Articles - Page 169

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

matt-garrepy

For better or worse, <a href="https://www.google.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google</a> has a long history of "optimizing" things. And not just on the tech side of the fence.
Consider how <a href="https://abc.xyz/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alphabet</a> – the publicly traded parent of the search giant – <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/18/investing/google-alphabet-stock-split/index.html#:~:text=But%20the%20split%20has%20two,prestigious%20Dow%20Jones%20Industrial%20Average." target="_blank" rel="noopener">split its stock in 2022</a> to improve its market capitalization. The company has a market cap of over $1 trillion and is still considered one of the most valuable on the planet. But the move made it even more attractive to main street investors while enhancing its position on the exchanges. 
On the negative side, the company recently "optimized" its workforce, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/google-parent-lay-off-12000-workers-memo-2023-01-20/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cutting 12,000 jobs</a> after what it called a "pandemic hiring spree." It plans to refocus its budget on AI initiatives, no doubt in response to the recent explosion of <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/microsoft-and-openai-working-on-chatgpt-powered-bing-in-challenge-to-google" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ChatGPT and the announcement from Microsoft</a> that it will weave the bot's intelligence into its <a href="https://www.impression.co.uk/blog/bing-differ-google/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bing</a> platform. For reference, Bing represents less than 10% of the search market (Google owns almost all the rest). 
When it comes to its products, Google is also wrestling with a bevy of optimization challenges, most notably the sunsetting of its eponymous <a href="https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/11583528?hl=en#:~:text=On%20July%201%2C%202023%2C%20standard,Google%20Analytics%204%20going%20forward." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Universal Analytics (UA)</a> as of July 1, 2023. Companies have been scrambling to get its replacement, <a href="https://www.solodev.com/blog/digital-marketing/how-to-make-the-leap-from-universal-analytics-to-google-analytics-4.stml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google Analytics 4 (GA4)</a>, up and running. Despite its touted new features and "optimizations," many digital marketing and SEO professionals have confronted significant challenges with the new platform. 
As if that wasn't enough, Google is now retiring two more of its products: <a href="https://optimize.google.com/optimize/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google Optimize</a> and <a href="https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/optimize-360/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Optimize 360</a>. The company recently announced that beginning September 30, 2023, users will no longer have access to either product and that it was “investing in A/B testing in Google Analytics 4."
How will these changes impact users? It's hard to say. But in a world where Google's grip over search and analytics is being threatened by fragmentation and competition – all ignited by advanced AI – there may be more "optimizing" ahead for everyone. 
<h2>The dawn of a new A/B testing and personalization era</h2>
While Google Optimize and Optimize 360 have a strong and proven legacy, Google Analytics has long been the data source of truth for millions of websites. The upgrade was highly anticipated by marketing and SEO professionals, but there have been swelling questions about how the rollout would affect the broader ecosystem – including the interplay with the Optimize products.
As noted, the shift to GA4 has been fraught with controversy, particularly around the limitations of migrating historical data. To be fair, Google has been strongly encouraging customers to make the switch to GA4 as soon as possible, so they have ample time to build historical data in the new platform. But don't panic: your legacy data can be exported as CSVs, and UA will still be in effect until July 1, 2024.
Google said its rationale for sunsetting Optimize, a five-year-old product, was rooted in "developing something better" for customers. According to the company, many users were requesting features and services not currently available for experimentation and testing. Google said it wanted to invest in more robust and effective solutions to meet the evolving need – and no doubt, to compete with more expansive customer analytics platforms like <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/amplitude-announces-new-testing-and-analytics-tools-for-making-smarter-product-decisions-at-scale/">Amplitude</a>. 
Optimize users are encouraged to download their historical data before September 30. For more information on how to access that data or how this will affect a current Optimize and Optimize 360 contract, visit <a href="https://support.google.com/optimize/answer/12979939#:~:text=Google%20Optimize%20and%20Optimize%20360,on%20that%20date%20will%20end" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google Support</a>.
<h2>“The Times They Are a-Changin’”</h2>
What <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times_They_Are_a-Changin%27_(song)" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bob Dylan</a> so eloquently penned in 1964 still holds true. The times are a-changin'.  And like the musical poet of yesteryear, Google has withstood the test of time in our modern digital era and become a cultural icon. (Worth noting: a search for "Bob Dylan" returns over 122,000,000 results).
At the same time, Google is facing the fierce headwinds of change as an aging brand and ecosystem, one that has achieved a monolithic status in the tech stack. New and innovative products are forcing the company to evolve, and that's good. But change – as Dylan would agree – is like a hard rain falling. 
As Google executes its sunsetting and upgrading, we're already getting a glimpse of how analytics will look in the future. The field of data science is exploding, and analytics have become more important than ever. At the same time, measuring across different platforms and applications has become exceedingly more difficult.
Google Optimize and Optimize 360 will be remembered as transformative tools in the A/B testing and experimentation narrative. While we're not expecting any love songs to be penned for their eulogy, they have impacted how marketers think about testing and its scalability. Google has indicated its lofty ambitions to incorporate more of these personalization functions into GA4, but when?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind. 
<h2>So…what now?</h2>
Get GA4 up and running! You have time to download and export your legacy Optimize and UA resources, but GA4 really needs historical data to thrive – so set it up ASAP. Just a reminder: Google has remained firm on not making any extensions for the programs they are retiring. That could change, but it's best to assume the worst. 
It's likely that GA4 will introduce its new A/B testing features in 2023. But if you don’t like the idea of “wait and see,” there are also other platforms to explore:
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/?s=optimizely">Optimizely</a> is choosing to celebrate the news by offering Google Optimize customers a <a href="https://www.optimizely.com/google/optimize/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">special deal</a> for keeping their experimentations running smoothly.
<a href="https://business.adobe.com/products/target/adobe-target.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Adobe Target</a> is another leading product that has similar functionality to Google Optimize, but with more features. It predictably integrates with Adobe Analytics, rather than Google Analytics.
<a href="https://vwo.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visual Website Optimizer</a>, <a href="https://www.abtasty.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AB Tasty</a> and <a href="https://www.dynamicyield.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dynamic Yield</a> are also good options to explore, even with smaller market share in this field.
With just a few months left to use Google Optimize, it might seem daunting to consider a new alternative, but it’s also nice to have options. Not to get too poetic (though we have already mentioned Dylan), but each sunset does bring the dawn of a new day. And it looks like we’ll just have to wait and see what Google shines a light on next.

Google Announces Sunset of Google Optimize and Optimize 360

mk-patterson

Last week, Portland-headquartered <a href="https://www.sheerid.com/shoppers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SheerID</a> announced a new partnership with composable commerce vendor <a href="https://commercetools.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commercetools</a>. The goal: help merchants create better personalization and more relevant offers and promotions for consumers based on identified customer segmentation.
“Our partnership with SheerID further demonstrates our commitment to providing our merchants with access to market-leading technologies,” said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellygoetsch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kelly Goetsch</a>, chief strategy officer at commercetools. “We look forward to working together to help merchants sell more, grow faster, and create meaningful connections that build customer engagement and loyalty.”
<h2>SheerID gets personal</h2>
SheerID operates what it calls a “digital verification engine.” With more than 20,000 authoritative data sources, the system helps to instantly verify eligible customers for offers they qualify for.
With brands like <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/andy-jassy-amazons-new-ceo-signals-bold-future-for-loud-and-digital-experiences/">Amazon</a>, Spotify, and T-Mobile already on the verification platform, SheerID boasts their customers have received three times the conversion of their typical campaigns when utilizing the verification platform.
“Our strategic partnership with commercetools enables the company’s merchants to access our audience verification service, driving significant business outcomes,” said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakeweatherly/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jake Weatherly</a>, chief executive officer at SheerID. “Providing offers to valuable consumer communities like students, teachers, and healthcare professionals is a proven strategy to drive immediate sales. In the cookieless future, online merchants increasingly rely on privacy-compliant, zero-party data marketing solutions like this to drive consumer acquisition, retention, and loyalty.”
<h2>Heading headless with commercetools</h2>
The partnership with commercetools – a <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/">leading headless commerce platform</a> and member of the <a href="https://machalliance.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MACH Alliance</a> – was a natural fit for SheerID to improve customer segmentation. More integrations like SheerID and commercetools could be likely in the future as companies embrace the headless commerce structure, allowing for greater flexibility and more software offerings.
“The integration was conceived with MACH principles in mind,” said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyvanags/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Andy Vanags</a>, global director of retail technologies and marketplace partnerships at SheerID. “Companies will be able to flexibly set up SheerID with their existing frontend e-commerce systems and DXP, CDP, and marketing automation systems. With our supporting documentation and sample open-source code, a merchant's developer or system integrator can easily leverage the verified customer data to create custom promotions, feed the loyalty system and/or personalize the site experience. Companies are only limited by their imagination!”
<h2>About commercetools</h2>
The inventor of headless commerce, <a href="https://commercetools.com/?utm_source=press_release&amp;utm_medium=announcement&amp;utm_campaign=publicis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commercetools</a> is an innovative technology disruptor that has established itself as an industry-leading eCommerce software provider. Today, some of the world’s most iconic brands and growth-focused businesses trust commercetools’ powerful, flexible, scalable solutions to support their ever-evolving digital commerce needs. As the visionaries leading the modern MACH (Microservices-based, API-first, Cloud-native and Headless) architecture movement, commercetools provides customers with the agility to innovate and iterate on the fly, merge on and off-line channels, drive higher revenue, and future-proof their eCommerce business.
<h2>About SheerID</h2>
SheerID is the global leader in identity marketing. With SheerID, brands identify and acquire customers from highly valued consumer communities — such as the military, students, teachers, first responders, and more — with personalized offers, gated by instant verification from the largest set of authoritative data worldwide. SheerID verifies over 2.5 billion people via 20,000 authoritative data sources; provides global insights from hundreds of the world’s leading brands, and never shares or sells customer data. As a result, the world’s biggest brands — including Amazon, Home Depot, Spotify, and T-Mobile — rely on SheerID as their identity marketing partner. Founded in 2011, SheerID is backed by Fortson VC, Brighton Park Capital, Centana Growth Partners, Voyager Capital, and CVC Growth Partners. For more information, please visit <a href="https://www.sheerid.com/business/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SheerID</a> or follow us on <a href="https://twitter.com/SheerID" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/sheerid/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LinkedIn</a>, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SheerIDdotcom" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook</a>.

