Articles - Page 170

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

matt-garrepy

<a href="https://uniform.dev/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Uniform</a> has been anything but uniform. And that's a good thing. Since the company's inception, it has frequently challenged conventional industry thinking and elevated the conversation around composability.
As a certified 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>, Uniform has been trumpeting its vision for integrating modern composable systems with legacy monoliths, allowing customers to smooth out the rough patches with delivery and update their architectures "through evolution, not revolution."
Along with an array of platform products that include personalization, Uniform has been carving a new niche that has DXPs and analysts rethinking the digital experience landscape. It's the kind of bold thinking that helped the company <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/uniform-raises-28m-in-series-a-funding-round-for-composable-dxp/">raise $28 million</a> in Series A funding last December, just 15 months after breaking ground. 
Now, Uniform is launching a new kind of industry event that focuses on digital experience composition – or DXC (add it to your list of three-lettered acronyms to remember).
The virtual conference, dubbed <a href="https://uniform.dev/dxc-assembly?utm_campaign=marketing&amp;utm_source=uniform-blog&amp;utm_medium=DXCA-web-banner-link-for-uniform-page" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DXC Assembly</a>, will be held on November 15th and promises a unique mix of speakers that are leading the charge in the emerging field of digital experience composition. The conference will also feature breakout sessions, AMAs, and demos that will be announced in the coming weeks.
<h2 class="text-lg sm:text-2xl font-semibold text-blue-ribbon mb-4 md:mb-8">Building the future for developers and business teams</h2>
According to Uniform, DXC offers fast, robust, and highly adaptable tools that allow businesses to build lightning-fast experiences that are engaging and immersive. DXC-powered experiences are also designed to respond to changing business needs, customer behaviors, and market conditions. 
The DXC Assembly will feature a mix of speakers and attendees from across the development and business tracks. This includes engineers, architects, and marketers that work extensively in the digital experience arena.
While the agenda continues to evolve, the festivities will begin at 9 AM Eastern with a keynote from <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lars-birkholm-petersen/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lars Birkholm Petersen</a>, cofounder and CEO of Uniform. Immediately following, Uniform's CTO and cofounder <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexshyba/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alex Shyba</a> will demonstrate how to build a composable solution by taking a project from early development and quickly delivering it to business teams. 
In addition to the Uniform leadership, attendees will hear from a panel of speakers including <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/pierre-burgy-88671673/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pierre Burgy</a> of <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/strapi-releases-v4-of-headless-cms-enhances-plugins-and-api-performance/">Strapi</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/patriciakunth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Patricia Kunth</a> of Cobham Satcom, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lars-orum-andersen/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lars Ørum Andersen</a> of Kruso, and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/workingmom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Beth Torrie</a> of Tercera. 
If you're interested in attending DXC Assembly, you can get a free ticket for access to all workshops, live streams, and expos <a href="https://hopin.com/events/dxc-assembly-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>. 
<h2>About Uniform</h2>
Uniform is the world's first composable DXP, built for today's performance and scalability demands. A frictionless, pre-integrated composable digital experience platform gives companies the choice to continuously adopt traditional and headless best-of-breed technologies without ever replatforming, allowing businesses to deliver omnichannel orchestration with built-in high-performance testing and personalization – regardless of how their tech stacks evolve over time. Several top brands use Uniform to power their digital experiences, including Cirque du Soleil, Life Extension, Sunweb and Trimble. Visit <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3376641-1&amp;h=192194015&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fc212.net%2Fc%2Flink%2F%3Ft%3D0%26l%3Den%26o%3D3344227-1%26h%3D2537620590%26u%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Funiform.dev%252F%26a%3Duniform.dev&amp;a=uniform.dev" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">uniform.dev</a> for more.

Uniform to Host DXC Assembly, Offers First Virtual Conference on Digital Experience Composition

cms-critic-staff

Image of DXC Assembly artwork - a series of geometric shapes that form the letters "DXC" against a solid colored blue background.

<a href="https://www.storyblok.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Storyblok</a>, a content management system (CMS) category leader for 2022 that empowers developers and content teams to create better content experiences across all digital channels, just announced its expansion into the APAC (Asia-Pacific) region.
In its press release, the company noted that across APAC, brands such as Pizza Hut Australia, FC Sydney, Liberty Finance Australia, Vicinity Centres, Treasury Wine Estates, Crimson Education, Octopus Deploy, and Akasa Air already use Storyblok as the content engine for their digital experiences. 
In recognition of the massive growth potential throughout APAC, Storyblok has hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/markgpaterson/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marcus Paterson</a> as its APAC Sales Manager. Marcus has held leadership roles at National Australia Bank, Fuji Xerox, and Leidos Australia. Now based in Thailand, Paterson will support customers across the region and while being tasked with growing a sales team and related support roles.
“After working throughout APAC for over 20 years, I’ve come to understand the unique challenges that companies face in this part of the world,” said Paterson. “Agile and secure content management continues to be something that all sorts of businesses struggle with. With Storyblok, your marketing and content teams have a future-proof CMS that enhances content experiences at any scale.”
<h2>Surveying APAC professionals about CMS</h2>
To understand more about content management in APAC, Storyblok surveyed 301 professionals who use a CMS in both Australia and Singapore. The survey revealed the following key insights:
<ul>
<li>Only 13% of APAC companies are happy with their monolithic CMSs</li>
<li>46% are considering moving to a headless CMS</li>
<li>The CMS features that are most important: #1 Security, #2 Website speed, #3 Easy to use for content creators</li>
<li>61% are worried about the security of their CMS</li>
<li>67% use 2 or more CMSs</li>
<li>68% deliver content in more than one language</li>
<li>12% are using their CMS to deliver content in virtual reality, and 9% in augmented reality</li>
</ul>
“Based on our great success so far in APAC, we knew now was the right time to invest more heavily in the region,” said Sascha Ploebst, VP of Sales at Storyblok. “The data shows us that local companies are ready to move to headless CMS solutions to improve their digital storytelling.”
“Our expansion into APAC is an important milestone in the global growth of Storyblok,” said Dominik Angerer, Co-Founder and CEO of Storyblok. “Audiences all over the world demand better content experiences that traditional CMS platforms were never built for. Storyblok already offers a cloud-native CMS to manage all content in one place with data centers in the US, Europe, and a dedicated instance in China. I’m also proud to announce that we are planning to offer a locally hosted option in Australia soon for organizations that need this.”
To see the full survey results, you can download The State of Content Management in APAC report: <a href="https://www.storyblok.com/lp/state-of-cms-apac" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.storyblok.com/lp/state-of-cms-apac</a>
<h2 style="font-weight:400">About Storyblok 
</h2>
Storyblok, a content management system (CMS) category leader for 2022, empowers both developers and content teams to create better content experiences across any digital channel. Storyblok enhances audience experiences with best-in-breed performance, security, optimized omnichannel storytelling, and robust personalization. Storyblok enables content teams to create and manage content intuitively and independently with drag-and-drop visual editing, custom collaboration workflows, and a world-class digital asset manager – and empowers developers to build anything, integrate with everything, and publish everywhere with Storyblok’s headless CMS architecture.

