Articles - Page 167

Agentic AI for Agencies in 2026

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We love saying it: the people have spoken!
Since late last year, the nominations have been rolling in for the CMS Critic 2021 People’s Choice Awards. We had a fantastic amount of participation, and we’re excited to share the top three contenders in each of our award categories.
Voting officially opens today and lasts through February 20th, 2022. We’ll share the results later this month, along with our Critic’s Choice Awards – which are hand-selected by our CMS Critic staff. 
<h2>Cast your vote!</h2>
Go on... tell us which platforms deserve the crown! To cast your vote, simply fill out the ballot form below and select your choice from each dropdown menu. You’ll have one of three vendors to choose from, and you don’t have to pick a nominee in every category for your vote to be counted. 
We’ll share the results later this month, along with our Critic’s Choice Awards – which are hand-selected by our CMS Critic staff. Please note that you can only submit one ballot per valid email address. And remember, companies that offer incentives of any kind will be disqualified.

Final Voting Opens for the CMS Critic 2021 People’s Choice Awards

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2021 Year in Review: Acquisitions, Headless CMS and Commerce, and Composable Top the News

Image of 2021 with the CMS Critic magnifying glass logo icon replacing the zero in 2021 text, fireworks exploding in the background

It's clear that Lars Petersen likes acceleration.
That's apropos when it comes to delivering digital experiences, which his company <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3376641-1&amp;h=3792000851&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Funiform.dev%2F&amp;a=Uniform" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Uniform</a> is focused on doing.
Now, it seems his quest for speed has accelerated the track to funding as well.
In just 15 months, Uniform – a new breed of <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">headless</a> composable digital experience platform – announced that it has <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/uniform-raises-28m-in-series-a-funding-round-led-by-insight-partners-301435875.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raised a $28 million Series A investment</a> round led by New York-based global private equity and venture capital firm <a href="https://www.insightpartners.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Insight Partners</a>.
An impressive feat for a relatively nascent player in the DXP stack and a testament to the growing demand for <a href="https://craftersoftware.com/blog/2021/07/what-is-a-composable-dxp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">composable digital experience</a> solutions.
"Every organization needs compelling digital experiences," says Petersen, who serves as CEO at Uniform, and has a deep heritage in the CMS space from nearly a decade at <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/products/sitecore/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sitecore</a>. "Most enterprises invest in multiple headless technologies, and they struggle to free content and data from legacy content management and commerce systems."
According to Uniform, the company will use the investment to further accelerate the growth of its global team, deepen relationships with ecosystem technology vendors, expand support for digital agencies delivering DXP solutions, and increase capabilities of its core platform to continue optimizing digital experience production from ideation to end-user experience delivery.
<h2>Driving headless commerce with unprecedented speed</h2>
Since its launch, Uniform says it has built a new "backbone" for managing the production of digital experiences throughout the entire digital delivery lifecycle. The company's vendor-agnostic, composable DXP complements existing headless CMS and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">headless commerce</a> technologies – adding orchestration, no-code tools, built-in personalization, and other features that allow marketers and merchandisers to build unique, omnichannel digital experiences that blend content from multiple legacy and headless sources.
"We are excited at the new wave of technologies that power multi-cloud infrastructures," says Petersen. "Uniform has unique expertise in digital experience and edge computing and provides a distinct advantage for companies to better manage apps, sites, omnichannel experiences and launch modern digital commerce in a fraction of the time it takes with a legacy solution."
And when it comes to speed, Uniform's high-performance edge-side personalization delivers the fastest possible experiences to visitors – with 50ms time to first byte for personalized content and green <a href="https://developers.google.com/web/tools/lighthouse" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google Lighthouse</a> scores for search engine optimization. This has become a critical benchmark for websites and applications as users continue to demand faster load times.
"New technologies and devices are pushing the boundaries of the digital experience market, and Uniform is the first greenfield composable DXP that will combine the power of the technology to meet and exceed the very high customer expectations of digital experiences" said Teddie Wardi, Managing Director at Insight Partners. "Insight is thrilled to partner with Uniform and its impressive founding team as the company builds the first headless composable digital experience platform built without an anchor application." Teddie Wardi will join the Uniform board.
<h2>MACH principles usher in a new era of composable DXPs</h2>
According to Uniform, the company's platform is being used to power innovative digital experiences for global enterprises who are seeking faster time to market through composable, headless architectures.
At the same time, many brands and organizations are looking to retain their previous investments in legacy suites. This includes best-of-breed headless digital experience tools such as CMS, commerce, front-end, marketing cloud, and CDN. By unlocking the value in these investments, businesses can rapidly scale to meet growing demand – and avoid some of the toils of replatforming everything.
Guiding the shift to composable is the rise of the <a href="https://machalliance.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MACH principles</a>: platforms that embrace Microservices, APIs, Cloud-Native SaaS and Headless capabilities (the "MACH" acronym). With Uniform, organizations can optimize the entire digital delivery workflow, allowing architects to choose best-of-breed MACH tools to deliver the right value at the right time. Developers can also build frontends using their preferred libraries and frameworks, while marketers can regain control over creating, launching, and iterating digital experiences.
"Meeting the increased digital demand from our customers, we needed to build a modern, composable approach to B2C commerce that allows us to choose best-of-breed tools for each step of digital delivery," said Tomas Krag, Hilding Anders Global CTO. "Only Uniform provided the orchestration to turn a collection of headless technologies into a composable digital experience platform. With [Uniform], our developers can choose the right tools for the job, and marketing can now focus on delivering the best personalized digital experiences to delight our customers."
<h2>About Uniform</h2>
Uniform is the world's first composable DXP, built for today's performance and scalability demands. A frictionless, pre-integrated composable digital experience platform gives companies the choice to continuously adopt traditional and headless best-of-breed technologies without ever replatforming, allowing businesses to deliver omnichannel orchestration with built-in high-performance testing and personalization – regardless of how their tech stacks evolve over time. Several top brands use Uniform to power their digital experiences, including Cirque du Soleil, Life Extension, Sunweb and Trimble. Visit <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3376641-1&amp;h=192194015&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fc212.net%2Fc%2Flink%2F%3Ft%3D0%26l%3Den%26o%3D3344227-1%26h%3D2537620590%26u%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Funiform.dev%252F%26a%3Duniform.dev&amp;a=uniform.dev" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">uniform.dev</a> for more.

Uniform Raises $28M in Series A Funding Round for Composable DXP

Image of Uniform logo against a dark blue background with cube graphics.

