Articles - Page 172

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

matt-garrepy

Nowadays, adding a shoppable storefront of plugins and third-party integrations might not seem novel for an enterprise CMS or DXP. But <a href="https://www.contentstack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Contentstack</a> is upping the ante by embracing a more composable posture in its new Contentstack Marketplace, which just launched yesterday.
According to the company's press release, Contentstack Marketplace will feature a hub for partners and customers to contribute to its community while providing an array of apps, extensions, and Starters – including one-click integrations for AI-powered search from <a href="https://www.algolia.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Algolia</a>, e-commerce solutions from <a href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BigCommerce</a>, and media delivery from <a href="https://cloudinary.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cloudinary. </a>
With its Contentstack Marketplace, the company envisions an ecosystem where customers can adopt new functionality as their needs evolve, with lower investment and reduced risk.
<h2>Embracing MACH and the composable revolution</h2>
At the core of Contentstack's new Marketplace is the company's focus on composability. The headless CMS provider says that digital experience architectures require composable principles and a <a href="https://machalliance.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MACH</a> (Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native, Headless) technology approach. In their press release, the company says organizations that successfully transformed their digital technology and practices are leapfrogging the competition with outstanding digital-first customer experiences. 
Contentstack also says that the move from a single-vendor platform model to a best-of-breed, composable stack requires "connective tissue" between the various products. The key in these distributed models is to enable connectivity, ensure interoperability, and harmonize customer support across the vendor ecosystem. To address these challenges, the Contentstack Marketplace will feature a multi-vendor support program called <a href="https://www.contentstack.com/company/press/contentstack-expands-customer-support-launch-industry-first-cross-vendor-service-commitment-program/?utm_medium=press-link&amp;utm_source=prnewswire.com&amp;utm_campaign=marketplace-press-release" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Care Without Compromise</a> that helps reinforce these advantages across a composable digital experience stack.
"The monolith has shattered. The creation of this co-innovation platform facilitates the interoperability of composable digital experience stacks with Contentstack's award-winning CMS at the core," said Nishant Patel, chief technology officer for Contentstack. "Our Marketplace allows customers and partners to easily set up connectivity between adjacent technologies and share extensions and solutions across the Contentstack community; something that legacy will never allow them to do."
As a founding member of the <a href="https://machalliance.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MACH Alliance</a>, Contentstack's Marketplace strategy appears perfectly aligned with the goals of the organization. Over the last 18 months, the MACH alliance has made a significant imprint on the CMS, DXP, and digital experience industries by trumpeting the values of composable architectures and elevating the conversation around the tenants of MACH. With over 40 members in its ranks, the MACH Alliance continues to grow its influence by adding pure-play composable vendors and market enablers that support the mission of the composable community. 
<h2>Powering a true no-code marketplace experience</h2>
Along with the monolith, Contentstack is attempting to shatter the typical CMS and DXP marketplace model by equipping users with one-click capabilities that accelerate and streamline the integration experience. 
While the concept of a "marketplace" suggests off-the-shelf simplicity, it is often an illusion. In most cases, marketplaces are just repos for code and installation guidelines that still necessitate intensive integration support from an in-house IT team. Along with the additional cost and time to implement new features, many of these integrations place the burden of security on the customer – not the platform. 
According to Contentstack, its new Marketplace will provide integrations and extensions that are pre-built and follow a no-code installation process. Additionally, developers can use Contentstack's newly released design framework Venus and its library of prefab components to quickly and easily build solutions in the native Contentstack user experience. This allows customers to accelerate their integration from weeks to days – or even minutes. 
Contentstack Marketplace and its ecosystem of apps are available to all Contentstack customers at no additional cost, enabling enterprise developers and business teams to build and deploy content across multiple channels and touchpoints in their consumer journeys. With a focus on accelerating "idea-to-life," Contentstack's built-in collaboration tools also aim to help businesses keep content and customer experiences fresh. 
<h2>About Contentstack</h2>
Contentstack – the pioneering Agile Content Management System (CMS) – empowers marketers and developers to collaborate around content like never before. Together, they can orchestrate superior customer journeys and deliver dynamic digital experiences across channels, audiences, brands, and regions. Companies such as Chase, Express, Holiday Inn, Icelandair, Mattel, McDonald's, Mitsubishi, Riot Games, Sephora, and Shell trust Contentstack to power their most critical content experiences. Famous for its Care Without Compromise™, Contentstack has the industry's highest customer satisfaction. As a founder of the MACH Alliance, Contentstack advocates for open and composable technology that is Microservices-based, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS, and Headless.