SheerID and commercetools Form Partnership to Provide More Personalization and Better Offers for Consumers

Last week, the MACH Alliance announced the addition of three new members to the organization: Adyen, Commerce Layer, and Pipe17. With these new members, as well as naming <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/google-cloud-joins-mach-alliance-as-enabler-member/">Google Cloud</a> an Enabler member earlier this month, the MACH Alliance now boasts <a href="https://machalliance.org/members" target="_blank" rel="noopener">74 total members</a>.
<h2>Adyen: an A+ choice for financial tech</h2>
The Netherlands-based financial technology company, <a href="https://www.adyen.com/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Adyen</a>, was the first added to the MACH Alliance roster last week. Adyen’s all-star list of clients includes Facebook, H&amp;M, Uber, and Microsoft, with a specialization in providing end-to-end payment options and financial products in one solution.
“Joining the MACH Alliance is a natural move for us, as our success hinges on the strength and flexibility of our digital backbone, of which MACH solutions are foundational,” said Brian McDonnell, Senior Vice President, Partnerships at Adyen. “Unified commerce for retailers and other players in the fintech space wouldn’t be possible with legacy technology. We believe the MACH framework is the standard that will change the game for how businesses connect, transact and grow.”
<h2>Commerce Layer provides ready-to-use headless commerce experiences</h2>
<a href="https://commercelayer.io/why" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Commerce Layer</a>, an Italy-based, API-first, headless commerce platform, helps customers scale their businesses for almost any commerce channel in any market. Commerce Layer utilizes a set of “ready-to-use micro frontends that allow you to quickly create a headless commerce site without compromising the flexibility and the uniqueness of your brand.”
They also focus on commerce, merchandising, and product discovery rather than content and catalog management.
Occupying MACH principles, Commerce Layer promotes composable, headless commerce and offers customers a “clean separation of commerce and content,” which helps developers design and build efficient and clean shopping experiences.
<h2>Pipe17 offers operations ease from initial sale to delivery</h2>
Seattle-based <a href="https://pipe17.com/why-pipe17/overview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pipe17</a> is an API-first e-commerce integration operations platform that helps customers simplify the workflow of orders from the point of sale to fulfillment obligations.
As opposed to just focusing on quick and scalable e-commerce solutions, Pipe17 uses composable technology to connect inventory data, as well as shipping and fulfillment services, which help companies keep the same tempo from sale to delivery. They promise users improved sales, smoother integrations, greater visibility for consumers post-checkout and easy accessibility for developers.
<h2>MACH Growth at MACH Speed</h2>
Since the MACH Alliance formed in June 2020, the organization has had a stringent process for accepting new members based on principles aligned with MACH (microservices, API-first, cloud-native SaaS and headless). With the goal of “future proofing enterprise technology,” each organization must embrace MACH architecture in order to be accepted. With growth increasing from 15 organizations at the launch of the MACH Alliance to now almost 75, companies are taking note of the benefits of early adoption of these principles, compared to other monolithic enterprises. With four new additions already in the first month of 2023, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/8-cms-trends-to-watch-in-2023-from-mach-to-metaverse/">we anticipate seeing even more adoption of MACH principles and growth for the MACH Alliance continuing for the rest of the year</a>.
<h2>About the MACH Alliance</h2>
The MACH Alliance is a [501(c)(6)] non-profit organization, governed by an independent board and does not endorse specific vendors, members or otherwise. The Alliance was formed in June 2020 to help enterprise organizations navigate the complex modern technology landscape. It aims to guide and show the business advantage of open tech ecosystems that are Microservices based, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS and Headless. All MACH Alliance members meet certification principles that are published on the website.
The MACH Alliance welcomes technology companies and individual industry experts who share the same vision for the future. Learn more at <a href="http://machalliance.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">machalliance.org</a>, read here about MACH certification and follow us on <a href="https://twitter.com/machalliance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/machalliance/posts/?feedView=all" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LinkedIn</a>.

Adyen, Commerce Layer and Pipe17 Named Newest Members of MACH Alliance

Yesterday, <a href="https://machalliance.org/newsroom/google-cloud-joins-the-mach-alliance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the MACH Alliance announced</a> that Google Cloud will join its ranks as a MACH Enabler, becoming the latest addition to the organization's fast-growing community of composable platforms. 
Google Cloud will play an important role as a foundational cloud and infrastructure provider alongside other Enabler members, including <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/netlify-to-host-headless-commerce-summit-for-talks-on-building-world-class-e-commerce-experiences/">Netlify</a>, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-monthly-recap-mach-alliance-announces-new-enabler-category-glassbox-and-optimizely-partner-gutenberg-updates-and-more/">Mongo DB</a>, <a href="https://vercel.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vercel</a>, <a href="https://www.webscale.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Webscale</a>, and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/aws-joins-mach-alliance-as-enabler-member-reflects-growth-of-cloud-native-solutions/">Amazon Web Services (AWS)</a>. The MACH Alliance now boasts more than 70 members in its best-of-breed technology ecosystem.
“The MACH Alliance has quickly become the face of advocacy when it comes to pushing for a new standard for IT architectural excellence,” said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-colyer-4129214/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chris Colyer</a>, Worldwide Head of Retail Industry Partnerships at Google Cloud. “We see the future in headless and composable commerce and it’s important for us to be a part of the community to which a number of our partners belong. Through our membership, we can truly support those partners while championing open and cloud-native technology ecosystems as they grow in relevance and competence.”
<h2>“Hey Google, what's a MACH Alliance Enabler?”</h2>
No need to consult your Google Home assistant – we've got the answer.
The MACH Alliance added its specialized Enabler membership category in December 2021, reserved for companies that provide an essential platform or infrastructure solution to MACH Alliance members. Enablers typically provide monitoring, data storage, cluster or container management, tracing, service meshing, API gateways, and orchestration.
While they don't offer a direct MACH product or service, Enablers help power MACH solutions for other vendors – making them an integral part of the ecosystem. 
“Having a brand like Google Cloud aligned with our organization is a powerful indicator that the market shift toward composable is speeding up and becoming mainstream,” said <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen/">Casper Ramussen</a>, MACH Alliance president. “This shift represents a major challenge to the position of long-established enterprise suites, and we’re in the right place at the right time for our movement to really scale. The Enabler category is ripe for growth over the next 12 months and critical to the success of MACH across all industries.”
<h2>Rapid Growth for MACH</h2>
The adoption of MACH (Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS, and Headless) has continued to disrupt the previously monolith-dominated tech landscape. With leading global brands like AWS – and now Google Cloud – joining the MACH Alliance Enabler category, it's clear that MACH has achieved a new tier of industry validation, likely leading to more adoption in the future. 
In just under three years, the MACH Alliance has transitioned from four founding members to 15 at launch, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/bloomreach-emporix-and-kontent-ai-join-mach-alliance-pushing-member-total-over-70/">to now more than 70</a>. This is due in no small part to the rising demand for composable solutions that eliminate vendor lock-in, decrease the need for re-platforming, accelerate time-to-market, improve personalization and experimentation, and more. 
<h2>About the MACH Alliance</h2>
The MACH Alliance is a [501(c)(6)] non-profit organization, governed by an independent board and does not endorse specific vendors, members, or otherwise. The Alliance was formed in June 2020 to help enterprise organizations navigate the complex modern technology landscape. It aims to guide and show the business advantage of open tech ecosystems that are Microservices based, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS and Headless. All MACH Alliance members meet certification principles that are published on the website.
The MACH Alliance welcomes technology companies and individual industry experts who share the same vision for the future. Learn more at machalliance.org, read here about <a href="https://machalliance.org/insights/mach-certification-a-seal-of-confidence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MACH certification</a> and follow us on <a href="https://twitter.com/machalliance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/machalliance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LinkedIn</a>.

