Articles - Page 34

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

matt-garrepy

<hr /> As headless CMS vendors look to compete in the brave new world of AI, leadership is becoming critical to driving innovation and growth – and providing strategic market direction. To meet its ambitious objectives, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/kontentai">Kontent.ai</a> – whose stated mission is to help the world’s leading organizations deliver an unparalleled return on their content – recently announced that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/markruddock/">Mark Ruddock</a> has joined the organization as CEO. Ruddock, an internationally experienced leader, plans to expand Kontent.ai’s global presence and accelerate its AI-powered product offering to meet the strategic content needs of the most recognizable brands.“I’m excited to be part of this team as the talent and innovation across this organization is astounding,” said Ruddock. "I look forward to unveiling the groundbreaking new technologies we have been working on.”<h3>A seasoned CEO with deep industry credibility</h3>With over 20 years of experience at the helm of technology and fintech startups, Ruddock has both founded and shaped multiple companies – and delivered success. Prior to Kontent.ai, he held numerous CEO and board positions in VC-backed, scale-stage companies across the world, and executed several exits in the SaaS, Mobile, and FinTech industries. His most recent Chief Executive tenure was at AFINEA Corporation in Toronto, but he also previously served as CEO at Nuula (acquired by Nav Technologies). In addition to his startup experience, he has also emerged as a later-stage leader, helping established companies scale at key stages of their lifecycle. Ruddock's experience spans multi-country online financial services, mission-critical enterprise software, and consumer-focused mobile applications across a number of go-to-market models. He is also an accomplished Board Member. <h3>Navigating the future of AI and headless CMS</h3>In July of 2023, Ruddock wrote <a target="_blank" href="https://markruddock.com/">on his blog</a> about Kontent.ai's foray into generative AI powered by ChatGPT, highlighting the introduction of its first-to-market native AI capabilities. By all indications, the company's investment in artificial intelligence put it on his watch list. “The rise of generative AI has fundamentally changed the content management industry and will power exciting new ways companies can generate a return on their content,” said Ruddock. “With Kontent.ai’s native AI foundation, we are poised to lead that transformation."In a <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/kontent-ai-pioneers-native-ai-in-headless-cms-interview-with-vojtech-boril">previous interview with Vojtech Boril</a> about Kontent.ai's native integration, it was clear that the headless CMS was doubling down on high-utility features within the content and editorial workflow, investing in greater differentiation as other platforms raced to introduce their own AI capabilities. CMS Critic also broke down a <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/kontent-ai-pioneers-native-ai-in-headless-cms-interview-with-vojtech-boril">a demo of the product</a> after its initial release. “Innovation and customer-centricity are at the heart of Kontent.ai, and Mark will continue to foster that at scale,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/petrpalas/">Petr Palas</a>, founder and board member, Kontent.ai. “We are thrilled to take this next step in our journey with his leadership and to help our customers solve the complexities of modern content management.”

Kontent.ai Welcomes Mark Ruddock as New Chief Executive Officer

cms-critic-staff

Mastering the Poetry of Partnerships: An Interview with Kentico’s Jenda Perla 

In the battle for digital domination, search reigns supreme – and brands are stepping up their search game.According to a survey by SearchNode, 68% of eCommerce industry leaders are improving their search functionality in 2021 and expanding the lens of their magnifying glasses. That plays directly into today's news that digital experience platform provider <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sitecore.com/">Sitecore</a> is acquiring San Mateo-based <a target="_blank" href="https://reflektion.com/">Reflektion,</a> an AI-powered digital search solution that understands and predicts patterns, context, and needs – so brands can convert more shoppers into buyers.The addition of Reflektion's technology will enable Sitecore to better engage, educate, and empower shoppers to make purchase decisions faster – increasing buyer confidence, long-term revenue, and overall customer satisfaction and loyalty.The acquisition – a continuation of Sitecore’s epic <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-embarks-on-1-2b-investment-plan-to-accelerate-growth/">$1.2 billion growth plan</a> – will help marketers solve the information overload that is characteristic of traditional search solutions, which can impede a customer's ability to find and select the products they're looking for.When <a target="_blank" href="https://www.webfx.com/seo/statistics/#:~:text=When%20people%20go%20online%20to,search%20engine%20to%20guide%20them.">93% of all online experiences start with search</a>, it's fair to say that it's essential to the customer buying journey. Reflektion elevates the value of search by transforming it into a conversational, guided experience that provides more personal, accessible, and tailored answers for the customer. “Search is about more than just entering words into a box and hoping for the right results – it is the cornerstone of a digital experience," said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tzikakis/">Steve Tzikakis</a>, CEO, Sitecore. "With Reflektion, a brand can add various types of search including personalized search, preview search, conversational search, and voice search. This reduces customers’ effort and anxiety to find exactly what they need – with more convenience and speed – and leads to increased customer satisfaction with more conversions and revenue. Acquiring Reflektion reinforces Sitecore’s position as the leader in digital experience technologies that meets customers at the moment with more relevant, intuitive, and human experiences.”<h2>Elevating the E-commerce Experience with AI</h2>Reflektion brings an array of complementary commerce, AI, and personalization capabilities to Sitecore, which will further augment the DXP's acquisition of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-boxever-and-four51/">Four51,</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-boxever-and-four51/">Boxever</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-moosend-adds-ai-powered-email-marketing-automation/">Moosend</a>. Together, this nexus of data and deep learning technologies will allow Sitecore to seamlessly deliver intelligent, personalized, real-time information across channels.Four51’s API-first, headless e-commerce solution enables organizations to quickly and easily deliver engaging shopping experiences, helping them improve customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy. Four51’s feature set complements their existing B2C commerce capabilities while the Customer Data Platform (CDP) Boxever enhances customer intelligence with AI-driven personalization tools – making it easy to capture, unify and activate customer data and deliver personalized experiences at scale.With a robust stack powering their growth across data and digital commerce, search presents an ideal channel for connecting and expanding Sitecore's breadth of capabilities – and Reflektion delivers on that vision.“Since its inception eight years ago, Reflektion has become recognized for its unique approach to search-product discovery technology," said Amar Chokhawala, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Reflektion. "Our technology uses AI to adjust each consumer’s digital experience, in the moment, based on diverse data from multiple channels. I am proud of the passionate team at Reflektion who has been successful in bringing our AI-first approach to many site-search deployments for large e-commerce and retailers’ websites. With Sitecore, the Reflektion team and customers will be able to continue to leverage the enhancement of digital experiences, leading to continued growth and results for all.”The acquisition is expected to close in September 2021.<h2>Ramping Up the Competition</h2>Sitecore fired a "shot heard 'round the DXP world" last January when it announced its ambitious $1.2 billion growth strategy – which brewed speculation amongst competitors and analysts alike.While the mature market player celebrated its fourth year in a row as a Leader on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/key-takeaways-from-gartners-2021-magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms/">Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for DXPs</a>, it fell slightly behind both Acquia and Episerver (now Optimizely). <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/01/gartner-magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms-2021.png" alt="Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms-2021" /><a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/resources/forrester-wave-agile-cms-2021-report/">Forrester’s Q1 Wave Report for Agile CMSes</a> paints a similar picture. Since 2019, Sitecore has elevated its Strong Performer status, now straddling the fence of the Leaders circle with a wider market presence. But like the Gartner MQ, they are lagging behind Acquia and Optimizely.With the acquisition of Boxever, Four51, Moosend, and now Reflektion, Sitecore seems poised to pounce. As competition heats up at the highest level of the enterprise, CMS and DXP players are accelerating their investment in innovation – and buying up the missing pieces to their platform puzzle. With consumers relying more on AI-driven voice assistants like Siri and Alexa, the channel opportunities for search are expanding in dynamic ways. Sitecore's bid to stay top-of-mind and top-of-market will require more than acquisitions. But their stack is looking more like a vision – and that's what every platform is searching for.<h2>About Sitecore</h2>Sitecore delivers a digital experience platform that empowers the world’s smartest brands to build lifelong relationships with their customers. A highly decorated industry leader, Sitecore is the only company bringing together content, commerce, and data into one connected platform that delivers millions of digital experiences every day. Leading companies including American Express, ASOS, Kimberly-Clark, L’Oréal and Volvo Cars rely on Sitecore to provide more engaging, personalized experiences for their customers. Learn more at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sitecore.com/">Sitecore.com</a>.<h2>About Reflektion</h2>Reflektion’s Digital Commerce Experience Platform for eCommerce and Retail listens to the behaviors of each individual shopper, utilizes <a target="_blank" href="https://reflektion.com/glossary/artificial-intelligence-ai/">Artificial Intelligence</a> to calculate their preferences and intent, and then responds to every moment-to-moment interaction by displaying the most relevant content and products in real-time and across the digital touchpoints that matter most—including preview and site search, product recommendations, category and <a target="_blank" href="https://reflektion.com/glossary/landing-page/">landing pages</a>, and email.Leading retail brands such as Skechers, Ulta, Reeds, Petco, Ascena and RiteAid rely on Reflektion’s platform.Founded by pioneers in Artificial Intelligence and awarded both the Best eCommerce Solution and Best Overall Business Technology Solution by SIIA in 2019, Reflektion combines individual shopper insights, product intelligence, and <a target="_blank" href="https://reflektion.com/glossary/artificial-intelligence-ai/">AI</a> to create more relevant and impactful eCommerce experiences.