Storyblok Expands to APAC to Transform Digital Storytelling Across Region

Myplanet is colonizing a new world – and it's called <a href="http://orium.com/?utm_source=PR&amp;utm_medium=news&amp;utm_campaign=A_Broad_Open_Press_Release____rename-cision" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Orium</a>.
The composable commerce specialist recently announced that it is taking on a new moniker as it targets growth in the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/mach-alliance-releases-study-on-adoption-of-mach-technologies-by-tech-leaders-qa-with-sonja-keerl/">MACH</a> (Microservices, API, Cloud-first, Headless) sector. 
As its website now proclaims, Orium aspires to be the premier composable commerce consultancy and systems integrator for <a href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/articles/omnichannel-retail/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">omnichannel retail</a> – or "omniretail" – working with best-in-class technology partners to set strong composable commerce foundations that support how brands serve customers across channels.
The rebrand comes on the heels of an $11 million investment from <a href="https://www.orium.com/article-myplanet-secures-investment-funding-to-expand-its-composable-commerce-retail-consulting-in-north-america/?utm_source=PR&amp;utm_medium=news&amp;utm_campaign=A_Broad_Open_Press_Release____rename-cision" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tercera announced last month</a>, and is part of the company’s accelerated growth plan and shifted focus on the rapidly evolving composable commerce space. 
<h2>From enterprise commerce to composable commerce</h2>
Founded in 2009, Myplanet has been a leading voice in enterprise commerce. In 2019, the company began specializing exclusively in composable commerce, customer data, and retail data platforms. Under the new Orium mantle, it plans to expand its offerings in these same areas and extend its partnerships with best-of-breed solutions providers – including <a href="https://commercetools.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commercetools</a> and <a href="https://www.elasticpath.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elastic Path.</a>
“We saw a paradigm shift coming – one that was rooted in the idea of change,” said CEO &amp; Founder Jason Cottrell. “So we took what was, at the time, a bit of a risk and made the shift to composable. It was the right decision, but that shift happened a lot faster than anyone could’ve predicted.”
Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and the urgent need for retailers to overhaul their digital operations, the company transitioned the business “in a matter of about three months” according to Cottrell. “Our core values are the same, but in a few crucial ways, we’re not the same company we used to be. We’ve changed, the industry has changed, and our name needed to reflect that.”
<h2>Early members of the MACH Alliance</h2>
Orium (as Myplanet) was part of the first wave of <a href="https://machalliance.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MACH Alliance</a> members. This makes sense, as the company had already built one of the largest portfolios of composable commerce implementations in North America. 
With the success of its <a href="https://composable.com/composable-accelerator" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Composable.com Accelerators</a> supporting award-winning work – and its team moving past 200 people – Orium sees continued opportunities for helping brands adopt MACH architectures and use them to engage customers more effectively. With the pace of industry growth accelerating, the new name will help usher in the next era of the business. 
“Our work is inherently dynamic. We’re always evolving,” says Cottrell. “The name Orium reflects the combination of innovation and implementation that’s at the heart of our work philosophy: we don’t just trade in ideas, we make them real.”
<h2>What's in a name? Understanding "Orium" as a brand</h2>
While Myplanet was natively intuitive, the word Orium is less so. In its press release, the company shed some light on the decision and provided some context for its meaning.
“We’ve talked about changing the name of the organization before, but the timing was never right,” says Leigh Bryant, Orium’s Director of Brand. “With the investment funding from Tercera and the changes we’ve seen in the last few years – both within our company and within the industry – the timing felt right to rebrand to something that reflects who we are today, and that can grow with us into the future.”
The name of the company is drawn from the suffix -orium, which means a place for a particular function. “An -orium is where things happen, and that’s how we view ourselves,” says Bryant. “We are where industry-leading technology partners and world-class clients come together to make things happen, pushing the boundaries of what the movement for composable commerce can be. As Orium, we bring the elements of a custom retail solution to life.” 
As the field of composable commerce continues to explode, Orium appears focused on meeting the demand.

Myplanet Rebrands to Orium After $11M Investment, Targets Growth in Composable Commerce

Image of Myplanet logo transforming to Orium logo

<a href="https://www.storyblok.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Storyblok</a>, a leading headless content management system (CMS), is back with another interesting study – this time, releasing its findings from a new survey of 208 retail and e-commerce professionals who directly manage enterprise CMS systems. 
The survey, released today, reveals the results of the latest digital retail trends happening around the Metaverse, CMS proliferation, and increasing website security attacks.
<h2>Content Management Systems Gone Wild</h2>
By now, we know that consumers use a combination of devices, platforms, and channels to access digital experiences – and the buyer's journey is becoming more non-linear. While mobile will likely continue to be a key orchestrator, brands are still motivated to understand these diverse channels so they can connect with audiences whenever, wherever, and however they choose. According to Storyblok's <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/storybloks-cms-report-shows-enterprises-are-still-scared-of-omnichannel-content-experiences/">previous research</a>, enterprises are still scared of investing in omnichannel experiences.
And yet...
Retailers' customer touchpoints have gone omnichannel, and the number of CMS systems deployed by enterprises is broadening as a result. 76 percent of enterprises surveyed have already deployed more than one CMS, and just over 10 percent have deployed five or more CMSs. Gone are the days when one monolithic CMS could handle it all. 
"Because of the increasing variety of channels that customers now use to interact with brands, retailers are having trouble delivering the experience that customers expect," said Dominik Angerer, CEO &amp; Co-founder of Storyblok. "Managing multiple CMSs adds another layer of management burden. Moving to a headless CMS architecture can help streamline channel management by replacing custom integrations with standard APIs." 
<h2>Metaverse E-commerce Experiences Are Increasing</h2>
While many brands are still discussing what the Metaverse even is, retailers and e-commerce companies are already taking action. 
Slightly more than 20 percent of retailers and e-commerce companies are already extending their CMS to display content into Metaverse environments to showcase their branded images and products. 
Enterprises are reporting that their CMS currently delivers content into alternative digital channels, including: 
<ul>
<li>16 percent into Virtual Reality environments </li>
<li>11 percent into Augmented Reality</li>
<li>17 percent to Smart Speakers</li>
</ul>
"These survey findings speak to the curiosity among consumers to try out interesting new digital environments, and the need for retailers and e-commerce sites to keep pace," said Thomas Peham, Storyblok's Vice President of Marketing. "A headless CMS architecture is by far the easiest way to deploy content to new channels as quickly as they arise, via simple APIs."
<h2>Cyber Hackers Find New Attack Vector</h2>
Malicious cyber attacks on retail enterprises have found a new point of entry: the Content Management System (CMS). 1 in 5 enterprises surveyed (20.6 percent) are seeing an increased number of attacks coming in via their CMS.
"As websites become more vital to business operations and host a wider variety of digital asset types, web-based attacks become critical vectors, and securing the CMS is now essential," said Sebastian Gierlinger, VP of Engineering at Storyblok. "In response to these risks, modern CMS architectures are often 'headless,' meaning that the back-end repository is not directly coupled to the front-end presentation layer, so if one end is attacked, the other end is not also compromised." 
Enterprises should also be verifying that their current CMS platform is certified to the latest ISO 27001 Information Security Management standard. In addition, the APIs used by the CMS platform should be protected with a <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/security/tls-1-2-to-become-the-minimum-for-all-aws-fips-endpoints/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TLS v1.2 (or higher)</a> encryption protocol. 
<h2>Survey Methodology </h2>
The findings above are from a survey of 781 US-based retail and e-commerce-related enterprises fielded on SurveyMonkey during August 2022, of which 208 respondents were further qualified as directly managing or working closely with the website Content Management System (CMS) at their company. The results cited in this document are based on the 208 qualified respondents and have a margin of error of +/-6% at a 90 percent confidence level. 
Additional results from the survey can be requested by contacting <a href="mailto:rich.mullikin@rocketscience.com">rich.mullikin@rocketscience.com</a>. 
<h2>About Storyblok</h2>
Storyblok, the content management system (CMS) category leader for 2022, empowers both developers and content teams to create better content experiences across any digital channel. Storyblok enhances audience experiences with best-in-breed performance, optimized omnichannel storytelling, and robust personalization. Enable content teams to create and manage content intuitively and independently with drag-and-drop visual editing, custom collaboration workflows, and a world-class digital asset manager. Empower developers to build anything, integrate with everything, and publish everywhere with Storyblok's headless CMS architecture. Leading brands such as Adidas, T-Mobile, Harvard Business School, Renault, and Marc O'Polo use Storyblok to shape their digital storytelling. See why Storyblok was named the #1 CMS for 2022 by G2 at <a href="http://www.storyblok.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.storyblok.com</a> and follow Storyblok on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/storyblok" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LinkedIn</a> and <a href="https://www.twitter.com/storyblok" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a>.