Just as we're recovering from a Thanksgiving turkey coma, the cloud is served with all the trimmings at the annual <a href="https://reinvent.awsevents.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AWS re:Invent</a> conference in Las Vegas.
If you haven't attended their annual "winter wonderland" of new services, it's an early Christmas delivery of new technologies from the reigning cloud leader. This includes everything from new AI and IoT services to satellite "<a href="https://aws.amazon.com/ground-station/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ground station-as-a-service</a>" capabilities (which can presumably track Santa as he traverses the globe).
While much of the fare at re:Invent is the domain of developers and DevOps professionals, the <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AWS Marketplace</a> has grown to include a much deeper bench of digital experience players – specifically in their new <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/campaigns/dcx/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DCX (digital customer experience) category</a>. This collection of marketing and advertising technologies includes a stack of content, ad tech, CRM, customer 360, and other platform providers that fill a business app void that AWS has struggled to fill. Now, it seems that lump of coal is producing a few diamonds.
At re:Invent, content management and digital experience platforms aren't typically the focus of attention. But the first day featured an innovative new offering with just a handful of launch partners – and among them was <a href="https://www.solodev.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Solodev</a>, an enterprise CMS and cloud app platform built for AWS. The company announced that customers can now procure <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/prodview-s7tpcn3m7fuf6?ref_=srh_res_product_title" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Solodev CMS for Kubernetes</a> – its popular enterprise content management system – in the AWS Marketplace as part of Amazon's new "Containers Anywhere" program. 
According to Solodev, the new contract pricing provides customers with greater choice over their infrastructure options, allowing them to quickly and easily subscribe to Solodev’s CMS software and deploy in their own AWS account or in a pre-existing on-premises Kubernetes cluster. This helps reduce the cost and friction associated with purchasing a cloud-first enterprise content management system regardless of the infrastructure – whether it’s a Kubernetes cluster on AWS or a pre-existing infrastructure such as HP or VMware. 
By providing a more seamless buying experience in AWS Marketplace, Solodev now offers an easier way to add their CMS almost anywhere – giving marketing teams rich tools for building websites, apps, and API-driven solutions for running omnichannel content operations at enterprise scale.
<h2>Containers continue to drive digital transformation</h2>
As both commercial and public sector organizations invest in digital transformation, the cloud represents a significant opportunity for enhancing security, scalability, and redundancy while modernizing legacy systems. However, due to regulatory governance and other persistent requirements, some software must remain on-premises to meet compliance.
Containers have presented a new channel for making software more transportable to different environments, starting with local and moving to production in clusters. But developers and organizations need more – and with cloud providers like AWS, this has been a challenge with on-prem customers who want the ease of purchasing software in the AWS Marketplace while spinning up container images wherever they want.
Now, administrators can procure Solodev CMS for Kubernetes – a fully-containerized solution that customers can deploy to Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS), Amazon EKS Anywhere, or any Kubernetes cluster – and manage their subscription through AWS Marketplace in the environment of their choice.
For a CMS player, Solodev has been pioneering a lot of innovation in both containers and serverless. Recently, the company <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/solodev-selected-as-cloud-consulting-partner-of-the-2022-special-olympics-usa-games/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced the deployment of a completely serverless infrastructure</a> built on AWS for the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games, which will power a fan engagement app that serves thousands of concurrent users next June. Solodev's container solution leverages <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/fargate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amazon Fargate</a> and other services to enable a stateless app to run on multiple containers without virtual instances – reducing the overall costs while enabling unprecedented scalability.
<h2>Managing software licenses in the cloud at scale</h2>
According to Solodev, the new contract pricing in the AWS Marketplace is facilitated by its Solodev License Manager for AWS. This is a new product that's powered by the <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/license-manager/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AWS License Manager</a> and helps customers gain control over their cloud app license management – which helps reduce costs and provide governance over usage.  
Solodev CMS for Kubernetes will also deliver more predictable monthly pricing. Users can procure either cloud or on-premises options per node, with contract pricing in four tiers: monthly, annual, 24-month, or 36-month terms. This marks a significant shift in AWS utilization pricing for container products, which have only been available in hourly or annual options. The new pricing model gives administrators greater visibility around their budgeting and planning, aligning with more traditional models for procuring enterprise software.
“The new contract pricing in AWS Marketplace makes self-service enterprise CMS a reality,” said Shawn Moore, Chief Technology Officer at Solodev. “Offering Solodev CMS in-cloud or on-prem puts the power back in the hands of our customers, giving them a CMS that works anywhere and is built on container technology that’s designed to scale. We’re excited to add this incredible service to our AWS Marketplace listings, where enterprise and public sector organizations can procure everything on their own terms and build amazing websites, applications, and digital experiences.”
<h2>From content to crypto</h2>
Solodev’s new product joins a host of options available in the AWS Marketplace, including their <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/seller-profile?id=8e11c912-6253-41b8-b065-bf32bd27911b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Solodev CMS Lite, Professional, and Enterprise Editions</a>. All three are available with free trials and can be spun up in an AWS account in minutes via AWS Cloudformation. 
The evolution of Solodev as a pure CMS platform to a "cloud app ecosystem" has been more pronounced as of late. The company still appearsto be focused on supporting its core content management system and enabling users to build digital experiences with a <a href="https://www.magnolia-cms.com/blog/what-is-a-headless-cms.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">headless hybrid</a> set of features. However, the evolution continues with the launch of its new <a href="https://www.solodev.com/marketplace" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Solodev Marketplace</a> in 2021 – an e-Commerce-like shopping experience that features a deep bench of cloud and digital marketing services that can be procured and connected in one place.
The new Solodev Marketplace also features <a href="https://www.solodev.com/news/solodev-now-offers-managed-blockchain-for-cardano-and-ethereum-for-building-high-utility-blockchain-and-crypto-apps-in-the-cloud.stml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blockchain and crypto services for Cardano and Ethereum</a>, two new additions that appear to signal their push into utility-based apps for smart contracts and custom cryptocurrencies. 
Solodev's launch in the AWS Marketplace for Containers Anywhere was announced at AWS re:Invent, and represents the company’s continued innovation in both product development and cloud infrastructure. As an AWS Advanced Technology Partner, Solodev has previously announced launch partnerships at re:Invent for the AWS Marketplace for Containers, as well as the <a href="https://www.solodev.com/news/solodev-achieves-aws-public-safety-disaster-response-competency-status.stml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AWS Public Safety and Disaster Response Competency</a>.
For more details, <a href="mailto:matt@solodev.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contact Solodev today</a>.  
<h2>About Solodev</h2>
Solodev is an enterprise CMS and digital ecosystem for building custom cloud apps, from content to crypto. With Solodev, developers and organizations can launch amazing customer experiences, power omnichannel strategies, build and deploy blockchain apps, and collaborate on digital transformation. Solodev also provides DevOps, training, managed services, and 24/7 human support to help users succeed on their cloud journey. Solodev products – including CMS, Kubernetes, and Personalize – can be purchased on-demand in AWS Marketplace, through State and Federal contract vehicles, or online at <a href="http://www.solodev.com">www.solodev.com</a>

Solodev CMS for Kubernetes Now Available with Contract Pricing in AWS Marketplace for Containers Anywhere

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In the CMS and DXP lexicon, "composable" has become foundational terminology. For more robust digital experience platforms, this typically translates into reusable components that enhance the building and personalization of websites and apps. But on the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/">headless CMS</a> side of the ledger, composable architectures are evolving omnichannel capabilities in some innovative ways.
To that end, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/what-contentfuls-175m-investment-round-means-for-the-future-of-cms/">Contentful</a>, a headless content management platform, has announced a partnership with <a href="https://conscia.ai/">Conscia</a> – a Toronto-based Content Intelligence Platform – to launch an app called Unify. Purpose-built for new and existing Contentful customers, Unify joins together content from multiple Contentful spaces and other applications and provides a "unified" API response for frontends to consume, thereby enabling a composable architecture for all digital channels. 
Unify is of particular relevance to brands that are looking to expand their headless commerce strategies with more personalized experiences. As shoppers continue to embrace digital, organizations are relying on omnichannel to deliver the right experience at the right time, regardless of the endpoint or device. Contentful and Conscia are helping brands orchestrate these experiences by breaking down silos and harmonizing their content ecosystem. 
"Contentful is a leader in evangelizing the headless approach of delivering content to digital applications," said Sana Remekie, Conscia's Chief Executive Officer. "We're proud to partner with Contentful to offer multi-space and multi-source content orchestration to its customers and are really excited to bring Unify to market."
<h2>Creating a Unified Payload</h2>
It's true that many existing platforms allow you to "stitch" together content from multiple sources. However, there are inherent challenges and limitations with the status quo approach. 
First and foremost, there are often too many inputs such as CDP, PIM, third-party data sources, and other APIs. Further, the standard model for weaving together content from multiple sources tends to be based on JSON, REST, GraphQL, or Next – all of which are very code-heavy. This requires the ability to reconcile a lot of complex queries that can lead to long payload times and significant performance issues. 
To address these problems, Contentful and Conscia created Unify, which sits on top of Contentful's multi-space architecture. It provides an intuitive, flexible, no-code method for assembling localized and personalized experiences for all channels and accelerating the digital supply chain. 
Unify's ability to federate content from legacy and siloed enterprise applications into Contentful's global delivery infrastructure results in faster, more reliable delivery to all digital channels – including web, mobile, voice, chatbots, call centers, and more.
"Unify is very much in line with Contentful's vision of breaking down organizational silos and serving as a centralized content platform to power continuous and connected experiences across channels," said Kevin Zellmer, VP of Partnerships at Contentful. "We are very impressed with Conscia's ability to simplify and democratize a process that typically requires significant cost and time." 
To learn more about the Unify solution, you can visit <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3319163-1&amp;h=2301233572&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.conscia.ai%2Funify&amp;a=www.conscia.ai%2Funify" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.conscia.ai/unify</a>.
<h2>About Conscia</h2>
Conscia is a knowledge graph that has the ability to unify customer data and content from disparate systems through a schema-agnostic data pipeline, enrich, relate, tag, and classify the data, and finally distribute this knowledge through APIs. With Customer and Content Intelligence so deeply interconnected in a central knowledge graph, Conscia empowers digital and marketing teams to compose meaningful, consistent, and personalized content experiences across all channels at scale. The company was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario.
<h2>About Contentful</h2>
Contentful, a leading content platform for digital-first business, helps over 30% of the Fortune 500 and thousands of brands around the world create and manage digital experiences for their customers across any channel. It enables greater speed and scale than traditional CMS solutions. Contentful unifies content in a single hub, structures it for use in any digital channel, and integrates seamlessly with hundreds of other tools through open APIs. Companies such as Gucci, Plaid, Goodrx, Intercom, Notion, Staples and many others rely on Contentful's platform.

