Articles - Page 160

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

matt-garrepy

Another month goes by and BOOM. Just like that, the summer is halfway gone. During this time our developers have been busy working in the latest Agility Release. We've got a killer feature lined up for you, and a few other things designed to spice up your summer publishing experience.
The latest release includes several highly requested items from both clients and partners, Digital Channels, New Development Bar, and new Dialogs and Structures for future features.
Within the items that were added or fixed are:
• 5 different kinds of channels: Website, Mobile Website, Mobile App, Facebook Page and Content API. • Login page now prepopulated the email address when opened directly from a sample site welcome email. • Style rules from the “Other Editor Style Sheets” are now readded to the CSS. • The preview bar now refreshes the page and switches out of preview mode, without forcing the window closed. • Fixed the Dynamic Page Friendly URLs to handle special characters with accents. • Pagination missing from the moderation view in UGC • Fixed issues when a UGC definition has more than 20 fields. • Fixed Javascript errors when adding a custom section to a UGC definition • The spacing and timestamps in the UGC Alert emails have been corrected. • Image size restriction validation is corrected in a few select scenarios. • Language Dropdown binding issues in Dynamic Page Content listing dialog. • Language dropdown was not being populated and was not visible properly in the Shared Content and Dynamic Page Content tabs in the Digital Content area. • Agility.Web upgrades can no longer be triggered when the site is in Development Mode. • Redesigned the upgrade in progress dialog UI. • Site updating message has been cleaned up. • Updated the developer bar to be more streamlined as well as resize to mobile browser sizes for both tablets and phones. • When editing users in the global security section, the Content Moderation tab now has checkboxes to select multiple items. • Cleanup of the UI on the publish list dialog. • The image manager now updates the thumbnail in the manager right after you upload your file, it doesn't wait for a save action like previously. • Publish list dialog confirmation update. • Added a link to the tutorial for the URL Redirections beside the HTTP Code in the add URL Redirection dialog. • Added a double prompt to deleting Shared or Dynamic Content. • Constant across all Languages and Unique in Each Language are now separate values and can be used separately or at the same time. • BrightCove submissions that are submitted with ” or ! in the name or description are now sent properly and processed by BrightCove. • Shared Content version history had errors opening in IE8. • js, css, and txt files are now gzipped and have the appropriate content-encoding set for Amazon S3.
<blockquote>
“We have considered our clients and partners feedback and have launched a release that touch Agility in many different areas and make development easy and faster”, said Jonathan Voigt, Agility CMS Co-Founder, CTO.
</blockquote>
About Agility Agility is a cloud-based content management system for managing internally produced and user generated content across web, mobile and social media. Agility is designed to be easy for developers, editors, designers and marketers. It integrates with best-of-breed solutions for video management, ad serving, search, analytics, email marketing and more. Their Perfect Fit Guarantee ensures that you will be satisfied with your CMS implementation, or the license fees are free. You can implement Agility internally, or work with their implementation partners. Agility powers sites for Uncle Ben’s, Campbell’s, Subaru, Whiskas, Cineplex, CTV and Shoppers Drug Mart.
Website: <a href="http://www.agilitycms.com">www.agilitycms.com</a>

Agility CMS August 2011 Release is Live

mike-johnston

WebRadar is an automated content reporting and analytics application designed by Ephox exclusively for IBM Web Content Manager. Version 3 was just recently announced and brings with it a number of new features.
WebRadar 3 delivers new user-focused features, which include advanced reporting capabilities, charting, personalized dashboards, report sharing, and email notifications. WebRadar 3 also leverages new workflow and project features introduced in version 7.0 of IBM Web Content Manager.
<ul>
<li>Expanded Reporting Features Now you can now run thousands of different reports related to content in IBM Web Content Manager. Users have access to a report building engine that provides the power they need to run reports that matter to them.  WebRadar 3 also comes with custom pie and bar charts for each report created.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Project Reporting New reporting criteria is available to work with IBM Web Content Manager 7.0’s new project capabilities. Project reporting makes it easy to identify which content items might delay the publication of your project.  If you want to know how many times your home page has been updated, by which projects, and when, then WebRadar 3 delivers.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Advanced Multi-Edit Features With WebRadar 3, the number of fields available for editing has expanded. Now making changes to multiple pieces of content is simpler and more effective. You can easily move content between site areas and assign existing content to new workflows, reassign content authoring tasks, update content expiration dates, adjust permissions, or extend web campaigns.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Charting Analyze large, detailed result sets quickly with new charting capabilities.  View data according to any of the IBM Web Content Manager metadata fields.  You no longer need to wade through reams of data to get meaningful insights from your web content management system.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Designed for Multiple Departments WebRadar 3 introduces a wide array of enhancements that make content reporting and content analytics available to a broader user base. WebRadar 3 can now be used by IT, Marketing, HR, Content Managers, Content Authors, and other departments who publish web content.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Personalized Dashboards WebRadar 3 comes fully loaded with customizable dashboards. Now WebRadar users have easy access to the reports that help them manage, analyze, and modify content that they’re responsible for.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Create, Share, and Email Reports Users can create daily or weekly report subscriptions delivered directly to their inbox.  Reports can be saved as spreadsheets or PDFs and can be shared with anyone within the organization.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>New Permission Settings Gain a higher level of security with WebRadar 3’s new permission parameters. WebRadar’s varying levels of permissions allow you to grant or prevent access from creating and viewing reports to multi-edit functions.  </li>
</ul>
Here is a video demonstrating the capabilities of WebRadar version 3:

<div style="text-align:center">[[webradar]]
<div style="text-align:left">To learn more, visit <a href="http://webradarwcm.com">http://webradarwcm.com</a>