Sitecore Acquires AI-Powered Search Platform Reflektion

paris-tuzun

<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-updates-experience-platform-and-experience-commerce-releases-new-sitecore-content-hub/">Sitecore</a> is holding its popular <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/company/news-events/events/2022/11/ldn/symposium-takeaway-sessions-2022" target="_blank">Symposium Takeaway Sessions</a> in Europe as a follow-up to its <a href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/" target="_blank">Sitecore Symposium 2022</a> in Chicago – with a keen focus on the topic of composability.
The sessions look promising, as they include live networking, customer presentations, and lively discussions with Sitecore leadership. 
The digital experience platform (DXP) leader is welcoming back live audiences in three locations next month:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.sitecore.com/company/news-events/events/2022/11/ldn/symposium-takeaway-sessions-2022" target="_blank">November 3 – London, UK</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.sitecore.com/company/news-events/events/2022/11/dk/symposium-takeaway-sessions-2022" target="_blank">November 15 – Copenhagen, Denmark</a></li>
<li>November 17 – Stockholm, Sweden</li>
</ul>
<h2>From the Sitecore DXP roadmap to customer success stories</h2>
While each of the Symposium Takeaway Sessions offers something unique (aside from the locale), each will feature a mix of Sitecore's thought leaders. The core presentations will be led by <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacqueline-baxter/" target="_blank">Jaqueline Baxter</a>, Senior Digital Strategist at Sitecore, who will provide practical key learnings, informative tips, and takeaways from Symposium 2022 – which will be held in Chicago from October 17-20.
The UK session will feature a presentation by <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-tidmarsh-7b3871/" target="_blank">Michael Tidmarsh</a>, Olgilvy's Global CTO, as he shares the agency's experience with emerging technologies. He will touch on blockchain, NFTs, AR, and other "fringe" innovations that are making the transition to be business-ready – and the goldmine that awaits. 
In Copenhagen, attendees will have a chance to hear from LB Insurance about its use of composable architectures and automated DevOps with the Sitecore platform, allowing the firm to orchestrate and evolve business value and technology at different speeds to meet demands. 
Stockholm will feature a presentation by leading global agency <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen/">Valtech</a>, which is pioneering innovation in the composable space. 
<h2>About Sitecore</h2>
Sitecore delivers a digital experience platform that empowers the world's smartest brands to build lifelong relationships with their customers. A highly decorated industry leader, Sitecore is the only company bringing together content, commerce, and data into one connected platform that delivers millions of digital experiences every day. Leading companies, including American Express, ASOS, Kimberly-Clark, L'Oréal, and Volvo Cars, rely on Sitecore to provide more engaging, personalized experiences for their customers. Learn more at <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3311724-1&amp;h=2070543467&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sitecore.com%2F&amp;a=Sitecore.com" target="_blank">Sitecore.com</a>.

Sitecore Symposium Takeaway Sessions 2022 Coming to London, Copenhagen, Stockholm

Sitecore Symposium 2022 logo overlaying an image of a young woman holding her arm up in joy against a background of parallel neon lights.