Storyblok Releases Results from Survey of US Retail Professionals; Reveals Trends in Headless CMS, Metaverse & VR E-commerce, and Website Security Attacks

Roadmaps have long been regarded as the "vision blueprints" for a software's lifecycle. Companies share them with their users in an effort to build anticipation while demonstrating their commitment to innovation.
For every roadmap, customer interaction is essential. Product managers and marketers rely on users to provide critical feedback – good and bad – to help remediate issues, shape new features, and enhance future versions. Some enterprise software platforms even utilize voting systems to prioritize the development of certain features, thus elevating community engagement to a more interactive level. 
When it comes to roadmaps, having an "ear to the ground" seems like a high priority for <a href="https://www.dotcms.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dotCMS</a>, an open source content management system. The company just launched its new <a href="https://www.dotcms.com/roadmap" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Interactive Roadmap</a> to encourage user influence and increase transparency around the development of its products and features. 
According to its press release, the roadmap will allow both customers and the CMS community to submit product ideas, comment on ideas submitted by other users, and even prioritize the importance of an idea by tagging it at different levels ("nice-to-have," "important," or "critical").
<h2>Three goals for a more interactive product roadmap</h2>
In the press release, dotCMS outlined three goals for its Interactive Roadmap. The first is to welcome product feedback and ideas from customers as well as the broader CMS community. dotCMS will use this input to help shape and prioritize future product development.
The second stated goal is all about communication. With its roadmap, the company aims to cultivate a more engaging relationship with its customers, prospective customers, users, and fans by providing the latest news on its product and feature development. It also suggested that while not all feature plans are substantial enough to be listed, key items will be continually added.
The third and final goal is to promote transparency around its product development roadmap itself. Though already an open source platform, it seems that dotCMS is doubling down on its community roots – reinforcing its responsibility to its users by highlighting its development plans and priorities.
<h2>Redefining the roadmap experience for open source CMS</h2>
While roadmaps are far from novel, dotCMS is rethinking the role of its own roadmap to the development process. Given how quickly CMS (or any software) needs to change and adapt – particularly as more <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/#:~:text=As%20the%20name%20implies%2C%20a,it%20to%20be%20displayed%20across">headless</a> and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen/">composable</a> features take center stage – a roadmap can represent strategic value as a living, breathing conduit to the user. In the end, it's all about gathering relevant customer data and using it to improve performance, enhance loyalty, and even accelerate outcomes.
"As our client base grows and the pace of our product development accelerates, we want to inform our clients of our product development roadmap and give our community the chance to directly voice their needs," said Jack Diego, dotCMS Product Manager. "That's why we're excited to publish our product release highlights and our roadmap in the same online space and collect valuable feedback at the same time."
When it comes to providing a transparent development process, dotCMS already has a leg up as an open source platform. Its codebase is freely available on <a href="https://github.com/dotCMS" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GitHub</a>, giving its users and community a clear line of sight to the software's capabilities. In many ways, it's the ultimate expression of trust and accountability that a software vendor can provide. 
"With this, dotCMS welcomes the opportunity to strengthen client relationships," said Diego. "Both by highlighting our near-term accomplishments and by giving greater visibility into our long-term product vision."
If you're interested in perusing the dotCMS roadmap, you can find it at <a href="https://www.dotcms.com/roadmap" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.dotcms.com/roadmap.</a>
<h2>About dotCMS</h2>
Built on leading Java technology, dotCMS is an open-source, hybrid-headless content management system that gives developers the flexibility of a headless CMS while equipping marketers with no-code visual content authoring. Founded in 2003, dotCMS is a privately held US company with a global network of certified development partners and an active open source community. dotCMS has generated millions of downloads and more than 100,000 implementations and integration projects worldwide. Notable customers include: Telus, Standard &amp; Poors, Hospital Corporation of America, Royal Bank of Canada, Comcast, Thomson Reuters, Dairy Queen, City Furniture, Varo Bank, Lennox International, Firstmac, and Newell Brands.

dotCMS Launches Interactive Roadmap to Engage with Customers and Community on Product Development

Image of dotCMS logo against a dark purple background.