Contentstack Launches New Marketplace to Accelerate Composable Digital Experience Innovation

cms-critic-staff

Image of Contentstack logo with orbs floating with various integration partner logo icons

Talk about a sonic "bloom."
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bloomreach</a>, a leading content and search platform focused on commerce, just made some big noise by <a href="https://www.bloomreach.com/en/news/2022/bloomreach-valuation-soars-to-usd2.2-billion-following-usd175-million-investment-led-by-goldman-sachs-asset-management" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announcing</a> a $175 million round of funding, skyrocketing the company's valuation to a whopping $2.2 billion. 
The investment – which follows a massive <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/26/bloomreach-raises-150m-on-900m-valuation-and-acquires-exponea/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$150 million funding round</a> in January 2021 – was led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management ("Goldman Saalamogordochs"), with participation from existing Bloomreach investors Bain Capital Ventures and Sixth Street Growth. 
The size of these two infusions demonstrates some serious confidence from the street. With heavy-hitters like Goldman Sachs piling on the cash, it's clear that investors see continued opportunities in digital commerce transformation, particularly at the enterprise level. Bloomreach has made a series of smart investments along the way, giving them the heft to challenge one of the biggest e-commerce brands on the planet.
<h2>Arming brands against Amazon with personalized e-commerce</h2>
When it comes to e-commerce – or any commerce for that matter – it's impossible to ignore "The Amazon Effect." 
In the 25 years since Jeff Bezos launched Amazon.com from a garage in suburban Seattle, it has grown to become the top e-commerce platform in the world. Each month, <a href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/amazon-statistics/#10-fascinating-amazon-statistics-sellers-need-to-know-in-2020" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than 197 million people</a> around the globe visit Amazon.com. That's more than the entire population of Russia.
Worldwide e-commerce sales <a href="https://www.emarketer.com/content/worldwide-ecommerce-continues-double-digit-growth-following-pandemic-push-online" target="_blank" rel="noopener">are expected</a> to reach $7.4 trillion by 2025. According to <a href="https://www.ibm.com/industries/retail" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IBM's U.S. Retail Index</a> data, COVID-19 has accelerated retail trends by nearly five years. E-commerce sales <a href="https://www.statista.com/topics/871/online-shopping/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">were skyrocketing</a> before the pandemic, and Amazon was already monopolizing most of the air in the digital room. As contactless delivery became essential during COVID lockdowns, Amazon moved into its pole position as the uncontested leader in digital customer experiences. 
<a href="https://www.mdm.com/news/operations/amazon-business-says-company-reached-25-billion-in-2020-sales/">Amazon's grasp over the e-commerce world</a> is viewed as an existential threat to many global brands. Even giants like Walmart, Apple, and Macy’s are struggling to compete with the digital heavyweight. But according to Bloomreach, brands now have a weapon to fight Amazon – giving retailers, distributors, and manufacturers a platform for delivering highly relevant and personalized digital experiences with speed and scalability.
<h2>Moving away from monolithic</h2>
According to Raj De Datta, CEO of Bloomreach, the key to competing is the move from monolithic e-commerce platforms to microservices-based architectures that empower not just the web, but all digital touchpoints. That way, enterprises can have more control over the customer experience by making it highly personalized and innovating quickly.
"It starts in the early days of the web, with Amazon and eBay, when e-commerce was in its infancy. Twenty years later, e-commerce is exactly where we would expect a 20-year-old to be — just getting started," said De Datta. "Indeed, at Bloomreach, we believe that if the first 20 years of e-commerce have been about standing up the store or simply transacting online, then the next twenty years are about standing out from the crowd, or differentiating in the face of increased digital competition and rising consumer expectation. "
<h2>Growing its Commerce Experience Cloud</h2>
Following its latest round of funding, Bloomreach plans to invest in the development of cutting-edge personalization use cases powered by its entire <a href="https://www.bloomreach.com/en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Commerce Experience Cloud</a>, showcasing the differentiated power of its combined product suite. In addition, Bloomreach will invest in expanding its go-to-market teams to accelerate business growth worldwide.
Currently, Bloomreach's DXP for Commerce helps keep customers engaged, increases revenue per visit, and drives customer loyalty. The company says that the solution integrates with leading commerce platforms to form a complete e-commerce solution. Bloomreach further enhances its commerce offerings with AI-powered search, intelligent merchandising, and highly agile content management, which are fast becoming essential tools for shaping modern e-commerce experiences. 
Additionally, <a href="https://www.bloomreach.com/en/products/bloomreach-experience" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bloomreach Experience (brX)</a> currently drives over $200 billion in digital commerce experiences across many of the world's largest online retailers, brands, distributors, and B2B manufacturers – representing 25% of retail e-commerce in the U.S. and U.K. With Bloomreach Experience, organizations can access rich features, all powered by an API-first headless architecture. This makes it easier for brands to connect Bloomreach with their existing commerce platform and frontend technologies and avoid many of the rigors of re-platforming everything.
In 2021, Bloomreach <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/bloomreach-acquires-exponea-secures-150m-investment-to-power-e-commerce-saas-expansion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acquired Exponea</a>, a Customer Data and Experience Platform (CDXP), with the goal of integrating its market-leading e-commerce capabilities with Exponea's best-in-class customer data (CDP) and marketing automation capabilities. With this combination, Bloomreach appears well-poised to accelerate the creation, personalization, and optimization of powerful commerce experiences.
<h2>About Bloomreach</h2>
Bloomreach is the world’s #1 Commerce Experience Cloud, empowering brands to deliver customer journeys so personalized, they feel like magic. It offers a suite of products that drive true personalization and digital commerce growth, including: Discovery, offering AI-driven search and merchandising; Content, offering a headless CMS; and Engagement, offering a leading CDP and marketing automation solutions. Together, these solutions combine the power of unified customer and product data with the speed and scale of AI-optimization, enabling revenue-driving digital commerce experiences that convert on any channel and every journey. Bloomreach serves over 850 global brands including Albertsons, Bosch, Puma, FC Bayern München, and Marks &amp; Spencer. For more information, visit <a href="https://bit.ly/2EfrSOZ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bloomreach.com</a>.