Google Cloud Joins MACH Alliance as Enabler Member

cms-critic-staff

<a href="https://www.ces.tech/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CES 2023</a> is officially a wrap. And while there were hover bikes and a <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2023/01/06/all-electric-delorean-car-spotted-at-massive-las-vegas-tech-show-18052495/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new electric DeLorean</a> to whet your appetite for hype, one cloud CMS provider was adamant about saving the best for last.
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/solodev-cms-for-kubernetes-now-available-with-contract-pricing-in-aws-marketplace-for-containers-anywhere/">Solodev</a>, the cloud platform company with a marketplace of content management offerings, just announced the launch of its Solodev Serverless CMS: a cloud-native enterprise content management system that runs serverless on AWS.
Powered by Solodev Serverless, the company's advanced stack of serverless technologies, Solodev Serverless CMS is fully deployed on <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/solodev-achieves-aws-public-safety-disaster-response-competency-status/">Amazon Web Services (AWS)</a> and capable of running high-availability workloads with unmatched scalability.
The product was unveiled during the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas as part of Solodev’s new <a href="https://goserverless.solodev.com/">"Go Serverless™"</a> campaign.
<h2>Solodev Serverless is "CMS redefined"</h2>
Delivering a highly composable set of cloud-based services, Solodev's new Serverless CMS is designed to power both traditional and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/">headless</a> websites and apps, including Jamstack frameworks like <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-jamstack-static-site-generators-for-2021/">React</a>. As a fully serverless solution, it leverages a host of leading cloud-based container technologies including Docker, Kubernetes, AWS Fargate, and more – all instantly deployed on the AWS infrastructure.
Solodev Serverless CMS also delivers a range of new cloud-first features such as dynamic modules, a drag-and-drop page builder, furl management, and advanced form capabilities that include security and fraud prevention.
Solodev Serverless CMS users will also have access to the <a href="https://www.solodev.com/marketplace">Solodev Marketplace</a>, featuring hundreds of third-party platforms like Salesforce and advanced cloud services from AWS.
<h2>Rallying the market to "Go Serverless"</h2>
The launch of Solodev Serverless CMS is part of the company’s new “Go Serverless” campaign, promoting the benefits of serverless technology for powering modern apps in the cloud. This seems to be a critical focus for the AWS Advanced Technology ISV, which has become more of a cloud platform provider offering a myriad of services within its marketplace of solutions. 
When it comes to digital experiences, one of the biggest pain points for organizations is maintaining legacy apps on servers. According to a <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/02/08/2380810/0/en/Legacy-Applications-Are-Hindering-Digital-Transformation-Initiatives.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">2022 survey by 2nd Watch</a>, 80% of companies are still running workloads and applications on-premises, which is hindering their digital transformation initiatives. This is further compounded by a lack of skills and expertise across their IT teams for managing servers, particularly as apps become more complex and require more resources to scale.
According to the company's press release, Solodev Serverless – the technology behind the new serverless CMS – has been successfully deployed for numerous customers across a range of industries, enabling commercial enterprises and public sector organizations to enhance scalability, improve security, reduce costs, and achieve their cloud transformation goals. 
One such success story was recently featured at the <a href="https://reinvent.awsevents.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AWS re:Invent Conference</a> in Las Vegas in early December, which included Solodev's case study for the <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/partners/success/special-olympics-usa-games-solodev/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">2022 Special Olympics USA Games.</a> In this compelling example, Solodev's serverless technology and consulting were utilized to build a highly scalable architecture for the 2022 USA Games, powering its groundbreaking mobile fan engagement app on AWS.
<h2>Manage content, not servers</h2>
According to the company, Solodev Serverless is giving enterprise and public sector organizations a way to "break free" from the burden of managing on-prem servers and virtual machines, allowing them to scale infinitely to meet their growth objectives. As a composable, cloud-based solution with headless CMS capabilities, it's also enabling customers to build their own stack of DX tools and services via APIs, including advanced AWS services like AI and IoT. 
From a DevOps perspective, Solodev Serverless includes everything from Git to container orchestration with AWS Fargate, cloud-based IAM with AWS Cognito, database services like AWS DynamoDB, monitoring via Amazon CloudWatch, and more. But this all buoys a marketing team's ability to focus less on server management and more on content operations.
“If you’re asking what’s next for digital transformation, the answer is clear: go serverless,” said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/techcto/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shawn Moore</a>, Chief Technology Officer at Solodev. “As organizations look to modernize their websites and apps, serverless has unlocked the true potential of the cloud, allowing organizations to eliminate the burden of managing servers and focus on their apps. It also delivers unmatched scalability and enhanced security, all while reducing costs – and that’s why every business should be thinking about how to go serverless.”
<h2>Investing in serverless education and resources</h2>
As part of its “Go Serverless” campaign, Solodev has <a href="https://goserverless.solodev.com/">launched a dedicated microsite</a> featuring eBooks and resources for educating the market on the benefits of serverless. This includes general information and guidance for building a serverless stack from an ecosystem of services, as well as best practices for serverless success.
“Solodev Serverless CMS is the most robust content management system designed for a composable future in the cloud,” said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattgarrepy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Matt Garrepy</a>, Chief Digital Officer at Solodev. “Solodev has a legacy of firsts with our cloud-based CMS, and we’re giving content operations teams a radical new solution for powering their omnichannel strategies with distributed tools in the cloud. We make it easy to deploy, assemble, and start creating, from a single page to an enterprise eCommerce workload. We have the building blocks, and it’s all powered by the scalability of serverless.”
Solodev Serverless CMS is now available and can be procured on-demand through the AWS Marketplace, via public sector schedule contracts, and soon through the Solodev Marketplace. To learn more about Solodev Serverless, visit the “Go Serverless” microsite at <a href="https://goserverless.solodev.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">goserverless.solodev.com</a>.
<h2>About Solodev</h2>
The Solodev Cloud Platform is the internet’s largest ecosystem of cloud and digital experience technologies – from containers to blockchain, content to AI. With Solodev, developers and organizations can build amazing customer experiences, deploy cloud and blockchain apps, launch custom marketplaces, 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 Cloud Services – 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="nofollow noopener">www.solodev.com</a>

Solodev Launches Solodev Serverless CMS, the Next Generation of Web Content Management System

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Another day, another episode of the cybersecurity blues. And once again, WordPress has a starring role.
According to <a href="https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/new-linux-malware-uses-30-plugin-exploits-to-backdoor-wordpress-sites/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bleeping Computer</a>, a previously unknown Linux malware is exploiting over 30 vulnerabilities in outdated WordPress plugins and themes to inject malicious JavaScript.
The malware targets both 32-bit and 64-bit Linux systems. The trojan’s main functionality is to hack WordPress sites using a set of hardcoded exploits until one is successful. The operator would then have remote command capabilities.
WordPress <a href="https://www.searchenginejournal.com/cms-market-share-june-2022/455912/#close" target="_blank" rel="noopener">holds the largest share</a> of the global CMS market, with an estimated 43% of all websites powered by the open source platform. This makes it a big target for hackers, bad actors, and cybersecurity threats – and this is only the latest in a string of complex and nefarious attacks.
<h2>Using plugins and themes to control WordPress websites</h2>
There’s always a risk that any WordPress widget could be a ticking timebomb.
In 2022 alone, researchers <a href="https://siliconangle.com/2022/08/29/researchers-find-malicious-plugins-25000-wordpress-sites/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found malicious plugins</a> installed on over 25,000 WordPress websites. In most cases, the plugins were procured through legitimate marketplaces. Once added to a website, malware was injected by exploiting a vulnerability – much like this new Linux threat.
Thousands of WordPress websites may be affected by this threat. According to <a href="https://www.scmagazine.com/brief/vulnerability-management/many-wordpress-plugin-flaws-leveraged-by-novel-linux-malware" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SC Media</a>, once attacked, an infected site may be used for phishing and <a href="https://www.imperva.com/learn/application-security/malvertising/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">malvertising</a> campaigns, as well as malware distribution initiatives.
It’s worth checking your WordPress instances to see if any of these affected plugins are in use:
<ul>
<li>WP Live Chat Support Plugin</li>
<li>WordPress – Yuzo Related Posts</li>
<li>Yellow Pencil Visual Theme Customizer Plugin</li>
<li>Easysmtp</li>
<li>WP GDPR Compliance Plugin</li>
<li>Newspaper Theme on WordPress Access Control (CVE-2016-10972)</li>
<li>Thim Core</li>
<li>Google Code Inserter</li>
<li>Total Donations Plugin</li>
<li>Post Custom Templates Lite</li>
<li>WP Quick Booking Manager</li>
<li>Facebook Live Chat by Zotabox</li>
<li>Blog Designer WordPress Plugin</li>
<li>WordPress Ultimate FAQ (CVE-2019-17232 and CVE-2019-17233)</li>
<li>WP-Matomo Integration (WP-Piwik)</li>
<li>WordPress ND Shortcodes For Visual Composer</li>
<li>WP Live Chat</li>
<li>Coming Soon Page and Maintenance Mode</li>
<li>Hybrid</li>
</ul>
<h2>Combatting an evolving landscape of security threats</h2>
With hundreds of millions of active websites across the globe, hackers are having a field day.
According to <a href="https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/98695-leading-cyber-risks-and-trends-in-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Security Magazine</a>, cyberattacks are on the rise and becoming more sophisticated by the day. Among the top threats in 2022, malware led the pack, representing the highest cost of damage to organizations.  
WordPress, as mentioned, continues to be a growing vector. Case in point: <a href="https://thehackernews.com/2022/12/new-gotrim-botnet-attempting-to-break.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Hacker News recently reported</a> on another <a href="https://www.fortinet.com/blog/threat-research/gotrim-go-based-botnet-actively-brute-forces-wordpress-websites" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Go Trim botnet attack</a> that targeted WordPress website administrator accounts. Botnet malware has the capability to bypass traditional anti-bot protections, making sites even more vulnerable to the standard bot-evasion techniques.
But all is not lost. WordPress CMS administrators can fight back by adopting solid policies around their security practices. By vetting all plugin source code via an experienced DevSecOps team, many vulnerabilities can be uncovered before a plugin is pushed to production. This can augment strong password policies and the use of multi-factor authentication to reduce the surface area for would-be attackers.
WordPress websites can also be hosted in more secure environments like <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/wp-engine-releases-worlds-first-study-of-the-wordpress-economy-cites-awe-inspiring-numbers/">WP Engine</a>, which disallow certain plugins and themes due to security or performance issues.

