with your business. Solodev employs <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/autoscaling/" target="_blank">Auto Scaling</a> to maintain application availability and allows you to scale your server capacity up or down automatically per conditions you define. Auto Scaling can also automatically increase the number of server instances during demand spikes to maintain performance and decrease capacity during lulls to reduce costs.
Solodev utilizes <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/efs/" target="_blank">Amazon Elastic File System</a> (Amazon EFS) that provides simple, scalable file storage in the AWS Cloud. With Amazon EFS, storage capacity is elastic, growing and shrinking automatically as you add and remove files, so your applications have the storage they need, when they need it.
On top of scaling your website and file system, Solodev users benefit from <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/elasticloadbalancing/" target="_blank">Elastic Load Balancing</a> that automatically distributes incoming application traffic across multiple Amazon servers. This enables Solodev users to achieve fault tolerance in their applications, seamlessly providing the required amount of load balancing capacity needed to route application traffic.
<h3>Global CDN</h3>
Solodev utilizes <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/" target="_blank">Amazon CloudFront</a>, a global content delivery network (CDN) service that accelerates delivery of websites, APIs, video content or other web assets. It integrates with other Amazon Web Services products to give developers and businesses an easy way to accelerate content to end users with no minimum usage commitments.
<h3>Availability</h3>
A major benefit of being in the AWS Cloud is their multiple availability zones around the globe, as well as server redundancy for each layer of the technology stack, customers can attain extremely high levels of availability. For example, a high capacity event that could potentially degrade site access can trigger extra web servers operating round-robin, including reserve capacity in the second availability zone; a fully redundant file system in the second availability zone that is constantly syncing; master-master replication for database pairs; and a secondary load balancer in a redundant environment.
<h3>Security</h3>
Security is integral to the Solodev Platform and is embedded into every architectural layer. Firewall systems and IP-based restrictions protect their perimeter network and prevent unauthorized access to customer systems. Solodev utilizes security-monitoring applications that monitor for unusual activity and constantly screen for possible or actual security breaches. In an actual security event, Solodev Security and Engineering team members are alerted to promptly isolate any issues.
Additionally, to ensure the highest quality software environment, Solodev performs ongoing vulnerability scans and penetration testing. Solodev stands by the infrastructure supporting the their platform – any vulnerabilities are reviewed and patches are applied according to documented timelines and the severity of the vulnerability. To prevent unauthorized users from accessing a customer’s instance, Solodev also offers granular permission settings.
Solodev is currently offering a 14 Day Free Trial of the Solodev Web Experience Platform. This includes an instance of Solodev on an Amazon EC2 server as well as 50GB of storage, 2GB of memory, as well as email and chat support.

Deploy scalable, cost-effective websites in minutes using Solodev

Over the course of this Solodev CMS featured week, I’ve <a href="/exploring-solodev-cms-8/" target="_blank">overviewed the enterprise platform’s core features</a>, its <a href="/solodev-cms-bringing-multi-site-management-to-healthcare-organizations/" target="_blank">presence within the healthcare industry</a>, the <a href="/solodev-cms-powering-next-generation-local-government-websites-to-improve-constituent-services/" target="_blank">role it plays for numerous local government bodies throughout the United States</a>, and its <a href="/solodev-cms-facilitating-successful-project-launches/" target="_blank">hands-on approach to project launches</a>.
 To conclude this featured week, I’m going to delve into the custom integration capabilities of Solodev CMS 8, and how that helps to drive the progress of brands online.
The Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts is the brand I’ll be focusing on, as it’s an organization that currently benefits from Solodev’s customization capabilities.
<h2>State of the Performing Arts</h2>
The Dr. Phillips Center is a state-of-the-art performing arts center in Orlando, FL.
Opened in November 2014, the nearly $400M venue features a 2,700 seat amplified hall (the Walt Disney Theater) for Broadway theater-class events and a 300-seat venue (the Alexis &amp; Jim Pugh Theater) for smaller shows and events. A third theater, a 1,700-seat acoustic hall for ballet, operas and orchestral performances, will open its doors sometime in late 2018.
It’s truly a one-of-a-kind entertainment venue.
To establish a worthwhile online presence, Dr. Phillips partnered with Solodev to develop a start-of-the-art website that matched the sophistication of their performing arts center. A major goal for the new website was to drive more self-service transactions – particularly online ticket sales. This is in accordance with current trends. According to a report issued by Juniper Research, the volume of mobile tickets is forecasted to increase to 23 billion worldwide by 2016, more than quadruple the four billion delivered in 2011.
In the end, the site included a sophisticated online seat selection and ticket purchasing system that was highly customized to work in lockstep with the Center’s ticketing software platform, Tessitura.
As well as falling in line with prevailing customer preferences, selling tickets through the website meant lowering costs by driving more self-service actions. By keeping customer transactions online and away from expensive customer service reps, Dr Phillips could offer a more user-friendly ticket buying process with less financial strain.
<h2>The Final Performance</h2>
On top of meeting its goal to sell tickets easily through its website, the Dr Phillips Center website project was built to excel in other areas. This applies particularly to the website’s seat selector tools. For example, seat maps needed to render in a size large enough to be easily clicked – including with a finger on a mobile device.
The Select Your Own Seat (SYOS) solution was developed by Solodev to work seamlessly with the mobile-responsive capabilities of the website. For example, by using scalable vector graphics of the venue seating charts, as opposed to Flash, mobile device compatibility was ensured.
More customization came in the form of account profiles, which allow for multiple logins to accommodate the Center’s head of household account requirement. Site users are also encouraged to make online donations during the purchasing process, and can select parking spaces from a geo-coded map with overlays, further streamlining the customer experience.
<h2>Dr Phillips Performing Arts Website Whitepaper</h2>
In response to the roaring success that is the Dr Phillips Performing Arts website, Solodev developed an informative white paper, which derives helpful details from the project.
To find out more about Solodev CMS, <a href="https://www.solodev.com/" target="_blank">check out their website</a>