</div></div>

Ephox announces version 3 of WebRadar for IBM Web Content Manager

Igloo Software, a cloud intranet provider, today announced the next version of their Software as a Service platform – code named Scone, highlighted by the introduction of a new document preview engine. Igloo provides secure preview of documents uploaded into the platform, without requiring download onto mobile devices. Content is automatically formatted to fit the users screen with Igloo's built-in responsive design, with gestures optimizing the experience for users with touch screens.
Igloo's document preview offers support for more file formats, including Microsoft Office, and most audio, video, and image types. Document preview is available on any device with a web browser, and is displayed in-line with Igloo's built-in collaboration features, enabling users to comment on documents, @mention team members, and control versions.
Users can now download previewable documents as a PDF, removing the need to store files in multiple formats. Rather than managing a working file and a production file, users can collaborate around their documents in Igloo and download the final version as a client-ready PDF – regardless of its source file type.
<blockquote>
“Today's workforce is changing the concept of where work gets done,” said Andrew Dixon, Igloo's Senior Vice President, Marketing &amp; Operations. “We work everywhere, using the device we have with us – whether it's a laptop, a tablet, or a phone. With responsive design and enhanced document preview, you can work from anywhere without worrying if you downloaded the latest version of the file or if your device can only open specific file formats. And with enterprise-grade security, your files are safe and duplication is minimized.”
</blockquote>
 Other key elements of the release include:
Support for HTML5 Video Igloo's video player now supports HTML5 playback on any device, including standard and high-definition streaming, intelligent device detection and easy embedding inside or outside of Igloo intranets. Users can upload videos in a wide selection of formats, including avi, mkv, mov, mp4 and wmv, and view content right in the browser with HTML5 playback.
New Social Analytics Dashboard Igloo's social analytics use a state of the art business intelligence engine from MicroStrategy to analyze social interactions within the platform. In order to make it easier to consume the information and draw insights from the data, Igloo has introduced a new dashboard which provides a unique measure of community health across four key dimensions: membership, networking, content, and collaboration. Administrators can also drill-down into reports with real-time sorting and filtering capabilities.
Mobile access Igloo intranets come with responsive design built-in, providing an optimized experience for laptops, tablets, and phones – securely delivered over the web. Igloo also offers a mobile app for finding content quickly on the go. Customers can download the app by searching “Igloo Mobile” from their device on the <a href="http://tinyurl.com/ckdqyla">Play Store</a> for Android smartphones and tablets or <a href="http://tinyurl.com/dyo6s8n">Apple's App StoreSM</a>.
Availability Scone is a free update instantly available for all Igloo customers, starting August 31, 2013. Anyone can sign up and try Scone for free at <a href="http://www.igloosoftware.com/tryscone">igloosoftware.com/tryscone</a>. Igloo is free to use with up to ten people.

Igloo makes their Cloud Intranet Software Mobile

When hunting for a new web content management system, exploring your options can feel exhilarating. After all, with new software, comes new possibilities.
However, things take a serious turn when it comes to assessing the flexibility of your short-listed platforms in terms of integration options.
Most businesses will be looking at a long list of tools that need to be integrated with their new CMS. This includes databases, third-party or legacy apps, a CRM, an eCommerce system – and sometimes all of the above.
Not to mention, future technologies will also need to work seamlessly with the new CMS as and when they release.
In other words, the CMS needs to be compatible with what is already in place, and future-proof at the same time.
No platform can truly offer such flexibility right out of the box. Unless of course, it comes without a box.
<h2> Why Open Suite? </h2>
Magnolia has recognized that a one-size-fits-all solution is unrealistic. So instead, they ship their CMS without the confines of a conventional “box”, taking the Open Suite approach instead.
Magnolia’s Open Suite approach, along with its totally open source nature, gives users the power to choose their own tools and applications, and to decide for themselves exactly how they are integrated.
Users can combine the best available tools without any vendor restrictions, and with all the benefits of Magnolia’s enterprise-grade Java foundation.
Here’s a quick summary of the benefits brought about by Magnolia’s open suite approach:
<ul>
<li> Tool Freedom: Maximize choice by using best-of-breed tools.</li>
<li> Cost Effectiveness: Pay only for components you need and will use.</li>
<li> Seamless Integration: Reduce disruption by integrating with existing business know-how and processes.</li>
<li> Intelligence &amp; Flexibility: Upgrade parts of the suite at different speeds, depending on current needs.</li>
<li> Risk Reduction: Lowering costs and adding flexibility means less risk.</li>
</ul>
For further details on what Magnolia’s open suite approach brings, you can check out my previous coverage: <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/magnolias-open-suite-approach-maximizing-choice-future-proofing-digital-investments/"> Magnolia's Open Suite Approach: Maximizing Choice &amp; Future-proofing Digital Investments </a> .
Development teams however, will want to dig a little deeper into the technicalities of Magnolia’s open suite approach. So, let’s take a look at exactly how it works.
<h2>Getting Technical</h2>
Magnolia’s open suite approach is all about integration – on a whole new and ultra-inclusive level.
Magnolia's Open Suite approach is based on an enterprise-grade stack, best-of-breed open source tools and a framework that balances best practices for content, configuration and templates.
Complete freedom can be exercised with every aspect of the CMS, from which templating engine you choose to which analytics provider you integrate. It’s entirely under your control.
Magnolia’s combination of open APIs, open standards and open source code allow developers to swap out components or build custom components as needed. In fact, <a href="https://app.magnolia-cms.com/"> Magnolia's App repository is growing all the time </a> .
This complete openness makes Magnolia a highly adaptable and interoperable CMS. It simplifies the building of custom suites, all of which can be specific to your organization’s needs.
Below is a handy developer transit map that gives you a birds-eye view of the integration options available, illustrating which technologies are best suited for your requirements.
<h2> Combating Common Obstacles </h2>
Magnolia’s open suite approach is as practical as it is intelligent. Here are some common obstacles faced by enterprises, along with Magnolia’s solutions.
<h3> Access your website content from other applications </h3>
 JCR: Magnolia CMS stores all content (web pages, images, documents, configuration, data) in a Java Content Repository (JCR). JCR is an open standard. This makes custom development of content-based applications easier.
<a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Content%2Bstorage%2Band%2Bstructure"> Read more about how Magnolia stores and structures content </a> .
 REST: Magnolia CMS also offers a REST API, which allows you to read and modify website content over HTTP. The content can be pages, components, contacts or anything else that is stored in Magnolia’s content repository. You can also execute commands to activate, export and import content.
<a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/My%2Bfirst%2BREST%2Brequest"> Read more about Magnolia’s REST API </a> .
 PHPCR and WebDAV: Coming to Magnolia CMS from the world of PHP? No problem. You can also access JCR content with PHPCR, the DavEx module and the PHP Jackalope implementation. And you can use Magnolia's built-in WebDAV support to let users easily create, edit and manage templates on the Magnolia CMS server.
Check out Magnolia’s <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/home/resources-directory/webinar-recordings/phpcr.html"> PHPCR webinar </a> and <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/resources-directory/screencasts/webdav.html"> WebDAV screencast </a> . 