Bloomreach Reaches $2.2 Billion Valuation Following $175 Million Investment from Goldman Sachs

paris-tuzun

Image of rocket flying with people on top of it, next to text that reads "$175 million investment"

In its early days, the Cloud was focused on helping businesses scale their capacity and trade CapEx for OpEx. Now, it's helping organizations leverage advanced services like AI and machine learning that enhance optimization and personalization.
On that note: <a href="https://www.optimizely.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Optimizely</a>, a leading digital experience platform (DXP) provider, <a href="https://www.optimizely.com/company/press/optimizely-and-google-cloud-partner-to-drive-joint-innovation--next-gen-experimentation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Google, which includes moving its market-leading experimentation solutions to <a href="https://cloud.google.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google Cloud</a>. The multi-year agreement indicates a commitment by the two companies to collaborate on innovative opportunities to develop advanced, digital-first marketing solutions.
Through the new partnership, customers will benefit from Optimizely's experimentation-driven digital experience capabilities combined with Google Cloud's secure infrastructure and its AI, ML, and analytics. This includes Optimizely's <a href="https://www.optimizely.com/products/intelligence/web-experimentation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Web Experimentation</a> and <a href="https://www.optimizely.com/products/intelligence/full-stack-experimentation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full Stack Experimentation</a> resources, which allow marketers to take the guesswork out of delivering personalized, meaningful engagements.
The alignment with Google will enable Optimizely to innovate and evolve its services with the power of the Cloud. According to the press release, Google and Optimizely will also coordinate a joint go-to-market and sales execution strategy to deliver seamless experimentation solutions to customers across the globe.
"Through this partnership, Google Cloud infrastructure will underpin Optimizely's fast-growing and widely-adopted customer experience platform," said Rob Eslin, President of Google Cloud. "It's critical that businesses deliver exceptional products and services to consumers, and this partnership will enhance their ability to do so, driven by the Optimizely platform, data and Google Cloud's capabilities in AI and ML."
<h2>Elevating "Optimization as a Service" with Google Cloud</h2>
As the name intuitively suggests, Optimizely focuses on optimization – specifically as it relates to content and digital experiences. This is a key reason why <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/episerver-rebrands-as-optimizely-following-acquisition/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Episerver rebranded under the Optimizely moniker</a> following its acquisition. 
While already a Leader on the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/key-takeaways-from-gartners-2021-magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms/">Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms</a>, Episerver's acquisition of Optimizely launched a new direction for the company, elevating "Optimization as a Service" to the forefront of their product and service stack. The acquisition also gave Episerver an edge in the personalization category, allowing them to deliver on the promise of a truly complete digital experience platform for testing and optimization. 
As part of the multi-year agreement, Optimizely and Google Cloud will collaborate closely on co-innovation, developing new and expanded digital offerings that bring the best experience possible to new and existing customers. Joint Optimizely and Google Cloud customers will reap the robust benefits of the combined offering, including greater flexibility and control, unmatched security, and increased productivity and reliability. 
<h2>The critical role of experimentation in digital marketing</h2>
