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Bland Brands Beware: Optimizely’s New Identity Brings Human Creativity to its Agentic AI and AEO Ambitions

matt-garrepy

Kentico Connection 2023 Nashville Focuses on Innovation, Partnerships, AI, and the Future of DXP

<hr /> As omnichannel continues to evolve digital strategies for brands, composable and <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms">headless</a> solutions are finding growth opportunities across a multitude of industries. This includes the healthcare technology marketplace, where digital experiences and e-commerce are critical to the business imperative. This week, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/contentstack">Contentstack</a> amplified that growth in the hearing care vertical. The composable digital experience platform (DXP) provider announced the<a target="_blank" href="https://report.sonova.com/2020/en/audiological-care-business/"> </a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.sonova.com/en/audiologicalcare-us">Audiological Care division of Sonova</a> – a global leader in innovative hearing care solutions – has selected Contentstack to power its migration to a <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-content-management-system-cms">headless CMS</a> solution. This is part of a broader digitalization strategy for Sonova, one that positions omnichannel at the forefront. “Our digital transformation goals required a solution that allows us to get ahead of the market changes and cater to the unique needs of our customer base,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/varungupta85/">Varun Thunuguntla</a>, Digital Marketing Director for Sonova's Audiological Care business. "Contentstack gives us the flexibility to create more content with speed and deploy a number of personalized features to improve our customers' experience. At the same time, it enables us to improve internal collaboration across markets whilst providing the structure we need to scale our business, quickly integrate new and emerging tools, and future-proof our operations.” Futureproofing appears to be a key element in the decision-making for Sonova's selection of Contentstack. According to the company's press release, Contentstack will power web and digital experiences within Sonova’s Audiological Care division across its global markets. As part of its omnichannel strategy, additional touchpoints will follow in later phases. <h3>Powering omnichannel experiences with headless CMS</h3>Sonova’s Audiological Care business required a modern content management system to support content creation and improve collaboration with its new website. The company also sought a solution that enabled it to respond quickly to evolving business needs. With Contentstack’s headless CMS behind its websites, Sonova can now realize these goals. According to the press release, the move to Contentstack will help ensure consistency, improve internal workflows, and enhance content output speed and sharing across markets. By taking a composable, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen">MACH-based approach</a>, Sonova's Audiological Care division will be able to accelerate the deployment of new features to its websites and deliver more personalized experiences across all channels. In addition, Contentstack’s extensive API library will enable Sonova to deploy and demote applications per their business needs with greater ease.    “Sonova Audiological Care business is a perfect example of how composable technology can empower businesses for years to come,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramonweterings/">Ramon Weterings,</a> VP Sales EMEA at Contentstack. “Through the power of MACH, businesses can benefit from the latest best-of-breed solutions to continue to innovate and accelerate growth at the speed of their imagination. Contentstack’s 'Care Without Compromise' initiative ensures the successful migration into composable whilst working closely with Sonova Audiological Care to introduce new tools to support their evolving business goals.” Sonova’s Audiological Care business chose Contentstack for its leading position in the composable digital experience space. With Contentstack, Sonova is now armed with the latest technology to manage organic growth and adapt more quickly and easily to the ever-evolving needs of its customers.

Contentstack Powers Growth in Hearing Care with Sonova

cms-critic-staff

<hr /> <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/sitecore">Sitecore</a>, a global leader in end-to-end digital experience software, recently unveiled some new offerings as part of its robust, cloud-based digital experience platform. The new solutions, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sitecore.com/products/xm-cloud-plus">XM Cloud Plus</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sitecore.com/knowledge-center/digital-marketing-resources/introducing-sitecore-accelerate">Sitecore Accelerate</a>, are designed to help brands speed up and simplify their move to the cloud by making it easier than ever before to embark on the journey to SaaS and leverage solutions with robust enterprise capabilities.According to the company's press release, cloud-based solutions deliver faster integrations, regular technology updates with little downtime, and more engaging customer experiences. Yet, there remains a perception that switching is both complex and challenging. XM Cloud Plus and Sitecore Accelerate are specifically designed to help remove these obstacles by providing the knowledge, tools, and support needed to make it easier to migrate to Sitecore’s leading cloud-based composable offerings.Both solutions were announced at the company's Sitecore DX 2023 conference in Minneapolis. <h3>XM Cloud Plus builds on SaaS success</h3>In 2022, Sitecore launched its XM Cloud, the industry’s first fully-native cloud CMS solution – and it quickly became the company’s fastest-selling SaaS product with over 100 major brand adoptions. Today, Sitecore is expanding the capabilities of XM Cloud with the launch of XM Cloud Plus: an extended digital-experience solution that brings together content management, AI-powered search, personalization, customer data management, and analytics.XM Cloud Plus is designed to answer the needs of Sitecore XP customers who have enjoyed a powerful solution in a single product and are ready to make their transition to the cloud, and for brands that want to leverage a composable technology stack but use a proven product combination to simplify deployment and accelerate time to value.“XM Cloud marked a significant moment in Sitecore’s journey when we launched it a year ago," said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tzikakis/">Steve Tzikakis</a>, CEO of Sitecore. "Our first-to-market experience offering a cloud-based composable solution resulted in rapid adoption and was the culmination of three years of development with extensive customer input. Today, we expand the XM Cloud offering with XM Cloud Plus, bringing together a proven set of products that gives brands broader capabilities to offer an unrivaled customer experience, while simplifying and accelerating their move to the cloud, and delivering a powerful solution for the thousands of Sitecore XP customers that want additional enterprise capabilities.”Key features of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sitecore.com/products/xm-cloud-plus">XM Cloud Plus</a> include:<ul><li>Content Creation and Management: User-friendly tools allow teams to efficiently produce, optimize, and deliver captivating content to the right audience at the right time.</li><li>AI-Powered Search and Content Recommendations: Includes dynamic personalization and targeting strategies, offering omnichannel personalization, intelligent search recommendations, and access to an extensive array of personalization development tools.</li><li>Omnichannel Content Center: Teams can now efficiently manage all digital customer touchpoints from a single, unified content repository that ensures brand consistency and streamlined workflows.</li><li>Seamless Integrations and Connectivity: XM Cloud Plus can be easily implemented within an existing tech stack to create connected, immersive customer experiences across all channels.</li><li>Intuitive Form Builder: Our drag-and-drop form builder for XM Cloud and XM Cloud Plus, provides customers with an easy way to add data capture forms to their pages and components.</li></ul><h3>Speeding brands to the cloud with Sitecore Accelerate</h3>Companies often retain on-premises solutions due to the perceived difficulty of moving to the cloud. To address this, Sitecore has launched Sitecore Accelerate, a dedicated program to guide Sitecore XM and Sitecore XP customers to either XM Cloud or XM Cloud Plus and XC customers to OrderCloud. Sitecore Accelerate gives teams the knowledge, resources, tools, and human support needed to unlock the full potential of a SaaS-based future.“We are at an inflection point where mature cloud technology is combining with AI computing to empower brands like never before,” added Tzikakis. “To leverage this opportunity, brands need guidance, reassurance and actual step-by-step, proven assistance from knowledgeable peers and partners to make their DXP stack operate to full capacity and capability.” By giving brands the support they need with Sitecore Accelerate, they can tap into the full power of Sitecore’s solutions simply and easily. It is such a critical moment for online experiences, and we want to be the partner brands turn to when they want to build a better proposition.”<h3>Generative AI comes to Sitecore's composable DXP</h3>At DX Minneapolis 2023, new Generative AI features were announced that enhance content creation, management, and delivery of digital experiences. “Sitecore introduced native machine learning features across our platform and composable DXP in 2019," said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveof/">Dave O’Flanagan</a>, Chief Product Officer, Sitecore. "With our ongoing focus on R&amp;D, we are excited to bring the next level of AI to our customers. These additions accelerate the speed at which brands build content and experiences with Sitecore solutions, open new ways to empower marketing, and heighten the level of insight brands get from their data."With Accelerate, brand marketers can:<ul><li>Generate text and images in Content Hub One that are consistently on-brand to achieve a new level of hyper-personalization for customer-facing content</li><li>Author and edit brand content in Content Hub DAM (Digital Asset Management) to ensure it aligns with content models and brand consistency</li><li>Deploy advanced Search that understands user intent to answer queries faster</li><li>Leverage Visual Search from Content Hub to easily discover content and incorporate images into brand assets via similar image suggestions</li></ul>“This is only the first step to embed AI deep into our SaaS DXP so our customers can continue to build better experiences for their customers," O'Flanagan added. "We are actively working on new ways to improve marketer workflows through automatic improvements, and further down the line, AI will be able to optimize the digital experience with limited manual oversight.”Sitecore will begin rolling out its new AI capabilities in the coming weeks.