<h3>Create workflows that reflect real-world business processes</h3>
 Apps: Magnolia CMS Apps are browser-based applications that run inside Magnolia CMS and help enterprises integrate content authoring with business process workflows.
With Apps, users can control and manipulate data stored in the CMS. Magnolia's Apps work equally well on mobile and desktop devices, and can therefore be used on the move. Apps can be connected with databases, Web services, workflows and notifications.
Magnolia provides an App framework to quickly bootstrap new Apps, and you can use Vaadin and GWT to build the user interface for your Apps.
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/the-best-practices-for-designing-a-magnolia-app/"> Read more on Magnolia apps </a> .
 jBPM: jBPM workflows can be used to connect common Magnolia CMS actions, such as content activation or versioning, with your business processes.
Out of the box, Magnolia CMS comes with a <a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCU/Workflow+configuration"> “four-eye” workflow </a> , and you can also create your own custom workflows. Workflows can also be integrated with Magnolia’s messaging hub, <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/product/features/interface/the-pulse.html"> “The Pulse” </a> , for real-time notifications and messaging.
<a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Workflow"> Read more about Magnolia’s workflow functionality </a> .
 Observation: Using Magnolia's content observation mechanism, you can trigger customized actions in response to content changes.
Event listeners can monitor changes in content and trigger pre-defined responses when changes are detected. Common examples include automatic publishing or deactivation of content and sending emails.
<a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Observation%2Bmodule"> Read more about Magnolia’s Observation module </a> .
<h3>Give your website a consistent look and feel, even on mobile devices.</h3>
 Templating: Magnolia CMS uses templates to give structure to rendered content. Out of the box, Magnolia CMS understands Freemarker and JSP templates, but you can also plug in your own custom engine. Microformats and JSTL tags are supported as well.
<a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Templates"> Read more about Magnolia templates </a> . 
 
STK: Magnolia's <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/product/features/development/stk.html"> Standard Templating Kit (STK) </a>  is a production-ready collection of templates for common use cases. It implements the principles of RESS: Responsive Web Design + Server-Side Components.
Web pages rendered with the system are compliant with HTML5 and CSS3, as well as modern accessibility guidelines.
<a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/stk"> Read more about Magnolia’s STK </a> .
For even more information on the technical workings and benefits of Magnolia’s open suite approach, check out this white paper.
The white paper also holds Magnolia's solutions to other common obstacles, including security, performance, using external documents and assets, and adding custom functionality via Spring or Grails.
Also, be sure to check out <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/products/magnolia-cms/"> Magnolia CMS via our CMS Directory </a> .