As marketing continues to evolve, successful programs will rely on data-driven decision-making and optimized customer experiences. Having the scalability of Google Cloud will enable Optimizely to support the growing demand for experimentation to provide more actionable insights – giving marketers greater confidence around the performance of their content and campaigns. 
In an industry plagued by rapid disruption and constant consolidation, this partnership will help ensure that Optimizely's innovative solutions are more accessible, scalable, and quickly achievable for marketers looking to gain an edge and deliver optimal digital experiences.
"I couldn't think of two tech companies that are more relevant for the data-driven growth marketer than Google Cloud and Optimizely," said Alex Atzberger, CEO of Optimizely. "We share the same philosophy on leveraging data, AI, and experimentation to replace guesswork with certainty. By entering into this strategic partnership with Google Cloud, we're empowering marketers to unlock their digital potential, create exceptional customer experiences and deliver strong business outcomes all on a trusted, secure platform. It's a true win-win-win situation for Optimizely, Google Cloud, and the marketing industry overall."
<h2>MACH versus monoliths</h2>
Optimizely had quite an active year in 2021, acquiring both <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/optimizely-acquires-customer-data-platform-zaius/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zaius</a>, a Customer Data Platform (CDP), and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/optimizelys-acquisition-of-welcome-signals-expanded-focus-on-marketers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Welcome</a>  – a content marketing (CMP), marketing resource management (MRM), and digital asset management (DAM) platform. 
While these strategic acquisitions demonstrate Optimizely's ambition to deliver a full stack of value to marketers, it further positions the digital experience platform as a more monolithic player in the landscape. This is in direct contrast to the more recent energy and growth in the MACH (Microservices, API-first, Cloud-first SaaS, Headless) category, where <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/uniform-raises-28m-in-series-a-funding-round-for-composable-dxp/">composable DXPs like Uniform</a> are disrupting the market. The promise of more extensible solutions – and never having to replatform – is gaining traction with users and companies as they consider the future of their digital stacks. 
Still, leading platforms like Optimizely are responding to large-scale enterprise needs from customers who crave integrated data and solutions from a single platform. As pure-play members of the MACH Alliance continue to grow, they may face opportunities to expand value with more monolithic attributes. This is a key reason why <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/elastic-path-secures-60m-in-funding-for-composable-commerce-growth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elastic Path</a> has chosen to forego membership in the MACH Alliance and pursue a more flexible ecosystem model to build a community of composable commerce solutions.
<h2>About Optimizely</h2>
Optimizely is on a mission to help people unlock their digital potential. With its leading digital experience platform (DXP), Optimizely equips teams with the tools and insights they need to create and optimize in new and novel ways. Now, companies can operate with data-driven confidence to create hyper-personalized experiences. Building sophisticated solutions has never been simpler. Optimizely's 900+ partners and 1100+ employees in offices around the globe are proud to help more than 9,000 brands, including Toyota, Santander, eBay, KLM and Mazda, enrich their customer lifetime value, increase revenue and grow their brands. Learn more at <a href="https://www.optimizely.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">optimizely.com</a>. All third-party trademarks cited are the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference purposes. 
For more information on how Optimizely and Google Cloud will partner together, please visit: <a href="https://www.optimizely.com/google/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.optimizely.com/google</a>.