These days, if you're not beating the DXP drum of "composable" and "scalable," you might seem out of step with the direction of the market. That's been a challenge for traditionally monolithic platforms that have invested in a vision of completeness for enterprise customers, but still want to be perceived as flexible amidst a growing stack of services. 
In an effort to MACHify (more on that in a minute), <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/" target="_blank">Sitecore</a> is evolving its own monolithic legacy position by adapting its fully-integrated platform of solutions. At last week's <a href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/en/world-tour/London" target="_blank">Sitecore Symposium World Tour</a> in London, the company outlined a composable product portfolio, showcasing customers delivering digital experiences at scale with its own composable offerings. 
<h2>Driving DXP growth through strategic acquisitions</h2>
In case you missed the barrage of stories we covered, Sitecore has been making headlines since announcing its <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-embarks-on-1-2b-investment-plan-to-accelerate-growth/" target="_blank">$1.2 billion capital investment</a> last year – which, at the time, was unprecedented in the industry. 
As part of its growth plan, the company went on an acquisition spree. In just one year, it purchased four technologies that addressed key gaps in its DXP strategy: <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-ai-powered-search-platform-reflektion/" target="_blank">Reflektion</a>, an AI-powered digital search solution; <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-moosend-adds-ai-powered-email-marketing-automation/" target="_blank">Moosend</a>, an e-mail marketing automation, and campaign management platform; <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-boxever-and-four51/" target="_blank">Boxever</a>, a SaaS-based Customer Data Platform (CDP); and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-boxever-and-four51/" target="_blank">Four51</a>, a digital commerce platform for e-Commerce B2B marketplace solutions. 
According to the company, these platforms are now fully integrated into Sitecore, achieving a significant milestone in delivering a complete, SaaS-based DXP.
<h2>MACH vs. monolith... or can we all just get along?</h2>
We've talked a lot about <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/mach-alliance-releases-study-on-adoption-of-mach-technologies-by-tech-leaders-qa-with-sonja-keerl/">MACH</a>-based composable architectures and how they're being adopted at a wild pace, particularly as brands look to scale faster and faster. Following the seismic shift in digital transformation following the Covid-19 pandemic, many CMS and DXP companies doubled down on a composable market posture – and Sitecore was among the enterprise crop that announced its intentions to invest in a more composable DXP position.
Sitecore's product updates have been fundamental to expanding its advanced, SaaS-enabled capabilities, which do align with several principles of MACH architectures (which stands for Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS, and Headless). Sitecore says that its suite of capabilities will enable brands to provide real-time, personalized digital experiences across every touchpoint, from content to commerce – powered by the cloud. 
One of the key challenges for vendors in the MACH space is the ability to prove their "MACH centricity" under the tenants established by the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/mach-alliance-releases-study-on-adoption-of-mach-technologies-by-tech-leaders-qa-with-sonja-keerl/">MACH Alliance</a>. The industry organization has become a bellwether for all things MACH and established strict requirements for members that reinforce the underlying fundamentals of the movement – all in an effort to help companies invest in the most composable solutions on the market.  For platforms like Sitecore, this has become an opportunity to tout the benefits of its broader market offerings while future-proofing products like <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/blog/headless/what-is-mach-architecture" target="_blank">Sitecore OrderCloud as "MACH Certified."</a> 
"For brands to truly meet the moment, it has never been more crucial than it is now to adopt technology that offers choice, flexibility, and speed," said Dave O'Flanagan, Chief Product Officer at Sitecore. "Sitecore is committed to delivering a composable DXP that meets the continuously changing needs of brands – unifying content, experience, and commerce, enabling them to offer exceptional customer experiences while continuing to innovate for whatever demands are around the corner. Ambitious brands have outgrown the one-size-fits-all vendors, and they will not settle for piecemeal point solutions – they need a stack of best-in-class features that work in harmony together – and this is what Sitecore delivers."
Here are more details on the updates to Sitecore's product offerings, which all build on innovation via their acquisitions:
<h2>Sitecore OrderCloud</h2>
<a href="https://ordercloud.io/" target="_blank">Sitecore OrderCloud</a> is an API-first, headless cloud platform for B2B, B2C, and B2X. This capability comes from the Four51 acquisition, which originally designed the platform. The new updates expand OrderCloud's marketplace support capabilities with the release of new order routing flexibility, supplier empowerment, and pricing flexibility. And as mentioned, OrderCloud is powered by a MACH architecture, giving it greater flexibility within the Sitecore stack.  
In addition, OrderCloud released a new Inventory Records feature to provide management flexibility that enables manufacturers, distributors, and retailers with seamless operational and commerce capabilities.
"With Sitecore OrderCloud, we are excited about the possibilities of connecting our customers with products they need and want to play sports and have fun," said Jason McConnell, Director of Product at NBC Sports Next. "We picked Sitecore OrderCloud because we're impressed with its composable developer-first functionality, which should give us all the flexibility needed to seamlessly weave commerce into our existing technology platforms." 
<h3>Sitecore Send</h3>
<a href="https://www.sitecore.com/products/send" target="_blank">Sitecore Send</a> is an e-mail marketing automation tool that evolved from the Moosend acquisition. Sitecore's updates include six additional languages: Spanish, French, German, Greek, Japanese, and Portuguese. Sitecore also announced a new pricing plan with a 30-day free trial for the full range of Send's enterprise-level features.
<h3>Sitecore Discover</h3>
<a href="https://www.sitecore.com/products/discover" target="_blank">Sitecore Discover</a> is an AI-powered product search and merchandising solution that came with the acquisition of Reflektion. It helps understand and predict an individual shopper's purchase intent based on patterns, context, and needs – all of which help convert browsers into buyers.
The updates provide Sitecore Discover's Commerce Engagement Console (CEC) with a revamped appearance library and editor, providing a better user experience and more control over merchandising. It also improves its widgets with type filters and rule exports, adding more convenience for users.
<h3>Sitecore Personalize</h3>
<a href="https://www.sitecore.com/products/sitecore-personalize" target="_blank">Sitecore Personalize</a> is an AI-driven, cloud-native solution for delivering tailored experiences to every customer. The product stems from the acquisition of Boxever, a SaaS-based Customer Data Platform (CDP) that provides decisioning and experimentation capabilities.
As part of the update package, Sitecore Personalize has completed its integration with Sitecore Experience Manager, offering channel diagnostic testing and real-time personalization that complements Sitecore's market-leading CMS – and is all delivered in the cloud.
<h3>Expanded integrations for Salesforce and more</h3>
Sitecore also published several new connectors on its Sitecore Marketplace for several product integrations, including Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Responsys, and Klaviyo. The company also added new AI-powered product discovery capabilities to support a broad range of commerce-related use cases, including intelligent search, product listing pages, and product recommendations.
<h2>Ramping up the competition</h2>
Sitecore has been a consistent Leader on <a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/webinars/4005210/the-gartner-magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms" target="_blank">Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms</a>. However, in the most recent 2022 assessment, the platform has fallen slightly behind its chief competitors, Acquia and Optimizely, while Adobe continues to maintain its dominance.  
<img style="max-width:800px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/03/gartner-dxp-mq-2022-graphic.webp" alt="Gartner Magic Quadrant for DXPs graphic 2022" />
According to Gartner, the <a href="https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/gartner-keynote-the-future-of-business-is-composable" target="_blank">future of business is composable</a>, and Sitecore's journey towards composability and the cloud illustrates its commitment to the market. The analyst firm noted that Sitecore's efforts to convert its core applications into SaaS – and acquiring SaaS vendors with complementary capabilities in AI, CDP, and search, among others – is a strength. 
While the company may have slipped against its competitors, it certainly appears ready to do battle in the Composable Revolution. 
<h2>About Sitecore</h2>
Sitecore delivers a digital experience platform that empowers the world’s smartest brands to build lifelong relationships with their customers. A highly decorated industry leader, Sitecore is the only company bringing together content, commerce, and data into one connected platform that delivers millions of digital experiences every day. Leading companies including American Express, ASOS, Carnival Cruise Lines, Kimberly-Clark, L’Oréal, and Volvo Cars rely on Sitecore to provide more engaging, personalized experiences for their customers. Learn more at <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/">Sitecore.com</a>.