Custom Integration that Drives Business: How Solodev CMS Powers Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

So far during this Solodev featured week, I’ve <a href="/exploring-solodev-cms-8/" target="_blank">explored the enterprise platform’s core features</a>, its <a href="/solodev-cms-bringing-multi-site-management-to-healthcare-organizations/" target="_blank">presence within the healthcare industry</a>, and the role it plays for <a href="/solodev-cms-powering-next-generation-local-government-websites-to-improve-constituent-services/" target="_blank">numerous local government bodies throughout the United States</a>.

And although Solodev CMS has a healthy stake in both of those industries, it also powers websites across the rest of the enterprise spectrum.
One thing those enterprise websites (and the enterprise companies behind them) have in common, are successful launches.
The planning that goes before it, the execution that brings it about, and the work that comes after it with the goal growth. Here’s how Solodev aims to streamline the entire process.
<h2>The Benefits of Solodev Launch</h2>
Large web deployments are really interactive business platforms that accomplish the digital goals of an organization.
Typically, this involves many steps and moving parts, including; design, build, migration, integrating with third-party technology to streamline business operations, and workflow management.
As such, Solodev CMS’s powerful out-of-the-box features make it an ideal launch platform for mid-to-enterprise class custom application and integration projects.
With Solodev’s built-in RESTful API, custom, complex front-end builds can be developed that handle various business critical transactions within a site by getting/leveraging data from third-party sources.
In many cases, the client or referring agency partner needs assistance with these large migration and deployment projects. Which is why Solodev came up with Solodev Launch.
<h2>The Solodev Launch Team</h2>
The Solodev Launch program leverages internal Solodev resources to ensure that projects get launched on time, on spec and on budget.
Solodev puts forth a mix of skills to assist end clients or agency partners with the build, design and integration processes.
In other words, Solodev is able to deploy a team of experts to helps smooth over the launch process, so their client can focus on other issues that require their attention.
<h2>Solodev Launch in Action</h2>
Florida Department of Education
Solodev has put its launch team into action on many deployments in the past. On one such occasion, the Florida Department of Education was the client in question.
The FDOE serves more than 2.7 million students in the state’s more than 4,200 public schools and 28 colleges. This makes it one of the largest education systems in the United States.
As a result of its size, the Solodev launch team had to help migrate 3,500 pages of content along with 20,000 digital assets including documents, images, and media files. A monster of a job, but it was done.
Today, the FODE website can handle 100,000 concurrent users, and currently averages 30,000 users per day.
Dr. Phillips Center 
A good example of the level of customization that the Solodev Launch team can accomodate comes in the form of the Dr. Phillips Center, a newly opened (November 2014) state-of-the-art performing arts center in Orlando, FL.
Their website was developed in Solodev CMS 8 and is hosted in the Solodev CMS 8 AWS environment.
It includes a sophisticated online seat selection and ticket purchasing system that was highly customized and vastly improved the user experience with the Center’s ticketing software platform, Tessitura.
Miami Beach App
Furthermore, the Solodev RESTful API also allows developers to build apps that access data from the CMS.
The Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority springs to mind here. They needed to create apps around visitor activities and leveraged Solodev CMS to develop a powerful mobile application platform.
Today, the Miami Beach app works like a comprehensive 411 resource that provides granular details on every business as well as on city amenities and happenings.
The app contains nearly 7,000 business listings each with extensive detail. Those listings are accessible by category, so in addition to finding an accountant nearest their location, visitors and residents can select a hotel based on its architect or a restaurant based on the noise level of its dining room. Now that’s detail.
Solodev can also accommodate sophisticated integrations with solutions like CRMs, Marketing Automation Systems, and third party API integration.
To find out more about Solodev CMS, <a href="https://www.solodev.com/" target="_blank">check out their website</a>