Optimizely Partners with Google Cloud to Take Experimentation to the Next Level

We've all heard Blue Oyster Cult's iconic rock mantra, "Don't Fear the Reaper."
But what about "Don't Fear the Omnichannel"?
(Before we proceed any further: if you're not familiar with Blue Oyster Cult – or their megahit – we strongly recommend <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVsQLlk-T0s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Will Farrell's interpretation</a> with more cowbell...)
Classic rock references aside, it seems that most enterprises are still trepidatious about investing in omnichannel content experiences, particularly when it comes to connecting with more advanced endpoints like IoT (<a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/what-is-the-internet-of-things-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-iot-right-now/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Internet of Things</a>) devices. Despite the magnetic allure of distributing content to these diverse and engaging channels, it seems that many large brands and organizations are remaining on the digital sidelines, holding back their expansion.
This was codified by a compelling study conducted by <a href="https://www.storyblok.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Storyblok</a>, an enterprise <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/">headless CMS</a> that enables developers and marketers to deliver powerful content experiences on any digital platform. The report, entitled <a href="https://www.storyblok.com/lp/state-of-content-management" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The State of Content Management 2022,</a> analyzed survey results from professionals across a wide range of industries in the United States, UK, Germany, and Sweden – focusing on how they manage content in their organizations.
The results? Well, let's just say that the Reaper was in full force: according to Storyblok's research, the percentage of enterprises interested in delivering content to IoT devices like voice-activated speakers, AR/VR, and smartwatches is in the single digits.
Shocker? Well, maybe not.
<h2>Why the slow growth for omnichannel content experiences?</h2>
Despite widespread claims that many companies have been pursuing advanced omnichannel content strategies, the data in Stoyblok's report shows that most enterprises are taking a cautious approach and continuing to focus on websites and mobile apps. 
Is this fear? Perhaps – in part. More of the current attitude may be a result of the overall market opportunity and how consumers behave with these different devices. There's certainly been significant adoption of voice assistants like Alexa and Google Home, but only <a href="https://martech.org/roughly-1-in-4-u-s-adults-now-owns-a-smart-speaker-according-to-new-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">25% of U.S. adults own one</a> – and according to Pew, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/01/09/about-one-in-five-americans-use-a-smart-watch-or-fitness-tracker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">only one in five people</a> own a smartwatch. 
Sure, that's still a lot. But when the majority of the market is engaging with experiences on websites and mobile apps – and nearly <a href="https://www.bankmycell.com/blog/how-many-phones-are-in-the-world#:~:text=According%20to%20Statista%2C%20the%20current,world's%20population%20owns%20a%20smartphone." target="_blank" rel="noopener">85% of people worldwide own a smartphone</a> – that might be why some enterprises are still dragging their feet. 
Furthermore, it seems that a lack of understanding of how a headless CMS can unlock these channels is contributing to the slow growth. Enterprises may not realize the true technical requirements and content operations needed to power these strategies, and it's clear that many are unaware of the tools available in a headless CMS for managing omnichannel content experiences.
 “This data proves that enterprise adoption of newer content platforms has a long way to go, but we’re still in the early days of advanced digital transformation projects,” said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominikangerer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dominik Angerer</a>, Co-Founder, and CEO of Storyblok. “Once more companies understand how a headless CMS makes it possible for one content hub to easily publish content everywhere, the growth of omnichannel content experiences will accelerate at a much more rapid pace.”
We had a chance to ask Angerer a few questions about Storyblok's report, the future of headless and commerce, and the growing prevalence of MACH in the marketplace. In fact, a big part of how Storyblok and other headless CMS platforms are evolving the space is by delivering MACH-based solutions that are composable and highly extensible.
MACH stands for Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS, and Headless – all attributes that modern headless CMSes are furiously embracing. As part of its market commitment, Storyblok <a href="https://www.storyblok.com/mp/storyblok-joins-the-mach-alliance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">joined the MACH Alliance</a> last November, entering the velvet-roped VIP room for platforms that fully exhibit the MACH principles.
<h2>Understanding the role of headless CMS in the omnichannel ecosystem</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. 
Clearly, the role of the headless CMS in this expanding ecosystem is critical, and Stoyblok's research takes a keen interest in uncovering how enterprises are using their content management systems to make connections in new places – particularly across the IoT. According to the report, when asked which platforms and channels they serve with their CMS, 7.2% of respondents said voice-activated speakers, 6.6% said AR/VR and only 3.7% said smartwatches. Again, these figures appear much lower than the market zeitgeist might reflect.
That said, the enthusiasm to ride the omnichannel wave is pervasive. When asked which platforms and channels they plan to serve with their CMS in the future, 9.6% said voice-activated speakers, 6.5% said AR/VR, and 5.1% said smartwatches.
Some other noteworthy metrics gathered from respondents include:
<ul>
<li>47.96% use 2 to 3 CMSes in their organization</li>
<li>47.08% have 2 to 3 different teams use the CMS in their organization</li>