Sitecore's Accelerate and XM Cloud Plus Promise Brands a Faster Path to Cloud Transformation

<hr /> Over the past few years, we've steadily covered the rise of the <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/new-mach-alliance-maturity-assessment-tool-helps-organizations-evaluate-their-mach-readiness">MACH Alliance</a> – an undeniable force of independent tech companies advocating for open, best-of-breed technology ecosystems. The cabal of member companies has reached almost 100, all dedicated to future-proofing within the composable movement. During the <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/mach-two-conference-wrap-six-takeaways-from-the-composable-event-of-the-year">MACH Two event</a> this past June, I had an opportunity to engage with the organization's leadership, where they shared some of the challenges surrounding the member admissions process. These points were echoed in conversations I had with ISVs and SIs both inside and outside the MACH membership community. At the time, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen">Casper Rasmussen</a>, President of the MACH Alliance, acknowledged a greater need for transparency – and expressed a commitment to deliver it.True to his word, the organization just announced the publication of a new <a target="_blank" href="https://register.machalliance.org/hubfs/Admissions%20Playbook.pdf">Admissions Playbook</a>, adding rigor to its certification and admissions process. The timing reflects the overall market maturity, which previous MACH Alliance president <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellygoetsch/">Kelly Goetsch</a> crystallized in a comment during MACH Two: “MACH now feels like the default.”The criteria within the guide highlight the stringency and purity of certification and how the Alliance fiercely protects it – providing greater clarity and confidence for enterprise technology buyers who are building composable solutions. It also gives applicants a clear blueprint for certification and what the evaluation process entails.“We have always maintained the highest standards for certification," said Rasmussen. "All criteria are specification and fact-based, and we will continue to evolve the evaluation process while also ensuring all applicants are held to the same bar. This is our highest goal as the industry body, to ensure customers are clear they are buying true future-proof MACH solutions. We are intentionally 100 percent open about our admissions process as we strive for complete transparency and welcome feedback and questions.” <h3>Reflecting market maturity and growth of composable </h3>Since first rolling onto the tech scene in June 2020, the MACH Alliance's assessment criteria and scoring system have evolved, reflecting the organization's accrued knowledge and experience as new companies apply for certification. The volume of member applications has grown by more than 60 percent in three years, while the rejection rate for companies that fail to meet the criteria has remained stable at around 50 percent. According to the MACH Alliance, the increase in the number of member applications reflects a maturing market. As evidenced by the Impact Awards at the MACH Two event, more complex applications are being built by companies that have reshaped their portfolio and product strategy from monolith to MACH, as well as enterprises with multiple products in their stack. “The MACH Alliance is adapting to a maturing market and being realistic and inclusive of the reality that is out there as more vendors transition their product strategies for a composable future," said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/benoit-rossignol/">Benoit Rossignol</a>, Head of the MACH Alliance Admissions Panel. "MACH is expanding from front-end to back-end solutions and into new industries, touching every component of an enterprise tech stack. We need to ensure a level playing field for all assessments.” <h3>A winning playbook for certification</h3>MACH certification is the cornerstone of the organization's promise to the market. It provides buyers with greater confidence that the products and services they select from MACH-certified members will enable a future-proof technology outcome. The full criteria for certification – consolidated and described in detail within the Playbook – are solely in place to ensure enterprises get the swappable, future-fit technology they expect when committing to a MACH strategy.To prevent confusion for buyers, the criteria were recently extended to accommodate companies that still maintain legacy products for existing clients, as long as the solutions being actively sold are 100 percent MACH compliant. The playbook itself clocks in at 46 pages and is packed with details. That said, it's well-paced and easy to digest. At its core, it clarifies the complete neutrality and transparency of the certification process to reinforce market trust in the MACH-certified status. It also shows potential members exactly what’s required to achieve certification. The PDF first delves into the distinct member categories and helps establish criteria for each – including ISVs, SIs, and Enablers. This includes clarification between boutique system integrators versus standard or global, detailing the specific thresholds for company size, engineering staff, and other details. The Admissions Process section dives deep, providing a visual flowchart for the applicant lifecycle. It covers the process step by step, denoting how to apply, what the rejection process entails, and how an organization can appeal. The playbook also drills down into the evaluation process, including critical insight around criteria scoring. <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:57.52%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/10/mach-alliance-flowchart.jpg" /></figure> The technical assessment sheds further light on the tech scoring and analysis, specifying the need for qualified headcount, cloud partnership agreements, and relevant case studies that reflect an organization's MACH focus. These tech-oriented reviews vary based on the company's category. The playbook also provides more transparency into the executive board approval, and how special cases – such as multi-product or legacy applications – are identified and assessed fairly. This includes situations where a merger or acquisition impacts an organization's posture as a MACH solution. <h3>Ensuring continued compliance with MACH standards </h3>If there's one certainty regarding governance, it's that policies will evolve over time. As such, the MACH Alliance is also working on a program to ensure all existing members are re-evaluated against the latest criteria, so they continue to meet MACH standards across the applications they are actively selling. While this evolution requires vigilance, the core principles of the MACH Alliance remain unphased – and continue to drive the overall roadmap.“The objective behind the certification process hasn’t changed,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/pascallagarde/">Pascal Lagarde</a>, a member of the MACH Alliance Advisory Board and Admissions Panel. “What we’re doing now is maturing and adding rigor to the process as the number of applicants grows. We’ve also grown the pool of experts involved in admissions to enable us to handle the increasing number and complexity of applications. As the market evolves, we must ensure we evaluate everyone in the same manner, and the Playbook holds us to that commitment.” You can <a target="_blank" href="https://register.machalliance.org/hubfs/Admissions%20Playbook.pdf">download</a> the MACH Alliance Admissions Playbook in a PDF format. To learn more, visit <a target="_blank" href="https://machalliance.org/">www.machalliance.org</a>

New MACH Alliance Admissions Playbook Brings Greater Clarity to Certification Process  