Sitecore Announces Updates to Product Suite, Enhances Composable Features and Innovation from Acquisitions

Sitecore’s epic <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-embarks-on-1-2b-investment-plan-to-accelerate-growth/" target="_blank">$1.2 billion growth plan</a> keeps bearing its fruits, this time with the addition of a new SaaS DXP. Sitecore yesterday <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/company/news-events/press-releases/2021/10/sitecore-announces-the-future-of-the-digital-experience-platform" target="_blank">announced</a> Sitecore Experience Manager Cloud – the first entirely cloud-native CMS offering the design flexibility, integration-friendliness, and authoring experience for business users to create and deliver personalized digital experiences. 
Sitecore’s new SaaS DXP, which is available for customers from today in most regions globally, is built on a composable architecture, so end users can buy best-of-breed products or an integrated platform that scales to support high volume content, visitor, and data processing needs. The composable approach enables brands to capitalize on Sitecore’s 1,200+ strong partner ecosystem, extensive developer network, and deep-rooted expertise in helping enterprise businesses manage and enhance the customer experience across all industries and regions.
The company also announced a range of new product updates that integrate recent acquisitions and the launch of a subscription-based learning resource. <a href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/" target="_blank">Sitecore Symposium</a>, the biggest annual Sitecore event, was full of announcements, including a range of new product updates that integrate recent acquisitions and the launch of a subscription-based learning resource, all accompanied by John Legend’s singing performance. 
Sitecore’s $1.2B investment last year has been the largest capital investment in the martech space. The investment spurred a series of acquisitions of <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-boxever-and-four51/" target="_blank">Boxever, Four51</a>, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-moosend-adds-ai-powered-email-marketing-automation/" target="_blank">Moosend</a>, and, lastly, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-ai-powered-search-platform-reflektion/" target="_blank">Reflektion</a>.
With the new SaaS DXP, customers can now configure and connect products through APIs as needed to gain faster time to value and have the ability to flex their creativity to create differentiation in the market faster than the competition. With microservices-based, cloud-native technology, the option to scale up or down and quickly change content across different channels is possible.
<blockquote>“Today’s announcement confirms our ambition to disrupt the market and help brands stay ahead with cutting-edge technology. Our recent acquisitions have been fundamental to building the most advanced composable platform available today, something we see as the future of DXP. Customer expectations are everchanging, so it is essential brands are empowered to work in real-time, adapting experiences to keep up with the demand. We’re supporting them with the technology to make this possible. By bringing our portfolio together in the cloud, brands can achieve this and enjoy a truly integrated, flexible, and scalable platform – delivering personalized experiences for their customers, whatever the channel.”
- Steve Tzikakis, Sitecore CEO</blockquote>
Below you can find a list of updates to Sitecore’s offering:
<h4>Sitecore Discover</h4>
Following the acquisition of Reflektion in September, <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/products/discover" target="_blank">Sitecore Discover</a> empowers commerce businesses by adding individualized search and merchandising capabilities. 
With 93% of all online experiences starting with search, this is an essential update empowering brands to offer end-to-end, personalized experiences using AI-powered technology that understands and predicts customer patterns, context, and needs.
With Site Discover, you can deliver a 1:1 shopping experience with tailored search results and recommendations driven by AI in real-time.
<h4>Sitecore Personalize</h4>
Sitecore yesterday announced its new SaaS Personalization Engine powered by technology from the company’s Boxever acquisition. Boxever, a SaaS-based Customer Data Platform (CDP) providing decisioning and experimentation, allows Sitecore to enhance customer intelligence with AI-driven personalization tools. Personalize allows brands to experiment and be agile to customers’ evolving digital behaviors. The AI-based technology empowers digital leaders to deliver next-level, real-time experiences, optimize their conversion funnels and engage customers with relevant content and offers.
<h4>Sitecore Health Cloud</h4>
Sitecore Health Cloud is an offering of Sitecore Experience Platform in Microsoft Azure that caters to the specific intricacies of the U.S. healthcare market. The technology, which is scheduled to be HIPAA ready in Spring 2022, will empower providers to offer engaging and personalized patient experiences using data, delivering great healthcare services in a secure and compliant manner.
<h4>Sitecore Learning</h4>
Sitecore also announced three new tiered learning subscriptions – Essentials, Professionals, and Advanced – to help more professionals across the industry become Sitecore certified. Created to meet the demand for education that matches the speed of Sitecore’s DXP updates and additions, the resource will enable users to learn about products from online courses and instructor-led tutorials. They will also allow professionals to learn about other Sitecore products, opening up possibilities to expand and enhance their capabilities and address the challenge of siloed teams. To find out more about Sitecore’s learning resource, visit: <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/knowledge-center/getting-started/training" target="_blank">learning.sitecore.com</a>
<h2>About Sitecore</h2>
Sitecore delivers a digital experience platform that empowers the world's smartest brands to build lifelong relationships with their customers. A highly decorated industry leader, Sitecore is the only company bringing together content, commerce, and data into one connected platform that delivers millions of digital experiences every day. Leading companies, including American Express, ASOS, Kimberly-Clark, L'Oréal, and Volvo Cars, rely on Sitecore to provide more engaging, personalized experiences for their customers. Learn more at <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/" target="_blank">Sitecore.com</a>.