In physics, the word "amplitude" is defined as the maximum extent of a vibration or oscillation measured from the position of equilibrium.
OK. Unless you're a math nut, that might sound a little heady. But factor out the quantum mechanics and "amplitude" is really just a means of analyzing the range of quality for a process or phenomenon. 
In that sense, it's as relatable to measuring points on a wave as it is to tracking digital interactions. 
When <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamgreco/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Adam Greco</a> joined <a href="https://amplitude.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amplitude</a> as a Product Evangelist in 2020, he saw a wave of displacement across the digital analytics industry – a seismic shift from a marketing to a product mindset, all in pursuit of broader customer analytics. He describes this moment as a new "digital divide" that centers around a much larger question: where exactly should digital analytics live in an organization?
I had a chance to chat with Adam just before Amplitude – a leading analytics and digital optimization platform – announced that it was named a "Strong Performer" in the Q2 <a href="https://amplitude.com/press/customer-analytics-report-q2-22" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Forrester Wave report</a> for Customer Analytics Technologies. The timing was apropos as the company has wind in its sails. 
Adam might well be a quantum physicist in the field of digital analytics. For over two decades, he's advised hundreds of organizations on the practice of analytics and authored over 300 blogs and one "definitive" book on Adobe Analytics. He is often a featured speaker at industry events and has served on the board of the Digital Analytics Association. 
"I've been through more than anyone on planet." That's how Adam described his 25 years in the Adobe Analytics world – which included the early days of <a href="https://molzana.com/blog/adobe-analytics-a-decade-after-acquiring-omniture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Omniture</a>. As Adobe's undisputed reign over the digital experience space expanded, he consulted around the AEM product and continued to roadmap the critical role of analytics.  
What's interesting about Adam is how he grounds a complex narrative with simplicity. In a <a href="https://amplitude.com/blog/adam-greco-joins-amplitude?utm_source=linkedin_organic&amp;utm_medium=Social&amp;utm_campaign=adam-greco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blog post</a> from late last year, he conjured Ted Lasso as a muse for his analytics journey, adding humorous anecdotes to help shape his story. In that sense, he's as much a physicist as a coach, which made for a great conversation around the convergence of digital analytics – and how Amplitude is helping to drive what's next. 
<h2>The Evolution of CDP and the Value of Data</h2>
Industry veterans always bring the gift of wisdom to technology organizations. Not to "age" Adam, but his two decades of work across the analytics landscape has provided him with unrivaled knowledge. To that end, he has some strong views on the role of customer data – and how organizations have had a traditionally siloed approach to managing and analyzing it. 
"We're really bringing disparate technologies together," he said. "CDP, analytics, personalization – all converging to build better customer experiences. As we moved from web to mobile to marketing, CDP, in particular, has been 'ungirding' all of this."
As Adam pointed out, many customers are using CDP just to collect data and then send it to analytics platforms. Part of his goal is to help move more organizations directly into Amplitude so they're not paying twice for their data – what he affectionately calls the "CDP Tax."
"CDPs should be more insights and analytics-driven, capable of looking at problems in experiences," Adam said. "Every vendor will need a CDP of some kind because they want to collect data from every touchpoint: mobile apps, OTT, web, etc. Pulling it all together and creating action is key."
What's clear to Adam is the critical role of analytics in the advancing data morass. He predicts that in five years, CDP will be unified with analytics and personalization, providing more of the actionable insight that organizations demand.
<h2>Expanding the Role of Customer Analytics</h2>
While still relatively fresh to his role at Amplitude, Adam's history and perspective have been key to shaping what's next for the field of analytics. He noted that companies are more interested than ever in using data to improve digital product experiences and understand customer behavior – and that product analytics, as a category, have been enabling product teams to be nimbler and more responsive.
According to Adam, Amplitude has had a head start in the analytics game because of its customer focus. He says that one of the biggest complaints is that organizations are having to use five or six different vendors to get what they need – from using <a href="https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/provision/#/provision" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google Analytics</a> on their website, Amplitude for the mobile apps, and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/optimizely-partners-with-google-cloud-to-take-experimentation-to-the-next-level/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Optimizely</a> for testing. 
"That's a lot of tech," he said. "How do you build an audience with so much data going back and forth?"
<h2>Analytics in the Age of the App</h2>
Another factor that's weighing on Adam is the complexity of digital experiences and how apps are becoming the norm. The example he gave to me was of dropping your child off at college and realizing that they need three different apps to navigate schedules, calendars, transportation, and more. No websites – just apps. This shift can be generally positive for the user experience, but it's also creating challenges for tracking data.
"Google Analytics just isn't cutting it anymore," Adam said. "We're beyond websites. And websites aren't static anymore." He sees how even smart TVs, IoT, and other endpoints are displacing websites and how the younger generation seems to prefer apps over websites. He believes this trend may challenge legacy marketing products that track sessions and attribution. This includes the dependency on legacy vanity metrics like total users, downloads, and website visits – which are no longer enough to provide insights into the complete customer journey. 
Conflating all of this is the expectation that technologies will "just work." Companies are demanding advanced, out-of-the-box customer analytics and democratized access to data insights. As digital analytics markets converge, Amplitude is delivering a real-time, all-in-one analytics solution that equips companies with critical customer insights around all experience layers, including apps. 
<h2>Privacy and Legislation</h2>
One big thing Adam emphasized was the "earthquake" of change in customer data privacy. While <a href="https://gdpr-info.eu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GDPR</a> and <a href="https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CCPA</a> have been codified, he said the legislation landscape is rapidly evolving, and business policies are shifting in lockstep. Case in point: Google, which continues to throw wrenches in the works.
"With Universal Analytics sunsetting and being replaced by <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</a>, [Google] realized they were in the wrong field," he said. "Companies are upset." This is creating an opportunity for Amplitude as the market winds shift and organizations look to address new policies and requirements as it relates to their analytics data.
<h2>The Shift from Marketing Teams to Product Teams</h2>
Part of what's driving Amplitude's strategy is the notable shift of marketing professionals to the product side of organizations. As CMOs come to grips with expanding endpoints of user interactions, Adam said that marketing leaders are realizing they need more emphasis on product analytics than ever before. With Amplitude, these professionals are now getting a suite of marketing analytics and data management tools in one place, reflecting the convergence around measuring and delivering customer value at scale. 
As product teams become nimbler, arming them with more insight is essential. Amplitude's efforts to close the "data-to-insights-to-action" loop has been a core attribute, enabling users to test with continuous experience optimization. Amplitude's <a href="https://amplitude.com/digital-optimization-system" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Digital Optimization System</a> is what enables these capabilities, providing both technical and non-technical product teams to tap behavioral insights to improve CX with greater speed and efficacy. 
<h2>A Thriving Community of Analytics Fans</h2>
Community is essential to the success of any company, particularly in technology. When a user event or conference materializes, it's a throat-clearing signal that a brand has achieved visibility and loyalty within its markets of interest. To that end, I asked Adam about the recent <a href="https://amplitude.com/amplify" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amplify Conference</a> that was held in Las Vegas this past May. 
"We were all a little nervous given the pandemic," he said. "We had about 1,500 people in person and many more online, but I could see that people were just excited to be with other people again."
Adam said that Amplify is a little different from other conferences in that it leans on expertise from across the analytics field. Even if attendees don't use Amplitude, he feels that the real value is creating access to analytics leaders and providing more relevant, "snackable" content through a wide range of sessions. 
Outside the conference, Adam said that the Amplitude community has always been connected through their love for the platform. "We're the coolest company for product people that no has heard of before. People who use us are passionate [about our platform]. We've even launched programs like Amplitude Academy that don't just focus on products, but highlight how our users are successful."