A Deeper Look at Magnolia's Open Suite Approach

Data is fast becoming a valuable part of business strategy. It gives companies the information they need to analyze trends, decipher customer expectations, and discover exciting new opportunities for growth. These “insight-driven businesses” (a term adopted by Forrester) are growing by more than 30% annunally and this is just the beginning. Predictions from <a href="http://yokellocal.com/blog/7-customer-experience-trends-2018">Walker Info</a> indicate that by 2020, 86% of customers will consider customer experience to be the most important factor in their purchasing decisions.
Consumers no longer have the luxury of time to peruse shopping aisles and this has forced many retailers to shut up shop in recent years. These customers are turning to online shopping instead and they have begun to expect a more personalized and unique shopping experience that is tailored to their individual preferences and lifestyles. This shift has been in motion for a while, but the fact that many retailers have been slow to respond has resulted in the closure of circa <a href="https://coresight.com/weekly-store-trackers/">7,000 stores </a>from the impact of online shopping in 2017 alone. 
Now, in 2019, it’s absolutely essential for retailers to focus on improving their digital retail approach in order to enhance customer experiences. This particularly applies to larger retailers who are stuck between a rock and a hard place due to the higher expectations customers have of them in comparison to the fact that niche retailers often find it much easier to provide these sought-after personalized shopping experiences. 
A survey by data marketing company <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/10/25/1300518/0/en/Segment-Survey-Finds-Consumers-Will-Spend-More-When-Their-Shopping-Experience-is-Personalized-but-Most-Retailers-are-Missing-the-Mark.html">Segment</a> surveyed over 200 shoppers and found that this personalisation can result in higher revenues and an increase in customer loyalty (44% of customers said they would shop with that retailer again in the future). In fact, in an <a href="https://www.accenture.com/t20150523t052453__w__/gr-en/_acnmedia/accenture/conversion-assets/dotcom/documents/global/pdf/strategy_3/accenture-global-consumer-pulse-research-study-2013-key-findings.pdf">Accenture study</a>, 82% of customers who have switched loyalties and moved to a new retailer said that a better customer experience would have prevented them from making the switch. A lack of focus on providing these personalized experiences has been one of the main instigators of the department store shutdowns across the US in recent years.
<h2>The Shift to Data-Driven Experiences is Easier Than You Think</h2>
The technological changes involved in changing your approach to data are pretty straightforward, albeit time consuming. It’s all about shifting your business mindset and processes to make the most out of the data you have.
The amount of data available to businesses today can be overwhelming and many companies find it daunting to extract valuable customer insights from a data stream that never seems to end. One of the main issues causing this is the silo epidemic that’s ever present in large companies across the world. Sales, marketing, and customer service departments often work off different CRMs and it is impossible for employees to collaborate with a focus on the customer, which is essential to create an optimal <a href="https://www.devhub.com/blog/2674033-types-of-data-powered-experiences-dpes/" target="_blank">data powered experience</a>. When you take into consideration the fact that these departments often don’t even know each other personally, the problematic nature of this knowledge gap becomes even more evident. This leads to an inconsistent and disconnected customer experience that does nothing to encourage customer confidence in the business. 
This lack of communication results in very little customer insight and a whole lot of unnecessary noise that marketers struggle to organize into valuable information. What usually happens to this collection of data is that it’s sifted through on an ad-hoc basis which again provides little consistency in addition to insufficient growth in the business. 
The key to solving this situation is to take a new approach to the data and marketing strategy within your business. Data is useless to your business unless you know what to do with it. Finding and utilizing the correct data, organizing it, and making it available to everyone who needs it within your business will allow you to engage with customers on a much deeper level than you ever have. 
This educated information should encourage websites to move towards a more tailored experience that responds directly to an individual rather than simply a persona. A data management platform is useful in this instance to help to make sense of the data noise at your fingertips. This can organize your data to show which parts of your customer experience need the most attention.
<h2>Customer Experience = How a Customer Interacts with a Brand or Business at Every Touchpoint</h2>
The correct usage of analytics and data is empowering businesses to take a new, engaged, and more educated approach to delivering an optimal customer experience.
Each touchpoint provides an opportunity to impress and fulfil the needs of your customer, and once you have a data profile of your customer you have all of the information needed to do so. 
Touchpoints include any way that someone can engage with your business or brand, such as websites, commercials, online advertisements, email, social media, support calls, store visits, and purchasing a product to use. This is where you can evaluate how effective your content offers, email campaigns, and CTOs are so that you can then customize them to the needs of each customer. It’s also a great way to see how your customers usually interact with your business, i.e. via mobile apps or web.
The first thing your customer will think about before even thinking about your product is the experience you offer to them. It doesn’t matter how great your product or pricing is if you deliver a bad experience as this will stop people from turning into customers. The good news is that creating a data-driven customer experience will enable you to adapt to the changing preferences of each of your individual customers. The right data will help you to refine your customer experience, UX, analytics, and data to help you maintain and acquire profitable customers. 
<h2>Never Stop Refining Your Strategy</h2>
Your data-driven customer experience strategy should be regularly refined every time you collect significant data via these touchpoints. Utilizing this data will help you to adapt to new trends quickly and stay on track with the evolving preferences and behaviors of your customers so that you stay ahead of your competitors.
Once you’ve gathered enough data, you can delve deep into the relationships between the different behavior patterns of your customers which will then become a key factor in your marketing efforts. This data can then help you to create an even better customer persona that is based on the actions of your customers instead of assumptions about what they want. This will enable you to provide suggestions of other products they may be interested in as a result of their previous purchases.
The success of your company ultimately depends on how well you know your customers, and retrieving the right data is the key to gaining that knowledge. Improving your customer experience will make your business smarter, more agile, and equip it with the information it needs to survive in this rapidly changing data-driven environment.