Solodev CMS: Facilitating Successful Project Launches

<a href="https://www.crownpeak.com/">Crownpeak</a>, a digital experience platform (DXP), has just announced a strategic partnership with <a href="https://www.ilumino.co/">ilumino</a>, a digital accessibility services and consulting firm. The two companies will offer an integrated solution that helps improve digital experiences for users with disabilities while evolving accessibility strategies for organizations.
The “Crownpeak + ilumino” solution combines Crownpeak’s automated accessibility scanning technology with ilumino’s deep subject matter expertise in online accessibility. It also addresses a key gap that exists with many CMS and DXP platforms: access to human-powered testing and remediation.
While the announcement was made today, the joint solution is already in use by several billion-dollar corporations, including a tech-enabled business services firm, a major U.S. insurance company, and a global top 10 consumer packaged goods company that operates in 190 countries and has hundreds of brands.
<h2>The growing demand for digital accessibility</h2>
With more than <a href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/business-case/">1 billion people</a> worldwide living with some form of disability, it’s more important than ever for organizations to deliver inclusive digital experiences. This need has been elevated during the Covid-19 pandemic as more consumers turned to digital channels to connect and transact. Accessibility is now a key imperative for brands, requiring websites and apps to accommodate for users with vision, hearing, mobility, cognitive, and other disabilities.
Crownpeak’s <a href="https://www.crownpeak.com/products/digital-quality-management/web-accessibility">Digital Quality Management</a> (DQM) technology represents a deeper investment from CMS and DXP platforms around digital equality. With these types of built-in scanning resources, organizations can deliver consistent digital experiences across an expanding array of digital touchpoints, from websites to mobile apps to the Internet of Things (IoT).
But as is often the case, technology is not enough. In fact, many tools require manual human insight to identify false positives and whitelist contextual issues. There are also a myriad of governance and compliance issues that limit the ability of any tool to solve problems on its own.
Crownpeak also says that most organizations take a “disjointed approach” to their accessibility. While content teams might adhere to standards and best practices – including the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (<a href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/">WCAG</a>) or  – they depend on basic browser plug-ins and third-party testers to generate one-time reports. This reflects a limited focus on remediation versus a long-term strategy around accessibility and content quality.
<h2>The Crownpeak + ilumino Solution</h2>
Together, Crownpeak and ilumino offer a single, integrated approach that evolves the accessibility model. The solution combines Crownpeak’s DQM technology, providing automated and ongoing scanning and auditing against WCAG guidelines, with <a href="https://www.ilumino.co/solutions/">ilumino’s expert services</a> – which focuses on nurturing a company’s “culture of accessibility.” ilumino also brings a seasoned practice around accessibility planning and strategy, so customers can unlock the value of their investment while meeting critical compliance benchmarks.
“All too often, when it comes to accessibility testing, companies receive ‘one-and-done’ reports on violations – with no real consideration of the company’s technical resources or its ability to actually act on the findings,” said Mark Reardon, CEO at ilumino. “So benefits achieved are often just temporary. Crownpeak + ilumino offers a better solution and, importantly, a path toward continual compliance. Our partnership combines the scalability of Crownpeak's software platform with our expert manual consulting services. Together, we offer organizations a global solution for their digital monitoring and compliance needs – all within the unique confines of their established branding and marketing, and all aimed at providing more inclusive digital experiences.”
By combining the speed and power of Crownpeak’s tools with the essential human side of ilumino’s accessibility testing and consulting, the partnership delivers a more complete solution for advancing digital accessibility. Additionally, the pairing brings best-of-breed capabilities to content operations, enabling teams to deliver more accessible user experiences while maintaining cohesive brand guidelines and business practices.
“Making the web more accessible to all is an imperative everyone can agree on – but challenges related to cost, complexity and knowledge gaps often hold companies back,” said Chris Sigala, general manager of Crownpeak’s Digital Quality Management business. “Crownpeak + ilumino resolves these issues. We’re encouraged by the results we’ve seen from the partnership in a relatively short amount of time – as large organizations are realizing immense value and impact by leveraging the strengths of both organizations in powering their digital accessibility programs.”