<h2>What's Next?</h2>
Adam's channeling of Ted Lasso seems apropos, as he's very adept at his "coaching role" as an evangelist. He's excited about the direction of the company and his continued efforts to learn, reflect, and share his knowledge as an analytics expert – and a fierce customer advocate. 
"I'm listening to a lot of sales calls and meeting with customers, trying to find common problems," he said. That sounds a lot like Coach Lasso: a leader that's truly empathizing with his players and working to understand the root problems. 
As for Amplitude, the company appears on a roll as it drives the shift to even broader customer analytics. According to the aforementioned <a href="https://amplitude.com/press/customer-analytics-report-q2-22" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Forrester Wave</a>, "Amplitude was born a digital product analytics vendor, but in a world where digital interactions make up the lion's share of customer interactions, the vendor has embraced the pivot into customer analytics." 
As Ted Lasso once said, "you could fill two internets with what I don't know about football." The same might be said for many marketers and digital leaders as they face the growing complexity of customer data. But with Adam evangelizing Amplitude's innovation, they might have the right team to help businesses win the analytics game.

Winning the Analytics Game: An Interview with Adam Greco, Product Evangelist at Amplitude

MACH my words: Salesforce knows no bounds. 
Even as composable architectures become more of a fixture across enterprise stacks, Mark Benioff's monolith is promoting a seemingly decoupled offering.
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/reviews/salesforce-cms-review-evolving-a-crm-powerhouse-into-a-dxp-challenger/">Salesforce</a> is the latest mega platform to embrace MACH mania, announcing its new <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/products/commerce-cloud/headless-commerce/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Composable Storefront</a> – a fully-customizable, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/">headless</a> digital storefront that lets online retailers make site changes with the speed and flexibility needed to increase sales, conversions, and basket size while helping to drive down costs.
With the announcement, Salesforce also introduced pre-built packages made ​​specifically for headless implementations and offered several use cases with commerce partners. This includes best-in-class integrations, pricing, and implementation accelerators from across the Salesforce ecosystem, all anchored by the Salesforce <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/products/commerce-cloud/overview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Commerce Cloud</a>.
<h2>Expanding headless commerce capabilities</h2>
More than ever, retailers need adaptable and flexible commerce sites that can keep up with rapidly evolving customer preferences. Salesforce knows this. We all do. 
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/">Headless commerce</a> has been a key gamechanger for making omnichannel a reality for retailers. It effectively separates the front end and back end of an e-commerce solution, enabling brands to quickly and affordably customize digital storefronts without disrupting the shopping experience. 
According to the latest <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/resources/research-reports/state-of-commerce/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Salesforce State of Commerce Report</a>, retailers are investing in headless commerce in a big way to drive growth. 77% of commerce-focused organizations that have implemented headless architectures say that it gives them increased agility by allowing them to make changes to their storefront quickly, and 80% of businesses that don’t currently have headless commerce plan to implement it in the next two years. 
“With customers expecting both engaging and seamless e-commerce experiences, headless architecture can help online retailers build and implement site changes with speed and agility,” said Scot Gillespie, GM of Commerce Cloud. “Salesforce’s Composable Storefront is a secure, trusted platform that empowers users to leverage headless while accelerating time to market and reducing costs.”
<h2>Driving e-commerce growth with composable</h2>
With Salesforce Composable Storefront, Commerce Cloud customers can implement a headless commerce strategy without exposing themselves to a significant overhead or complex development issues. 
According to Salesforce, businesses can "supercharge" storefront performance and engagement with a fast, app-like site experience using its <a href="https://vuestorefront.io/pwa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">progressive web app (PWA)</a> technology, which decreases page load time and minimizes disruption for online shoppers. 
Composable Storefront can also speed time to value and reduce the total cost of ownership for headless commerce architecture with pre-packaged integrations, pricing, and accelerators in partnership with Commerce Cloud’s trusted ecosystem, which includes <a href="https://www.algolia.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Algolia</a>, <a href="https://amplience.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amplience</a>, <a href="https://www.builder.io/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">builder.io</a>, <a href="https://www.contentful.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contentful</a>, <a href="https://www.contentstack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Contentstack</a>, <a href="https://constructor.io/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Constructor.io</a>, <a href="https://www.coveo.com/en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Coveo</a>, <a href="https://www.magnolia-cms.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Magnolia</a>, <a href="https://osf.digital/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">OSF Digital</a>, <a href="https://www.publicissapient.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Publicis Sapient</a>, <a href="https://tryzens.com/composable-storefront/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tryzens</a>, and <a href="https://www.64labs.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">64Labs</a>.
Using these packages, merchants can easily build composable and engaging experiences with advanced search and content — helping reduce time spent on sourcing vendors, negotiating prices, and building custom integrations. They can also take control of the brand experience and drive differentiation by seamlessly incorporating functionality like AR, chatbots, and social media features to create rich shopping experiences. 
One of the other benefits of Composable Storefront is the ability to ship new features and updates daily with 60-second deployments. This helps eliminate risk, giving developers the freedom to iterate and add new features at any time — even during peak shopping periods. 
<h2>Changing the industry perspective and focusing on customers</h2>
Composable and headless are certainly all the rage. And for good reason: as more channels enter the mix, consumers are seeking the easiest paths to shop and purchase online – and brands want to be there at every step. Delivering an exceptional digital experience is key to converting interest into sales, and having a robust, integrated, and easy to manage platform to power ContentOps is essential to scaling the needs of a modern digital commerce program. 
While composable solutions may be complex to deploy and manage (<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen/">ask the MACH Alliance</a>), headless is becoming more of requirement for traditional digital experience platforms (DXPs) and agile CMSes. With Salesforce entering the game, it's a signal that some enterprises that are reliant on the platform can help simplify their growth into omnichannel strategies and leverage the capabilities of the Salesforce ecosystem, which includes Algolia, Amplience, builder.io.
Much of the demand for headless is being driven by industry trends and consumer behavior. According to the Salesforce <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/resources/research-reports/state-of-commerce/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">State of Commerce Report</a>, the top three sectors most likely to adopt headless in the coming years are health and beauty, food and beverage, and communications and media – all of which rely on multi-channel strategies. '
<h2>Tuning into the voice of the customer</h2>
In its announcement, Salesforce offered these quotes from customers that are leveraging the Composable Storefront solution: 
“It’s important to Newell that every one of our brands has the flexibility to tell their story and seamlessly connect with customers without interruption,” said Doug Robinson, Director of Solution Architecture for Newell. “Working with the Composable Storefront allows us to focus on the consumer, providing a best-in-class experience.”
“Salesforce will help to transform the customer experience as we seek new world-class systems that will be cloud-first,” said Simon Gregg, Senior Vice President of E-commerce for grocery retailer <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/news/press-releases/2022/06/09/salesforce-asda-grocery-news/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Asda</a>. “Salesforce’s technology is perfectly aligned to deliver our vision of a true and exciting omnichannel experience that will set us apart in the UK retail sector.”
<div class="main-content">
<h2 id="about-salesforce">About Salesforce</h2>
<a href="https://www.salesforce.com/">Salesforce</a> is the global leader in Customer Relationship Management (CRM), bringing companies closer to their customers in the digital age. Founded in 1999, Salesforce enables companies of every size and industry to take advantage of powerful technologies—cloud, mobile, social, internet of things, artificial intelligence, voice, and blockchain—to create a 360-degree view of their customers.
</div>