Data Powered Experience: The Future of Marketing

grainne-logue

We all know websites of today can no longer be the static pages with dated information that entities once used to merely announce their presence to the online world. Visitors to your site want more, or they will go elsewhere: they want to be engaged.
Digital marketers and communicators face increasingly complex issues when engaging with their website visitors. Consumers have limited time, the message needs to be split but consistent across multiple channels, and communications need to be sharper and more targeted and relevant than ever before.
To achieve this, an online strategy must be underpinned by a Web Content Management System. And great people, stakeholders and well-defined requirements – along with a flexible, easy to use technology platform – are common elements for the success for a Web CMS implementation.
The continued success of your CMS project will also be dependent not just on launching a shiny new website, but also on your website continuing to hold the interest of your audience with fresh, relevant and engaging content for the entire life of the CMS.
How can you ensure continued success? If followed, these ten commandments can significantly contribute to the successful procurement and implementation of your Web CMS.
1. Thou shalt be inclusive The key to a successful CMS selection and ongoing  implementation is to define a high quality set of requirements that accurately communicate your business requirements internally, to your potential business partners as well as software vendors.
All too often a set of requirements is written from the perspective of one business unit, in the hope that the resulting solution will fit (or can be imposed upon) the rest of the  business.
When addressing this, assemble a broad set of stakeholders – a cross section – from all parts of the business that will be impacted by the project.
In addition, stakeholders should own their requirements throughout the process. This gives you a place to go when clarifying requirements, prioritizing, or when a business justification for an investment decision is needed.
Remember that success is not just about the technical capabilities of the platform, but of the adoption by the business at large.
2. Thou shalt be prepared to engage Digital communications is changing. We are at a point where engaging with our audience is not just about publishing a website. It’s about delivering a relevant and personal experience across multiple channels and touch points, including email, social media channels, mobile and call centers.
These requirements for highly dynamic, reusable and personalized content put special technical demands on your CMS platform that differentiate first generation web publishing systems from true web content management and channel agnostic delivery.
Do your requirements reflect the needs of your organization to move forward? To integrate with other channels?
Do your requirements include the ability to gain insight about your visitor?
3. Thou shalt be easy – really, really easy Ok – so who doesn’t have “easy to use” as a requirement for a CMS? User adoption is a critical aspect that cannot be underestimated. The success of CMS implementation will be wholly dependent on the people using it.
This is important now more than ever as visitors demand relevant, personalized engagement with your website. It requires a lot more content, specific to visitor segment and written by a broader set of people that understand the detail.
It’s important to choose easy-to-use CMS tools that fit your business users and to ensure you can leverage the existing tools that content contributors already use and are comfortable with.
4. Thou shalt not kill your business process Do you fit the CMS, or does the CMS fit you? Implementing a CMS often requires some changes to business processes, roles and how you reach your audience.
Ideally you want to use this as an opportunity to make improvements to your existing processes, but this may not always be the case.
Organizations are often forced to implement changes in order to accommodate the CMS, and this area often gets overlooked when selecting a CMS.
It’s important to consider: Will the way the content is stored and accessed change the way people work with the system?
Does it have a workflow process? And do the notifications and alerts fit the way you operate as a business?
5. Thou shalt not be a slave to technology The technical delivery behind a compelling web experience is no longer solely about the database of your choice, a web scripting language and a few templates. It’s now more about a deeper integration into your back office systems, leveraging content and services from outside the server room and in the cloud, and providing feedback about visitor information into customer and marketing systems.
These integrations are often neglected in the rush to launch the visible return on the CMS investment – the website – but they can be a significant obstacle to providing a better visitor experience if the underlying CMS technology turns out to be restrictive.
Ensure that the technical requirements of integrating the CMS into both the legacy systems and any proposed new systems are taken into consideration. Also, ensure that you choose a CMS with a broad technical footprint with regard to industry standards and a proven integration track record.
6. Thou shalt not worship false technology gods Some products in the market are great at what they do. But that does not necessarily mean that it is a fit for you. Many organizations are pushed into using products where ubiquity within IT departments and the buzz around a new release can appear very compelling, but that’s not always the best fit for your requirements or processes.
Remember that not all products will meet mandatory business requirements around accessibility, branding, multi-channel/multi-site publishing, analytics, social media and email integration.
7. Thou shalt treat all your visitors equally (including Google) We have a legal obligation to make our websites accessible. This includes not only how the website will publish accessible content, but also compliance with legal and technical standards that include access to information for the disabled community.
Moreover, the structure of a web page, its adherence to web standards and how it is described by metadata should also take into account best practices for Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Thus, your CMS requirements must also cover how the website will publish accessible content. Which technical and legal standards will it support?
8. Thou shalt seek and meet your visitor As we have already touched upon, a single website is no longer sufficient to satisfy digital marketing and communication objectives. These activities are now driven to create an Engagement Hub, fed by your content and publishing relevant content to multiple channels.
Digital marketers must be present where the consumer spends their online time, which means your CMS should make it simple to publish content to multiple channels—website, mobile, email, and social media channels.
A CMS that embodies this hub approach helps provide your audience with a consistent message and view of your brand across these channels, leverage the efficiencies of content reuse and coordinate communication campaigns.
This hub can also serve as a single conduit for visitor insight, where you collate and process feedback from email campaigns, social media, web analytics, comments and visitor behavior.
9. Thou shalt seek early reward Although digital engagement is broader than just creating websites, CMS implementation is no doubt focused on that first website.
The maturity of the CMS industry would suggest that we’ve moved on from starting-from-scratch with each implementation, but that may not always be the case.
It’s important to understand what a vendor offers in terms of getting your website up and running quickly, including ‘out of the box’ example websites, deep third party integrations with commonly used products, and code examples – plus of course case studies, testimonials and real-life references where they have gotten a website live in the timescales you require.
10. Thou shalt seek like-minded partners There will be bumps in the road in any implementation of enterprise software, and the impact of these is greatly determined by the people with whom you have chosen to work.
It is imperative to get to know the people involved in providing the proposal: the implementation team, be it the vendor or a third party, and the vendor support team. It’s obviously difficult to do this in a sales process, so you might want to select someone to work on a proof of concept, a pilot or an extended demonstration of your scenario.
By following these commandments you can help ensure that your implementation is based on sound footing, decreasing the possibility of project failure and increasing the likelihood of a successful CMS, which will evolve as your organization does.
About the Author Jose Santa Ana is Product Marketing Director at <a href="http://www.alterian.com" target="_blank">Alterian</a>, with focus on Web Content Management and Analytics and how these solutions enable increased engagement with customers. Jose has over 20 years of experience in online marketing, analytics, and enterprise software – with marketing roles at Omniture (now Adobe), IBM, 3Com, Amdocs, and Hyperion Solutions (now Oracle), as well as industry analyst roles at both IDC and Gartner.
Jose also has broad international exposure, having lived and worked in the Philippines, Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore before moving to the US.