New Linux Malware Targets Plugins to Backdoor WordPress CMS Websites

The holidays are right around the corner, and if the newest version of <a href="https://www.drupal.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Drupal</a> is on your wish list, you’re in for a treat.
December will usher in the highly anticipated launch of Drupal 10, the open source CMS platform’s first release since 2020. Many industry experts have been preparing for months, and at CMS Critic, we had an opportunity to hear from <a href="https://pantheon.io/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pantheon</a> and several digital agencies about the upcoming release—and what has them excited.
<h2>Improvements for PHP, Symfony, and JavaScript</h2>
“We can’t wait to work with a new and refined version of Drupal that bakes in upgraded versions for PHP, Symfony and uses more modern Javascript,” said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/markwestuk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mark West</a>, engineering manager with TPXimpact. “This will all make it even easier to develop large complex websites. Additionally, there are lots of improvements for admins and users too. These include a better authoring experience using CKEditor 5 and UX improvements in the new Claro admin theme.”
West, along with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/volker-baisch-17a0b52/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Volker Baisch</a>, managing director of the BitBase Group, were each happy to see the changes made to jQuery through the update.
“Reducing reliance on jQuery will make a big difference—jQuery was great at the time, but these days, it represents a bit of a hurdle to adopting modern Javascript like React.”
Baisch agreed. “For developers, the upgrade to PHP 8.2 and the removal of jQuery are major steps towards improved performance—even if it comes here and there with some additional work,” he said. “And the seamless upgrade from version 9 to 10 is a great relief.”
<h2>Evolving website UX and digital experiences</h2>
In addition to applauding specific, updated features that accompany the release, some experts looked even more broadly for what the future might look like for Drupal sites.
“This new Drupal version should enhance Drupal’s significant influence on the future of the web,” said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-garcia-domenech-02921573/?originalSubdomain=es" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alexandra García Domenech</a>, manager CMS with Hiberus Digital Business. “Upcoming new features will take Drupal’s usability and adoption to a whole new level. Currently [Drupal] is used by 1 in 30 websites in the world, and our goal is to significantly increase this number. With Drupal 10, the transition from just a CMS to an Open Source Digital Experience Platform (DXP) will be very close to completion and will allow digital agencies to create better sites quickly.”
West also expressed excitement over Drupal’s enhancements for accessibility and internationalization.
“The support for better accessibility and internationalization will be very useful in the future, along with paving a path forward as a headless CMS taking an API first approach with better GraphQL support.”
<h2>A fond farewell to Internet Explorer</h2>
There’s no question that Internet Explorer—Microsoft’s legacy web browser—has been a thorn in the side of many SaaS platforms from an interoperability perspective. As Microsoft Edge supplants the retiring property, many platforms like Drupal are leaving it behind.
<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottlmassey/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scott Massey</a>, managing director of international markets at Pantheon, thinks this update to Drupal 10 is a noteworthy move for the CMS, one that will pay dividends around efficiency and performance.
“Removing support for Internet Explorer might not sound like the biggest change, but it will free up time spent working on legacy tech,” Massey said. “Because it does not have to look at backward compatibility with IE, Drupal 10 will require less time spent on outdated browsers.”
<h2>What’s next for Drupal?</h2>
While Drupal 10 is still fresh from the beta launchpad, Massey is already looking ahead—and sharing what he would like to see in the next release.
“I’d like a first-time user to have better choices in the look of their site from the start,” Massey said. “The theme marketplace has become inscrutable, and it’s a subtle barrier to entry for organizations who might choose Drupal for a proof of concept or a small site. I am hoping the project browser makes it easier for those new to Drupal to get a site launched first—then discover the amazing possibilities over time.”
Domenech echoed that sentiment. “For a newcomer to the Drupal community, it is often difficult to choose between a number of modules offering similar functionality. Another area for improvement would be a more intuitive rating system than the current one.”
<h2>Unwrapping a new release for the holidays</h2>
The anticipation for the new release is obvious, but experts also called attention to Drupal’s longstanding commitment to being an effective CMS authority.
“For me, Drupal remains one of the most powerful tools for organizations, not because of any particular new features (which are all well and good, keep them coming!), but because of its core data model,” Massey said. “I believe ‘the journey is the destination,’ and I have seen Drupal implementations that have helped companies better understand their organizational structure, data, content, and the interactions between all three. It is an unexpected and transformative by-product of carefully rethinking the CMS as the hub of how people communicate internally and externally. It’s part of the magic of Drupal that’s kept me around for over a decade now.”
With new features and enhanced functionality on the way, it is easy to see why users think Drupal 10 will make this a “December to remember.” We’ll be watching to see how Patheon and digital agencies around the globe leverage Drupal’s next wave of capabilities in 2023 and beyond, particularly as composable solutions continue to gain ground across the market.
<h2>About Pantheon</h2>
Pantheon is the platform for extraordinary websites, running sites in the cloud for customers including Stitch Fix, Okta, Home Depot, Pernod Ricard, and The Barack Obama Foundation. Modern organizations choose Pantheon to empower their digital teams to continuously optimize and innovate to deliver more engaging digital experiences. Using Pantheon’s WebOps platform, developers, marketers, and IT are empowered to work together to develop, test, and release website changes quickly and reliably, knowing their sites will remain stable and secure – even during the biggest traffic spikes.

What Do Industry Experts Expect for the Drupal 10 Launch? Here’s What They Told Us