Salesforce Unveils Composable Storefront, a Digital Commerce Solution to Help Retailers Go Headless Fast

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Talking with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/casper-aagaard-rasmussen/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Casper Rasmussen</a> is, in a word, cool. 
I don't just mean cool like he's some newfound celebrity, hanging out behind a velvet rope at the "Coolest Tech in Town Club" (<a href="https://www.forrester.com/blogs/buy-an-integrated-platform-not-a-box-of-rocks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a nod to Forrester's Joe Cicman</a>). And it doesn't hurt that he's based in a hip city like Copenhagen, helping to lead a global digital agency during a period of seismic change. 
All points in his favor. 
But what really makes Casper so cool is the adept, confident, and effortless way he shares his vision of a composable future – one that's already taken root and starting to flourish.
I caught up with Casper about his recent induction as the new president of the <a href="https://machalliance.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MACH Alliance</a>, where he's become the defacto figurehead for the composable movement. He has big shoes to fill as <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/mach-alliance-releases-study-on-adoption-of-mach-technologies-by-tech-leaders-qa-with-sonja-keerl/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sonja Keerl</a> – formerly head of Product Marketing at <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/contentstack-raises-57-5-million-in-series-b-round-qa-with-ceo-neha-sampat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Contentstack</a> – hands over the reins. During her tenure, the Alliance has achieved some impressive milestones and become a lightning rod of attention across the market.  
This role seems perfectly aligned with Casper's work at <a href="https://www.valtech.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwgO2XBhCaARIsANrW2X0eJ-wgo2ou2p9pUgqpZhkwJUHLsM9TYhdZldANJ4lZvDUG3bGWhqMaAvA-EALw_wcB" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Valtech</a>, a global systems integrator, where he's shaping the company's composable strategy as SVP of Technology. Valtech was also one of the <a href="https://www.boye-co.com/blog/2021/10/11/whats-the-mach-alliance-all-about#:~:text=Founded%20by%20commercetools%2C%20Contentstack%2C%20EPAM,a%20painting%20of%20a%20pipe." target="_blank" rel="noopener">founding members of the Alliance</a>, so it's fair to say that Casper has been tending to this baby since birth.   
This was not our first conversation, mind you. A few years ago, we chatted over beers in Boston during a Boye &amp; Company CMS Experts meeting. Back then, we were all waxing philosophically about the explosive trend of headless and the ever-present gauntlet of personalization. 
One pandemic later, and those conversations have evolved: Covid-19 catapulted us through <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/how-covid-19-has-pushed-companies-over-the-technology-tipping-point-and-transformed-business-forever" target="_blank" rel="noopener">years of digital transformation in a matter of months</a>, with e-Commerce leading the explosion. Market winds shifted, and DXP monoliths hungrily consumed CDPs and other technologies to build more expansive offerings. 
At the same time, a "contrarian chorus" around composable started to scale. And scale it has – thanks to the relentless contribution of leaders like Casper. As the new president, he has ambitious plans for the MACH Alliance and how it will continue to shape the composable landscape. 
"Composable is way beyond commerce," he said, commenting on the need to grow its budding potential. In the same breath, he talked about the importance of the MACH community to socializing and evangelizing the mission of the Alliance. "[We have] a big fan base, but we can't fully engage yet. We can do much more with the community through education and networking – and extend more as one."
Spoken like a true leader of a movement.
<h2>The Rise of the MACH Alliance</h2>
Composable. The word has inarguably become a firebrand in the digital experience lexicon, supplanting "headless" as the toast of the town. While the interconnectedness of these concepts is undeniable, composability is expanding the surface area of MACH (Microservices, APIs, Cloud-native, Headless) and driving a wave of debates around the virtual water cooler. 
But this is where the MACH Alliance had endeavored to make its impact: by helping the market understand the value of composable and building a trusted bench of evangelists and ambassadors to help carry the water. And, of course, supporting enterprises to make better decisions when selecting composable, MACH-ready solutions. 
Founded in 2020, the MACH Alliance aims to "future proof enterprise technology and propel current and future digital experiences." They're like the Guardians of the MACH Galaxy, fighting to maintain universal standards and protecting the value of MACH through education, thought leadership, and the adoption of rigorous policies. 
Comic book heroics aside, the MACH Alliance is really a grass-roots community of best-of-breed enterprise technology vendors, system integrators, and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/aws-joins-mach-alliance-as-enabler-member-reflects-growth-of-cloud-native-solutions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">key infrastructure "enablers" like AWS</a>. It's these participating members – now over 60 strong – that validate the Alliance mission and amplify its growth and reach. 
A further testament to its success, the Alliance just held its first international conference, <a href="https://machalliance.org/mach-one" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MACH One</a>, in London this past June. The event offered a range of content and use cases trumpeting the potential of composable solutions. I asked Casper what he thought of the experience and what it was like to see the movement materialize in person.
"When we went to MACH One, being in person confirmed that everyone had embraced the Alliance," he said. "There was no commercial agenda. The presentations and purpose – the sharing and caring – we were extremely proud to facilitate the networking and conversations that happened."
The rapid growth of the MACH Alliance is a clear reflection of the market's shift towards composable, which is precisely where Casper plays. There's no question that interest is building. 
But just how big is that interest? 
<h2>Measuring the Growth of MACH and Composable</h2>
I asked Casper about a recent study commissioned by the MACH Alliance called "<a href="https://machalliance.org/insights/our-2022-research-shows-mach-adoption-is-high-on-the-agenda-for-tech-leaders" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Enterprise MACHified 2022</a>," which seems to codify that MACH adoption is high on the list for tech leaders. 
"It's business contextual," he said, clarifying that MACH is not just a technology-first strategy but a reflection of business values as well. This is creating more attention at a leadership level. 
I asked if there were specific industries that were appreciating faster adoption of MACH. He said his hunch is that retail, CPG, and automotive were seeing the most movement. This is because they share common traits of being multi-channel with higher propensities for digital customer interaction. 
He also pointed out that these industries continue to have more traditional channels like apps and websites, but that's changing – and as a result, they require more channel agnosticism. This is where composable is proving its value as an accelerator for brands adopting omnichannel strategies. 
While the study shed some light on the human component as it relates to IT departments, Casper revealed that one of the biggest challenges to embracing MACH is the talent gap. 
"Organizations have a dilemma because they need to have the right talent on their team," he said. "In this market research and at the MACH One Conference, this was called out as a point of resistance or hesitancy because of the new skills required to build composable solutions. [The MACH Alliance] can help facilitate this shift."
<h2>Investing in Education</h2>
With people being a key part of the challenge, Casper believes that education will become a central focus for the Alliance. "A lot of companies and organizations are facing obstacles with skills like DevOps," he said. "Transforming monolithic enterprises with MACH requires a different type of approach using modern frameworks and tools." 
As such, a big part of Casper's vision is to develop training, coursework, and other educational materials to help shore up the skills gap. But it doesn't end there: he also sees the need to enhance the knowledge base around business practices, from understanding procurement to making the ROI case. This might be delivered through more formal academic experiences such as webinars that focus on frameworks, headless, and cloud services. 
Along with the educational investment, I asked about any plans for developing individual MACH Alliance certifications or badging. He said they are discussing the idea and exploring what would be required from a skills perspective. 
<h2>Maintaining MACH Standards</h2>
With its rise in popularity, "MACH" and "composable" have become the domain of marketing. Even the most monolithic of monoliths are espousing their decoupled attributes across a multitude of media. Most recently, <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/salesforce-headless-commerce-composable-storefront/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Salesforce added to the chatter</a>, unveiling its new composable storefront for headless commerce. 
According to the MACH Alliance, there's a term for this: <a href="https://machalliance.org/insights/5-reasons-not-to-join-the-mach-alliance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MACH Washing</a>. It cuts deep, and rightly so, according to the Alliance website. From the organization's perspective, there's claiming to be MACH – and then there's the MACH Alliance, where members are required to meet fierce requirements for certifying and maintaining their status. 
This adherence to strict governance is two-fold. First, it helps reinforce the core benefits of MACH for the entire industry, providing a source of truth that remains clear and consistent. And second, it delivers peace of mind to buyers who are looking for truly composable solutions amidst a climate of confusing messages. 
I asked Casper about the challenges that exist with "separating the wheat from the chaff" and maintaining MACH baselines within the ranks of the Alliance. He noted that the organization's pure-play MACH requirements will continue to be firm – and potentially firmer. 
"On the marketing side, the picture is blurring," he said. "Composability is being thrown all over the place. [The MACH Alliance has] a responsibility for evaluating criteria to confirm that these organizations adhere to MACH standards – ultimately unlocking the value promises we protect." He went on to say that the evaluation program will continue to fall to the Alliance's admissions board: an unbiased panel of industry professionals that manage the application process and ensure ongoing compliance. 
It's worth noting that the Alliance has previously revoked memberships based on acquisitions or other compelling issues that have altered the posture of a MACH-certified vendor or SI. Tough? Sure. But necessary to safeguard the value of its MACH standards. 
<h2>To MACH or Monolith – Is That the Question?</h2>
While the Alliance has sparked greater interest across the composable movement, monoliths still dominate the market. There are obvious reasons for this, from cost to complexity. But as Casper pointed out, composable is "exiting the infancy stage" for organizations that are embracing omnichannel and eyeing the cost and impact of replatforming.  
It's fair to assume that monolithic platforms will continue to "MACH Wash" their wares and perhaps become more componentized over time. As Casper frequently mentioned, having demonstrable use cases that illustrate the real impact of composable is critical to developing trust – particularly for enterprise organizations that still don't know what MACH is. (One of the best examples is a <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/the-mach-alliance-podcast/id1566020098?l=en&amp;i=1000526006568" target="_blank" rel="noopener">podcast featuring the Lego Corporation</a>, and totally worth a listen).
As I was writing this piece, I came across a LinkedIn post from <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellygoetsch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kelly Goetsch</a>, the Chief Strategy Officer at <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/commercetools-acquires-frontastic-adds-composable-frontend-capabilities-to-headless-commerce/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commercetools</a> and a MACH Alliance founder. He summed up his perspective on the MACH-versus-monolith debate quite elegantly:
"I love MACH, but regularly tell people' MACH is not for you and then promptly refer them to Shopify. MACH isn't for everybody – whether due to a lack of a proper use case or an inability to successfully implement and care for it. Blind, unexamined adherence to any technology or principle is cult-ish. Every choice has tradeoffs."
As companies wrestle with those tradeoffs, the MACH Alliance is providing a voice of guidance. Even in a highly competitive landscape, it has managed to build community inroads, uniting platform vendors and SIs around a shared vision – and sharing that vision with the market. Whether MACH or monolith is right for an enterprise, the Alliance is helping to make those decisions easier and more concise while showcasing the benefits of a composable strategy. 
<h2>Shaping the Composable Future</h2>
When I asked what the future holds, Casper had a lot to share about the evolving technology landscape. We talked a bit about the rise of <a href="https://conscia.ai/experience-orchestration/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">experience orchestration</a> and its validation by Gartner – and how platform vendors like <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/uniform-raises-28m-in-series-a-funding-round-for-composable-dxp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Uniform</a> and <a href="https://conscia.ai/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Conscia</a> are once again changing the space.
Technology aside, he shared an undeniable excitement about the human fabric of the community. "We've expanded our board to nine seats, and we have magnificent, brilliant people that have great experiences around waves and movements like <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-jamstack-static-site-generators-for-2021/">Jamstack</a>," he said, gushing at the prospect of <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/holly-hall-4b14a945/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Holly Hall</a> and ambassadors like <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sana-remekie/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sana Remekie</a> further enhancing the mission.  
If one theme was evident throughout our conversation, it was the critical importance of education and community to the composable movement. To that end, Casper is using his voice to shape the investment in knowledge on every level, from technology to business practices. 
"Customers entering the space need education to lower the barrier," he said. "Not just academic – but real world." 
If the future is composable, it's because Casper is taking us there. 
And yes. It's going to be cool.

The Future is Composable: A Conversation with New MACH Alliance President Casper Rasmussen