Sitecore Announces the Future of the Digital Experience Platform, Launching Industry’s First Enterprise SaaS Offering

<h4>Snapshot</h4><ul><li>Sitecore announced that it will continue to add artificial intelligence features across its products</li><li>This follows the recent launch of the company's AI-based Content Cloud</li><li>The DXP previously announced complete generative AI integration via ChatGPT and Azure Open AI</li></ul><hr /> Let's get to the core of it: <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/sitecore">Sitecore</a> is going all-in on AI.The global, industry-leading DXP recently announced ongoing plans to infuse artificial intelligence features across its suite of content and commerce offerings.While the announcement was made at its<a target="_blank" href="https://www.sitecore.com/dx-events/sydney"> Sitecore DX 2023 </a>event in Sydney last week, the company has been blazing a trail across the AI/ML frontier for some time, having already embedded AI capabilities into its content cloud and personalization software.The event – which featured Sitecore CEO <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tzikakis/">Steve Tzikakis</a> – aimed to demonstrate to brands and partners that they can quickly deploy new AI-powered digital content and commerce offerings, underpinned by machine learning software.<h3>Building on proven AI and personalization </h3>Generative AI might still be considered nascent, but Sitecore has been innovating with artificial intelligence for a number of years. In fact, in 2020, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sitecore.com/company/newsroom/press-releases/2020/10/sitecore-makes-ai-powered-auto-personalization-a-standard">company introduced</a> its Sitecore AI Auto Personalization as a standard feature of its DXP.“The future of marketing technology and brand experience will be AI-fuelled due to the sheer power of machine learning tools,” said Tzikakis.As AI continues to steamroll the market with undeniable hype, Sitecore has been doubling down on high-utility applications that benefit enterprise customers at scale, most recently with the launch of its AI-based Content Cloud. This complements its Automated Personalization platform, which enables brands to gain insights from previous website visitors. <h3>Adding ChatGPT to meet demand for generative AI</h3>Earlier this year, Sitecore conducted a survey of four hundred marketers in the US, revealing that generative AI is seen as a pivotal, game-changing advancement for brand marketers – specifically for those seeking rapid-fire personalization for delivering intuitive and engaging digital experiences to customers. In April, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sitecore.com/company/newsroom/press-releases/2023/04/sitecore-introduces-openai-generative-ai-integration-functionality-to-its-fully-composable-software">Sitecore announced</a> that Open AI's <a target="_blank" href="https://chat.openai.com/">ChatGPT</a> functionality was now available across its array of fully composable software solutions. This integration, powered by <a target="_blank" href="https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/ai-services/openai-service">Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service</a>, provides marketers the ability to integrate generative AI functionality into their Sitecore-powered marketing technology stack to supercharge efficiency, personalization, and content production at scale across Sitecore’s entire range of composable solutions.According to Tzikakis, generative AI developments are moving incredibly fast. “In fact, while 77% of US marketers feel their technology can handle AI demands, 45% are concerned by the significant costs they perceive will be required to maintain growth.”<h3>Leveraging composable and AI</h3>When it comes to differentiators in the AI spectrum, Sitecore’s unique, fully composable offering provides maximum flexibility to marketers. Users can essentially “build their own solution” by bringing their own AI to integrate via open APIs and configurable UIs. “Our generative AI offering has been created to integrate with our composable strategy,” Tzikakis said. “Businesses will need to move away from legacy software stacks, and infuse AI systems into composable software approaches that enable true flexibility and the ability to provide their customers with personalized and rich experiences.”Examples of this in action include the integration of ChatGPT into <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sitecore.com/products/xm-cloud">Sitecore XM Cloud CMS</a> to create near-instant translations, and leveraging ChatGPT to rephrase marketing copy created in Content Hub to better target specific segments and destination channels. Additionally, Sitecore customers can use Dall-E to generate image variants for omnichannel campaigns being managed across Sitecore's Content Cloud.While generative AI is accelerating at an unprecedented pace, Sitecore is using its composable posture to alleviate the concerns noted about the costs of harnessing AI.“Sitecore’s composable platform helps combat this fear by giving Sitecore customers the ability to leverage our unique, composable offering,” Tzikakis stated, "which allows brands to control when and how much spend they can invest depending on customer needs.”