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There were no crystal balls at last week’s <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/mach-alliance-releases-study-on-adoption-of-mach-technologies-by-tech-leaders-qa-with-sonja-keerl/">MACH Alliance</a> board meeting – at least none we could spot. But there were still quite a few salient prognostications being conjured during an unscripted Q&amp;A with select partners and media.
Moderated by <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/holly-hall-4b14a945/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Holly Hall</a>, managing director of the MACH Alliance, the lively discussion covered a range of pertinent topics, namely the economic slowdown looming over 2023.
CMS Critic was invited to listen in on the roundtable, which featured <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/casper-aagaard-rasmussen/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Casper Rasmussen</a>, MACH Alliance President and Global SVP of Technology at Valtech, as well as three MACH Alliance Executive Board Members: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gordana-vuckovic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gordana Vuckovic</a>, Chief Revenue Officer at Vue Storefront; <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-panella-b616911/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jon Panella</a>, Group Vice President at Publicis Sapient; and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tareknseir/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tarek Nseir</a>, Head of Digital Engagement, EMEA at EPAM Systems.
<h2>Revolution meets recession</h2>
The roundtable kicked off with two earth-shaking words: economic downturn.
Of course, this subject is on everyone's mind, particularly those in the technology sector where jobs are already being shed by the likes of <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/meta-follows-twitter-in-making-major-job-cuts-11668028132" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amazon and Adobe</a>. Are these the canaries in the proverbial coal mine?
While many economists have been chattering about an impending “chill” on the horizon, the Wall Street Journal is now forecasting a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/economists-now-expect-a-recession-job-losses-by-next-year-11665859869" target="_blank" rel="noopener">63% probability that the U.S. market tips into recession</a> in the next 12 months—which in turn could ignite a global contagion.  
Despite the impending challenges, the discussion turned to the rising role of the CFO as an activator, particularly for B2B organizations looking to reduce costs and make critical decisions around operations. Inviting CFOs into the conversation is helping to accelerate and optimize delivery—which is ultimately driving the customer experience.
As Jon Panella pointed out, one of the biggest impediments to businesses and manufacturers in 2022 has been the constant disruptions to the supply chain, which has impacted the customer’s expectation of same-day delivery. Despite significant technological advances around supply chain visibility, the lack of access to resources continues to be a drag on businesses as they plan for next year.
<h2>MACH is accelerating composable transformation</h2>
According to Tarek Nseir, the pace of transformation is accelerating across the enterprise. In B2B specifically, he is seeing signs that businesses are adjusting their operating models to be more composable—and that MACH is becoming a force.
Casper Rasmussen echoed this, stating that in the B2B space, there’s a growing degree of MACH preference and that buyers are looking for services. He went on to say that the MACH Alliance is providing a “rubber stamp” for customers, allowing MACH vendors to achieve greater traction.
“We will continue to provide innovation and optimization for the buyer’s journey,” said Rasmussen.
He also talked about the continued development of tools to aid in the decision-making process, improve TCO, and help organizations understand the costs of composable versus a single monolithic vendor.
<h2>Enhancing the investment in education </h2>
There was broad consensus amongst the group on the Alliance’s investment in education, from skills training to enablement. As Rasmussen noted, this is about “helping companies from within” to improve their internal dynamics.
Gordana Vuckovic also noted that education is a key activator for transformation—but that it needs to be sustainable. The problem in the past, she said, is that experts can provide consulting and guidance but ultimately disengage from the relationship. Organizations need persistent access to knowledge in order to make MACH and composable strategies attainable.
According to Nseir, there has been an enormous deficit in education for B2B companies in particular. Panella agreed: “Being part of the MACH Alliance is a must,” he said. “Clients are coming in, asking ‘how can you help us follow the path?’”
<h2>Differentiating with composable</h2>
As Panella pointed out, the scope of composable offerings from ISVs and vendors has become more mature, allowing them to scale their products and services with greater ease—much like traditional monoliths. This seems to translate into a more bullish view of growth for the composable category in 2023.
But what’s driving platforms, agencies, and integrators to embrace composable? According to the group, the ability to innovate and test quickly has had the most dramatic impact. Companies don’t know which models are best, so composable solutions are streamlining the lifecycle of spinning up and down and delivering almost anywhere via headless and microservices. Because this can be replicated over and over without the rigors of “rip and replace,” the entire process becomes much more efficient.
Rasmussen also spoke about the need for differentiation through composable, and how MACH has helped organizations pivot along the way. He went on to espouse the benefits of more meaningful personalization behind products and brand experiences that enhance loyalty and equity.
<h2>B2B versus B2C and tracking the “iterations”</h2>
There was some pointed discussion around the challenges facing B2B organizations and the adoption of MACH and composable. As a matter of context, it was suggested that most B2C companies might be on their third “iteration” of a strategy or stack, while B2B organizations are still on a first or second wave of transformation. This is likely why Alliance members haven’t seen as much greenfield opportunity in B2B (as of yet).
Despite the lag, the group did point out that B2B organizations tend to have better data than their consumer counterparts, enabling them to build better experiences around products. The standout observation: B2Bs have known customers, but not the required tech stack.
The group also talked discussed the opportunity event horizon for businesses to embrace MACH. Even those companies tethered to a years-long contract with a monolithic platform can start small and build inroads toward more advanced architectures in the future.
Their advice? Don't get stuck looking at the larger view. Instead, think in “smaller chunks.”
<h2>MACHifying more of the stack</h2>
One question posed to the roundtable was about traditional monolithic platforms becoming more composable. Prompting the discussion was <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/reviews/salesforce-cms-review-evolving-a-crm-powerhouse-into-a-dxp-challenger/">Salesforce</a>, which launched its <a href="https://www.ziffity.com/blog/salesforce-composable-storefront/#:~:text=In%20August%20this%20year%2C%20Salesforce,while%20increasing%20engagement%20and%20sales." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Composable Storefront</a> in August. A fully-customizable, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/">headless</a> digital storefront, the new service allows users to make changes on their eCommerce site with greater speed and flexibility.
The solution seems to fit a more composable mold (it's in the name, after all). But does it meet the MACH threshold? 
The other specific example they pondered was ERP, and whether companies like <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sap-drops-8-billion-to-buy-qualtrics/">SAP</a> would evolve their architectures to become more composable—or face competitors with MACH-oriented offerings.
Rasmussen replied, suggesting that these layers of the stack continue to reign as monoliths because there has been no other place for planning and resource data to live within the stack.
“Now with MACH, we have a place,” he said.
<h2>To be MACH or not to be, that is the question</h2>
The group also reflected on the efforts of other DXPs like Salesforce to position themselves as composable players in the market. When asked if these platforms might fit the MACH mold and become Alliance partners, Rasmussen reinforced the guiding principles of the organization, which mapped to his comments in a <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen/">previous interview</a> we conducted a few months ago.
“There are key qualities and attributes that need to be present,” he said. “[These organizations] are not there yet.”
This spurred further comments from the group about the key differentiators between MACH and composable. While the MACH Alliance believes fully in composability, the movement falls short of the specific tenants crystallized by the Alliance charter. As John Panella pointed out: “All MACH solutions are composable, but not all composable solutions are MACH.”
That may be true. But continuing to clarify the differentiators must be a central focus, particularly as more organizations seek guidance on their composable journey.  
<h2>Key Takeaways</h2>
It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see that education will be the most critical initiative for the MACH Alliance in 2023. While issues like orchestrating the data layer or finding skilled practitioners will remain persistent challenges, it’s clear that teaching and leading are the essential tools for driving greater adoption.
While many organizations are predicting less-than-rosy economic conditions over the next 12 months, the MACH Alliance sees opportunities for accelerating growth by decoupling the innovation cycle. For B2B companies and manufacturers that have struggled due to supply chain issues and unprecedented inflation, the move into MACH may seem daunting—but also ripe with possibilities.
On a final note: holding these open roundtables is applause-worthy. It speaks volumes about the Alliance’s commitment to its members and provides a layer of transparency to the broader market. It also underscores the deeper mission of supporting MACH at a community level, where a "rising tide lifts all boats."
<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellygoetsch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kelly Goetsch</a>, Chief Strategy Officer at <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/commercetools-acquires-frontastic-adds-composable-frontend-capabilities-to-headless-commerce/">commercetools</a> and a leading voice within the MACH Alliance, once observed during a <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-kickoff-2023-brings-laser-focus-to-content-management-offers-sessions-with-industry-leaders/">CMS Experts</a> meeting that there might be a day when the Alliance is no longer needed—thus reflecting the market’s full pivot towards MACH. Until then, it will serve an essential role in helping everyone realize the promise of a composable future.

MACH Alliance Roundtable Focuses on Composability and Innovation as Economic Activators in 2023

MACH Alliance roundtable participants featuring headshots

The composable revolution is upon us – and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/contentstack-raises-57-5-million-in-series-b-round-qa-with-ceo-neha-sampat/">Contentstack</a> is establishing its position as a frontline innovator.
Last week, the Content Experience Platform (CXP) category leader and composable architecture pioneer announced $80 million in Series C funding. <a href="https://georgian.io/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Georgian</a> and <a href="https://www.insightpartners.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Insight Partners</a> co-led the round with participation from <a href="https://illuminate.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Illuminate Ventures</a>. Georgian’s Lead Investor Emily Walsh will join the Contentstack board along with Contentstack CFO David Overmyer.
“We look for high-growth companies with great leadership and a strong work culture," said Walsh. "We also love to help disruptors do what they do best. For all these reasons, we chose to double down on our investment. Contentstack’s ability to ensure customers are successful while also innovating at record speeds positions them as the leader in the CMS market. We are proud to co-lead this round and provide the Company with the support required for true category leadership.”
All three companies continue to grow their investment with Contentstack, contributing to a whopping $169 million raised thus far.
<h2>Powering the composable future with headless CMS</h2>
According to Contentstack, the company will use the infusion to support enterprise companies on their path to composable, helping them meet consumer demand for omnichannel and personalized experiences.
As the only <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/">headless CMS</a> offering a solution to “integration hell” with <a href="https://www.contentstack.com/company/press/contentstack-launches-first-ever-no-code-automation-hub-making-composable-content-experiences-easy-for-everyone/" target="_self" rel="noopener">Automation Hub</a>, Contentstack delivers a viable path to composable for enterprises. By automating and streamlining hundreds of activities across technologies and vendors in real-time, enterprises can now more aggressively retire costly legacy content management systems (CMS). This also allows them to unlock digital experience innovation more broadly and realize a significantly greater return on investment (ROI).  
"We started Contentstack years ago because other solutions in the market did not meet the growing demand for cloud, omnichannel, and ease of working with other technologies," said Neha Sampat, Contentstack’s founder and CEO. "Embracing composable means embracing change, empowering teams, getting more bang for your buck, and continuing to win in a tough economic environment. With the best composable content platform and the industry's best customer care, Contentstack is determined to help companies on their path. For enterprises ready to challenge the status quo, Contentstack will not only be your ally every step of the way. We go beyond that – we won’t let you fail.”
The Company’s flagship <a href="https://www.contentstack.com/company/press/contentstack-expands-customer-support-launch-industry-first-cross-vendor-service-commitment-program/" target="_self" rel="noopener">Care Without Compromise</a> program ensures cross-vendor support in composable environments. With Automation Hub and Care Without Compromise, Contentstack is again at the forefront of the composable movement, which strives to set customers up for success in today’s rapidly changing business and technology landscape.
Reinforcing its commitment to composable, Contentstack is also a founding member of the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen/">MACH Alliance</a>. Now with over 70 members, the independent non-profit organization helps enterprises understand, select, and evolve with best-of-breed technologies – so they can leave slow and expensive “monoliths” behind.
<h2>A growth streak built on composable</h2>
Since Contentstack’s Series B in June of 2021, it has seen explosive growth as more enterprises have adopted composable architectures at the center of their digital strategies. The company has grown to more than 400 employees and is approaching over 50,000 users in over 70 global markets. In the same timeframe, Contentstack also delivered a cloud-agnostic solution supporting both AWS and Microsoft Azure in the US and Europe.
Contentstack has also doubled the number of customers they serve and nearly tripled ARR, all while maintaining a 97% customer retention rate. Additionally, Contentstack has scaled its book of business with some of the world's largest brands. According to its press release, 42% of its new customers claim revenues greater than $1B, and 35% of them are publicly traded.
Contentstack also won six 2022 Comparably "Best Places to Work" Awards and was honored as an Inc. "Best Workplaces" in 2021. <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Austin Business Journal </a>also named Neha Sampat one of Austin’s Best CEOs in 2022.
<h2>About Contentstack</h2>
<a href="https://www.contentstack.com/" target="_self" rel="noopener">Contentstack</a> – the Content Experience Platform (CXP) category leader – empowers marketers and developers to deliver composable digital experiences at the speed of their imagination. Companies such as ASICS, Chase, Express, Holiday Inn, Icelandair, Mattel, McDonald's, Mitsubishi, Riot Games, and Shell trust Contentstack to power their most critical content experiences with uncompromising scale and dependability. Famous for its Care without Compromise™, Contentstack has achieved the industry's highest customer satisfaction rating. Contentstack is also a founder of the MACH Alliance, setting the industry agenda for open and composable technology that is Microservices-based, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS, and Headless. Learn more at <a href="http://www.contentstack.com/" target="_self" rel="noopener">http://www.contentstack.com</a>.