Contentful and Conscia Launch Unify, a Multi-Space Orchestration App for Personalization and Headless Commerce

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More big news from Umbraco, right on the heels of <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/umbraco-cms-acquired-by-software-investor-monterro-interview-with-ceo-kim-sneum-madsen/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">their recent acquisition</a> by Monterro: the launch of <a href="https://umbraco.com/products/umbraco-cms/umbraco-9/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Umbraco 9</a>.
As the company claims on its website, "with every new release of Umbraco, you get a CMS that's simpler." That seems central to this new version, which promises a simpler experience for editors, developers, and web agencies that rely on their user-friendly, flexible, and fully customizable content management system.
Umbraco 9 features a complete update of their CMS technology stack, with a move from .NET Framework to now running completely on .NET 5 (previously known as .NET Core). According to the company, this transformation will offer enhanced performance and scalability, a cleaner architecture, and compatibility with macOS, Linux, and Microsoft Windows – opening up Umbraco to a larger pool of web developers.
“Moving Umbraco completely to the latest version of .NET future proofs the platform, providing a robust CMS on the most relevant and modern technology familiar to—and expected from—today’s web developers,” said Kim Sneum Madsen, CEO of Umbraco. “Making Umbraco cross-platform as well means web agencies struggling to find developers will have even more options as Linux and macOS developers – and not just those working on Windows – recognize the benefits Umbraco offers.”
Founded in 2005, Umbraco’s CMS "family" includes its flagship, open-source Umbraco CMS, as well as Umbraco Heartcore (a headless CMS), Umbraco Cloud, and Umbraco Uno – a one-stop platform for non-technical marketers and creative agencies. 
With help from its active community of more than 220,000 members, including a large “best-of-breed” partner network that offers customized solutions that integrate with Umbraco, the company now counts more than 700,000 websites worldwide—the majority in Europe and the U.S.—running live on its solutions.
<h2>Umbraco provides cadence for major new version releases, taps community for validation</h2>
The launch of Umbraco 9 also kicks off the company's plan for steady releases of new major versions. This cadence is aligned with Microsoft .NET Long Term Support (LTS) releases, which means users can be confident that future Umbraco LTS versions are always updated to the latest Microsoft technology.
“With Umbraco now on .NET 5, not only do we get some significant baseline improvements from the framework, but we can finally take advantage of some of the huge performance gains available in these latest .NET releases,” said Benjamin Carleski, senior developer, ProWorks Corporation. ”Umbraco 9 brings the latest advances to the CMS, such as string and Regex optimizations, and is fully compatible with .NET 6, with its round of further enhancements, when it releases later this year. Umbraco developers will also get access to an improved config system, Lucene.NET 4 enhancements, better member/user integrations, and so much more that has been added to Umbraco in v9.”
With help from long-time users like Carleski – and thousands of members of their open-source community – Umbraco 9 is “clearly ready for global use,” Madsen added. He went on to say: “Developers and their web agencies can be confident using Umbraco 9 for new projects today and long into the future, all without worrying about multiple frameworks or running multiple versions in tandem. They get a user-friendly and up-to-date CMS on modern and secure technology with a clear upgrade plan, making it even easier to create new digital experiences for themselves and their clients.”
To learn more about Umbraco 9, <a href="https://umbraco.com/products/umbraco-cms/umbraco-9/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">visit Umbraco's website</a>.
<h2>About Umbraco</h2>
Danish Umbraco was founded in 2005 with the vision of making the complex simpler. The company offers a user-friendly best-of-breed platform for content management (CMS) based on open-source technology. With more than 700,000 installations, Umbraco is one of the most deployed Web Content Management Systems on the Microsoft stack. Its success lies in the open-source model, a unique community of more than 220,000 developers and users, and a well-established partner network of digital agencies. Umbraco has 100 employees and is headquartered in Odense, Denmark, with a branch office in Charlotte, North Carolina. For more information, visit <a href="https://umbraco.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.umbraco.com</a>