The 10 Commandments for Selecting Your Web CMS

Sitecore, the company that has redefined Web content management, announced today a game-changing platform and product group called the Customer Engagement Platform.  The Platform enables organizations to manage the full customer experience and to create relevant and valuable customer conversations that engage, entertain, and inform.
“The Customer Engagement Platform is a major step towards Digital Intimacy and it marks the coming of a new era of online business,” said Michael Seifert, CEO, Sitecore. “This is not an evolution, it is a revolution. Our customers can achieve results that were otherwise not possible before. Moreover, they will be so much better informed on which marketing and outreach initiatives are bringing value to their organization and customers.”
The Customer Engagement Platform provides new and magical ways to orchestrate customer needs and solutions previously unattainable due to complexity hurdles. It does so through the addition of three new major and integrated products; Engagement Analytics, Engagement Automation, and the Personalization and Experience Editor.
Continue reading this story on <a href="http://www.crmcritic.com" target="_blank">CRM</a> Critic: <a href="http://www.crmcritic.com/sitecore-announces-a-new-era-of-digital-intimacy-with-its-customer-engagement-platform" target="_blank">Sitecore Announces a New Era of Digital Intimacy with its Customer Engagement Platform</a>

Sitecore Announces a New Era of Digital Intimacy with its Customer Engagement Platform

Call Tracking + AI 

Call Tracking + AI that Turns Calls into Leads

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Hannon Hill Corporation has released the most recent version of the company's web content management system, Cascade Server 6.8.
Cascade Server 6.8, which was released in beta in December, introduces several new major features and improvements. Included in the final release of 6.8 is a Google Analytics connector which connects Cascade Server to the industry-standard web analytics tool for providing marketers and website stakeholders with insights into their website traffic. Cascade’s Google Analytics connector syncs analytics data to Cascade to provide CMS users access to “in-context” analytics for individual assets and Sites.
Another major improvement in 6.8 is Parallel Publishing. With this feature, content publishers across multiple Sites in an organization are now able to publish their content simultaneously. Each Site has its own publish queue and can publish up to two jobs at once. This feature allows publishers to prioritize their own Site’s publish jobs and to publish out one-off changes to content while other bigger publish jobs are being processed.
Also included in Cascade Server 6.8 is a native image editing tool. This feature allows contributors to make small image changes which previously would have required an external tool like Photoshop to perform. The simple, built-in image editor addresses the need for quick image edits.
Cascade Server 6.8 also includes several other enhancements such as Rendering Metrics which provide built-in profiling on a per-page basis. This feature helps you identify hotspots in page rendering so that you can optimize performance of your CMS. Other features in this release include more fine-grained control over publishing schedules and several other features aimed at allowing end-users to navigate and work within the system more effectively. To find out more in-depth information on all of the features included in this release, read the <a href="http://www.hannonhill.com/kb/Release-Notes/6.8/index.html" target="_blank">release notes</a>.
About the Company
Hannon Hill creates the web content management system, Cascade Server. Designed specifically for colleges and universities, Cascade Server gives organizations the freedom to manage their web presence with ease. It is engineered for any network environment, provides a content contributor-friendly interface, and provides deployment flexibility, robust multi-site management, and a fast implementation.
Since 2001, Hannon Hill solutions have been utilized and trusted by organizations including Emory University, The College of William and Mary, Carnegie Mellon University, Northwestern University, University of Saskatchewan, and Texas A&amp;M University. For more information about Hannon Hill and all of theirr products, please visit www.HannonHill.com

Hannon Hill Releases Cascade Server 6.8

The new release of Contensis includes a large number of additions to the already extensive list of features this CMS offers.
A quick summary of the changes:
<ul>
<li>Major update to the dashboard</li>
<li>Move to .Net 4</li>
<li>Integrated Pipeline Mode</li>
<li>Upgrade from JQuery 1.4.2 to 1.5.2</li>
<li>Complete re-write of JavaScript framework</li>
<li>Dropped support for SQL Server 2000</li>
<li>QA module re-write (now with WCAG2 / 64bit server support)</li>
</ul>
<h2>New Dashboard</h2>
There is now a new dashboard that brings actions, content and usage statistics to the forefront of the application. Users can now see their current content, view other people's actions and examine their website activity. The statistics area integrates seamlessly with Google Analytics.
<h2>New Form Builder</h2>
They have also updated their forms module to enable even inexperienced users to quickly build professional forms with rich layout elements such as paging.
<h2>Quality Assurance</h2>
The QA Module has been rewritten to streamline the process of checking and fixing accessibility problems, HTML validation, spelling mistakes and other errors at page level.  The engine has also been upgraded to support WCAG 2.0/W3C. Project-wide scans are automatically scheduled so you can keep an overview of the quality of your website as a whole.
<h2>Full range of Browsers now supported</h2>
The full supported browser list now contains; Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8, Internet Explorer 9, Firefox 3.6, Firefox 4, Google Chrome and Safari 5.
<h2>New social media controls</h2>
They have introduced a suite of new Facebook controls and a ‘Tweet This' control that can simply be dropped into a site. This allows users to now like pages on Facebook or tweet interesting content.
<h2>Approve and decline content from your Inbox!</h2>
Contensis email notifications now include a link that allows you to approve or decline the content that has been sent to you for approval.
<h2>Support for multiple Active Directory domains</h2>
The Contensis AD domain support has been improved to cater for integration with multiple domains.
<h2>Extensions to Contensis search</h2>
They've also added ‘did you mean?' and Thesaurus look-ups to the Contensis search functionality.
More information can be found on their homepage here: <a href="http://www.contentmanagement.co.uk/news/archive/2011/Contensis-R7-is-now-available.aspx" target="_blank">Contensis</a>