<a href="https://www.storyblok.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Storyblok</a>, a <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/tag/headless/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">headless</a> content management system (CMS) that empowers both developers and content teams to create better content experiences across all digital channels, announced the launch of its all-new CMS. <a href="https://www.storyblok.com/mp/v2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Storyblok V2</a> includes a fresh user interface complete with an all-new design experience, collaboration tools, and an enhanced digital asset manager designed to improve content workflows.
"We've been fortunate to have a front-row view inside the content operations of some of the world's leading businesses," said Alexander Feiglstorfer, Co-Founder and CTO of Storyblok. "We built V2 because companies need flexibility and smarter workflows to adapt and scale to support the ever-increasing complexity of omnichannel digital experiences. After testing it in beta with our 82k+ users over the past year and listening to their feedback, we're finally ready to show even more companies what content management should be like in the 21st century."
<h2>What is New in V2?</h2>
 Storyblok's V2 brings an all-new visual editor with a new UI and navigation buttons to make content creation easier.
V2 includes updates such as a renewed digital asset manager, a new in-engine image editor that removes the hassle of using different tools to edit images, and an improved Blocks Library. 
With V2, you can find your blocks straight from the visual editor. That means you can edit and create components directly in this area. They've also streamlined how you work with your teams with the new Discussions feature, which helps you collaborate directly within the CMS.
<h2>Delivering Scalable Digital Experiences with a Composable CMS</h2>
Storyblok's <a href="https://www.storyblok.com/lp/state-of-content-management" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The State of Content Management 2022</a> report revealed that 47.96% of businesses use 2 to 3 CMSs, and 47.08% said 2 to 3 different teams use those CMSs. Storyblok's robust headless CMS architecture enables developers to build anything, publish everywhere, and integrate with any technology stack. Content teams are empowered to create independently with a visual editing experience, Google Docs-style collaboration suite, composable components, presets, and powerful publishing workflows. 
V2 also introduces support for a US data center, providing Storyblok users with additional hosting options across the US and Europe. All of this results in a scalable digital experience for audiences that delivers fast performance, optimized omnichannel storytelling, and robust personalization and localization.
"We live in a world of connected channels and interfaces and expect modern digital experiences for every digital interaction. But most CMSs in use today were built at a time when there were only desktop web browsing experiences," said Dominik Angerer, Co-Founder, and CEO of Storyblok. "Many businesses fail at managing content across departments and are not capable of providing high performance, personalized experiences at scale. It's time for businesses to fix these challenges. Storyblok V2 is the content engine for any digital experience and helps businesses tell their stories on any channel."
A Forrester report called The Forrester Wave™: Agile Content Management Systems (CMSes), Q1 2021 said: "As organizations produce more experiences that leverage a common back end, the value of those services and assets increases relative to the cost to create them. Brands grapple with the challenge of delivering content to new endpoints (e.g., web, mobile, smart displays, voice assistants, and marketplaces), so it's important to manage content and experiences centrally to drive reuse. This makes updating and analyzing — and optimizing — experiences more efficient as well."
<h2>About Storyblok</h2>
Storyblok, the content management system (CMS) category leader for 2022, empowers both developers and content teams to create better content experiences across any digital channel. Storyblok enhances audience experiences with best-in-breed performance, optimized omnichannel storytelling, and robust personalization. Enable content teams to create and manage content intuitively and independently with drag and drop visual editing, custom collaboration workflows, and a world-class digital asset manager. Empower developers to build anything, integrate with everything, and publish everywhere with Storyblok's headless CMS architecture. Leading brands such as Adidas, T-Mobile, Harvard Business School, Renault, and Marc O'Polo use Storyblok to shape their digital storytelling.

Storyblok Launches New CMS Experience to Shape the Future of Digital Storytelling

<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/magnolia-announces-new-6-2-release-with-first-ever-headless-digital-experience-hub-2/">Magnolia</a>, a leading software vendor in the global digital experience and content management markets, just announced that investment firm <a href="https://www.genui.de/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GENUI</a> will acquire a majority stake in Magnolia and inject significant growth capital into the company.
Magnolia is an emerging vendor pioneering the vision of “composable” Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs). DXPs sit on top of content management systems (CMS) and enable brands to orchestrate compelling digital experiences across multichannel customer journeys and devices. The global market for DXPs is forecast to reach 23 billion US dollars by 2028, with an average annual growth rate of above twelve percent from 2021 to 2028.
Magnolia already serves clients in more than 100 countries through nine regional offices – and counts many global brands such as The New York Times, Sanofi, Sainsbury’s, Ping An, and Bechtle as its trusted customers. With the additional funding, the company will continue the expansion of its global sales and marketing footprint including its technology and channel partner ecosystems, accelerate product innovation and increase global market awareness.
<h2>Driving growth with a composable DXP</h2>
Traditionally, DXPs have been purchased as a complete suite of marketing software from one vendor. These have proven to be slow, expensive, and restrictive. Magnolia aims to change that by continuing to invest in its composable DXP.
“Magnolia is uniquely positioned to allow customers to integrate their key applications and platforms - from legacy to modern APIs - and compose a powerful digital experience architecture enabling the overall ease-of-use and agility now expected of modern cloud solutions,” said Magnolia CEO Tim Brown. “With GENUI's support, we will now be able to fully leverage our recognition as a 'Visionary' in the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for DXP to help an increasing number of marketers, authors, and developers deliver fantastic multichannel digital experiences."
"By significantly strengthening the capital base, we are putting Magnolia in a position to even better exploit its market potential and sustainably increase its growth," said Boris Klenk of GENUI. 
Upon completion of the transaction, the entrepreneur Amit Shah, an established expert in the digital experience industry, will become Chairman of the advisory board of Magnolia. “We are seeing a shift away from monolithic application solutions toward modular approaches. This is an exceptional strategic opportunity for Magnolia, which offers a future-proof composable digital experience platform for the enterprise," said Shah.
Exiting investor Elvaston Capital Management GmbH secured a majority stake in Magnolia in 2017, which GENUI is now acquiring. "We have accompanied Magnolia during an extremely positive and high-growth phase in recent years," says Dr. Oliver Thum, Managing Partner at Elvaston. "We are pleased that the company will now take the next steps with GENUI."
The purchase price and other details of the transaction were not disclosed. GENUI was advised on this transaction by CMS (Legal) and Baer &amp; Karrer (Structuring), while Morrison Foerster (Legal Germany) and Walder Wyss (Legal Switzerland) acted as advisors to Elvaston.
<h2>About Magnolia</h2>
Founded in 1997 with a vision to create the first truly open content management system, <a href="https://www.magnolia-cms.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Magnolia</a> is a world-leading digital experience company. Brands who want to move fast and stay flexible choose Magnolia because the company blends the power of an enterprise DXP solution with headless agility. Magnolia operates globally with offices on five continents and more than 200 Magnolia-certified partners around the world.
<h2>About Elvaston</h2>
<a href="https://www.elvaston.com/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elvaston</a> is an investment company specializing in small-to-medium-sized enterprise software companies in Europe. Elvaston accompanies profitable companies in various segments of enterprise software and focuses on organic growth as well as buy &amp; build strategies.
<h2>About GENUI</h2>
<a href="https://www.genui.de/en/home-en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GENUI</a> is a company founded by renowned entrepreneurs and investment professionals who believe in “Good Entrepreneurship”. GENUI exclusively makes long-term commitments to companies with the goal of creating sustainable growth and social value. Companies are given professional governance by getting access to entrepreneurs with industry-relevant expertise and their corresponding networks.

GENUI acquires majority stake in Magnolia and invests in future growth

Image of Magnolia and Genui logos against a green background

<a href="https://www.storyblok.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Storyblok</a>, a headless content management system (CMS) that enables developers and marketers to deliver powerful content experiences on any digital platform, just announced the launch of its $1.5M Partner Fund. 
This new initiative will enable Storyblok to support the growth and success of its agency partners and develop co-marketing activities. The goal: evangelize a best-of-breed, headless architecture as the foundation for agencies to create and scale better content experiences for their clients.
In its press release, Storyblok says that the money will be distributed to partners through multiple initiatives. This includes a $5K budget that every Storyblok Certified Partner can use to highlight its collaboration with Storyblok in any way they wish. This can encompass events, guerilla marketing, content development, ad campaigns, and more. 
On a fun note: from now until September 10th, Storyblok is also running a contest for Certified Partners to submit their most creative co-marketing ideas for the chance to double their dedicated budget to $10K.
<h2>Expanded benefits for Storyblok Certified Partners</h2>
In addition to the new Partner Fund, <a href="https://www.storyblok.com/partners" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Storyblok Certified Partners</a> will receive benefits such as free development spaces with Storyblok’s CMS, revenue share, the ability to build custom apps, a dedicated success team, and much more.
“Partners played an important role in the growth of Storyblok during the past couple years,” said Barry D'Arcy, VP of Partners at Storyblok. “We appreciate the steps they took to help us get where we are today, and so we as a partner team and Storyblok as a whole would like to pay those good deeds forward to all of our partners, both old and new. The Partner Fund is one example of how we want to support our partners’ growth and boost their businesses with Storyblok. We all have stories to tell—let’s do it together.”
At CMS Critic, we've followed Storyblok's "storied" rise over the last few years as the company expanded its global footprint through partnership channels. This includes the development of a <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/interview-headless-cms-storyblok-expands-partner-program-with-u-s-agency-campbell-ewald/">partner program with U.S. Agency Campbell Ewald</a> in 2021.
“We’ve seen so many great marketing initiatives around Storyblok that allowed our partners to grow,” said Thomas Peham, VP of Marketing at Storyblok. “With the $1.5M Partner Fund, we not only want to help our partners with a dedicated marketing budget, but also team up with them to tell more stories at scale while shaping the future of digital storytelling together.”
Get more details in the <a href="https://www.storyblok.com/partners/partner-playbook" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Partner Playbook</a>, and visit the <a href="https://www.storyblok.com/partners" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Partner Program</a> page to learn how to become a Storyblok Certified Partner.
<h2>About Storyblok</h2>
Storyblok is a headless CMS that enables developers and marketers to deliver powerful content experiences on any digital platform. Developers create flexible components that are independently managed by content teams through a collaborative visual editor and customizable workflow. Published content is delivered through an API, so changes are made once and will appear everywhere: websites, mobile, IoT, the metaverse, and beyond. This approach reduces maintenance and makes content management more efficient. Leading brands such as Adidas, Renault, and Marc O’Polo use Storyblok to manage and share their content with the world. Storyblok was named the #1 CMS for 2022 by G2.
For more information, visit <a href="https://www.storyblok.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.storyblok.com</a> and follow Storyblok on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/storyblok" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LinkedIn</a> and <a href="https://www.twitter.com/storyblok" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a>.