Umbraco 9 "Future Proofs" CMS with Complete Move to .NET 5/ASP.NET Core

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<a href="http://www.progress.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Progress</a> is making progress.
And that says a lot given their long history in the business applications marketplace. Founded in 1981, it’s fair to say that the software vendor has “seen it all” and helped shape the current BA landscape. But such longevity can result in a paleolithic perception, especially when technology "years" are measured in days.
But that hasn't been the case for Progress. More recently, the company has focused on deepening its innovation across an expanding digital experience portfolio – starting with its acquisition of <a href="https://www.progress.com/blogs/progress-software-announces-agreement-of-intent-to-acquire-telerik" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Telerik’s Sitefinity CMS</a> in 2014.
With the accelerated pace of digital transformation felt throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, Progress has experienced steady growth, even <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/progress-software-stock-surges-as-fiscal-q3-results-crush-expectations-raises-year-view/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crushing analyst expectations</a> for Q3 2021. This comes on the heels of another key <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/09/23/2302618/0/en/Progress-Announces-Acquisition-of-Kemp-Adding-Application-Experience-to-Industry-Leading-Product-Portfolio.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acquisition of Kemp</a>, a leader in the burgeoning Application Experience (AX) space, for a tidy sum of $258 million in cash.
Progress, yes. But not just for the sake of progress. There’s a plan in play, and there’s nothing “old guard” about this market leader’s vision for the future.
<h2>A shifting digital experience platform (DXP) marketplace</h2>
While Progress evolves their broader BA stack, Sitefinity continues to be a bellweather brand in the CMS and DXP storm of fragmentation and consolidation. This has been a critical advantage given the seismic shifts rippling across the DXP market.
As people and businesses move to more digital-first and contactless solutions (again, a by-product of Covid-19), having a solid digital strategy is essential. The demand for partners with proven experience and digital maturity has helped accelerate the pivot by streamlining technology adoption, reducing operational complexities, and eliminating many IT and compliance challenges.
This has been true for the entire DXP sector, which has experienced unprecedented growth.
But it’s not all rosy: Progress’ <a href="https://www.progress.com/campaigns/sitefinity/whitepapers/dxp-needs-to-be-less-complicated" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent research</a> shows that 35% of organizations haven’t implemented a DXP solution because the products on the market are too complex, expensive, and monolithic – resulting in underutilized features that add to a bloated pricetag.
<h2>What to expect from Sitefinity DX 14.0 </h2>
With the release of <a href="https://www.progress.com/sitefinity-cms/dxp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sitefinity DX 14.0</a>, the company is injecting greater agility, flexibility, and extensibility into their digital experience platform (DXP) – providing a host of new capabilities for low-code integration, chat-driven engagement, and enhanced headless content delivery.
“As the core of a composable DXP, Sitefinity DX 14.0 puts pieces of the puzzle in place, giving organizations a powerful solution – without being overly complex or costly – for creating digital experiences that drive businesses forward,” said John Ainsworth, SVP, Core Products, Progress. “Organizations can be confident that through integrated content and commerce, combined with advanced marketing insights and headless experience delivery, they can create omnichannel experiences that deliver the right content, at the right time, on the right channel. This is no longer a choice, but a must for those who want to stay competitive.”
Along with the aforementioned enhancements, Sitefinity DX 14.0 will enable integrated, tailored experiences delivered and managed at scale. In that sense, organizations can fashion their own unique DXP solution by choosing which functionalities meet their unique business goals and challenges – and empower them to create composable digital experiences.
<h2>Sitefinity DX 14.0 features</h2>
With the new release, users will be able to:
<ul>
<li>Execute strategic, data-driven marketing: Create and execute marketing campaigns that are informed by interaction history via comprehensive touchpoint attribution modeling to drive more conversions and increased ROI.</li>
<li>Capitalize every channel in less time with multichannel experience management: Engage visitors across every stage of the funnel and customer lifecycle. With the hybrid content management capabilities of Sitefinity DX, comprising its headless content-as-a-service API framework, marketers can seamlessly execute a consistent and personalized experience across audiences’ key touchpoints. Additionally, organizations can drive visitors to positive outcomes by incorporating Progress’ powerful AI-driven chatbot platform, NativeChat®, into their Sitefinity experiences.</li>
<li>Boost efficiency through simplified system integration with low-code tools: Automate marketing operations and reduce implementation efforts through expanded connectivity between the systems necessary to deliver a well-orchestrated omnichannel experience. Leverage simplified workflows, service hooks, and low-code integration with components of existing tech stacks.</li>
<li>Scale global content and campaign delivery: Deliver content quickly and efficiently across channels with enhanced content synchronization capabilities. Improve content governance for multisite experiences across several business departments, units, locations, and brands with comprehensive multisite user group management.</li>
<li>Ensure delivery of a smooth page experience: Ensure an engaging and pleasant visitor experience and optimize SEO rankings, user engagement, and conversion. Marketers can get dedicated, out-of-the-box support for the newest Google Page Experience requirements.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Forging a leadership role in the DXP space</h2>
The last two years have seen a constant battle for enterprise dominance in the digital experience platform space. While both <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/key-takeaways-from-gartners-2021-magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms/">Gartner</a> and Forrester have incrementally shifted the players on the board, few disruptors have made the treacherous climb to compete with the likes <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/adobe-experience-cloud-adds-new-headless-cms-capabilities-updates-to-commerce-integration/">Adobe</a>, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/acquia-widens-its-dxp-stack-with-widen-acquires-dam-and-pim-capabilities/">Acquia</a>, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/episerver-rebrands-as-optimizely-following-acquisition/">Optimizely</a>, and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-boxever-and-four51/">Sitecore</a>.
Still, there’s lots of room for growth in the DX market. <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/870924/worldwide-digital-transformation-market-size/#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20spending%20on%20digital,almost%207%20trillion%20U.S.%20dollars." target="_blank" rel="noopener">According to Statista</a>, global spending on digital transformation is projected to reach $1.78 trillion next year – and between 2020 and 2023, that number balloons to almost $7 trillion.
Those figures are driving more opportunities for platforms to “progress,” and that certainly seems to be the case with Progress as they launch a broader vision of completeness around their DXP offering. This began with CMS many moons ago and has hence evolved into a confluence of marketing and optimization capabilities.
Sitefinity has managed to adapt and thrive throughout the course of these changes and seems poised to continue its growth. While it hasn’t shed its mantle of being a core CMS, the DXP moniker – and its now composable nature – should provide greater control to users and businesses as they tackle the unrelenting needs of digital transformation.
"Content management was the underlying piece of any DX platform until organizations realized that it alone wasn't enough,” said Paul Nashawaty, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "The increasing need for flexibility and integration with other systems led to the emergence of the composable DX platform. What makes this technology powerful is the flexibility it provides – organizations can integrate only the components and systems they need and customize them as consumer behavior and market trends change."
In the past year, Sitefinity DX has earned multiple recognitions and reviews. Most recently, it was named a “Leader” in <a href="https://www.progress.com/campaigns/sitefinity/whitepapers/dxp-grid-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">G2’s Spring 2021 Grid® Report for Digital Experience Platforms</a>. The recognition was based on a variety of factors, including features and functionality, market presence, and customer satisfaction. Sitefinity DX was also named a “Major Contender” in Everest Group’s Digital Experience Platform (DXP) PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2021.
You can check out Sitefinity DX 14.0 at <a href="https://www.progress.com/sitefinity-cms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.progress.com/sitefinity-cms</a>.
<h2>About Progress</h2>
<a href="http://www.progress.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Progress</a> (NASDAQ: PRGS) provides the leading products to develop, deploy and manage high-impact business applications. Our comprehensive product stack is designed to make technology teams more productive, and we have a deep commitment to the developer community, both open source and commercial alike. With Progress, organizations can accelerate the creation and delivery of strategic business applications, automate the process by which apps are configured, deployed and scaled, and make critical data and content more accessible and secure – leading to competitive differentiation and business success. Over 1,700 independent software vendors, 100,000+ enterprise customers, and a three-million-strong developer community rely on Progress to power their applications.

Progress Launches Sitefinity DX 14.0, Enhances Digital Experience Delivery with Global Scale

Progress Sitefinity logo with 14.0 version number

With little time to reflect on <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-ai-powered-search-platform-reflektion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sitecore's recent acquisition of Reflektion</a>, another enterprise DXP has helped itself to strategic snack – providing more evidence that the market's appetite for expansion is still voracious. 
Just a few days ago, <a href="https://www.acquia.com/faq/acquia-acquires-widen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Acquia</a>, a leading digital experience platform, announced its purchase of <a href="https://www.widen.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Widen</a> – a cloud-native digital asset management (DAM) and product information management (PIM) provider. 
While the past 18 months have seen a relentless cycle of consolidation across the industry, it now seems that <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/key-takeaways-from-gartners-2021-magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gartner's crop of DXP leaders</a> are playing pole position around critical gaps in their DXP stack. What started with optimization and customer data is now evolving into a heated race for robustness on every level – and for Acquia, digital asset management has been missing from the mix.
Here's more on what the acquisition could mean for the Drupal-based DXP platform.
<h2>Widen bring best-of-breed DAM and PIM capabilities to Acquia</h2>
Widen's value proposition is fairly simple: it unites <a href="https://www.widen.com/blog/digital-asset-management" target="_blank" rel="noopener">digital assets</a> such as rich media, product information, and marketing content into a single workflow and provides an intuitive interface that democratizes access to a brand's resources. 
In layman's terms, it makes finding and using assets like video, graphics, and copy much easier for marketing professionals (or anyone for that matter).
Whether you're a content strategist, UX designer, marketer, or web developer, delivering a great user experience is always the mission – and good content is essential to that goal. Widen has focused on the asset side of the Content Operations flow, enabling users to enhance their experience with access to the right components. 
Acquiring the capabilities of a DAM and a PIM are "strategic gold" for Acquia. To create personalized customer engagement at scale, brands are creating immense volumes of digital content. Traditionally, DAMs have helped simplify a marketer's access to this content while managing versions and workflows to ensure consistency. But within the context of a DXP, a modern DAM must also provide robust technical capabilities and extensibility. Additionally, a PIM solution should enable product data enrichment with marketing copy and digital assets to easily create branded product content. 
Together, these capabilities help organizations create and refine distinctive digital experiences based on evolving customer preferences – which is exactly what Acquia aims to do. It's also worth noting that the worldwide market for <a href="https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5311981/digital-asset-management-market-global-industry" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DAM is projected to grow to $8.5B by 2025</a>, a 15% CAGR. <a href="https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5304126/product-information-management-global-market" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PIM is set to increase from $8.8B last year to $18B in 2027</a>, an 11% CAGR. This underscores the value of the investment. 
"Acquia has long been an established leader in managing textual website content," said Dries Buytaert, Co-founder, and CTO of Acquia. "Now, with Widen, we will be able to offer world-class capabilities around rich media and product information content. Widen is consistently ranked a leader by industry analysts for vision, execution, and market presence. We have numerous joint customers today and believe Widen software will deliver value to Acquia Marketing Cloud and Drupal Cloud customers. We're excited to welcome the Widen team to the Acquia family and to collaborate with them on Acquia Open DXP."
<h2>Acquia Open DXP with Widen maximizes the value of digital content </h2>
When it comes to expanding the stack, the buying spree continues – and Acquia was already leading a similar trajectory as other DXPs, particularly in the Customer Data Platform (CDP) layer. Aquia <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/acquia-digital-commerce-unifies-data-content-commerce-and-digital-merchandising/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acquired AgilOne</a> two years ago, while in the last six months, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-boxever-and-four51/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sitecore acquired Boxever</a> and Optimizely <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/optimizely-acquires-customer-data-platform-zaius/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acquired Zaius</a>. 
While some other platforms have already addressed DAM capabilities as part of their DXP offering, Widen presents a more advanced solution that will enable Acquia with key advantages. Now, marketers will be able to create, review, manage, distribute and analyze content across the entire lifecycle and support complex marketing workflows and enterprise DXP requirements.
"With Widen, we continue to differentiate Acquia Open DXP by adding enterprise-grade, cloud-native DAM, and PIM capabilities," said Mike Sullivan, President, and CEO of Acquia. "We will immediately invest in accelerated development of the Widen solution and leverage our global capabilities and partner network to bring it to marketing organizations that use Acquia Open DXP to manage, transform and deliver digital assets at scale."
Widen also goes beyond managing creative assets to include storing unstructured data such as legal documents, insurance claims, and contact lists. The marketing-friendly Widen PIM solution delivers product data from creators to customers – centralizing it for syndication across websites, catalogs and e-commerce channels. 
Widen also brings a portfolio of more than 700 customers to the Acquia ecosystem, including notable brands like Carnival Cruises, Crayola, Energizer, Kohler, LG, McCormick, New Balance, Progressive, and more. This is yet another differentiator for Acquia as they look to compete with other leading enterprise platforms. 
"Content is the heart of any digital experience," said Matthew Gonnering, CEO of Widen. "It influences action across marketing channels; email, social media, content management systems, marketing campaigns, e-commerce, product information management, and more. By combining with Acquia, a company that shares Widen's belief that radical innovation starts with commitment to customers and the community, we will continue to rapidly innovate our solutions to support the first and only open digital experience platform."
Widen will be available as part of Acquia Open DXP or as a standalone offering. To read more, visit the <a href="https://www.acquia.com/blog/acquia-continues-rapid-growth-plans-acquire-widen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Acquia</a> or <a href="https://www.widen.com/blog/an-open-message-from-widen-ceo-matthew-gonnering" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Widen</a> blogs.
The transaction is expected to close in late September 2021.
<h2>About Acquia</h2>
<a href="https://www.acquia.com">Acquia</a> empowers the world's most ambitious brands to create digital customer experiences that matter. With open-source Drupal at its core, the Acquia Digital Experience Platform (DXP) enables marketers, developers, and IT operations teams at thousands of global organizations to rapidly compose and deploy digital products and services that engage customers, enhance conversions and help businesses stand out.
<h2>About Widen</h2>
Established in 1948, <a href="https://www.widen.com/">Widen</a> builds high-performing software that empowers organizations to create impactful, measurable and consistent brand experiences. Its platform spans brand management, marketing resource management, and product information management solutions and has enabled over one million marketers, content creators, and technologists at over 660 global brands to better connect with audiences. Customers include Dyson, New Balance, Energizer, Laura Mercier, Nars, Zeiss, Salvation Army, Citizen Watch, the Atlanta Falcons, Carnival Cruise Line, and many more. Headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, and with a European office in London, UK, Widen has the highest customer loyalty in the digital asset management (DAM) industry.