<li>35.5% said time-consuming processes were a pain point that made them move to a CMS</li>
<li>34.91% use a headless CMS</li>
<li>82.91% have seen improvements in ROI, budget, and performance since switching to a headless CMS</li>
</ul>
<h2>The rapid rise of headless commerce</h2>
While the investment in omnichannel content experiences has been slower than expected (blame the Reaper), what might accelerate its continued growth is <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/">headless commerce</a>. Buyers are browsing in multiple places, and brands need to be prepared at every endpoint to engage them along their journey. Decoupling the frontend means any endpoint becomes a part of a company's digital shopping ecosystem; it also means that they won't have to re-platform from a tightly-coupled monolithic solution that limits any API-first scalability (more of the MACH action). 
One of the other big advantages of a headless commerce strategy is having an agile framework for e-commerce – giving brands the ability to test, experiment, and optimize based on different audiences. It also gives sellers the freedom to customize their various channels, from websites to apps, without impacting the backend. These experiences can be powered by a single headless commerce system, or connected to a CMS that powers the core of the omnichannel strategy. It's these capabilities that make the case for composable platforms. 
<h2>Q&amp;A with Dominik Angerer</h2>
CMS Critic had an opportunity to connect with the co-founder and CEO of Storyblok. He shared some of his views on headless commerce, MACH architecture, and where Storyblok sees its competitive strength.
<hr />
CMS Critic (CC): Based on your data, eCommerce is the third largest area served by a CMS. In your opinion, how is the rise of headless commerce impacting the trend?
Dominik Angerer (DA): The rise of headless commerce is the natural reaction of an architecture that proved itself in the CMS space to be faster to implement and easier to extend and combine. With the adoption of headless commerce now we will see an increased acceleration of the adoption of headless CMS and other API-first tools related to commerce. The education efforts for new and existing players will be less as the understanding of benefits (speed, security, ROI) is already a given. 
<hr />
CC: How do you see the increased awareness of MACH principles and composable systems impacting the future?
DA: The MACH principles are here to stay. Businesses using a composable, best-of-breed approach usually tend to perform better by creating faster, more streamlined user experiences for their clients across platforms and channels. This is because a composable architecture gives all stakeholders the best tool at hand for a respective job while allowing those systems to be well connected through an API-first approach. I believe that composable systems must provide a great developer experience and a great editor experience, as this naturally results in a better UX on the frontends.
<hr />
CC: In question 11, we see a huge shift in the measurable impact of switching to headless, a little over 82%. That said, what do you think the 17% of respondents have issues with? Where is there room for improvement? Did you inquire about this?
DA: The fact that 82% of businesses saw an immediate improvement after making the switch to a headless CMS is very exciting. Given our experience with 100,000+ projects running on Storyblok, a couple challenges the remaining percentage could have involve the following:
<ul>
<li>Education: In most cases, businesses making the switch to a headless architecture do not have previous experience with this approach. This usually brings a learning curve for everyone involved in this process.</li>
<li>Migration &amp; Enablement: Changing CMSs usually requires the development of a migration path from the old system to the new system. Storyblok does offer ways to migrate data to your new Headless CMS (see <a href="https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2021/07/wordpress-headless-cms-storyblok/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">example tutorial here</a>); however, migrating data, content models, etc., can be a unique challenge depending on your previous setup and systems. </li>
</ul>
While we see those challenges, we also see examples where businesses saw a massive decrease in the hidden costs of a CMS when switching to headless (think of training, maintenance, hosting, and so on).
<hr />
CC: With the largest growth among headless CMS platforms, where do headless vendors see the growth opportunities? How will they differentiate over time?
DA: We will see a split based on the groups working with the CMS. Some will dedicate more time and resources into the pure developer angle and will go the route to become more of a database with API (“content platform”), others will focus on the collaboration between the marketers and trying to enable them even more with previews, automation, content planning, and become closer to a DXP.
<hr />
CC: More specifically: where does Storyblok see its competitive strength? Where does it best compete when buyers are evaluating CMS solutions?
DA: We believe that Storyblok is the only Headless CMS for enterprises that provides the best developer experience as well as the best editor experience. Because of that, organizations such as Adidas, Marc O’Polo, and Greggs are able to build better performing digital experiences, launch new marketing campaigns faster, and manage all of their content in one central place - no matter the frontend.
<h2>About Storyblok</h2>
Storyblok is an enterprise 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, Pizza Hut, and Marc O’Polo use Storyblok to manage and share their content with the world.
 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">Twitter</a>.

Storyblok's CMS Report Shows Enterprises Are Still "Scared" of Omnichannel Content Experiences

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Progress Sitefinity logo with 14.0 version number

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

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

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

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

WordPress, Frontity, and React logo icons

Weglot - The easiest way to translate a website

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