Sitecore Plans to Expand AI Across its Content and Commerce Offerings

<hr /> AI continues to dominate the news cycle across the digital experience ecosystem, and Digital Asset Management (DAM) solutions are no exception. While many platforms are harnessing LLMs to enhance productivity and ease the content workflow, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/acquia-dam-bolsters-search-share-and-analytics-capabilities">Acquia</a> is also leveraging AI for high-utility applications within its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.acquia.com/products/acquia-dam">Acquia DAM</a>. Last week, the DXP announced new integrations between its signature DAM (formerly Widen) and industry-leading generative AI solutions <a target="_blank" href="https://chat.openai.com/">ChatGPT</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.clarifai.com/">Clarifai</a>, enabling new capabilities for generating product and image descriptions.CMS Critic spoke with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/holmesnathan/">Nathan Holmes</a>, Manager, Product Marketing at Acquia, about the new features. <h3>Why it matters</h3>According to Acquia's press release, the new integrations will enable creative and marketing professionals who use Acquia DAM to create on-brand, search-engine-optimized product descriptions and image alt text via generative AI. The features will reduce the burden of creating these content elements, accelerating time to market while enhancing accessibility. It's worth noting that Acquia DAM can be utilized as a standalone solution or with content management systems such as Drupal. It can also be used with other products available in the Acquia Digital Experience Platform (Acquia DXP).“Using generative AI, marketers and creatives can improve the searchability, usability, and accessibility of their product content and asset metadata,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakeathey/">Jake Athey</a>, Vice President, Go-To-Market, DAM at Acquia. “These new integrations… enable organizations to create compelling content that improves search results and drives conversions – in less time.” <h3>Built for creative and marketing pros</h3>As previously noted, the new generative AI integrations are targeted at creatives and marketers, helping them to be faster and more productive with their digital assets. The combination of both ChatGPT and Clarifai integrations delivers a complete solution that automates the generation of both product and image descriptions.With native integration between Acquia DAM and ChatGPT, product marketers can quickly create compelling product listings on their own websites and popular commerce sites such as Walmart, commerce platforms like <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/image-relay-launches-shopify-integration-streamlining-product-and-digital-asset-workflows-for-brands">Shopify</a>, and more. This solution enables teams to create on-brand content for their entire product line much faster, based on product attributes in Acquia DAM, reducing time to market and ensuring accuracy across digital channels. Teams can also use target keywords as inputs for the AI-generated description to optimize for search.Digital content managers using Acquia DAM may now leverage the native integration with Clarifai for keywords and ChatGPT to create alt text descriptions placed in a metadata field for images. Alt text is important to use because it enables images to be both search engine friendly and accessible to people with visual impairments. As an organization’s image library grows, the integration monitors all new or newly versioned image assets, ensuring no assets fall through the cracks. This advancement further supports <a target="_blank" href="https://www.acquia.com/accessibility">Acquia’s commitment to accessibility</a> and enabling digital experience creation for all.<h3>Introduced at Henry Stewart DAM New York</h3>Acquia made the announcement at the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.henrystewartconferences.com/events/dam-new-york-2023">Henry Stewart DAM New York</a> event last week, where attendees saw 40+ DAM tools in action along with the latest product innovations at the world’s leading exhibition of DAM providers.Also at the conference, Acquia and Velir, a full-service digital agency and preferred Acquia partner, presented a session on the topic of digital asset management and generative AI called <a target="_blank" href="https://www.henrystewartconferences.com/events/dam-new-york-2023/session/events-dam-new-york-2023-day-1-track-3-techlab-metadata-ai-and-chatgpt-what%E2%80%99s-dam-got-do-it">“TechLab: Metadata, AI, and ChatGPT: What’s DAM got to do with it?”</a>“Marketers in all industries are actively exploring ways to integrate and utilize AI to streamline processes and meet ever-changing consumer needs,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-valliere-4b44571/">Dave Valliere</a>, CEO of Velir. “The ChatGPT module built for Drupal is another example of how marketers can use AI to create efficiencies from a content perspective. This will free up time for teams to spend on impactful digital marketing strategies such as personalization, audience analysis, and segmentation that are proven to drive business outcomes.”<h3>Q&amp;A with Nathan Holmes</h3>CMS Critic connected with Acquia's Nathan Holmes for some additional details about the new integrations. CMS Critic (CC): How long has this feature been in development?Nathan Holmes (NH): Acquia has had this feature in development for about four months. We moved on it very quickly once we determined it would be of high value to our customers. Most digital asset management platforms use computer vision to generate keyword metadata. The new integration between Acquia DAM's computer vision technology and the large language model goes a step further to generate alt text descriptions. This saves content managers another step in making their images optimized for search in the DAM, as well as when it's embedded on the web.CC: How are users responding to it? Do you have test feedback that’s encouraging thus far?(NH): Customer response to the new integrations between Acquia DAM and generative AI technologies has been strong. Several are interested in adopting the integration and are moving to test it.It’s appealing because marketers and creatives don’t generally have the time to write alt text descriptions for their images. We think of it as "No alt text left behind." All marketers know it's important to help web visitors who use screen readers, and that image alt text is crawled by search engines, which can help improve your page rankings. Yet, with the volume of content assets being created, it can be hard to keep up. So this can be a huge time saver for teams and greatly improve their search experience. In turn, this can help them get content and digital experiences to their own customers, citizens, or students faster.Also, by doing it in the DAM, instead of waiting to apply it in the CMS, the alt text can be used on other websites or social media posts.CC: How are humans able to validate the alt text and meta descriptions in any AI-generated fields?(NH): Humans are able – and encouraged – to review and edit the alt text and metadata descriptions in the AI-generated fields. This can be done during the upload process, or using the Paths feature in Acquia DAM, [where] content managers can set up automated emails to notify subject matter experts of new assets with metadata for their review.CC: Is there an additional cost for this capability?(NH): The AI-generated keywords capability is included with all Acquia DAM subscriptions. AI-generated alt text is an additional cost for the native integration with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Acquia DAM Introduces New Generative AI Integrations for Product and Image Descriptions

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<hr /> We’ve covered several stories about the unique Women in MACH program, most recently at the <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/mach-two-conference-wrap-six-takeaways-from-the-composable-event-of-the-year">MACH Two</a> Conference this past June in Amsterdam – where the MACH Alliance launched a new Women in MACH <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/mach-alliance-launches-women-in-mach-mentorship-program">mentorship program</a>.Without question, the initiative is growing and represents a continued commitment from the <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/mach-alliance-launches-women-in-mach-mentorship-program">MACH Alliance</a> and its community of companies, ambassadors, and contributors to support diversity and inclusion – including gender equality. Last year, the organization celebrated its first Women in MACH flagship event in Madrid, Spain. The conference was an overwhelming success, and the momentum built over the last 12 months has been a testament to the program.Next week, the organization returns to Madrid for its 2023 flagship event, where it plans to go “Beyond Boundaries” with its stated <a target="_blank" href="https://machalliance.org/insights/women-in-mach-manifesto-for-gender-equality">Manifesto</a> – and begin transforming the MACH technology ecosystem into a diverse and inclusive space for everyone. <h3>Going “Beyond Boundaries” </h3>According to the program’s website, the purpose of the event is to inspire and support women in MACH to develop their own skills, competencies, and career paths – and take the next step toward equal opportunities.The one-day event will draw together 100 leading women in tech as well as select “male allies” to provide mentorship, education, and support. Attendees will have the opportunity to connect with like-minded professionals, acquire new skills and knowledge, collaborate on ideas, and network with other professionals. “Beyond Boundaries” will offer a packed program of inspirational speakers, masterclasses, and workshops on a range of relevant topics. The event also promises to focus on the challenges that exist for achieving the tenants of the Women in MACH manifesto and will explore actionable solutions and programs. <h3>Where and when is the event? </h3>The Women in MACH 2023 “Beyond Boundaries” event will be held on September 21, from 9:00 a.m. - 11 p.m. at Club Alma Sensai in Madrid, Spain. For more details on the program – including the complete one-day agenda – you can visit the conference website at https://machalliance.org/women-in-mach-2023-beyond-boundariesAlong with the 100 leading women and allies, organizations can pay $5,500 to be part of the grass-roots movement. The investment provides two tickets, as well as opportunities for a company’s brand to be highlighted throughout the event.