Acquia Widens Its DXP Stack with Widen, Acquires DAM and PIM Capabilities

More WordPress in the press – and the operative word is headless. 
We're covering a couple of big announcements today that are certain to have lasting impacts on the WordPress community. What's clear is that <a href="https://automattic.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Automattic</a>, the company that owns WordPress, seems to be listening intently to its users – and gearing up to challenge the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">headless CMS marketplace</a>.
Without further ado, (don't) stop the presses...
<h2>The Classical Editor isn't being laid to rest – yet</h2>
It's not hyperbole to say that the introduction of <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/gutenberg-2-years-later-is-wordpress-better-off/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gutenberg</a> in 2017 caused widespread uproar across the WordPress community. And why not? The Classic Editor allowed you to create and manage your content in an ultra-simple way, almost like a word processor. This simplicity is also what powered WordPress to market dominance. 
In a race for parity with other page editors such as <a href="https://www.wpbeaverbuilder.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Beaver Builder</a>, <a href="https://www.elegantthemes.com/gallery/divi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Divi,</a> and <a href="https://elementor.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elementor</a>, WordPress <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/gutenberg-2-years-later-is-wordpress-better-off/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released Gutenberg</a> – their answer to a block-based editing experience. Unfortunately, the Classical Editor was destined for demise, and WordPress scheduled an official sunset on December 31, 2021.
The Gutenberg release has been a bumpy road for users as they struggled to adapt. That said, things are improving: over the last few years, WordPress has worked steadily on Gutenberg, releasing updates every two weeks with <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-monthly-recap-salesforce-completes-acquisition-of-slack-contentsquare-accelerates-ml-capabilities-and-more/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cool new features</a>. 
While many WordPress users appreciate the evolution of Gutenberg, the Classical Editor retains a fierce and loyal following. Now, it seems that the voice of the community is driving change. In a bold move, WordPress has agreed to <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2021/08/an-update-on-the-classic-editor-plugin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">continue supporting the Classical Editor for another year</a>. They said it was" the right call for the project as well as the community." 
Personally, we think it's the right call as well. Change can be challenging, and users have the most valuable voice in defining a product's horizon. Perhaps WordPress could have metered their timetable based on community input, allowing them to better read the tea leaves. That said, if there's one constant to change, it's that people will always resist it on some level. 
We'll be monitoring the community feedback as things unfold.
<h2>Frontity joins WordPress, goes headless</h2>
<a href="https://frontity.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Frontity</a>, the open-source <a href="https://reactjs.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">React</a> framework for WordPress, has been acquired by Automattic, the parent company of WordPress. Their team will contribute to the WordPress open-course project and focus on the Gutenberg editor – improving the blocks and themes in addition to making the WordPress sites more performant.
In 2019, Frontity launched their open-sourced Frontity Framework as a way to ease the integration between WordPress and React for building websites. This doesn't mean they will push React to WordPress; rather, the unification will help improve the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/updates-on-wordcamp-2021-wordpress-5-8-beta-details-and-gutenberg-enhancements/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">full-site editing</a> developer experience and contribute to WordPress' front-end tooling, performance, and UX. 
There's no question that <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/tag/headless/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">headless CMS</a> has exploded in popularity. With traditional (or coupled) CMS platforms, the content management back-end is completely tied to a website's front-end. This effectively limits content creators and developers just to the website pages and templates that are managed and rendered in the system itself. 
With a headless CMS, you are truly "channel agnostic." That means you can manage content via the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-jamstack-static-site-generators-for-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">JAMstack</a> (JavaScript, API, and Markup) with different front-end static site generators using <a href="https://reactjs.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">React</a> or <a href="https://vuejs.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vue</a>. But the omnichannel only begins at the website layer: with a headless CMS, you can manage content on a wide range of endpoints, from <a href="https://www.storyblok.com/mp/headless-as-digital-signage-software" target="_blank" rel="noopener">digital signs</a> to <a href="https://www.luminary.com/blog/serving-content-to-iot-devices-with-a-headless-cms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wearable tech to IoT devices</a>. The possibilities are endless. 
When we think of a traditional CMS, the first thing that comes to mind is WordPress. While it powers more than 40% of all websites on the internet, it's still considered a traditional CMS as its architecture links the front-end (HTML templates, Javascript) to the back-end via a database (MySQL). However, in recent months, WordPress has signaled a deepening investment in headless delivery, particularly with their Gutenberg initiatives. The Frontity acquisition codifies this mission by introducing a static site generator with serverless pre-rendering to the WordPress ecosystem.
"I believe there's still a lot that we can learn from decoupled systems, and we can incorporate those learnings into WordPress itself as we emphasize performance, flexibility, and ease of development," <a href="https://ma.tt/2021/08/frontity-to-join-automattic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said Matt Mullenweg,</a> founder of WordPress. "I look forward to Frontity joining WordPress and channeling their efforts into the WordPress APIs, documentation, and Gutenberg's full-site editing tools." 
<a href="https://frontity.org/blog/announcing-frontitys-e1m-funding-round-with-automattic-and-k-fund/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Automattic's 2020 investment in Frontity</a> opened the door for this opportunity, helping both organizations to realize the alignment around their vision. The unification will shift things towards decoupled architectures in the coming years, and React will play a key role in WordPress to build modern digital experiences.