<hr /> <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/optimizely">Optimizely</a>, a digital experience platform provider, just announced a new operating system for marketing practitioners built on its industry-leading DXP: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.optimizely.com/products/">Optimizely One</a>. Comprised of Optimizely’s seamlessly integrated, best-of-breed capabilities – all built with modern SaaS – Optimizely One offers a highly composable architecture, giving organizations the flexibility to choose exactly what they need in their marketing ecosystem. Optimizely One is enriched through a single, unified workflow accelerated by AI, making it simple for marketers to create, manage, deliver, and optimize content all in one place. Secure and scalable, Optimizely One provides teams with the future-proof stack they need to create and optimize digital experiences for their customers.“Marketing is the only remaining enterprise function that doesn’t have a go-to platform, so we designed Optimizely One to be the operating system for marketers,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/aatzberger/">Alex Atzberger</a>, CEO of Optimizely. “Content is at the core of every digital experience, and Optimizely One provides exactly what marketers need to orchestrate their content, monetize experiences and experiment across all touchpoints – all enriched through smart workflows and accelerated by AI. The time is now for companies to seize the opportunity to reinvent how marketing, product and growth teams work together to create content-driven digital experiences.”The announcement was made during <a target="_blank" href="https://www.optimizely.com/opticon/">Opticon 2023</a>, the company's annual conference, which is being held this week in San Diego.<h3>Creating choice in a composable world</h3>Up until now, the market has had to make a difficult choice: build a stack that caters more to developers (think open and highly customizable but complex) or practitioners. This challenge has resulted in disparate point solutions that create a lot of overhead costs and disjointed workflows. Additionally, with AI rapidly evolving and its value exponentially growing, it has never been more important to streamline the way content gets created and data gets actioned.   With Optimizely One, customers now have the ability to build a truly composable stack. The platform is fully SaaS, fully decoupled, and highly composable – empowering teams to compose what they need on their own terms. One of the new capabilities is a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.optimizely.com/insights/blog/unveiling-optimizelys-fully-composable-solution-for-content-orchestration/">CMS SaaS Core</a> for designing entire web experiences with a low/no-code interface. Users benefit from automatic upgrades, SLAs, and managed services. Optimizely One also features <a target="_blank" href="https://www.optimizely.com/insights/blog/content-graph-announcement/">Graph</a> capabilities for aggregating content from any source, managing it from a single hub, and delivering it to any channel, app, or device.Additionally, users will have access to a Visual Experience Builder, where they can apply pre-built templates and customer data to create and preview engaging experiences via an all-new, user-friendly editor. A Unified Workflow also connects teams via a fully integrated workflow – from planning to analysis – all based on a single, unified platform. This allows users to log in once and seamlessly navigate across all Optimizely applications. The new Workflow features <a target="_blank" href="https://www.optimizely.com/insights/blog/announcing-experiment-collaboration/">Experiment Collaboration</a> for managing every aspect of your testing and optimization programs with a purpose-built tool, and Omnichannel Authoring for creating content once and pulling it into multiple content types and formats for delivery across channels. <h3>Accelerating digital experiences with the power of AI</h3>While AI has been weaving its way into Optimizely over the last year, it's making a big splash in Optimizely One. The platform embeds both native and external AI capabilities into the entire marketing lifecycle, helping teams work faster and make better decisions. One of the big reveals in Optimizely One is the introduction of Opal, a new identity for Optimizely's AI. By engaging with this service, users can surface insights, review recommendations, create new content, and leverage an AI co-pilot when needed. Optimizely also announced a solution partnership with <a target="_blank" href="https://writer.com/">Writer</a>, a full-stack generative AI platform for enterprises. Combined with the Optimizely Content Marketing Platform (CMP), Writer will provide customers with sophisticated language learning models (LLMs) within the context of their existing marketing workflows. With a strong AI offering that meets B2B needs, the partnership will allow joint customers of Optimizely and Writer to finally harness the power of AI by leveraging the Writer platform to develop content that is relevant, compliant, and consistent with their existing brand tone and voice. <h3>Expanding leadership in experimentation and optimization </h3>Optimizely leverages powerful experimentation capabilities, comprehensive digital commerce tools, and intuitive content management to enable exceptional customer experiences for over 10,000 of the world’s top brands. Proven by its 8 leader recognitions from analyst firms in the last 24 months, Optimizely continues to deliver the industry’s best digital experience solutions With the addition of Optimizely One – and the introduction of new AI capabilities – the company sees tremendous potential for customers across the marketing and digital lifecycle.“We’re continually reinventing the way marketers work, so they can more easily deliver exceptional digital experiences to their customers and drive maximum business impact without having to make any tradeoffs,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rupali/">Rupali Jain</a>, Chief Product Officer at Optimizely. “Optimizely One is a shared operating system that gives teams unprecedented levels of transparency, flexibility, and simplicity to manage their entire marketing lifecycle. With the guidance of Opal and the power of experimentation data, every part of the lifecycle is rooted in science.”

Optimizely Debuts Industry-First Marketing Operating System At Opticon 2023

<hr /> Global business transformation agency <a target="_blank" href="https://usw2.nyl.as/t1/154/29ddxp9gsglii7j8p6mnwli8g/3/b2c82cff406369556a3108d566bce2ae32384d8263ed2551e674dfd054ba5201">Valtech</a> today announced it has developed the first connector to act as a bridge between <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/salesforce-unveils-composable-storefront-a-digital-commerce-solution-to-help-retailers-go-headless-fast">Salesforce Commerce Cloud</a> and leading experimentation and digital experience platform <a target="_blank" href="https://usw2.nyl.as/t1/154/29ddxp9gsglii7j8p6mnwli8g/4/82e0e9974cb7f5ba9f69d8830a681273ea0299dd8bdd3a46bbcd62caf449f268">Optimizely</a>. The new connector allows businesses within B2C retail commerce to easily synchronize their products, catalogs, content, and other relevant information between the two platforms. By integrating the connector, businesses eliminate the need for manual data transfers and ensure real-time data consistency, leading to faster time-to-market and the ability to deliver personalized e-commerce experiences to customers. "We’re seeing businesses in B2C retail commerce face various challenges," said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/janaka-fernando-omvp/">Janaka Fernando</a>, Director of Optimizely Practice at Valtech. “They’re reaching a marketing and merchandising dead-end, hitting a wall when it comes to personalization and experimentation, and dealing with lengthy upgrades or migrations of existing Commerce Cloud implementations. The market is changing at an accelerated speed as consumer expectations rise. We launched this connector with Optimizely to help businesses maintain pace with these changes and truly elevate their customer experiences. Our partnership shows that when industry technology players work together, they enable an exciting future for experience innovation."<h3>Increased demand for personalization </h3>According to Salesforce’s <a target="_blank" href="https://usw2.nyl.as/t1/154/29ddxp9gsglii7j8p6mnwli8g/5/bdeffd47c9295c8f8febf849f84c7d733a6286340a8e3e51e1a01f13b9cc2e44">State of the Connected Customer</a> report, 52% of customers expect offers to always be personalized – up from 49% in 2019. As a result, <a target="_blank" href="https://usw2.nyl.as/t1/154/29ddxp9gsglii7j8p6mnwli8g/6/775a7837875a417c5d72d0b2766fbe85cc9b782c9badd2a8dfe93b84a727cced">most retailers</a> (56%) are prioritizing technology that enables customized experiences. With the help of the connector, businesses can leverage advanced <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-content-management-system-cms">CMS</a>, experimentation, targeting, and personalization capabilities to optimize their websites or apps, drive better customer experiences, and improve business outcomes. "Valtech's Optimizely to Salesforce Commerce Connector seamlessly unifies two powerful platforms, offering our joint customers an unparalleled blend of capabilities,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/anielsud/">Aniel Sud</a>, Chief Technology Officer at Optimizely. “Valtech has created an exceptional opportunity for Salesforce Commerce clients, addressing challenges related to customer data activation, personalization, experimentation, and marketing agility, while harnessing the added value of Optimizely. We’re excited to see how this new offering will streamline processes, elevate customer experiences, and drive revenue growth for our clients."  <h3>Powering commerce with CMS</h3>Interestingly, the connector was born from Valtech’s work with a global fashion footwear brand. At its core, the technology enables merchandising opportunities via the CMS by syncing the Salesforce product catalog with Optimizely. It also gives editors rich and highly flexible digital experience management by effortlessly serving Optimizely CMS content through Salesforce Commerce Cloud. All of these benefits provide businesses with the ability to personalize their engagements using real-time customer segments and achieve faster time-to-market.In terms of performance, the connector accelerates a typical project from start to dev completion within 60 days. Once deployed, it synchronizes a typical 4,500-product catalog in 5 minutes and keeps it up to date so marketers can focus on merchandising. Content from Optimizely to Salesforce Commerce Cloud can be loaded in milliseconds, providing a fast response to optimize performance. Real-time personalization can also be delivered using ODP segments to the client – without any performance costs. The development of the connector was a joint venture between Optimizely and Valtech, and has been validated by their internal SMEs. It complements other accelerators that Valtech is developing for Salesforce. While Valtech will be performing customer implementations, they are currently verifying it through Optimizely’s Marketplace.The accelerator is currently accepting early access participants and will be available for GA by the end of this year. <h3>Announced at Opticon 2023</h3>The new connector was announced today at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.optimizely.com/opticon/">Opticon San Diego 2023</a>, where Valtech is conducting live demos. According to Fernando, the company is bullish about the connector's potential to help both existing customers and new prospects – not just in B2C, but B2B as well.“This is a tremendous opportunity for Valtech to grow its footprint in the market. It will of course be beneficial for existing customers, but will also be an excellent way to help us improve the customer experience and increase conversion and operational efficiency for new Salesforce customers.”There's also a plan to make the connector available to other CMS platforms in the future. Valtech's marketing science practice is already implementing Optimizely experimentation with other platforms. “We’re driven to continue to innovate in this space and use our learnings across all platforms,” Fernando said, “and we expect to do so with this accelerator as well.”In addition to demoing the connector at Opticon San Diego, Valtech will also be presenting at Opticon London and Opticon Stockholm. More details can be found <a target="_blank" href="https://usw2.nyl.as/t1/154/29ddxp9gsglii7j8p6mnwli8g/7/f3f26b20b817b396c425a51f43389be1a7e708a9e2a210f66856b9bef9f55ece">here</a>.