Women in MACH’s 2023 Flagship Event Plans to Go “Beyond Boundaries” in Madrid

<hr /> DAMs and PIMs have become essential technologies in the digital ecosystem. As brands scale in multiple directions – driven in large part by growth in e-commerce and omnichannel strategies – having a single source of truth for digital assets and product information is proving invaluable.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.imagerelay.com/">Image Relay</a>, a digital asset management (DAM) and product information management (PIM) platform, is streamlining the experience for organizations by making it easier to manage assets and information while connecting with other technologies that complete the customer experience. This week, the company announced a new <a target="_blank" href="https://www.imagerelay.com/platform/integrations/">product integration</a> between its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.imagerelay.com/marketing-delivery-features">Marketing Delivery</a> – an all-in-one DAM and PIM platform – and <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/shopify">Shopify</a>. “Many of our customers use Shopify as a complete commerce platform that offers the tools they need to successfully grow their businesses,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-olsen-73978646/">Jeff Olsen</a>, Director of Product, Image Relay. “As we continued to look for ways to improve our customers’ efficiency and effectiveness in managing their product information and digital assets, developing a direct integration with Shopify became an important initiative. By seamlessly connecting Shopify’s platform to Marketing Delivery, our ecommerce-business customers have a new powerful combination to ensure their product data is up-to-date, accurate, and easily accessible across their workflows.”<h3>Combining the power of DAM and PIM in one platform</h3>Siloed data is a significant challenge for organizations with large caches of digital assets and product information. Launched in April, Image Ready's Marketing Delivery effectively brings all product information and digital assets into a single solution, enabling teams to easily create and share critical information – from product catalogs to one-off reports – with only a few clicks.  Additionally, the platform eliminates cumbersome manual formatting and unwieldy spreadsheets, allowing teams to easily set up as many product channels and export templates as they have delivery outlets. Marketing Delivery then automatically creates perfectly formatted reports that include product data mapped to the attributes required by each delivery outlet. The Shopify integration allows brands to quickly and easily export product information and assets from Marketing Delivery directly into their Shopify storefronts. Companies can also edit and update information in Shopify, import information directly back to Marketing Delivery, ensure teams and partners utilize approved assets only, and provide easy partner access while guaranteeing the consistency of all materials. <h3>A growing range of valuable integrations </h3> Marketing Delivery is fully integrated with many of the most popular marketing, sales, and productivity tools that brands are already using. With a growing list of 40+ integrations, businesses can instantly connect Marketing Delivery with:<ul><li>Asset creation and editing tools such as Adobe Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator.</li><li>Collaboration and project management products such as Asana, Basecamp, Evernote, Slack, and Zoom.</li><li>Content file control solutions such as Dropbox, Eventbrite, and Microsoft OneDrive.</li><li>Social platform integrations with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest.</li><li>Expense tracking with Expensify.</li><li>Marketing, sales and service software (connected directly to content) with HubSpot and Salesforce.</li><li>Managed and updated web content via integrations with WordPress and Webflow.</li></ul>

Image Relay Launches Shopify Integration, Streamlining Product and Digital Asset Workflows for Brands

As composable commerce becomes a critical goal for organizations, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms">headless CMS</a> vendors are looking to expand their capabilities into the burgeoning space. Among them is <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/lights-camera-action-contentfuls-film-the-new-art-of-storytelling-focuses-on-the-composable-future">Contentful</a>, a leading composable content platform. Recently, the company announced a partnership with <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/cms-monthly-recap-mailchimp-and-shopify-launch-direct-integration-bigcommerce-launches-ads-and-listings-on-google-and-more">BigCommerce</a> – a powerhouse open SaaS e-commerce platform – to help brands build personalized shopping experiences. According to Contentful's press release, the combination will enable organizations to seamlessly integrate Contentful with their BigCommerce platform, easing the adoption of composable commerce and delivering one-of-a-kind, omnichannel buying experiences tailored to customer needs and preferences. <h3>Tapping composable commerce to drive omnichannel growth</h3>As Contenful's press release codified, today’s consumer expects a buying experience that is fast, personalized, and consistent across channels. Even the most loyal customer will quickly turn away from a brand if the experience is less than stellar. At the same time, many brands are held back by outdated content systems that lack the flexibility and scalability required to deliver engaging experiences that meet consumer expectations and drive conversion. This is where Contentful's partnership with BigCommerce provides a 1-2 punch of business scalability and acceleration, with a focus on digital commerce. “Brands want to deliver unmatched personalization and customer experience across every customer touchpoint, and our partnership with BigCommerce makes it easier for digital teams to deliver on that goal,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-sloan-213515/">Steve Sloan</a>, CEO of Contentful. “With content as an integral part of a brand’s storefront, businesses can deliver truly engaging experiences at scale.”<h3>Contentful and BigCommerce increase conversion and growth </h3>With Contentful and BigCommerce, customers will now have the flexibility and openness of a composable, API-first approach to deliver best-in-class customer experiences and outpace the competition. Customers will be able to orchestrate their content and messaging across brands, regions, and channels to create seamless shopping experiences at scale. To help customers get started quickly, an accelerator is available for BigCommerce and Contentful that simplifies implementation and reduces time to market. Built by joint partners <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/myplanet-rebrands-to-orium-after-11m-investment-targets-growth-in-composable-commerce">Orium</a> and Gluo – and designed for retail and B2C brands of any size – the accelerator enables organizations to deploy Contentful and BigCommerce with confidence, dependability, and speed. “Our partnership with Contentful further illustrates our commitment to providing merchants access to the highest-caliber technologies and service providers available in the industry,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kleinrussell/">Russell Klein</a>, Chief Commercial Officer, BigCommerce. “Contentful shares our desire to help merchants sell more and grow faster to maximize success, and we look forward to working together to mutually support customers.”

Contentful Teams with BigCommerce to Help Customers Ease Adoption of Composable Commerce