Contensis releases R7 with a whole set of changes to the CMS

<a href="http://www.crownpeak.com/?utm_source=cmscritic&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;utm_term=crownpeak&amp;utm_content=intro_to_crownpeak&amp;utm_campaign=web">CrownPeak</a>, the market leader in <a href="http://www.crownpeak.com/solutions/index.aspx?utm_source=cmscritic&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;utm_content=intro_to_crownpeak&amp;utm_campaign=web">cloud Web Content Management and Optimization</a>, offers a software-as-a-service solution built to empower marketers to develop and deliver website content and optimize campaigns with speed, ease, and sophistication.
The product has zero learning curve and integrates with other platforms seamlessly through its innovative architecture. The interface is simple and easy to use, with control of SEO and metadata, multi-media files, mobile content management, social media, and multilingual content and multinational sites.
<a href="http://www.crownpeak.com/products/web-content-optimization.aspx?utm_source=cmscritic&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;utm_term=optimization&amp;utm_content=intro_to_crownpeak&amp;utm_campaign=web">Optimization</a> is achieved through targeting, testing, analytics, and customer data management based on browser and device, user behavior, and even location data. Content creation is made easy through form and landing page creation and conversion data that empowers marketers to measure and adjust the effectiveness of their campaigns.
CrownPeak is based on configuration over development in a click-and-go interface with a workflow that enables deployment in weeks, not months. Integration with most applications such as e-commerce, email marketing, CRM, collaboration, ECM, social media/community, identity management, and analytics is done easily and efficiently because of its delivery architecture that enables global availability and scalability through the use of the cloud.
Thousands of websites including Nissan, Skype, CoreLogic, and Alico achieve web content success through CrownPeak’s versatile cloud CMS solution. CrownPeak was recently nominated Finalist at the 2011 American Business Awards for Best Product Development team.
<a href="http://www.crownpeak.com/resources/index.aspx?utm_source=cmscritic&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;utm_term=resources&amp;utm_content=intro_to_crownpeak&amp;utm_campaign=web">Click here to download additional videos, whitepapers, and case studies or request a demo of CrownPeak’s SaaS Web Content Management and Cloud CMS.</a>

Introduction to CrownPeak SaaS WCM and Cloud CMS

SubHub.com today launched its new Drupal 7-based Content Monetization Platform (CMP), featuring the world’s first Drupal-powered app store.
SubHub's new CMP enables anyone to design and launch a content website in under five minutes, and make money from their content by incorporating optional apps such as paid membership.
The app store — the first of its kind for Drupal modules — enables website owners to add functionality simply by selecting an app and adding it to their SubHub website. Initial apps include MailChimp, Google Analytics, content feeds and YouTube. Some of the apps are free (e.g. Google Analytics) and some of them will carry a small recurring charge (e.g. paid membership functionality).
Any developer can submit an app to the SubHub app store to be made available to SubHub’s growing network of website owners. New apps will be added regularly. SubHub will share revenues with the app developer.
<blockquote>
We have two core objectives. First we want to give non-technical people the opportunity to build an outstanding website using Drupal, one of the leading open-source content management solutions,” said Evan Rudowski, co-founder of SubHub. “Second, we want to give Drupal developers the opportunity to make money from the modules they have spent hundreds of hours building.
“Our customers gain great functionality, and developers make money — it's a win all around,” Rudowski said.
</blockquote>
About SubHub
SubHub (<a href="http://www.subhub.com">www.subhub.com</a>) provides the world's first Content Monetization Platform — a managed website platform that enables individuals and businesses to design, build and launch their own website and make money from the content they publish. Over the past six years the company has managed thousands of websites on behalf of clients around the world.

SubHub Launches World's First Drupal-Powered App Store

<a href="https://www.contentstack.com/?utm_source=prnewswire&amp;utm_medium=press%20release&amp;utm_campaign=2019_02_13_contentstack_best_year_history">Contentstack</a> today announced that sales grew by 300 percent year-over-year in 2018, with 100 percent customer retention. The results were fueled by strong market demand for headless content management systems (CMS) to replace outdated, inflexible content management systems from legacy vendors.
According to Forrester, content microservices and APIs point toward the future architecture of digital experiences. Compelled by the need to deliver content-rich digital interactions on mobile, web, and everywhere, companies are taking an API-first approach and adopting headless CMS.
“2018 was a historic year for us — we set an impossible goal and then exceeded it,” said Neha Sampat, chief executive officer for Contentstack. “We accomplished this by expanding our sales team, hiring top talent into our marketing, product management, and customer success departments, and making operational improvements that enabled us to onboard new customers in record time. Based on our early 2019 efforts, we are already strongly positioned to deliver another record-breaking performance this year.”
<h2>Customer Wins and Funding for Global Expansion</h2>
Leaders across industries such as retail, financial services, energy, gaming and aviation joined Contentstack’s roster, which now includes customers in every geography around the world. Beyond websites and mobile apps, major companies are powering voice, virtual reality, support, and in-game experiences with Contentstack.
Validating the company’s growth trajectory, Contentstack secured funding, led by Illuminate Ventures and backed by GingerBread Capital. The funding enabled Contentstack to double go-to-market operations and open new offices in Austin, New York City, Phoenix and San Diego in the U.S. and Pune in India.
“Contentstack has attracted dozens of marquee customers based on its API-first content management technology that creates personalized experiences across the web, mobile, chatbots and more,” said Cindy Padnos, founder and managing partner at Illuminate Ventures. “We are confident that Contentstack will continue to innovate and grow at the impressive speed they’ve already demonstrated and we are excited to be an early partner.”
<h2>Product Innovation and Accolades</h2>
Contentstack won the 2018 Aragon Hot Vendors™ Award in Dynamic Experience Management: From Headless CMS to Personalized Customer Journeys. The awards recognize new and emerging technology providers that are noteworthy, visionary, and innovative. Contentstack was praised for having extensive support for both developers and business users, support for workflows, automated publishing schedules, and project spaces, and a rapidly growing partner network — it was chosen as the preferred API-first CMS for the SAP Cloud.
On the product front, Contentstack delivered 120 releases to customers in 2018, including many “first and only” innovations, including its award-winning Experience Extensions for turnkey integrations with third-party technologies. The company now offers in-line insights and tools – such as personalization and recommendation engines, analytics suites, and translation software – and Modular Blocks for drag-and-drop creation of sites and apps.
“Our approach is paving the way for Digital Experience Platforms,” added Sampat. “We now live in a time where businesses expect flexible content management and publishing capabilities that break away from the content being tied to the design. With our amazing team, we are constantly bringing to market countless features and enhancements for enterprises to manage their content and create a better customer experience.”
<h2>About Contentstack</h2>
Contentstack™ – the pioneer in API-first, headless CMS technology and a leading Digital Experience Platform – accelerates and simplifies content management across today's and tomorrow's digital channels, including web, mobile and IoT. Contentstack's award-winning technology has been recognized by leading industry analysts as a catalyst for a new generation of digital customer experiences and for its ability to power omnichannel content management. From desktops to smartphones, from kiosks to smartwatches, from billboards to jumbotrons, from dashboards to VR headsets – content is delivered with the push of a button and optimized for every screen, device and channel. Learn more at <a href="https://www.contentstack.com/?utm_source=prnewswire&amp;utm_medium=press%20release&amp;utm_campaign=2019_02_13_contentstack_best_year_history">www.contentstack.com</a>.