Valtech Launches First Connector to Seamlessly Integrate Salesforce Commerce Cloud with Optimizely

<h4>Snapshot:</h4><ul><li>Zmags has rebranded as Fastr and launched its new FastrAI service.</li><li>New AI features will power multivariate experimentation with greater speed and agility.</li><li>Generative AI provides content that is on-brand and optimized for SEO, Core Web Vitals, and more.</li><li>New Experience Canvas UI provides design tools, collaboration, and more for building no-code experiences.</li></ul><hr /> When I spoke to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanbreen/">Ryan Breen</a> last week, we traded notes about our recent meeting in Boston at the fall edition of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/boye-co/">Boye &amp; Company</a> CMS Experts Group. In passing, I described our “exotic” community as sort of a digital safari. We never know what we might spot roaming the plains of DX, or if any wayward explorers might join our expedition. This time around, we were lucky to score the legendary <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/billwilliamrogers/">Bill Rogers</a>, founder of the eponymous <a target="_blank" href="https://world.optimizely.com/products/ektron/">Ektron CMS</a>.There was no campfire in our WeWork room, but members of our CMS cabal seemed ready to chant. And while Bill spun tales of yore, he spent more time peering into the dense forests of AI and talking about his new startup, <a target="_blank" href="https://ai12z.com/">ai12z</a> – which builds copilots and next-gen AI apps, and advises on generative AI implementations. AI: A Song of Fire and Ice might have been a good title for his talk. With so much contention around the impact of AI on the digital experience landscape, it’s hard to separate the hype from the hope. But Ryan is all in. “It was really timely and fun seeing Bill come in as a ‘true believer’ of generative with copilots and the direction they're going,” he said, still dazzled by Rogers (like most of us). “I was like, yup, yup, I'm right there with you. A lot of stuff changed in December of last year that was [previously] very difficult to do, but now it’s just effortless – because you can wave that generative AI wand and things become easier.”Now, Ryan is weaving his own AI tale. His company, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/fastr">Fastr</a> (formerly Zmags) – a digital experience composition platform focused on e-commerce – just launched a new service called FastrAI. The solution streamlines e-commerce experience creation to support multivariate experimentation and fast iteration. The AI learns from tests, which helps optimize performance for brands.“Whether you’re aiming to improve conversion rates, increase average order value, or drive engagement, we can get you there disruptively faster,” Ryan said. “The traditional process for experimenting on e-commerce sites is either too limited or too slow. Brands can’t hit their aggressive targets with incremental improvements to copy or button colors. And they can’t wait for long prototyping and development handoff cycles to create experience variants to test.”That’s where Fastr comes in. Using the platform’s lightning-fast capabilities, businesses can intelligently test their e-commerce-enabled experiences – things like upsell carousels or dynamic bundle offers – all without tapping developer resources. FastrAI is also adaptive, meaning it can respond to each test and generate optimized experiences in minutes.  <h3>The evolution from Zmags to Fastr</h3>While AI is at the center of Fastr’s announcement, the company is going through another evolution around its identity – shedding its previous <a target="_blank" href="https://getfastr.com/">Zmags</a> moniker and adopting a component of its core product: Fastr.The new mantle unifies the legacy Zmags business, which was founded in 2006 and regarded for its <a target="_blank" href="https://getfastr.com/publicator">Publicator</a> digital catalog and <a target="_blank" href="https://getfastr.com/Creator-Studio">Creator Studio</a> software. It also folds in the professional services of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.beapartof.com/">Be A Part Of</a>, an award-winning BigCommerce partner agency that Zmags acquired the previous year. According to Ryan, this transition was a long time coming, as it speaks to the speed of a product that claims to deliver composable commerce in days. When he began this journey nearly three years ago as the Chief Technology Officer at Zmags, he was always thinking about the frontend experience and how acceleration was key to success.“We finally got our brains around going Fastr,” he said, “and that I can roll with.”With Fastr Frontend – the company’s core product – customers have the freedom to create the e-commerce stores they envision using digital experience composition tools. Fastr enables them to design at will, leveraging a blank canvas to import designs from Figma, Sketch, or <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/adobe-experience-manager">Adobe</a>. Fastr Frontend also removes the silos walling off e-commerce data, enabling brands to set conditions for specific details like inventory availability or pricing. Data can also come from any source via APIs, page data, or anywhere on the web. <hr /><h4 style="text-align:center">“A lot of stuff changed in December of last year that was [previously] very difficult to do, but now it’s just effortless – because you can wave that generative AI wand and things become easier.”</h4><hr />One of the big benefits of Fastr Frontend is the simple, elegant integration with an existing CMS. After an e-commerce journey has been built out, the platform provides a single line of code to paste into your<a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-content-management-system-cms"> content management system</a>. Because it’s all architected in a lightweight fashion, the experiences load as fast or faster than most existing pages (hence the name).Orchestration is also a big part of the promise with Fastr. In addition to building composable frontend experiences that are extensible to the omnichannel, Fastr Frontend effectively “glues together” your backend applications with what’s in your API, on your website pages, or anywhere on the web.<h3>Wrestling with integrations and legacy systems</h3>It’s a fact: integrations can be a sticky wicket, particularly with legacy platforms that simply can’t be avoided. Despite what some platforms might say, not everything has an off-the-shelf connector. To that end, Fastr provides a host of professional services to help design or implement almost any kind of connection to bring experiences to life. “When we rolled out Fastr Frontend, the focus was really to bring in those integrations,” Ryan explained. “Whether you're still on a monolithic stack or you’ve gotten more composable and now have 40 different vendors, you need to orchestrate on top. We wanted to make something that any business user can look at and say, ‘We're going to grab these elements from Einstein personalization,’ or ‘I'm going to show and hide things if they're low on stock or have different CTAs.’ That's exactly how [Fastr] works.”Integrations in Fastr execute as JavaScript snippets within a browser as your experiences are rendering. They essentially act as conduits for API calls or data retrieval from a specific page, allowing data to be fetched dynamically. Ryan said that while some of the API work is handled on the customer side, this is an area where Fastr’s solution engineering team really shines. Even if it’s an integration they haven’t seen before, they can typically handle it within 24 hours. Obviously, these kinds of exotic connections tend to be the domain of large enterprises, where Fastr plays. As Ryan described, this is where the pain is most acute.“Maybe you’ve got two things you want to replatform off of, but that one ERP is still hanging out back there,” he said. “And you need to ask it some things or certain data lives over there. We help glue it all together.”<h3>Experimenting with FastrAI and Experience Canvas </h3>FastrAI is built into Fastr Frontend’s new user interface, which it calls Experience Canvas. Layered on the foundation of <a target="_blank" href="https://penpot.app/">Penpot</a> – a popular open-source design and prototyping app – Experience Canvas provides robust design tools, asset and component libraries for easy brand management, and real-time collaboration features. It also includes integrations to orchestrate your e-commerce technology ecosystem. Non-developers can easily set conditions for dynamic experiences without writing code. For teams with development resources, the platform also offers easy access to create and manage the underlying integrations for complete control of your composable ecosystem.During a brief demo, Ryan showed me how Fastr is harnessing AI to target specific elements within a digital experience and allowing an easier, more fluid way of building commerce-focused experiences and testing multi-variant options. I’ll say this: Fastr’s UI is slick and easy to navigate, conjuring a familiar Photoshop experience that speaks to my inner designer. Assembling components on the visual pasteboard is simple, and collaboration tools are intuitively baked into the flow. From there, adding variants is fairly straightforward. <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:83.01%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/10/fastr-build-collaborate-screenshot.png" /></figure> With easily accessible AI, users can ask for recommendations on options for, say, a blog – or even a cross-sell carousel that optimizes click-through – and then request specific types of assets from the commerce system. Then, they can test what they create.  <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:82.66%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/10/fastr-ai-screenshot.jpg" /></figure> “In every product detail page under the sun, there’s some level of carousel, but people don't have control over it visually,” he explained. “But just as importantly, in terms of the business logic, what's it going to do? What products are we going to show? When we talked to our design services and e-commerce experts internally, we said, hey, rattle off the 20 different things you would like to test if you are building out a carousel – and it surprised me even after being in this business for almost three years now.”As Ryan clarified, Fastr’s customers use their platform to create things that aren’t just data-informed, but where they can control every aspect of how an experience is rendered on the front end. It's an orchestration – and the actual artifact in a CMS is one line of code targeted at whatever space a customer targets.  <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:82.82%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/10/fastrai-screenshot-2.jpg" /></figure> Building on that orchestration with AI, Fastr ensures e-commerce stakeholders that all AI-generated content is optimized for accessibility and SEO while restricting it to brand guidelines like typography, color, logo elements, and corporate content. It also supports <a target="_blank" href="https://web.dev/vitals/#core-web-vitals">Core Web Vitals</a>, ensuring optimized design and API calls for the fastest time to render. It also delivers multi-language support, providing the ability to scale to as many locales as needed.<h3>What does it cost, and when will it be available?</h3>As noted in the press release, Fastr is offering an Early Access program for its AI starting today. Ryan indicated that they expect it to be GA on December 12th. You can visit the <a target="_blank" href="https://getfastr.com/">company's website</a> to learn more or get in touch.I asked about pricing, and it sounds like we can expect more updates over the coming weeks. As Ryan pointed out, Fastr has a consumption-based, value-driven model – and that might be an indicator of what to expect when pricing the new features. “The majority of our pricing is really based on usage, like what percentage of page views you drive through us because we power those parts of your site,” he clarified. “And so anything that increases your desire to have us on more of your site, then that's a cool way for us to have a better long-term relationship with our customers. If you trust us more, you use us more.”<h3>The Takeaway</h3>For brands in retail and commerce, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms">headless</a> has been a digital game-changer. It has enabled greater freedom and flexibility to build and connect, and is a cornerstone technology for <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen">MACH</a> and composable. And while omnichannel still represents a smaller slice of the overall pie, it’s growing. At the same time, the lack of visualization and control for marketers has been a huge detractor. It’s also stymied testing and experimentation, which enables content creators to refine and respond with greater agility.Fastr’s use of AI looks promising – and really speaks to the need for speed. It also addresses one of the key pain points for enterprise marketers: optimization. Without the ability to test and iterate, experiences struggle to meet their potential. What’s more, the capacity to orchestrate and scale without the limitations of code is precisely what marketing teams need.If there’s one corner of the DX market where a slow day can kill you, it’s e-commerce. And moving faster is what Fastr is all about.