Contentstack Raises $80 Million Series C, Focuses on Accelerating the Path to Composable for Enterprises

Contentstack logo against purple background

The "Muskavation" of <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a> continues, and the social media giant's newly anointed King is forcing many tech companies to reassess their remote work strategies.
Could this mean the end of <a href="https://zoom.us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zoom</a> calls in pajamas and board meetings interrupted by cats?
And who, exactly, is resuming their commute back to the office?
While the remote work phenomenon might be in the rearview for many employees, it seems that developers will continue to drive the trend – and even shape its future. This is according to a recent survey published by <a href="https://www.netlify.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Netlify</a>, a buzzworthy platform that's powering modern web development.
The company announced the findings last week from its third annual <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3700082-1&amp;h=3410126094&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fjamstack.org%2Fsurvey%2F2022%2F&amp;a=%C2%A0Jamstack+Community+Survey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Jamstack Community Survey</a>, the definitive pulse on global trends across the Jamstack web developer ecosystem. An acronym for Javascript, APIs, and Microservices (the "JAM"), <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-jamstack-static-site-generators-for-2021/">Jamstack</a> is an architectural model that decouples the web experience layer from the data and business logic – improving the flexibility, scalability, performance, and maintainability of modern apps. 
"The Jamstack Community Survey is created by the community, for the community," said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathias-biilmann-christensen-a5a3805/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Matt Biilmann</a>, co-founder and CEO of Netlify. "The findings will not only help developers learn from their peers but also help business leaders better understand how developers can be change makers within their organizations. They can learn about what tools and processes they need to be most impactful."
Along with prognosticating the future of remote work, the survey also revealed interesting data from developers about Web3, the growth of serverless and edge computing, and where content management systems fit in the mix.
<h2>For developers, remote work isn't going away </h2>
As Covid-19 lockdowns become a footnote in recent history, the impact of remote work is undeniable. In the last two years, it has cemented itself as "the new normal." 83% of developers claim to be working more than half the time remotely, while 76% say they've maintained or increased their frequency of working remotely in the last year.
What's clear in the survey results is that remote has become the preferred way of working for developers. In fact, 87% say they enjoy remote work – and an astounding 55% said they would quit their jobs if forced to return to an office. Someone should send Musk the memo. 
According to the survey, 33% of respondents have already changed jobs in the last year, increasing the likelihood that developers will not hesitate to "job-hop" if they need to. It's worth noting that remote work flexibility and career growth opportunities were the most frequently cited reasons for leaving a job, followed by compensation.
Clearly, developers value freedom a little more than finances. At least right now. 
<h2>Web3 hope... or hype?</h2>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Web3</a> has captured the tech zeitgeist throughout 2022, with <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-18/bitcoin-responds-to-ftx-contagion-by-heading-for-a-weekly-gain" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bitcoin</a> starting the year at around $50,000 to the beleaguered <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/15/ftx-says-could-have-over-1-million-creditors-in-new-bankruptcy-filing.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FTX exchange just declaring bankruptcy</a>. 
While the concept of a new web composed of decentralized blockchains (DeFi) is intriguing, Web3 has also been the target of mistrust and skepticism. According to the survey, 7% to 10% of developers have tried technologies like cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), but only 3% report using them regularly.
To help gauge the hope and the hype for the future, Netlify also asked developers to share their general attitudes toward Web3. The findings were mixed: 42% of developers either don't know what Web3 is (or don't care), while 31% had negative feelings about it.
Bottom line: the survey shows that Web3 is still a long way from mass adoption, and developers continue to be slow and cautious about embracing it. 
<h2>Building better web experiences with serverless and edge </h2>
Jamstack is continuing to evolve the modern web by helping developers build more dynamic websites. Developers are relying on cutting-edge cloud technologies to achieve this, including <a href="https://goserverless.solodev.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">serverless computing</a>.
To that end, Netlify's 2022 Jamstack report found that serverless is now officially mainstream: 70% of developers report using it, up from 46% last year – a jaw-dropping adoption rate. Meanwhile, some 47% of developers are experimenting with edge dynamic sites, a sign of the continued innovation happening at the network edge.
Serverless technology is enabling Jamstack websites to grow their capabilities while maintaining the simplicity of development and deployment that is the hallmark of the platform.
<h2>Web frameworks and programming languages </h2>
To build dynamic web apps, developers require flexibility. They want to choose whichever web framework best suits their needs, and they now have plenty to choose from.
Among the landscape of options, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/uxpin-merge-review-sync-react-components-with-prototypes/">React</a> continues to be the overwhelming favorite, with 71% of developers reporting they build with it – 3% more than last year.
Riding React's popularity is <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-jamstack-static-site-generators-for-2021/">Next.js</a>, which uses React and is the overall most popular web framework. In fact, 1 in 2 developers (47%) say they have built sites using Next.js in the last year. However, competition remains strong: newer entrants like Astro (11%) and SolidJS (6%) have had promising starts, and Remix (10%) and Sveltekit (15%) have grown steadily year over year. Vite saw an 18% increase since 2021, with a third (32%) of developers using it.
"We're thrilled that a third of the Jamstack community is embracing Vite as they build for the modern web," said Matias Capeletto (aka Patak), from the Vite Core Team. "Vite's usage more than doubled in a year, thanks to being adopted by many modern app frameworks and web tools. The pace of innovation continues to accelerate. Vite's Rollup-based Plugin API allows the ecosystem to share solutions and collaborate in ways we haven't seen before."
Regarding programming language preferences, the great <a href="https://www.typescriptlang.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TypeScript</a> migration continues, with usage growing 110% in the last two years. 21% of developers now call TypeScript their primary programming language, while the number of developers who say the same about JavaScript has dropped from 63% to 53% in the same timeframe. However, JavaScript isn't going anywhere soon: 96% of developers say they use it, even if it isn't their primary choice.
<h2>The CMS of choice is still WordPress, but... </h2>
In the world of Content Management Systems (CMS), things continue to evolve. <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/wordpress-keeps-classical-editor-alive-acquires-frontity-to-expand-headless-capabilities/">WordPress</a> is still by far the biggest winner, with 37% of devs saying they use it – even though their reported satisfaction with it is lower than many alternatives.
Interestingly, WordPress as a stand-alone CMS is losing share. At the same time, 22% of respondents said that they're using WordPress as a headless API to power a Jamstack website – and that number is growing.
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/storybloks-cms-report-shows-enterprises-are-still-scared-of-omnichannel-content-experiences/">Storyblok</a>, a newcomer to the survey, reached 9% usage amongst respondents, a strong showing for the up-and-coming <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/">headless CMS</a>. 
"More and more developers realize the potential of headless architecture in building and deploying better web experiences," said Dominik Angerer, CEO and founder of Storyblok. "At the same time, we believe that the content team utilizing the power of Jamstack with a headless CMS like Storyblok gets the content tools they need and love for creating great experiences on the frontend."
To explore the findings in more detail, you can view the <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3700082-1&amp;h=4098052836&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fjamstack.org%2Fsurvey%2F2022%2F&amp;a=full+methodology+of+the+survey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">full methodology of the survey</a>.
<h2 class="wcag-arialevel-3">About Netlify</h2>
Netlify is the platform your developers love for building highly-performant and dynamic websites, e-commerce stores and web apps. By uniting an extensive ecosystem of technologies, services and APIs into one workflow, Netlify unlocks new levels of team productivity, while saving time and money. As pioneers of the Jamstack movement, Netlify brings together all modern web frameworks, serverless functions and edge computing into one platform to deliver unmatched user experiences. Millions of developers and businesses build with Netlify, from Fortune 500 companies like Unilever and Verizon to companies changing our digital experiences like Peloton and Twilio. Get started for free at <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3700082-1&amp;h=2291442546&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.netlify.com%2F&amp;a=netlify.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">netlify.com</a>.