WordPress Keeps Classical Editor Alive, Acquires Frontity to Expand Headless Capabilities

WordPress, Frontity, and React logo icons

In the ever-expanding realm of CMS and DXP platforms, the category of “website builder” has long been an enigma. It’s not uncommon to have our readers ask us: how do I actually "create" a website using this tool?
And that’s the rub: content management systems have traditionally been designed to "manage content," while DXPs have evolved the stack by expanding the layers of data and optimization. But building an actual website? That’s another story. Or stories, to be more accurate.
Let’s provide a quick backdrop: with traditional CMS platforms, creating a website has often been a labor of technical love. In most cases, it requires the implementation of responsive HTML templates into a system by a trained developer or system integrator. While this model has given designers and coders greater control over the experience layer – and enabled content creators to preview rendered pages – it also comes with a much steeper learning curve and cost.
The rise of headless CMS has also changed the calculus. In this new omnichannel world, websites have become another endpoint in the experience landscape. This has shifted the thinking for marketers as they embrace new ways of distributing content and engaging with audiences via <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-jamstack-static-site-generators-for-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">JAMstack</a> libraries, custom apps, and other form factors.
Still, for many SMBs, a website is the center of their digital strategy. And with more demand at a do-it-yourself level, website building platforms have grown in popularity, giving way to more effective low-code/no-code tools with a myriad of drag-and-drop features. This includes purpose-built platforms like <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/squarespace-a-diy-website-builder-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Squarespace</a> but has now grown to include hosting ecosystems like <a href="https://www.godaddy.com/websites/website-builder" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GoDaddy</a> and marketing automation services like <a href="https://mailchimp.com/features/website-builder/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MailChimp</a>.
But if you’re a designer or an agency that’s focused on delivering a high-caliber customer experience – particularly in the bursting e-commerce sector – many do-it-yourself builder tools conjure a single word: compromise.
That’s where <a href="https://www.duda.co/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Duda</a> has been expanding their niche as a best-of-breed professional web building platform. Their unique solution continues to gain ground with digital agencies and SaaS companies as the demand for digital commerce solutions grows exponentially.
Recently, the company announced that it has acquired <a href="https://snipcart.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Snipcart</a>, an e-commerce solution that lets businesses add a shopping cart to any website. The acquisition news comes hot on the heels of a successful round of $50M in Series D Funding, bringing Duda’s total funding to $100M thus far.
<h2>What is Duda? </h2>
Let's start with the basics: Duda is a platform that allows designers and agencies to rapidly create websites at scale with tools that automate the entire site-building process.
One of Duda’s key attributes is that it enables web professionals to achieve pixel-perfect designs without touching code. This has long been a challenge for nearly every website builder, but Duda seems to have to married simplicity with flexibility – allowing designers granular control to customize around their unique brand requirements. This reduces the headaches that many open source platforms like <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/gutenberg-2-years-later-is-wordpress-better-off/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WordPress</a> or enterprise CMSes create for web designers that want to focus on the experience and not the code.
Duda also provides a robust set of pre-built themes and templates that are free of charge, as well as a drag-and-drop builder that accelerates the design process. They also feature a library of widgets, as well as a nifty <a href="https://www.duda.co/developers/widget-builder?_ga=2.61014890.730348107.1631540715-a422507c-3bf0-4b7b-ad7f-09f0a73ade15" target="_blank" rel="noopener">widget builder</a> for coding your own functionality.
Duda claims to outperform other industry-leading tools by ensuring every site built on its platform ranks high on critical SEO factors. They also suggest that their platform can reduce the average website build time by 50% to 75% – which can be a huge advantage to businesses that need to pivot quickly.
<h2>Leveraging Snipcart’s e-Commerce capabilities for digital transformation</h2>
It’s impossible to ignore the<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/how-covid-19-has-pushed-companies-over-the-technology-tipping-point-and-transformed-business-forever" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> impact of the Covid-19 pandemic</a> on consumer habits. As people turned to digital and contactless solutions over the last 18 months, e-commerce has exploded – and the market is <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/379046/worldwide-retail-e-commerce-sales/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forecast</a> to grow by 50% to an estimated $6.3 trillion by 2024.
According to Duda, the company has already seen a whopping 265% year-over-year increase in e-commerce sites built on its platform. This was the impetus for the Snipcart acquisition, which will enable the company to further accelerate its growth by providing customers with a flexible e-commerce solution that can make any data or inventory they have shoppable.
Snipcart’s dynamic team of experienced developers, marketers, and managers has built a state-of-the-art e-commerce platform used by thousands of customers worldwide. Their focus on flexibility and modern e-commerce store design is very much aligned with Duda’s product vision of providing its customers with beautiful and modular e-commerce solutions.
<h2>Q&amp;A with Itai Sadan, Duda CEO and Co-Founder</h2>
CMS Critic had a chance to connect with Duda’s CEO and co-founder, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/itaisadan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Itai Sadan</a>. We discussed the Snipcart acquisition, how e-Commerce is changing the landscape, and what Duda is planning next.
<hr />
CMS Critic (CC): It’s clear that digital agencies are a key focus for Duda. What other partner channels or vertical industries are emerging as opportunities? Is the enterprise becoming more of a target?
Itai Sadan (IS): Aside from digital agencies that have always been our focus, Duda has also been focused in the last two years on vertical SaaS platforms. These are typically SaaS solutions that serve a very specific industry (e.g. healthcare, professional services, real-estate) and want to expand into offering websites to their customers.
Duda has a very unique offering for this category as our website builder can be seamlessly embedded into their platform allowing them to automatically generate websites with their customers’ pre-populated data, giving their customers an amazing head start on their site builds and ensuring data is always in sync.
CC: What do Duda’s ideal SaaS customers look like? What in particular attracts them to Duda?
IS: Duda’s typical SaaS customer is a back-office platform that SMBs use to manage their business. Many times it could be a CRM, ERP, or a marketing platform for a certain industry vertical.
The moment these SaaS platforms want to help their customers acquire more clients, they need to provide some form of web presence to capture leads. Often these SaaS platforms have widgets that live on a website – such as a bookings engine or a form. Through integration with Duda they can have these widgets pre-installed on the websites, providing their customers with a hassle-free experience.
The great thing about Duda is that it is simple enough to be used by a business person via our simple drag and drop interface, and it is also a very powerful tool for developers who can make use of our API and add CSS, HTML, and JavaScript to our sites.
Our customers also know that Duda has their back in terms of ensuring our websites are highly converting and have great SEO. Duda handles all of the ongoing Google Core Web Vitals, AMP, and PageSpeed optimizations so that their clients will have a revenue-generating website that will perform well.
Lastly, I think what our partners really like is that Duda makes it very clear that we’re not in competition with them. Our go-to-market is always through channels; we are completely white-label and will never reach out directly to their customers. There is a certain trust and confidence that comes with that where these SaaS platforms know that they are our customers and we are 100% dedicated to seeing them succeed. Our Support and Account Management teams have received <a href="https://blog.duda.co/duda-honored-as-gold-stevie-winner-in-the-15th-annual-stevie-awards-for-sales-customer-service" target="_blank" rel="noopener">multiple awards</a> and have been heralded as one of the key reasons customers choose us.
CC: There’s no question that eCommerce is exploding, particularly with the pandemic driving more digital adoption and transformation. What has been the most important feature or capability in Duda’s current e-commerce toolbox that has given it an edge? 
IS: One of Duda’s current e-commerce solution strengths is that users can set up their store once to easily sync and sell across their website, social media (Instagram, Facebook) and  marketplaces (eBay, Amazon).
The existing e-commerce solution has a strong and loyal following, used by many of Duda’s customers to add website buying experiences and will stay in place for customers that prefer to keep using it. In addition, Duda will continue to support it and expand on its capabilities.”
CC: How quickly will Snipcart’s capabilities be woven into Duda’s offerings? 
IS: The Snipcart and Duda team are deeply focused on the integration. We believe the first phase of the integration will be released in early 2022. Initially, it will be offered to customers building new e-commerce sites.
CC: Compliance and governance are becoming pinnacle concerns for digital businesses – particularly those transacting with e-commerce. How is Duda approaching issues like data privacy, ransomware, etc.?
IS: As a SaaS provider with hundreds of thousands of customers and users from around the world, Duda cares deeply about the privacy and security of the data owned by its customers and users, and takes it very seriously. Regarding privacy - Duda has appointed a Data Protection Officer (DPO) and developed and maintains a set of internal policies, guidelines, and procedures to make sure personal data is being stored and processed in accordance with data privacy laws such as GDPR and CCPA.
We also have an Information Security Program which was developed by the Head of Cybersecurity security at Duda. The program aims to manage and reduce the risks to Duda’s data assets via an interactive process of business assessment, asset mapping, identification of vulnerabilities, potential threats, and the implantation of mitigating measures (i.e controls).
The controls we implement include information security awareness, developing required policies and processes, and the usage of technical measures. In an external audit that was handled in May 2021, we received very high scores both in Information Security and Business Continuity. Duda believes that Information Security is a fundamental requirement for business growth, and makes significant investments to improve the overall security posture each year.
Ransomware has become quite a popular threat recently, this is only one of the cyber threats Duda is dealing with on a daily basis. We use a large set of security controls to mitigate such risks, which include but are not limited to, security awareness among employees, email filtering and protection, identity management and access control, network segmentation, WAF and Firewalls, backups, as well as many others.”
CC: Some competitive platforms in your space are offering native app builders or API integrations to expand their omnichannel capabilities. How is Duda positioning against these offerings – and what’s on the horizon that we can share with our readers?
IS: We don’t have any plans to develop a native app offering. We think that most SMBs will do well with a website as the main way consumers are finding them is through a Google search or social media platforms that drive visitors to a website. We think the barrier to get an app installed is prohibitive for most SMBs and they will not see the ROI of building an app (for more detail see my <a href="https://blog.duda.co/how-the-web-was-won-apps-websites-the-birth-of-pwas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blog post</a> about this topic).
[On the horizon] we are investing in other areas that can help agencies. First, we always invest in our core platform. Web design is constantly evolving and we want to make sure our website builder always stays at the forefront of technology. We recently released <a href="https://flex.duda.co/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DudaFlex</a>, a way to build pixel-perfect sites in a very flexible way without needing to code. We are releasing a new membership feature that is in high demand and coming out in Q4 with a client billing solution that would allow agencies to seamlessly invoice and collect payments from their clients.
<h2>What’s next for Duda and Snipcart</h2>
Duda and Snipcart have already started working on their integration, which, as noted, is expected to be released in early 2022.
Along with Snipcart, Duda will continue to offer its existing e-commerce solution, which has a strong and loyal following amongst current users. They plan to support and expand these existing capabilities as well.
Duda also plans to invest heavily in growing the Snipcart team and adding more features to the core Snipcart platform. Additionally, Snipcart will continue to offer its product independently to customers, allowing Duda to grow their investment on multiple fronts.