Fastr Accelerates E-Commerce Optimization with Adaptive AI 

CMS Summit 26

Find out at Open Source CMS 26, October 20-21 in Utrecht, Netherlands

What's ahead for Open Source CMS?

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<hr /> If you build it, they will come. That's always been true for <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/aws-joins-mach-alliance-as-enabler-member-reflects-growth-of-cloud-native-solutions">AWS</a>. As the world's leading provider of cloud infrastructure services, Amazon has maintained an unprecedented pace of innovation, delivering such groundbreaking technologies as <a target="_blank" href="https://aws.amazon.com/ground-station/">Satellite Ground Station as a Service</a> (yes, it's a real thing).But Amazon has also relied on its partner ecosystem to build on top of these services and make it all marketable. These companies are leveraging AWS cloud technologies in novel ways to swing for the fences and deliver commercial products at scale. Of course, building a Field of Dreams in the AI game has proven challenging for the cloud behemoths. While <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/12/technology/microsoft-openai-chatgpt.html">Microsoft doubled down on ChatGPT</a> and Google <a target="_blank" href="https://nypost.com/2023/02/08/google-ai-chatbot-bard-flunks-during-firms-highly-touted-rollout/">fumbled Bard</a> at first base, AWS stood by and studied the plays – waiting for the right moment. Some say they dragged their feet, but the long game might just be paying off. In addition to the launch of its <a target="_blank" href="https://aws.amazon.com/bedrock/">Amazon Bedrock</a> service for building generative AI solutions, the company just invested <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/amazon-steps-up-ai-race-with-up-4-billion-deal-invest-anthropic-2023-09-25/">$1.25 billion in Anthropic</a>, a San Francisco-based AI startup that was previously being courted by Amazon's rivals.Now, AWS partners and builders are harnessing the power of Bedrock to enhance their products and services – including headless <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-content-management-system-cms">content management</a> and digital experience platforms (DXP). Case in point: <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/contentstack">Contentstack</a>, a leading Composable DXP provider. Recently, the company announced the integration of Amazon Bedrock into its Automation Hub and AI Assistant. This strategic move offers customers access to Amazon’s newest AI capabilities, allowing them to select the best AI provider to match their needs."Contentstack remains committed to pushing the boundaries in AI-driven digital experiences and content management. By partnering with AWS and integrating Amazon Bedrock, we are bringing that power to our customers," said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/conoregan/">Conor Egan</a>, VP of Product at Contentstack. "AI has caused a major shift in how companies market and consumers buy. This partnership means our customers will be ready to meet that challenge with a modern DXP experience."<h3>What is Amazon Bedrock, and why does it matter? </h3>Amazon Bedrock is a fully managed service that offers foundation models from Amazon and top AI startups. With this integration, Contentstack users can leverage the power of <a target="_blank" href="https://aws.amazon.com/bedrock/">various foundation models</a> to find the one that best fits their unique use case, all within the familiar Contentstack environment. The company's press release did point out that image-generating models are not supported in the text interface at this time.With Contentstack's flexible approach, customers who prefer Amazon’s cloud solutions for scalability and security can now easily align their AI strategies with their existing operational setup.Benefits of the Amazon Bedrock integration include:<ul><li>Greater AI Diversity: Alongside existing options, users can now select from new AI offerings like AI21 Labs, Anthropic’s Claude, and Amazon’s Titan models.</li><li>Robust Security: Amazon Bedrock's secure API ensures data integrity while allowing private customization of foundational models.</li><li>Streamlined Procurement: Enterprises already using Amazon services can now easily integrate Amazon Bedrock into their Contentstack environment, simplifying the procurement process.</li><li>AI-Powered Automation: Deploy generative AI applications and workflows using the Amazon Bedrock Connector in Automation Hub.</li><li>AI-Driven Content Creation: Amazon Bedrock enriches AI Assistant, making tasks like text summarization and keyword extraction easier.</li></ul><h3>Integrated with Automation Hub and AI Assistant</h3>In a <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/a-closer-look-at-contentstacks-ai-features-with-christine-masters-senior-product-manager">previous interview</a> with Christine Masters, Contentstack's AI product manager, we went in-depth on the company's AI Assistant and its full breadth of features. The new Amazon Bedrock integration applies to both its AI Assistant and Automation Hub capabilities, extending the flexibility and resources available to businesses keen on integrating AI into their operations.Contentstack’s Automation Hub, a core product within its Composable DXP, is a visual workflow builder that automates and simplifies content operations and digital experiences. It allows developers and business stakeholders to easily create and manage complex, automated workflows with trigger-and-event architecture. With an array of third-party connectors available in the Marketplace, it enables rapid integration across various digital tools, eliminating the need for costly middleware and additional technical expertise.The Contentstack AI Assistant, now generally available, is a free tool available as a one-click install from the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentstack.com/marketplace/ai-assistant">Contentstack Marketplace</a>. It simplifies the content creation process by using AI-powered explicitly by user-selected Large Language Models (LLMs). Users can generate high-quality content, SEO keywords, and translations more efficiently.