Netlify Publishes Jamstack Community Survey, Shows Developers are Driving the Future of Remote Work

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When the MACH Alliance first arrived on the scene in June of 2020, the composable movement was still gestating. While monoliths and industry watchers pondered its fierce, no-exceptions-allowed membership requirement to be 100 percent focused on MACH, it's now clear that many vendors and agencies are adopting this posture – a clear signal that composability is shaping business strategy.
To that end, the <a href="http://www.machalliance.org/">MACH Alliance</a> announced this week that three new member companies have joined its ranks: <a href="https://www.bloomreach.com/en">Bloomreach</a>, <a href="https://www.emporix.com/">Emporix</a>, and <a href="https://kontent.ai/">Kontent.ai</a>. These additions bring the group of independent tech companies dedicated to advocating for open, best-of-breed technology ecosystems to more than 70. Worth noting: two of these vendors have recently adapted their models to become hyperfocused on MACH principles to meet the horizon of composable opportunities. 
“As with all new members that join the Alliance, we feel tremendous pride in continuing to attract such a reputable group of global leaders who believe in our mission,” said Casper Rasmussen, MACH Alliance president. “The fact we’re seeing companies like Bloomreach and Kontent.ai reshape their portfolio and product strategy sends a strong message to the market that MACH is not only the future standard for enterprise technology best practice, it’s the standard now."
<h2>Expanding the MACH movement and evolving the ecosystem</h2>
The embracing of <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen/">MACH</a> – an acronym for Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS and Headless – is no mystery. Composable architectures are giving companies a deeper level of agility, allowing them to deliver new features to customers at greater speed. But there are other considerations influencing the move to MACH, including the palpable presence of softening IT budgets and the specter of a global recession. 
"At a time when economic factors have forced many organizations to cut back spending on technology and innovation, we’re seeing that businesses who’ve embraced MACH are faring better by being able to adapt and respond faster,” said Rasmussen. 
To be certain, MACH is requiring a new philosophical mindset to embrace its foundational principles successfully. But based on the rapid scale of its membership community – which includes individual ambassadors that are champions for the cause – it's evident that more platforms and integrators are willing to make the shift and realize the benefits.
As previously noted, all members of the MACH Alliance must meet a stringent set of <a href="https://machalliance.org/insights/mach-certification-a-seal-of-confidence">certification standards</a> and pass muster with the Alliance's unbiased panel of reviewers. To carry the coveted "MACH Certified" seal, a company must be in full compliance with the organization's standards at all times. As we've covered in past interviews and articles, the Alliance has dismissed members based on acquisitions or other circumstances that have altered their posture.  
<h2>Welcoming Bloomreach, Emporix, and Kontent.ai to the MACH Alliance</h2>
According to the Alliance's press release, the three new members announced this week will join a cadre of leading platform and solution providers, including some of the biggest names in global tech. They will also be in the company of advanced "MACH enablers" that provide cloud infrastructure services and solution ecosystems, including <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/aws-joins-mach-alliance-as-enabler-member-reflects-growth-of-cloud-native-solutions/">AWS</a>.
The three new certified members of the MACH Alliance include:
Bloomreach: Launched in 2009 as an algorithm-powered platform for improving online experiences, Bloomreach has fully transformed into a composable commerce experience cloud, delivering industry-leading personalization and digital commerce growth. The company has undergone a major shift in product strategy over the past 18 months and is now 100 percent focused on MACH – enabling it to achieve Alliance certification. Bloomreach offers a range of composable solutions including AI-driven search and merchandising, a <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/">headless CMS</a>, a leading CDP, and marketing automation capabilities.
Emporix: A composable commerce platform that enables bigger, more engaged, and more efficient B2B and B2C, Emporix enables organizations to digitize and run their businesses with a cloud-native technology for building channels. Its open, modular, API-first ecosystem and easy-to-use, no-code interface are some of the many attributes that earned Empoix its MACH Alliance certification.
Kontent.ai: A modular content platform that enables global content and engineering teams to plan, create, and deliver experiences across channels, Kontent.ai was previously a business unit within the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/kentico-cloud-whats-it-all-about/">Kentico</a> software portfolio. Spun off as a standalone entity in July of 2022, the cloud-native service is now purely focused on MACH – and positioned for membership in the Alliance.
<h2>About the MACH Alliance</h2>
The MACH Alliance is a [501(c)(6)] non-profit organization, governed by an independent board and does not endorse specific vendors, members, or otherwise. The Alliance was formed in June 2020 to help enterprise organizations navigate the complex modern technology landscape. It aims to guide and show the business advantage of open tech ecosystems that are Microservices based, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS, and Headless. All MACH Alliance members meet certification principles that are published on the website. The MACH Alliance welcomes technology companies and individual industry experts who share the same vision for the future. Learn more at<a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fmachalliance.org%2F&amp;esheet=52478831&amp;newsitemid=20210818005487&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=machalliance.org&amp;index=5&amp;md5=db9d7bdff8c8646152c1923d3ff4adc2"> machalliance.org</a>, read here about<a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fmachalliance.org%2Fblogdetail%2Fbltfc0a3afbca44303e&amp;esheet=52478831&amp;newsitemid=20210818005487&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=MACH+certification&amp;index=6&amp;md5=ba1c5d6e1bf42963a3a8bb59771d09da"> MACH certification</a> and follow us on<a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.twitter.com%2Fmachalliance&amp;esheet=52478831&amp;newsitemid=20210818005487&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=Twitter&amp;index=7&amp;md5=dfeea3f8422d14d51b860d90329a6837"> Twitter</a> and<a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fcompany%2Fmachalliance&amp;esheet=52478831&amp;newsitemid=20210818005487&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=LinkedIn&amp;index=8&amp;md5=a1db2958e174d041221c1705e694b6f0"> LinkedIn</a>.

Bloomreach, Emporix, and Kontent.ai Join MACH Alliance, Pushing Member Total Over 70

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<a href="https://www.acquia.com/">Acquia's</a> putting the pedal to the metal in the headless race. 
Recently, the digital experience platform provider released an open source headless starter kit within the company’s <a href="https://www.acquia.com/platform/content-management-systems">content management system, Acquia CMS</a>. The kit expands existing Acquia CMS offerings, which empower organizations to accelerate the building of traditional Drupal-based applications.
Dubbed the "Acquia CMS Headless Starter Kit," the new solution gives developers a powerful set of tools to speed time to market, reduce operational costs, and gain flexibility in launching new digital initiatives quickly. Acquia introduced the new kit to developers at its customer and partner event, <a href="https://www.acquia.com/engage">Acquia Engage</a>.
<h2>Building on the growth of headless and hybrid Drupal apps</h2>
According to the company's press release, Acquia has many customers who have already built <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/">headless</a> and hybrid Drupal applications to create innovative digital experiences. Headless and hybrid architecture makes it possible for organizations to deliver content to more than just a traditional web browser. With a headless CMS architecture, organizations can deliver content to digital signage, wearable devices, chatbots, mobile applications, kiosks, and more.
The Acquia CMS Headless Starter Kit gives organizations the tools they need to build a modern headless or hybrid application up to 50% faster, with Drupal as the backend that powers one or more frontends. Existing Drupal users can also leverage the Headless Starter Kit to extend their existing Drupal application. 
“Managing content across current and emerging channels and devices is a major challenge for many organizations,” said Dries Buytaert, creator of Drupal and co-founder and CTO of Acquia. “As an accelerator for developing hybrid and headless applications, the Acquia CMS Headless Starter Kit offers out-of-the-box optimizations to reduce time to market with new and innovative digital experiences. This flexibility makes it possible for developers to use the components of Acquia CMS and Drupal that they need most—with the ultimate goal of getting the right content to the right user in the right channel at the right time.”
A headless approach works well for organizations that want to provide content through multiple API endpoints and modern JavaScript frontends. Others may prefer a hybrid approach, which provides similar API access for developers while empowering business users with low-code and no-code tools for application building. Acquia CMS provides the best of both worlds, giving organizations the freedom to choose the right path for their needs.
<h2>Leveraging Next.js to power frontend experiences</h2>
As headless strategies power more of the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-jamstack-static-site-generators-for-2021/">JAMstack</a>, companies are turning to static site generators to deliver faster websites that are decoupled from a traditional CMS. To complement the Acquia CMS Headless Starter Kit, Acquia has also released a <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-jamstack-static-site-generators-for-2021/">Next.js</a> Starter Kit to help accelerate the build of frontend applications that display content created in the headless CMS. This combo gives organizations the ability to support both the front and backend of their digital content experiences. 
"Headless and hybrid CMSes give organizations the freedom to use the newest frontend technology, while retaining their investment in their legacy systems and content backend,” said Marci Maddox, Research Vice President, Digital Experience Strategies, IDC. “This could be particularly attractive for commerce users, such as retailers, CPG companies, and others where brand managers require full control over the content that appears across multiple sites, or want the flexibility to change things such as site navigation or product categorization over time. The Acquia CMS headless starter kit can help organizations experience the benefits of a headless CMS; bringing together developers and content creators in a modern environment."
<h2>Key features of the Acquia CMS Headless Starter Kit</h2>
Here are a few of the noteworthy features in the Acquia CMS Headless Starter Kit:
<ul>
<li>Specialized Headless Developer Role: Frontend developers have a dedicated role inside the CMS for accessing API docs and managing access for frontend applications connecting to the CMS.</li>
<li>Marketer-friendly Content Preview: Users can preview content through their Next.js application from inside the CMS.</li>
<li>Omni-channel Made Easy: Connect content to multiple frontends that communicate across multiple channels.</li>
<li>Robust API Dashboard: A dedicated dashboard for frontend developers to manage all headless integration aspects with the CMS.</li>
<li>Flexible Headless and Hybrid UI Modes: Users can operate in a pure headless mode or in hybrid mode where Drupal is still used to render a frontend.</li>
<li>Simplified Data Modeling: Revamped admin navigation brings all the data modeling controls under a single menu that makes sense in a purely headless CMS.</li>
</ul>
The open source Acquia CMS Headless Starter Kit is freely available for download. To learn more about Acquia CMS, visit <a href="https://www.acquia.com/products/drupal-cloud/acquia-cms">https://www.acquia.com/products/drupal-cloud/acquia-cms</a>.
<h2>About Acquia</h2>
Acquia 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. Learn more at <a href="https://www.acquia.com/">https://acquia.com</a>.