Duda Snaps Up Snipcart to Boost e-Commerce Capabilities: Q&A with CEO Itai Sadan

Duda and Snipcart logos with image of CEO Isai Sadan

If there's one company that's cornered the market on intuitive names, it's <a href="https://gathercontent.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GatherContent</a>. 
As their moniker suggests, they are a platform that brings together, well... content. But along this journey, they're also connecting the people, processes, and technologies that make "<a href="https://review.content-science.com/what-is-content-operations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Content Operations</a>" a real phenomenon. 
And let's face it: with so much content distributed across an expanding array of sources and endpoints, their role as the "gatherer" has never been more apropos. 
Now, GatherContent is making it easier for customers to streamline their martech stack experience. The company just announced a new set of integrations with <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/gatsby-unveils-v3-0-cloud-hosting-and-more-at-gatsbyconf-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gatsby</a> and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Netlify</a>, and deepened their existing integrations with <a href="https://www.adobe.io/apis/experiencecloud/aem.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Adobe Experience Manager (AEM)</a>, <a href="https://www.drupal.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Drupal</a>, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-monthly-recap-salesforce-completes-acquisition-of-slack-contentsquare-accelerates-ml-capabilities-and-more/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Slack</a>, <a href="https://vercel.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vercel</a>, and <a href="https://zapier.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zapier</a>.
Currently, GatherContent allows customers to seamlessly integrate their product with their own technology stack through these <a href="https://gathercontent.com/integrations" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">integrations</a>, as well as APIs and headless capabilities. This gives users a great deal of flexibility when it comes to multi-channel publishing and connecting GatherContent to production and project management workflows.
According to Gartner’s <a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/3992875" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2020 Marketing Technology Survey</a>, marketers only use 58% of their martech stack’s full breadth of capabilities because they have trouble with cross-functional collaboration compounded by a “sprawling array” of platform solutions. This is all validated by the eponymous <a href="https://chiefmartec.com/2020/04/marketing-technology-landscape-2020-martech-5000/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brinker Diagram</a>, which illustrates the flood of technologies available to marketers – including CMS. 
“GatherContent is the glue that connects these other platforms together,” said Angus Edwardson, Co-Founder and VP of Product of GatherContent. “Our goal is to allow GatherContent to easily slide into existing marketing workflows with as few barriers as possible.”
In addition to their new and enhanced integrations, GatherContent has expanded its API – including JavaScript helper libraries that use the popular <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-jamstack-static-site-generators-for-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">JAMstack</a> as a backbone. This makes it easier for developers to build on top of GatherContent and create seamless integrations with their existing martech stack that includes CMS, CRM, SEO tools, and more. 
“Marketing technology stacks are getting more cluttered," said Edwardson. "But when connected together in a way that makes sense, the result is better content, produced faster and with reduced risk.” 
<h2>About GatherContent</h2>
GatherContent is a Content Operations platform that brings together people, process, and technology. GatherContent has helped thousands of businesses save time and money, improve content quality, and reduce regulatory risk. The platform replaces the broken status quo of docs, spreadsheets, shared drives, and emails. These tools weren’t designed to manage high volume content production and workflow when many stakeholders are involved. Recognized as a Content Distribution Leader, Creation High Performer in G2’s Summer 2021 report, GatherContent is free to try, quick to set up, and very easy to use. Learn more at <a href="https://gathercontent.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://gathercontent.com/</a>.

GatherContent Adds New Integrations to Help Streamline Martech Stacks

Unless you're living under a pop culture rock, you've probably heard the phrase "there's an app for that."
Statements like this can often be hyperbolic. But in this case, it's on the money: <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/276623/number-of-apps-available-in-leading-app-stores/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to Statista</a>, there are 2.2 million apps available in the Apple App Store – and 3.57 Million in the Google Play store. That's a whole lotta apps.
The app revolution makes sense when you consider that most great ideas are born out of necessity. What's amazing is how the marketplace has enabled ordinary people with no tech or development background to access apps as a solution to their problems – like knowing which wine to pair with your salmon. Ask Vivino: they now have <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vivino-buy-the-right-wine/id414461255" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over 50 million users worldwide.</a>
OK, so maybe wine isn't your thing. But let's say you're at your favorite craft beer pub and inspiration strikes. You grab a cocktail napkin and start mapping out a new app and how it will change your business. But now what? If you don't have the technical skills, outsourcing an app can be an expensive and risky endeavor. According to Utility, more advanced, multi-function and gaming apps <a href="https://utilitynyc.com/blog/app-development-cost#:~:text=Basic%20database%20apps%20cost%20between,based%20on%20quality%20and%20detail." target="_blank" rel="noopener">can cost between $150,000 - $250,000</a> or more based on quality and detail.
It's easy to get overwhelmed by these numbers. And if you're going big, it's always best to think about how an app can be sustained or even monetized. It's for this reason that <a href="https://www.fyresite.com/how-many-apps-fail/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">many people believe that 99% of apps fail</a> - but that doesn't reflect branded apps that reinforce your core business. 
So what if you just need a branded app? Not necessarily a suped-up AR-powered megalith, but a customized experience that allows you to enrich your users through a mobile channel with hundreds of different business solutions?
Well, it looks like <a href="https://www.wix.com/app-builder" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wix</a> might have cracked that code – with no code at all. The popular website building platform recently announced a new product for business owners called <a href="https://www.wix.com/app-builder" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Branded App by Wix</a>, which allows users to create native apps for the iOS and Android stores without any complex development.
Wix – which is best known for its slick drag-and-drop website builder and CMS – has become a go-to platform for artists, freelancers, and small business owners looking to establish brands online without the hassle of coding and complexity. Now, the platform is expanding its user-friendly approach by making it possible for anyone to get into the app game without learning any code or relying on expensive, third-party development sources. 
Branded App by Wix will offer users a simple experience for customizing their apps, starting with their logo – which will appear in the major app stores alongside other leading apps. This alone can provide a significant branding boost to any business.
The app builder also allows what Wix describes as "total creative freedom" to design an app icon and customize the layout and general look and feel of the app UI, and enhance it with access to hundreds of features including eCommerce storefronts and forums.
One of the most challenging (and overlooked) costs of an app is management and maintenance, particularly when dealing with the native app stores themselves. Wix alleviates this by enabling automatic updates, ensuring that your app is constantly working with the latest versions of the iOS and Android stores – and that your data is always being synced.
"Building my own app with Branded App by Wix has been a total gamechanger for my business," said Wix user Benji Beasts, Founder and Fitness Trainer at Core Attack Fitness Club. "I had to have an app that I could customize to achieve the exact look, feel and service my members experience when they walk through my doors. Members use the app every day—whether it's to book sessions, buy merchandise or even stream sessions on demand. The most amazing thing about this app, especially for the time we are living in, is the place it provides for customers to connect with me and other members, creating a community experience that keeps them motivated and coming back for more. No need for a background in coding, just my passion and my brand."
While it's a far cry from a complex app like Vivino, don't cry over any spilled wine: Branded App by Wix is another signal that the app marketplace is becoming more accessible and cost-effective to a wider range of businesses – particularly in the do-it-yourself range. Right out of the gate, the experience is offering some fairly decent design capabilities, and Wix plans to push new features that offer extended customization and navigation in the coming months.
"This release is another step in our native mobile app strategy making sure users can create custom iOS and Android apps as easily as they create custom websites," said Ronny Elkayam, SVP of Mobile, App Market &amp; Strategic Products at Wix. "The Branded App is a major addition to the Wix offering, enabling business owners to have another medium to activate their brand. We are happy to equip any type of business owner or service provider with the native mobile experience they need to enhance their customers' experience, grow their businesses, and ultimately compete with today's biggest brands."
The Branded App unlimited is currently being offered at <a href="https://www.wix.com/app-builder" target="_blank" rel="noopener">50% off</a> its original price – making it just $100 a month (paid annually). Note that the current plan doesn't include the registration fee for Apple's App Store (from $99 a year) and Google Play ($25 one-time fee), or any additional fees that Google or Apple may apply.
Even so, at this price point, you might want to pop a cork and start toasting to your new branded app.
<h2>About Wix</h2>
<a href="https://www.wix.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wix</a> is leading the way with a cloud-based website development platform for over 200 million registered users worldwide today. The Wix website builder was founded on the belief that the Internet should be accessible to everyone to develop, create and contribute. Through free and premium subscriptions, Wix empowers millions of businesses, organizations, artists, and individuals to take their businesses, brands and workflow online. The Wix Editor, Wix ADI, Editor X, a curated App Market, Ascend by Wix and Velo by Wix enable users to build and manage a fully integrated and dynamic digital presence. Wix's headquarters are in Tel Aviv with offices in Austin, Be'er Sheva, Berlin, Cedar Rapids, Denver, Dnipro, Dublin, Kyiv, Kraków, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco, São Paulo, Tokyo and Vilnius.