Contentstack Integrates with Amazon Bedrock AI to Power the Future of Digital Experiences

<hr /> The category of <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-content-management-system-cms">headless CMS</a> is very much a developer-led technology. Visit the websites of any leading vendors, and it is clear who the primary buyer persona is. The content is targeted at technical leaders – those who understand architectures like the <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/top-jamstack-static-site-generators-for-2021">Jamstack</a>, and how to manage APIs. In marketing terms, these are the key buyer personas and are those who need to be convinced that a switch to headless is the right move. References to <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen">composable architecture</a>, data lakes, and webhooks abound – the language of the main buyer, but not that of the main user.Here lies a crucial issue: the buyer and primary users are not one and the same.I should know. I’ve sat on the user side of the fence for many years, leading marketing teams responsible for “the website.”Despite websites being one of the most important areas modern marketers are responsible for, many struggle. It is, after all, a very broad function, where marketers are required to lead on everything from demand generation to brand management, field marketing to content creation. Layer on top a MarTech stack with over <a target="_blank" href="https://martech.org/scott-brinker-unveils-2023-martech-landscape/">11,000 software applications</a> vying for attention, and is it any wonder marketing teams can struggle with their CMS?But here’s the thing: a lot of the focus on websites is the initial build, with a lot less attention paid to the ongoing management. Those familiar with WordPress will recognize this inherent tension. For mature websites, it is common to have a freelancer on retainer to keep the lights on and manage updates and conflicts. As for the user experience in WordPress, I’d argue it is clunky and downright scary on occasion. Do I accept this plugin update or not? What if I press this, and it knocks the site off?<h3>The Emergence of Headless</h3>In many respects, headless created the opportunity to provide a better user experience for the actual content and marketing people responsible for the site. Decoupling the front end from the back end, in theory, should lead to a cleaner interface. However, I’d argue that the developer-centric nature of many of the leading headless CMSes means that the opportunity was missed. It is one of the key things we are trying to achieve at <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/contento">Contento</a> – a modern headless CMS focused 100% on websites. It is incumbent on all of us working in the broader CMS space to elevate the needs of the junior marketer responsible for managing the website. They may not represent the commercial buyer, but making their lives a misery is one sure way to ensure when they finally reach a leadership position, they’ll be keen to adopt a CMS that does not neglect the needs of their users.<hr />Alan Gleeson is CEO of <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/contento">Contento</a>, and a CMS Critic contributor.

Are Headless CMS Platforms Neglecting Their Users?

alan

<hr /> Conscia, a Digital Experience Orchestration (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/?keywords=dxo&amp;highlightedUpdateUrns=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7114915254135885825">DXO</a>) platform, announced this week that it has achieved membership in the <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/new-mach-alliance-maturity-assessment-tool-helps-organizations-evaluate-their-mach-readiness">MACH Alliance</a> – a prestigious industry organization focused on open, best-of-breed technology ecosystems.As a certified MACH Alliance Startup ISV solution, Conscia.ai is now better positioned to help organizations fast-track the adoption of MACH and composable technologies into their existing DX stacks – thus accelerating digital transformation.According to a post on the company's LinkedIn, Conscia.ai is solving one of the most difficult problems brands face when going composable: the integration and orchestration of disparate backend data sources to create a unified digital experience. Claiming the role as the “brain” of the composable stack, Conscia offers a revolutionary approach that embraces both legacy and modern systems, acting as the bridge between any backend data source and any frontend framework. The solution simplifies both API and data orchestration within a DX stack and enables digital teams to deliver relevant, omnichannel experiences – regardless of where data and content reside.“We firmly believe in a future where enterprise technology stacks are inherently composable, a vision we share with the MACH Alliance,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ACoAAAG6YAwBwDftoOh04VOEFAOr0FHisqOq-34">Sana Remekie</a>, CEO and Co-Founder of Conscia.ai and a previous Ambassador of the MACH Alliance. "Our [MACH] Alliance membership allows us to champion the adoption of a composable, headless tech stack, amplifying our commitment to driving innovation and transformation in the industry.”<h3>Building a composable future with MACH architectures</h3>MACH – an acronym for Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS, and Headless – is a set of leading design principles that are powering modern, composable enterprise technologies and strategies. MACH architectures support a “swappable” enterprise technology stack – one where every component is pluggable, scalable, replaceable, and can be continuously improved through agile development to meet evolving business requirements. Rather than facing the pain of replatforming, enterprises can continuously evolve their ecosystem piece by piece based on their goals.Built to integrate with greater ease, MACH solutions like Conscia.ai are helping companies break their monolithic dependencies and step away from their legacy tools. With modularity in mind, MACH Alliance-certified solutions give businesses the freedom to choose from modern, best-of-breed tools. They also provide a structure that makes it easier to add, replace, or remove technologies in the future.“We believe orchestration is essential to enabling the promises of MACH,” <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ACoAAAhApeABdoatoXR1gchE81iiPURabk1MQ1s">Casper Aagaard Rasmussen</a>, President of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/machalliance/">MACH Alliance</a>. “Orchestrating an architecture simply preserves the flexibility and agility modern enterprise businesses need to compete and win. It is becoming apparent how technologies like <a target="_blank" href="http://conscia.ai/">Conscia.ai</a> help accelerate brands through their composable journey. We're excited to welcome <a target="_blank" href="http://conscia.ai/">Conscia.ai</a> into the MACH Alliance.”<h3>Meeting the highest standards for MACH membership </h3>MACH certification is a rigorous process. Technologies that apply for membership are audited around key criteria and must meet specific requirements around technology posture and business practices. At the <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/mach-two-conference-wrap-six-takeaways-from-the-composable-event-of-the-year">MACH Two Conference this past June</a>, MACH Alliance leadership stated that 53% of companies first applying for ISV or SI membership are rejected, making it an incredibly challenging threshold. Despite this statistic, many re-apply – and by leveraging the rejection feedback, are able to satisfy the criteria. The MACH Alliance advocates for future-proof enterprise technology that is composable, open, and best-of-breed. By maintaining those core principles and its rigid certification process, the organization acts as a gatekeeper. This ensures that the MACH category is well-established, safeguarded, and understood – and that companies selling MACH solutions and services adhere to those principles. It also provides enterprises with greater confidence in the technologies they purchase when building composable architectures. MACH Alliance members also help to support agile, nimble businesses that are on the composable journey, and are ready to take advantage of next-generation technologies and trends.  Consia.ai already partners with multiple MACH Alliance member companies, including <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/contentstack/">Contentstack</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/commercetools/">commercetools</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/contentful/">Contentful</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/cloudinary/">Cloudinary</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/storyblok/">Storyblok</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/agilitycms/">Agility</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/kontentai/">Kontent.ai</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/valtech/">Valtech</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/applydigital/">Apply Digital</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/oriuminc/">Orium</a>, and many more.