Acquia DXP Releases Open Source Headless CMS Accelerator

If you’ve ever used <a href="https://developer.chrome.com/docs/lighthouse/overview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google Lighthouse</a> (or a similar tool), you’ve probably experienced that sobering moment when the results surface… and you realize your website is slow.
Or, at the very least, slower than you thought.
Website performance testing is an elemental function. It’s core to delivering and maintaining a positive user experience for any business or organization. And speed is just one dimension: brands need to be concerned about quality, accessibility, and a host of other variables that impact UX.
Of course, the most important part of any website testing regimen is what you do with the results to optimize and improve – so future tests look better. 
As it turns out, your specific industry might reveal a lot about your sensitivity to customer needs relative to your website performance. That’s what the team at <a href="https://www.contensis.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Contensis</a>, an enterprise content management system, discovered in its recent analysis of all FTSE 100 and 250 homepages.
Contensis <a href="https://www.contensis.com/community/blog/ftse-website-performance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published its research</a> in the beginning of August, but we finally got a chance to sit down with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-chivers-34a36b11/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Richard Chivers</a>, the key man behind the platform, to talk about the report's goals and what Contensis has been doing to help organizations build better-performing websites.
<h2>A legacy of CMS innovation </h2>
One might say that Rich Chivers is Contensis. During his 23 -year tenure at <a href="https://www.zengenti.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zengenti</a>, the parent company of the CMS platform, he has served as head of development, CTO, and now CEO. Within that stretch, Chivers helped grow Contensis within the UK market where the company is based, with international customers in regions like Canada and Italy.
In his current role, Chivers is helping to guide the strategic direction of the core Contensis product as it enters its next chapter. “Seeing the rise of <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/">headless</a>, it’s massive,” he said. That’s underscored by the platform’s hybrid capabilities to serve both traditional and headless roles in an omnichannel strategy. The platform's focus on easy-to-use CMS features like content modeling with fast, adaptable, and reusable content types have put wind in its sails, allowing it to compete head-to-head with other modern platforms designed for content operations. 
We also discussed the nature of being composable as a modern digital experience tool. “The composable way of thinking is how we’ve been since the beginning,” he said. “Contensis has always tried to provide the basics to keep things simple. For 90% of cases, that works. But if they want something specialized, we recommend other resources to integrate with.”
Since 2001, Zengenti has been “crafting and refining” Contensis, providing a stream of improvements. Now, the Zengenti practice seems focused on providing expanded services that include hosting, design, UX, project management, and other web-related disciplines. They have a team of 30 people dedicated to custom development and implementation, and 40% of their customers choose Contensis for these optional services.
“We have agency partners, and we provide training and resources,” said Chivers. “We try to remain agnostic and let the customer design it [the project] how they want to.”
<h2>Big players, slow webpages: unpacking the FTSE 100 and 250 research</h2>
According to Chivers, Contensis has always focused on higher education, where accessibility is an essential baseline requirement. As he noted, they “know the space” and were building with accessibility in mind before much of the web and digital experience industry.
When asked about the research and what prompted it, Chivers said that they saw an opportunity to focus on a larger portion of the market and reveal what was happening around readability and content governance. This led to the testing engagement – which was quite revealing.
When a second can mean the difference between a buy and a bounce, it’s fair to say that performance measurement has become critical for every online business. But as Contensis discovered in the study, it’s companies in the media and publishing industry that are optimizing for success. Contensis provided a table of industry sectors and their respective Lighthouse scores, which illustrates how sectors like retail and travel – businesses that rely heavily on digital performance – are lagging. Interestingly, areas like manufacturing and logistics are doing very well, perhaps for a myriad of reasons such as fewer digital commerce requirements. 
Contensis used three dimensions of Google Lighthouse measurements – performance, accessibility, and homepage speed – to develop its scoring rubric. Chivers noted that the biggest eye-opener was around accessibility and the disparity between categories like travel and hospitality. With 22 percent of UK citizens living with some manner of disability, Chivers noted that improving accessibility would be a “win-win for the sector and their customers.”
<h2>Increased competition and economic challenges</h2>
As CMS becomes an increasingly commoditized layer of the digital stack, legacy platforms must find new ways to enhance their features while energizing their user base. As Chivers noted, much has changed across the CMS landscape in the last decade, particularly with how organizations select platforms.
“Everyone was handing the problem of a website to a monolith provider,” he said. “That’s how we used to be ten years ago. Where we [Contensis] sit today is that we offer a completely headless CMS with everything you would expect from the content side – and more.” This includes APIs, a deployment platform, hosting, and even the freedom for developers to build in any language they prefer.
“With Contensis, you have one house under which all things sit,” said Chivers. “You don’t have to have a big DevOps team to create CI flows – like a large organization using AWS and other tools that need three or four people just to deliver.”
As the enterprise software market faces the growing specter of a global economic recession, we asked Chivers how Contensis and the CMS category might be challenged by the headwinds. He took it in stride, noting that he successfully navigated his company through the previous recession and they're buoyed by customers in the public sector, including local government and higher education. These organizations, he noted, tend to "tighten procurement" versus eliminating it.
Despite the economic realities, Chivers says that Zengenti and Contensis are in a “position that many would love to have” with long-standing customers that continue to stay and evolve with the platform. The company is stable, self-funded, and currently not reliant on VC investment.
“[Our customers] have no reason to jump because we’re always ahead of where they want to be,” he said.
<h2>What’s ahead for Contensis?</h2>
We asked Chivers about any new product features on the Contensis roadmap that readers would be interested in learning about, and he immediately mentioned two things: first, some new advancements to the platform's blocks functionality, which should start releasing in the next month or two. The other is a new concept that will enable developers and site owners to release code and features faster – and roll back in a split second. Chivers described it as a more “agile-esque” approach that will impact coders while infusing more low-code capabilities. 
The gauntlet of personalization came up (as it always does), and Chivers said that it’s critical but needs to give customers the insight to see what users are doing on a site. This in turn provides more actionable information about what needs to be personalized. He also noted that personalization can be a struggle for organizations using multiple platforms, even if there are clear benefits.
“If we look at what everyone is trying to do with [personalization] right now, like Contentful and others that have been marketed heavily, there’s a place where composable solutions make sense – and others where they don’t.”
As Contensis looks ahead into the unknown of 2023, they have the unique advantage of hindsight. With over two decades of constant innovation and dedicated leadership, it’s no wonder their community of customers remains loyal and stalwart. It’s a rare position built on relationships – and one that continues to serve them well under Chiver’s leadership.
<h2>About Contensis</h2>
Contensis provides a single place to create, maintain and deliver your content. Its content modeling, authoring, and governance features help your teams to create and keep on top of well-structured content. A flexible set of APIs makes it easy to use your content in any way you like. Learn more at <a href="https://www.contensis.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.contensis.com/ </a>

Contensis CMS Looks Ahead with Headless, Focuses on Performance: Interview with CEO Richard Chivers

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