Wix Launches New Branded App Builder for Creating Code-Free Native Mobile Apps

With so much negative news these days, it's great to be covering something positive – and that's exactly what the Special Olympics brings out: positivity.
As an organization, the Special Olympics goes far beyond the field of play. Not only does it provide a diverse and inclusive community for athletes and their families, but it delivers life-changing healthcare to thousands of individuals. Tragically, over the last year and a half, Special Olympians have been largely sidelined due to the pandemic, as people with intellectual disabilities have the <a href="https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/terrible-toll-covid-19-people-intellectual-disabilities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">highest independent risk factor</a> for contracting COVID-19.
But that all changes next June at the <a href="https://www.2022specialolympicsusagames.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 Special Olympics USA Games</a>, which will be held from June 5th through the 12th in Orlando, Florida. These will be the largest Games in history, as several Caribbean nations have also been invited to compete (the charter of the Special Olympics is inclusion, so this fits right in).
As with most modern large-scale live events, mobile apps and digital experiences have played a key role in the fan engagement strategy. The 2022 Special Olympics USA Games is planning to take that innovation even further – and is looking to the Cloud as a means to unlock the possibilities.
To get there, they've engaged <a href="https://www.solodev.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Solodev</a> – a cloud-first content management and customer experience platform with a distinct focus on AWS. More recently, the company has transformed into something of a marketplace ecosystem for building and deploying custom cloud apps and experiences, leveraging their knowledge of containers and DevOps to help companies launch advanced cloud services at scale. This includes their legacy <a href="https://www.solodev.com/marketplace/solodev-cms-enterprise" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Solodev CMS</a>, but now a whole lot more.
Today, <a href="https://www.solodev.com/news/solodev-selected-as-cloud-consulting-partner-of-the-2022-special-olympics-usa-games.stml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the company announced</a> that it has been awarded the status of "Cloud Consulting Partner" of the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games. Solodev will be responsible for building and deploying an advanced cloud infrastructure that powers immersive digital experiences – including a mobile fan engagement app designed exclusively for the event.
With the Games anticipating over 5,500 athletes and coaches, 20,000 volunteers, and more than 125,000 spectators, any apps will be expected to scale with a high degree of assurance. The fan engagement app, for example, will provide ticketing, scheduling, wayfinding, and other features that are essential to athletes and fans. Ensuring a seamless experience for tens of thousands of users will require an intelligent, secure, and highly scalable cloud strategy, which is where Solodev excels.
As an <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amazon Web Services (AWS)</a> Advanced Technology Partner, the company has amassed deep experience building world-class cloud architectures – the kind that enable applications to serve large communities of users. To meet the unique goals of the USA Games, Solodev chose AWS as the cloud of choice to design and deploy a container-based “serverless” infrastructure. The solution will integrate AWS’s most advanced portfolio of services, and Solodev's team will provide the necessary DevOps to support the infrastructure leading up to and during the event.
“Being a Cloud Consulting Partner to the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games is one of our proudest moments,” said Shawn Moore, Chief Technology Officer at Solodev. “Leveraging our cloud expertise to help create a unified and connected event for these incredible athletes – as well as their families, friends, and fans – is part of our own mission to positively impact the world through digital experiences.”
“We’re proud to have Solodev on our technology team,” said Lonnie Snyder, Chief Information Officer at the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games. “As we build our mobile fan engagement app, the cloud has become a critical part of our overall digital strategy. We needed a trusted partner to help guide us through key decisions, so we can deliver the best experience for our athletes, coaches, volunteers, spectators, and ambassadors.”
Solodev has long supported the technology goals of not-for-profit organizations, delivering best-in-class cloud consulting, CMS, and other digital experience services. This includes public sector and healthcare organizations with critical requirements around security, scalability, and high availability. According to the company, their experience will provide key advantages to the USA Games, bringing deep cloud expertise that will support safety and healthcare-related services that help improve the lives of Special Olympics athletes.
“What we’re building is more than a cloud infrastructure for fan engagement, it’s digital transformation,” said Matt Garrepy, Chief Digital Officer at Solodev. “Our underlying serverless architecture powered by AWS will have an impact on an athlete’s entire experience. Our team’s contribution will help change lives for the better, and that’s a unique privilege for any company.”
The mission of Special Olympics is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-style sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities – giving them opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills, and friendship with their families, other athletes, and the community. The USA Games is held once every four years in the United States, offering athletes from across the nation to compete in summer sports.
To learn more about the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games, visit <a href="https://www.2022specialolympicsusagames.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.2022specialolympicsusagames.org/</a>
<h2>About Solodev</h2>
Solodev is the galaxy’s largest ecosystem of cloud and digital marketing services, from containers to content management to AI. With Solodev, developers and organizations can build and launch amazing customer experiences, power omnichannel strategies across the IoT, deploy custom cloud apps, and collaborate on digital transformation. Solodev also provides consulting, training, managed services, and 24/7 human support to help users succeed on their cloud journey. An Amazon Web Services (AWS) Advanced Technology Partner, Solodev has achieved rigorous competencies in Government, Education, Digital Customer Experience (DCX), and Public Safety &amp; Disaster Response. Solodev products – including CMS, Kubernetes, and Personalize – can be purchased on-demand in the AWS Marketplace, through State and Federal contract vehicles, or online at <a href="http://www.solodev.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.solodev.com</a>
<h2>About 2022 Special Olympics USA Games</h2>
The 2022 Special Olympics USA Games, scheduled for June 5-12, 2022 in Orlando, Florida, will unite more than 5,500 athletes and coaches from all 50 states and the Caribbean during one of the country’s most cherished sporting events – the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games. The Games will offer 19 Olympic-style team and individual sports, including athletics (track &amp; field), basketball, bocce, bowling, cheerleading, equestrian, flag football, golf, gymnastics, open water swimming, powerlifting, soccer, softball, stand up paddleboard, surfing, swimming, tennis, triathlon and volleyball. For over 50 years, Special Olympics has been empowering athletes and encouraging a more inclusive world for those with intellectual disabilities and beyond. For more information, <a href="http://www.2022USAGames.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.2022USAGames.org</a>

Solodev Selected as Cloud Consulting Partner of the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games

Image of Solodev, AWS, and 2022 Special Olympics USA Games logos

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