Conscia.ai Joins MACH Alliance as a Certified Member

<h4>Snapshot</h4><ul><li>Contentful just launched new products and capabilities focused on digital teams.</li><li>Features include enhancements to its Contentful Platform, Contentful Studio, and Contentful Ecosystem. </li><li>The new Experience Builder provides deeper visual composition capabilities.</li><li>Generative AI has been introduced for content and image creation along with AI-powered partner integrations.</li></ul><hr /> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-sloan-213515/">Steve Sloan</a> is excited.And why shouldn’t he be? There’s a lot of cool stuff happening under his watch. As CEO of <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/contentful">Contentful</a>, he’s manning the helm at a leading content platform, deftly navigating the choppy waters of composable and staring down the waves of change with innovative solutions.“We’ve seen a lot of evolution in the past five or six years,” he said in our recent chat. “This space is pretty different than it was in 2017 or 2018. And honestly, there's a lot going on, but I think it's an incredibly exciting time.”Steve took the wheel in 2019, just as the composable threshold was being breached in earnest (and the pandemic was still on the horizon). As he observed, a lot has changed – but Contentful has been a steady engine of headless innovation through this modern era of transformation.That trend line is about to get longer. Today, the company <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/livestream/">announced</a> the launch of several new products and capabilities to its composable platform – including AI-powered advancements – that effectively unlock all digital content across an organization to deliver impactful experiences at scale. There are three key components to the company’s announcement: high-utility enhancements to its Contentful Platform, the new Experience Builder in its Content Studio, and the expansion of partnerships and technologies in its Contentful Ecosystem. Contentful has also incorporated a variety of generative AI-driven capabilities within each leg of the tripod.I spoke to Steve about the new products and capabilities, which will be the central topic of discussion at the company’s last two stops of its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/storylines/">Storylines Tour</a> in Silicon Valley and Berlin later this month. I was also treated to a demo preview from Contentful’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/maireado/">Mairead O'Donovan</a>, Chief Product Officer, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/satyak/">Satya Krishnaswamy</a>, VP of Product Management.<h3>Delivering meaningful AI to Contentful users</h3>As indicated, AI is intricately woven through each of the three areas included in the announcement, providing new capabilities that solve problems for digital teams. Steve shared a bit on the genesis of the investment, and how AI is providing some of the connective tissue across its new offerings.“In the last 18 months, it became clear that we need to help the entirety of the digital team, not just the developers,” he shared. “And so we're endeavoring to do that. That's number one. But number two has been the emergence of generative AI. For content and experience creators, the opportunity to use these tools to create more variants for personalization was an obvious story, and a lot of people have talked about it. The piece that I think was less obvious, we realized coming out of an experiment we did.” As Steve described it, they compared <a target="_blank" href="https://openai.com/">ChatGPT</a> with several other emerging generative AI platforms, giving them all the exact same task with a standard rubric for quality. What they discovered is that their accuracy was anywhere between 60% and 80%. “In my job, being right 60% of the time? That’s not good enough,” he remarked. “Particularly if there's anything at stake – including our reputation. The models are great in terms of being predictive, but they’re frequently based on a broad set of contexts. The biggest challenge is how do you train your model on the content that is most trusted? Your bots will only be as good as the content or the data on which they have been trained.”<hr /><h4 style="text-align:center">In the last 18 months, it became clear that we need to help the entirety of the digital team, not just the developers. And so we're endeavoring to do that.”</h4><hr />Here's where Contentful saw an opportunity to thread the needle. By helping customers increase access to their most trusted content – from CMS to CDP to DAM – they could further scale the creation of rich, omnichannel experiences. This led to the evolution of orchestration across systems, but it also allowed AI to be focused on the right content to train models for maximum accuracy and efficacy.  “As an API-first platform, [our users] store lots of trusted content directly in Contentful,” Steve said. “But then you also have important content that lives in other systems that can be trusted. In Contentful, we can make it easy to include content you use across any device or experience. But it's also used as the place in which you can train your models.”As Steve noted in the company’s press release, generative AI has ushered in a new era – one where we all can accelerate creativity by leveraging the power of machines to improve speed, experimentation, and collaboration. This will have a significant impact on how we create, deliver, and interact with content.“At Contentful, our vision is unlocking the power of digital content for our customers, and we are already enabling this power through our latest composable content capabilities, infused with the power of AI, with more planned on our product roadmap to help digital teams reach their full potential.” <h3>Orchestrating everything in the Content Platform</h3>The enhancements to the Contentful Platform are plentiful. At their core, they enable developers to break down content silos and orchestrate content from any source across an organization. The net effect: teams create and deliver digital experiences at a faster clip but with brand governance, consistency, and scale.Contentful’s references and cross-space references effectively “unlock” content from different systems – think DAMs, PIMs, and commerce platforms – as well as within Contentful itself. This helps teams efficiently leverage all their content for reuse in any digital experience across brands, regions, and use cases.“As you know all too well, work happens in silos,” Steve emphasized. “A lot of stuff gets handed off via email, and all these other very, very clunky ways of working. And going back to grumpy customers, they get really frustrated with it taking too long because different teams work in different ways. So, the ability to bring that together? We think that’s really compelling.”The embellishments to the Content Platform also include enhanced enterprise governance and security, including an expanded EU data residency footprint to help address data protection and compliance needs. From an AI perspective, the platform also features an AI Content Type Generator, which was previously announced. It streamlines the content model creation process so developers can accelerate time to market. As Steve noted, this is a useful attribute for a marketer, but also a tool that improves how people work together. <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:82.87%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/10/contentful-content-modeler.jpg" /></figure>Another great enhancement is the generative AI-based Visual Content Modeler, which creates the baseline for someone who isn’t as technical to set up the structure at the beginning of the process. This enables marketers to start the process and reduce the burden on developers.  “One of the things we also saw was that creating content models – thinking about content in a structured way – it's just not something that everybody knows how to do. But it's essential to be able to be able to scale your experiences over time and make them consistent.” <h3>Visually composing with the new Experience Builder in Contentful Studio</h3>In my demo with Mairead O'Donovan and Satya Krishnaswamy, I was blown away by some of the new features in the Contentful Studio – namely, the new Experience Builder. <img style="width:54.31%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/10/contentful-mairead-satya.jpg" />Contentful Studio already empowers digital teams – including marketers, designers, and content creators – to manage and even visually assemble digital experiences for any channel, all without developer support. The Experience Builder takes composition to the next level. It provides a familiar, easy-to-use visual canvas that allows users to create on-brand experiences using their own design system components with a structured content foundation. This enables teams to combine creativity with governance to ensure consistency and scalability across every experience.As Satya walked me through the demo, I was immediately impressed by its elegance and simplicity. The UI was clean and compact, providing quick access to component libraries and content elements. It all felt very easy. <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:80.01%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/10/contenful-experience_builder.png" /></figure> With Contentful’s enhancements around external reference consolidation – and the use of its GraphQL API – all of the assets being used are complete with detailed information from their source system. For example, if a product originates in commercetools, Contentful delivers all of the relevant product information in JSON. Marketers no longer have a blind spot with just a product ID or have to go back to an outside system. Contentful delivers it all in a single call. Pretty slick. AI is also present throughout the Studio experience. Users can access the improved Content Generator to quickly create or recommend content, translations, and SEO keywords. The built-in AI Image Generator can also be used to render or manipulate images on the fly. <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:80.35%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/10/contentful-ai-image_generator.jpg" /></figure> “This new set of products is really directed at non-technical marketers,” Steve said. “And because it's built directly on top of Contentful, they still have all the benefits of structured content, which allows them to store, manage, and scale any type of content delivered to any device anywhere in the world in milliseconds. So you get all the benefits of the platform, but you have a purpose-built tool for non-developers.”<h3>Expanded partnerships and integrations in the Contentful Ecosystem</h3>According to the press release, the Contentful Ecosystem includes a growing portfolio of solution and technology partners, all with the goal of helping customers get to market faster with impactful digital experiences – the kind of experiences that meet customer expectations and drive business value. As part of the announcement, Contentful has added <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/newsroom/">new partnerships and enhanced integrations</a> from a deeper bench of best-in-class enterprise solutions. This includes <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/aws-joins-mach-alliance-as-enabler-member-reflects-growth-of-cloud-native-solutions">AWS</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/salesforce-unveils-composable-storefront-a-digital-commerce-solution-to-help-retailers-go-headless-fast">Salesforce</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sap.com/index.html">SAP</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://segment.com/">Twilio Segment</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/commercetools-acquires-frontastic-adds-composable-frontend-capabilities-to-headless-commerce">commercetools</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/bigcommerce-review-an-easy-to-use-choice-for-ecommerce-shops">BigCommerce</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://cloudinary.com/">Cloudinary</a>, and WPP – enabling digital teams to improve accessibility, analytics, and performance, simplify front-end dev, and streamline content operations to bring differentiated experiences to life quickly. This adds to the 80 partners that are already building on Contentful. As Steve pointed out, the growth in the ecosystem is being driven by composability – and choice. “Earlier on, there was this notion that we want to create great experiences on top of a cohesive platform,” he reinforced. “But customers demanded choice, right? And so giving them the opportunity to use the tools they need, not just the tools you happen to have – I think it's a very, very different orientation than the DSPs that are monolithic."AI is also present in the ecosystem, largely due to the focus on artificial intelligence by other technologies and solution providers. Advancements from partners include the new AI Content Detector from <a target="_blank" href="https://writer.com/ai-content-detector/">Writer</a>, which enables users to assess content that might be generated by AI so that they can maintain transparency and integrity. Additionally, the <a target="_blank" href="https://surferseo.com/">Surfer SEO</a> app delivers AI-driven search engine optimization, helping digital teams drive website traffic more effectively. <h3>What’s the availability and cost of the new features?</h3>Most of the new products and features are generally available and will begin rolling out in a limited, early-access program. Customers can expect additional announcements and updates to follow, particularly on AI. Contentful is finalizing the pricing and packaging details, which it plans to announce at a later date. For more info, you can visit <a target="_blank" href="http://contentful.com/whats-new">contentful.com/whats-new</a>.<h3>The Takeaway</h3>It’s hard not to be impressed with the scope of new features that Contentful has introduced, particularly its new Experience Builder. That said, on the AI side of the ledger, the market is drowning in noise – and it’s become exceedingly difficult to communicate real differentiation when many features swimming in a sea of sameness. What I really appreciate about Contentful’s approach is its focus on the customer. While others rushed to add AI, they took their time experimenting – but also breaking down the voice of the user to understand what’s at stake. They also doubled down on their efforts to solve real problems with orchestration, which unified content in new and impactful ways while providing the added benefit of training AI more effectively. And all their innovation was amplified by a deeper investment in their partner community. It looks like a win-win-win. As Steve mentioned, the word “trust” is going to be at the top of our collective AI vocabulary list. That’s a human construct, by the way – something AI can’t grasp. That means we need to focus on the right training, governance, and guardrails to deliver something that can truly be trusted. “A big part of it comes back these grumpy customers and understanding what their pain points were,” he conveyed. “They're really the inspiration for everything we're building, and our solution partners helped us discover those moments of pain and possible ways to solve it. We have a very active Partner Advisory Board, where we work with CTOs who are very close to our shared customers and their challenges. And we spend a lot of time getting input from them, finding creative ways to solve this next generation of problems.”