<h2>Key features</h2>
Some noteworthy highlights of the Crownpeak + ilumino solution include:
<ul>
<li>Accessibility and compliance dashboard – providing a “single-source of truth” for automated and manual accessibility monitoring</li>
<li>Automated site scanning (enriched by manual testing) – enterprise-grade, multi-site scanning technology</li>
<li>Manual testing and consulting – performed by certified accessibility experts</li>
<li>In-house or guided remediation – tailored to each organization’s unique design and development workflows</li>
<li>Ongoing support – ensuring sustained compliance through a proactive approach</li>
<li>Accessibility pattern library – simplifying remediation and establishing long-term organizational assets</li>
<li>Litigation support – with expert review and consulting on any accessibility-related legal actions received</li>
<li>Accessibility statement – drafted to demonstrate an organization’s commitment to digital inclusion</li>
<li>Enterprise strategy – assisting with a prioritized roadmap and risk management</li>
</ul>
<h2>What’s next for accessibility?</h2>
The partnership between Crownpeak and ilumino crystallizes the importance of digital equality for organizations, but it also represents a more evolved approach to accessibility. While meeting WCAG, ADA and AODA can help businesses mitigate risk and avoid lawsuits, we need a deeper understanding of what accessibility means to a diverse audience of consumers. Further, CMS and DXP platforms will require continuous investment in their “accessibility readiness” – and for now, that requires a balance of human support and insight.
That said, the accessibility landscape continues to shift. While the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990, it made no mention of websites or mobile apps. No one could have predicted their future ubiquity or importance, but the omission continues to plague the legal system. Despite having a working draft of the <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/wcag-3.0/">W3C’s WCAG 3.0 guidelines</a>, the U.S. courts (among others) haven’t adopted clear laws or policies when it comes to digital accessibility.
In fact, this week, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a <a href="https://static.reuters.com/resources/media/editorial/20210408/gil--trialcourt.pdf">2017 trial-court ruling against Winn-Dixie</a> stores by a visually-impaired customer, concluding that their websites were not a “public accommodation” as the ADA defines the term. The ruling succeeds at creating further confusion, which is precisely why expertise from consultants like ilumino is so essential.
If you're interested in learning more, Crownpeak and ilumino will discuss their partnership during a webinar, “<a href="https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7241109117052532235?source=PR">Getting Started on Your Digital Accessibility Journey</a>, on May 19, at 11 a.m. ET, where they will provide practical, actionable steps for creating and executing an effective digital accessibility program.
<h2>About ilumino</h2>
POWERING DIGITAL INCLUSION. ilumino is a digital accessibility company driven by a passion to help create a more inclusive online world through compliant technology that everyone can enjoy. A user-focused approach makes the accessibility of websites, software or mobile applications, documents, and digital platforms straightforward, scalable, and complementary of established branding. Custom solutions and expert services render lasting results by focusing on usability as well as compliance. For more information, please visit <a href="http://www.ilumino.co">www.ilumino.co</a>.
<h2>About Crownpeak</h2>
Crownpeak provides the leading digital experience platform. The industry’s only true SaaS-based solution, Crownpeak offers best-in-breed capabilities that empower companies to create, deploy and optimize omnichannel digital experiences – faster and easier than ever, and with zero infrastructure to maintain. Crownpeak also provides built-in solutions for digital governance and digital quality management. Relied on by the world’s top brands, these solutions make it easy for organizations to address WCAG and ADA accessibility compliance across their digital properties – while improving SEO, reducing bounce rates, increasing brand equity, and enhancing user experiences. With Crownpeak, companies can deliver high-impact, trust-building, accessible experiences at scale – improving engagement, loyalty and revenue. For more information, please visit <a href="http://www.crownpeak.com">www.crownpeak.com</a>.

Crownpeak and ilumino Announce Strategic Partnership to Advance Digital Accessibility

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