Storyblok Launches $1.5M Partner Fund to Help Agencies Shape the Future of Digital Storytelling

<a href="https://www.wix.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wix</a>, one of the industry's leading website builders, announced its first-ever developer conference, <a href="https://www.wixdevcon.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wix DevCon 2022</a> – which will take place September 7 - 8 in New York City.
Wix DevCon will present a unique opportunity for the broad developer community to learn about the company's growth as a cutting-edge developer platform and ecosystem. The two-day event will consist of talks from a range of Wix experts and leadership, including CEO Avishai Abrahami.
Attendees will also hear from Yoav Abrahami, Head of Code and Chief Architect for Velo – Wix's full-stack development platform that empowers users to build, manage, and deploy professional web apps rapidly.
According to Wix, DevCon will enable attendees to learn and exchange ideas, elevating and extending their development skills by exploring the newest Wix developer-centric products, tools, and technologies. 
And the icing on the cake: event attendees will also be the first to hear about new Wix product announcements.
“Wix DevCon 2022 will bring our community of developers together for a unique insight into how Wix tools were created, how to get the most out of them, and offer the community a chance to interact and learn from one another,” said Abrahami. “An immersive, differentiated, and exclusive experience, attendees will have unparalleled access to the heart of development at Wix, enabling them to confidently create the business capabilities they need. Furthermore, at the event, we’ll unveil an exciting new product innovation that will change the future of web development at Wix.”
<h2>Offering both a no-code website builder and a full-stack development platform</h2>
Wix – which is best known for its incredibly popular drag-and-drop website builder – has become a go-to platform for artists, freelancers, and small business owners looking to establish brands online without the hassle of coding and complexity. 
While it competes with well-known brands like <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/squarespace-a-diy-website-builder-1/">Squarespace</a>, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/duda-snaps-up-snipcart-to-boost-e-commerce-capabilities-qa-with-ceo-itai-sadan/">Duda</a>, and <a href="https://www.weebly.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Weebly</a>, Wix has carved out a competitive advantage with its array of rich templates, its progressive <a href="https://www.wix.com/blog/2016/06/wix-artificial-design-intelligence/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wix ADI</a> (Artificial Design Intelligence), and solid user support. 
Two years ago, Wix introduced <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/wix-introduces-editor-x-offers-designers-advanced-tools-for-building-custom-websites/">Editor X</a>, its new drag-and-drop web builder for web designers and digital agencies that are seeking to push the aesthetic limits without the hassle of coding from scratch. From there, the company continued to enrich its customization features. 
With the introduction of DevCon, Wix seems poised to transform its customer base by attracting more developers to the flock. By providing a more expansive platform that offers both a no-code website builder and a full-stack development platform, Wix is also upping the ante on how "custom" a website or app can be when built with its technology. This means users are no longer limited, regardless of their goals as a small business, agency designer, or advanced developer. 
<h2>How to Attend Wix DevCon 2022</h2>
As mentioned, Wix DevCon bites into the Big Apple in early September. The sessions will include groundbreaking product reveals, live tours through the Wix developer ecosystem, engineering talks, programming workshops, fireside chats from the industry experts, and community showcases of the best websites built on Wix.
Wix DevCon 2022 will be held from September 7 - 8 at <a href="https://lavan541.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lavan541</a> in New York City. Sessions begin at 8:00 AM and last through 4:00 PM (EST). 
Wix DevCon is completely free. However, space is limited, so the company recommends registering early to ensure your spot. If you can't make it to NYC, no worries – you can see the entire program virtually via the event website.
For tickets, session schedules, speaker lineups, and more, visit Wix's beautiful DevCon website at <a href="https://www.wixdevcon.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.wixdevcon.com</a>
<h2>About Wix</h2>
Wix is a leading platform to create, manage and grow a digital presence. What began as a website builder in 2006 is now a complete platform providing users with enterprise-grade performance, security and a reliable infrastructure. Offering a wide range of commerce and business solutions, advanced SEO and marketing tools, Wix enables users to have full ownership of their brand, their data and their relationships with their customers. With a focus on continuous innovation and delivery of new features and products, anyone can build a powerful digital presence to fulfill their dreams on Wix.

Wix to Host First-Ever Developers Conference, Wix DevCon 2022

<a href="https://proventus.no/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Proventus AS</a>, the company behind the Relatude CMS and E-commerce platform, just announced the release of <a href="https://relatude.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Relatude Version 6</a>, a huge upgrade with .Net 6 support as the headline feature.
"Version 6 of Relatude is one [of] our biggest releases ever," said  Ole Gulbrandsen, Director, Relatude at Proventus. "Moving the whole platform from the classic .Net Framework to the multiplatform .Net 6 has been a huge task. As part of the platform change, we have modernized a lot of the public APIs, and most importantly, we have removed a lot of old code. Our platform is now a nimble, modern, and adaptable platform ready for the needs of tomorrow."
<h2>Cross-platform support, enhanced performance, and improved developer experience</h2>
One of the many benefits of moving the Relatude platform to <a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/whats-new/dotnet-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">.Net 6</a> is the cross-platform support in .Net 6. It allows developers on Windows, Linux, and Mac to run Relatude on their development machines, and customers can host Relatude on Linux or Windows, either in the cloud or on-premise.
Since the introduction of .Net Core in 2016, the .Net team has focused on improving performance. Over the years, .Net has gone from a decent framework to what many consider to be the fastest full-stack web framework. This also aligns well with the philosophy of the Relatude team, where performance is important for scalability, user experience, hosting costs, and managing complexity.
Another major improvement with .Net 6 is the developer experience, which Relatude says has been important for its internal team and end developers. .Net 6 also supports C# 10, which continues the long tradition of continuous improvements to C#.
<h2>About Relatude CMS and E-commerce</h2>
Relatude CMS (<a href="http://www.relatude.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.relatude.com</a>) is a .NET-based web content management (WCM) system powered by the Relatude Content Engine. Designed for the future of content management, it takes advantage of the benefits of structured content by using a content graph that is key to delivering value to the customer. 
Relatude E-commerce (<a href="http://www.relatude.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.relatude.com</a>) is a unique .NET-based E-commerce platform powered by the Relatude Content Engine. It offers the ultimate in flexibility and extensibility.
<h2>About Proventus AS</h2>
Proventus AS (<a href="http://www.proventus.no/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.proventus.no</a>) is a Norwegian software company developing and distributing Relatude CMS and Relatude E-commerce. Its customers cover a wide range of industries, from small companies with advanced needs to large and multinational corporations with complex web presences.

Proventus AS Announces Release of Relatude CMS and E-Commerce Version 6

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