Contentful Unveils New Features and AI-Powered Capabilities to Accelerate Creativity for Digital Teams 

<hr /> <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/image-relay">Image Relay</a>, a digital asset management (DAM) platform, recently announced the launch of its new <a target="_blank" href="https://www.imagerelay.com/digital-proofing">Digital Proofing</a> capabilities. The solution promises to streamline the collaboration, review, and approval cycles for a brand's creative assets – and is integrated into Image Relay’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.imagerelay.com/marketing-delivery-features">Marketing Delivery</a> platform. According to the company's press release, Digital Proofing will enable creative teams, marketing departments, and agencies of any size and creative focus to efficiently manage projects and deliver campaign results on accelerated timelines.  “We’re excited about Digital Proofing," said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-olsen-73978646/">Jeff Olsen</a>, Director of Product, Image Relay. "It offers our customers a visually collaborative environment with very streamlined processes for preparing and refining creative brand assets. With Digital Proofing, teams and brands’ external partners can communicate and collaborate like never before, sharing their exact thoughts and requirements alongside the assets themselves – and it’s all within the Marketing Delivery platform that will seamlessly deploy those completed assets to market.”<h3>A single source of truth for all digital assets and product information</h3>When it comes to communication, many teams are still relying on manual review. These processes are notoriously slow and cumbersome, often characterized by long email chains or external platforms that stifle productivity. As a result, campaigns and marketing strategies can be delayed or negatively impacted. Because Digital Proofing is integrated directly into Image Relay's Marketing Delivery and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.imagerelay.com/asset-library-features">Asset Library</a>, creative asset management and proofing collaboration happens all in one place. Rather than trying to track versions and describe nuanced change requests across emails or written logs, Digital Proofing establishes a single source of truth, allowing teams to provide detailed and visual feedback directly to assets – whether it's an image, video, PDF, or other file type.  <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75.1%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/10/image-relay-screenshot.png" /></figure> In addition, teams working with the same asset can easily add comments, visual cues, and timestamps. They can also tag other editors to call attention to specific feedback. Empowered by precise and contextual communication, this enhanced project visibility results in highly efficient collaboration across both internal teams and external partners.  Digital Proofing includes a powerful versioning feature that enables team members to effortlessly compare different asset versions and review rounds, and to leverage a clear audit trail of past notes and comments. Teams can easily track changes, compare alterations, and implement revisions – enhancing control over the creative process and facilitating more effective decision-making based on accurate and up-to-date information.  <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75.78%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/10/image-relay-screenshot-versioning.png" /></figure> Digital Proofing also eliminates delays and difficulties that might arise if a decision maker misses an email or wasn’t CC'ed on a critical message chain. By providing real-time notifications, Digital Proofing helps keep stakeholders in the loop on project progress and key details. <h3>Leveraging Marketing Delivery to improve productivity</h3>Image Relay's Marketing Delivery has already proven its value with customers as a powerful tool for unifying and enhancing digital asset management. Digital Proofing expands on its mission by rendering workflows more efficient and streamlined – and giving creatives greater control and agility throughout the ideation process. “Upgrading from much more manual processes to Marketing Delivery’s modernized, streamlined digital asset management and product information management capabilities is driving our company to around $1M in cost savings and increased productivity,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/caleb-brown-7b095a9/">Caleb Brown</a>, the Creative Director at <a target="_blank" href="http://kindersmeats.com/">Kinder’s Sauces and Seasonings</a>, which makes BBQ sauces, marinades, and grilling spices. “The addition of Digital Proofing into Marketing Delivery will further improve how our teams ideate, perfect, and access creative brand assets. We’re excited about even more digital asset communication and workflow efficiency – enabling us to tell consistent and effective brand stories to the market and our brand partners.”

Image Relay Launches New Proofing Solution for Digital Asset Management

<hr /> <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/kentico">Kentico</a>, a leading provider of digital experience platforms (DXPs), just <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kentico.com/discover/newsroom/kentico-bill-cunningham-chief-revenue-officer?utm_source=httpswww.kentico.comdiscovernewsroomg2-grid-report-fall-2023&amp;utm_campaign=kentico_pressrelease2023&amp;utm_medium=email">announced</a> the appointment of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bfctnsfa1/">Bill Cunningham</a> as its new Chief Revenue Officer. Cunningham will play a critical role in shaping Kentico's commercial strategy, fostering growth, and strengthening the alignment between marketing and sales functions.  “I’m excited to welcome Bill to our leadership team," said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominik-xperience-pinter/">Dominik Pinter</a>, CEO of Kentico. “His experience will help us to execute our commercial growth strategy, bringing our unique platform to the market after successful adoption among first partners and end clients. Bill proved his ability to scale similar companies and we are looking forward to leveraging his knowledge.”The hire of its new CRO signals a dynamic shift for Kentico. In the previous fiscal year, the company achieved an impressive 47% growth in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR). The company is determined to build on its success, which includes the launch of its innovative new platform, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kentico.com/platforms/xperience-by-kentico">Xperience by Kentico</a> – a single-vendor composable DXP with a unique multichannel hybrid headless approach.<h3>SaaS and agency intimacy</h3>As a growth-focused sales leader, Cunningham brings a wealth of experience to Kentico. With a strong background in website experimentation and conversion optimization, he has built value through the identification, qualification, and implementation of large repeating sales channels – as well as through partnerships with enterprises and SMBs.In his previous role at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sitespect.com/">SiteSpect</a> – a testing and personalization platform – Cunningham frequently engaged with Kentico's solutions in their implementations, where he recognized the platform's popularity and success.Over the course of an extensive career in B2B software, Cunningham has witnessed a significant transformation in product capabilities and delivery. He expressed excitement about the shift to a SaaS-focused world, where users expect ease of access and rapid implementation.“The opportunity in the marketplace for Kentico to expand was very interesting to me,” Cunningham said. “The move to a SaaS platform is something that is exciting to me. I come from a SaaS background, and having been through this type of growth before and seen these product transitions before, I was excited about the opportunity that it presented. And then meeting the people that I've met over the course of the process of coming onboard just made it a more attractive opportunity.”Cunningham also emphasized the importance of building strong bonds with agency partners – and where he sees the potential for Kentico.“Agency intimacy is vital for our success," he said. "Those companies in the space who are just selling the software and relying on the customer to do it themselves will be finding themselves with very high churn rates because the product itself isn't enough. You have to have the support in place, and you have to have the capabilities in place.”<h3>A vision for Kentico</h3>In addition to his core responsibilities, Cunningham will oversee Kentico's go-to-market strategy and the execution of sales and marketing playbooks, ensuring that a consistent, unified message reaches the marketplace.Regarding the synergy between sales and marketing teams, Cunningham stressed the importance of transparency and a strong feedback loop to ensure both teams work in harmony to generate leads and drive revenue with greater efficiency.Cunningham's vision for Kentico aligns with its commitment to being an easy-to-use, easy-to-deploy tool that empowers marketers and developers to achieve their goals. He also emphasized the importance of digital transformation and enabling organizations to leverage opportunities in the market more effectively.

Kentico Appoints Bill Cunningham as Chief Revenue Officer

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