Contentstack Delivers Best Year in Company History

Ektron Inc. announced a 37 percent gain in revenue for the first half of 2010 over the first half of 2009. Q3 2010 sales increased 45 percent compared to a record sales month in July 2009. 2010 momentum is fueled by accelerated customer acquisition and significant installed-base investments by companies such as Microsoft, Mitsubishi Motors of Europe and The Home Depot. Adoption among Fortune 500 and top-name brands of Ektron’s Marketing Optimization Suite (eMOS) and the recently announced eIntranet also are contributing to the growth.
“Demand for Ektron’s latest solutions, from new and existing customers, combined with our ability to deliver upon mission-critical business initiatives continues to drive a healthy gross margin,” said Bill Rogers, founder and CEO of Ektron. “With competitive technical analysis and boardroom influence favoring Ektron in customers’ due diligence, our momentum and accelerated growth is expected to continue.”
Recent Customer Acquisition and Product Update June 2010 marked the launch of eIntranet 2.0, a ‘total solution’ for intranets that integrates elements of Ektron’s core technology and gives businesses a powerful and trusted intranet solution. Fortune 500 companies and top-name brands including Brookstone, Realogy and Time Warner Cable are turning to eIntranet to raise the daily value of their intranets. eIntranet combines social software and web content management in one enterprise application. Activity streams, a gallery of widgets, mobile engagement and in-context analytic tools ensure that eIntranet is easy to deploy, use and extend – on-premise, hosted or in the cloud.
July 2010 global customer acquisition highlights and further investments by Ektron’s installed base include Teradyne, The United Nations and Valassis. Additionally, the national governing body of golf, The United States Golf Association (USGA), is extending the use of Ektron across their entire enterprise.
“The USGA is expanding our business processes rapidly on the web. We are doing so with the further investment and enhancement of the Ektron solution,” stated Alex Withers, Managing Director of Digital Media at The United States Golf Association. “Ektron’s ability to meet our demands and provide us with state-of-the-art enterprise technology, both publicly and internally, allows us more quickly and efficiently to achieve our business goals.”
The USGA uses Ektron’s Marketing Optimization Suite to stay on top of the ever-changing digital trends. By leveraging analytics and site visitor activity-specific data, The USGA is able to drive conversions and increase brand loyalty.
Key features and functionality of Ektron’s Marketing Optimization Suite include:
• In-context analytics – Pre-built integration with Google Analytics, Ominiture SiteCatalyst and WebTrends. • Content targeting – Allows marketers to personalize content by matching site visitor attributes to content. Ektron supports targeting using attributes such as demographic, day-part, behavioral, location/GeoIP, traffic source and Facebook Connect. • Multivariate testing – Uncovers the best combination of content, layout and messaging to convert website visitors. • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Optimizes content for organic search. • PageBuilder – Technical and non-technical teams are able to build out entire pages on the templates created by developers, dragging and dropping Widgets into the drop zones to create the visitor experience on the web page while maintaining the look and feel. • eCommerce – Streamlines campaigns, coupons and price adjustments in virtually every currency. • Heat maps – Show how much of the web page is being seen and where visitors are abandoning the site.
About Ektron Ektron Inc. has innovated web technology since 1998. By integrating web content management (WCM), marketing optimization and social software, Ektron’s software and solutions improve operational efficiency, drive revenue growth and build customer loyalty. Ektron empowers marketers to create, publish and optimize web content that engages, converts and retains customers. Developers benefit from Ektron's extensibility and commitment to the Microsoft .NET framework. Headquartered in Nashua, New Hampshire, with offices in Australia, Canada, Singapore and the United Kingdom, Ektron has more than 8,000 customers worldwide including Carnegie Hall, Home Depot, Kodak, Microsoft, NASDAQ, Texas Children's Hospital and the University of Notre Dame. For more information, please visit <a href="http://www.ektron.com">www.ektron.com</a>.

Ektron Reports 37% 1H Revenue Gains, Begins Q3 2010 With 45% Growth

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