As generative AI continues to march its way across the digital experience stack, platforms are looking to public cloud providers like <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/contentstack-offers-microsoft-azure-becomes-only-multi-cloud-saas-cms-qa-with-cto-nishant-patel">Azure</a>, and GCP to help scale their innovation and get AI-powered products to market faster. Now, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/optimizely-brings-real-magic-to-opticon-2022-in-san-diego-kicks-off-tour-in-london-and-stockholm">Optimizely </a>– a leading digital experience platform (DXP) provider – has announced a new integration with <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/optimizely-partners-with-google-cloud-to-take-experimentation-to-the-next-level">Google Cloud’s</a> large language models (LLMs) via <a target="_blank" href="https://cloud.google.com/vertex-ai?utm_source=google&amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;utm_campaign=na-US-all-en-dr-bkws-all-all-trial-e-dr-1605212&amp;utm_content=text-ad-none-any-DEV_c-CRE_665735422037-ADGP_Hybrid%20%7C%20BKWS%20-%20MIX%20%7C%20Txt_AI%20and%20ML%20General-KWID_43700077225650913-kwd-553582750299&amp;utm_term=KW_vertex%20ai-ST_vertex%20ai&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw6eWnBhAKEiwADpnw9u2BMXURvDZHFlNL_A4gB-a8YkjypIddWQ1nMdG43MWUdp4TY1E6cxoCg-gQAvD_BwE&amp;gclsrc=aw.ds">Vertex AI</a>, with the goal of building and launching new generative AI features. With this integration, Optimizely’s customers and product engineering teams will gain direct access to Google Cloud’s cutting-edge foundational models, which will dramatically increase the pace of innovation in a rapidly emergent field.<h3>Sowing the AI seeds in Optimizely's model garden </h3>According to the company's press release, Google’s PaLM 2 models from Vertex AI will be used in Optimizely’s internal model garden, supporting rapid prototyping and development of generative AI features. This pairing will span the entire portfolio of Optimizely’s products, including content, commerce, and experimentation.Coupled with Feature Experimentation, Optimizely engineers can strike the perfect balance between cost, quality, and response time across Google Cloud’s growing family of models, which are rooted in a 20-year legacy and commitment to responsibility, security and compliance. “As AI is adopted at an unprecedented clip, Google’s LLMs and Vertex AI ensure that we can innovate and implement the functionalities that our customers need to scale and deliver the best digital experiences,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/anielsud/">Aniel Sud</a>, CTO at Optimizely. “With these models, we can quickly and consistently add new AI features that will greatly enhance our product suite. We are excited to highlight some of these new features at Opticon in October and we look forward to continually strengthening our partnership with Google.” Optimizely customers can expect upcoming features powered by Google Vertex AI to be far more fine-tuned for the intended use cases. <h3>Focusing on high-value AI use cases</h3>On the AI front, Optimizely is exploring high-value use cases to bring generative AI to marketing and digital teams, empowering them to transform digital experiences for customers. These use cases include: <ul><li>A knowledge bot trained specifically on Optimizely’s technical documentation, so customers can utilize a chat interface to get instant answers to questions during implementation and use </li><li>A variation generator for brainstorming, allowing Optimizely customers to utilize AI to generate new ideas when designing a test </li></ul>This innovative partnership builds upon the success of leveraging Google Cloud for Optimizely Web Experimentation and Feature Experimentation, as well as the availability of both products on <a target="_blank" href="https://console.cloud.google.com/marketplace/product/optimizely-public/optimizely-gcp-marketplace">Google Cloud Marketplace</a>.  “Users of Optimizely’s digital experience platform will benefit from new capabilities, powered by Google Cloud’s Vertex AI,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodrigoprocha/">Rodrigo Rocha</a>, Head of Global AI &amp; ISV App Partnerships at Google Cloud. “By building with Vertex AI and expanding access to Google Cloud’s powerful models, Optimizely will enable its customers to build new online experiences and products that add real value with generative AI.” <h3>Partnering to power experimentation with AI</h3>Optimizely and Google have already cemented a strong partnership. In February of 2022, the companies jointly <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/optimizely-partners-with-google-cloud-to-take-experimentation-to-the-next-level">announced a strategic initiative</a> to move Optimizely's experimentation to the Google Cloud, leveraging a secure and scalable infrastructure for investments in AI and analytics. In 2022, Optimizely also achieved over $1B in incremental revenue for its customers. This partnership with Google Cloud and innovation with Vertex AI will continue to allow businesses to make data-driven decisions and scale their digital experiences.

Optimizely Partners with Google Cloud to Expand Generative AI Capabilities 

What can I say? I’m obsessed with Halloween.But it’s not just me.For the last 17 years, my wife and I have spent the months of September and October avoiding zombies, dodging demons, and thwarting chainsaw-wielding psychopaths at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.universalorlando.com/hhn/en/us">Universal Studio’s Halloween Horror Nights</a>.Man, 17 years is a long time.For context, we started going when our son could barely crawl, eventually bringing him for the first time in 2018. Now, he accompanies a terrified mob of fellow University of Florida students as part of an annual pilgrimage to the park. The next morning, we have random college students strewn across spare beds and splayed on sofas, most having survived the night in one piece. I love it. This Labor Day weekend, we attended the opening of the 32nd year of HHN, which will feature a record-breaking 48 nights of festivities. Attendance is already expected to be high, and the first night was sold out. <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/09/halloween-horror-nights.jpg" />Clearly, Halloween is more than just a holiday in America – it’s a season. A unique phenomenon celebrated by people from all walks of life, young and old. It gives us permission to transform, to be something other than ourselves and revel in the exhilaration of being scared. As it turns out, Halloween has its roots in pagan rituals, and some version of it is celebrated in countries around the globe. Last year, Americans <a target="_blank" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jiawertz/2022/10/20/halloween-spending-projected-to-hit-a-record-106-billion-for-2022/?sh=735967bf7d4b">spent over $10.6 billion</a> on Halloween. That includes the pricetag for events like HHN, which is considered “monster mecca” for rabid fans. For me, it's fun watching the mix of fear and delight as people traverse the bevy of haunted houses and “Scare Zones" around the park. This year was no exception, as streaming properties like Stranger Things and The Last of Us came to life in terrifyingly ornate detail. At the same time, original concepts showcase the depth of Universal’s creative teams, sporting new characters like the mysterious Dr. Oddfellow (caution: a physical with this MD might result in bites to the neck and a fear of garlic). The production quality at HHN is simply off the charts. It requires months of development and thousands of people to pull off, including the event's signature “Scare Actors,” costume and prosthetics designers, set builders, lighting techs… the list goes on and on.To be sure, there are still challenges for the faint of heart. The lines can be notoriously long, and you need an expensive Express Pass to see everything. Heck, the scariest thing might be the price tag for food and memorabilia. But overall, the experience is second to none, and digital has helped deliver more thrills and chills than nightmares.As Unlimited Frequent Fear passholders, we have the opportunity to indulge in HHN multiple times throughout the season. Working in the DX industry, I’ve paid close attention to the ways digital transformation has made Halloween Horror Nights a blood-curdling success over nearly two decades – and it’s something to behold.One of the best examples is the evolution of Universal's mobile app. Not only has it eliminated paper-based ticketing and scanning, but it also features current wait times for each event. Super handy when making decisions about what venue to hit when the park is packed. Feedback is also being collected from willing parkgoers via tablets as they leave the property, and social listening has become something of an art form as devoted fan communities have arisen over the years (yup, we're part of them). On the content side of the Necronomicon, text and assets are being pushed across multiple screens and devices, and integrated <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/top-10-open-source-ecommerce-platforms">eCommerce payment systems</a> are as commonplace as ghouls and goblins. Universal has also been pioneering virtual reality in its park rides, so I’m just scratching the surface.No doubt, AI is part of the witch's brew. While not visibly evident, it's most certainly at use behind the scenes, analyzing customer data at scale to improve decisions about food distribution, queue management, and merchandise. With the sheer number of data points and interactions at play, these are tasks no human (or the undead) is capable of doing.While the world wrestles with the ethical dilemmas around AI, I think Universal and HHN demonstrate how technology and innovation have continuously supported immersive physical experiences. There would be no "spine-tingling" without the presence of performers and artisans. At the same time, new technologies are enriching productivity, shortening creative cycles, and improving the customer experience in every dimension. Could some roles be displaced? Tarot cards aside, it's more than probable. But the night is always darkest before dawn, and the potential for new jobs and opportunities will likely outweigh the perceived negatives. On some level, we all fear the future. In fiction, we're quick to demonize technology, tapping some innate mistrust of ourselves and what we endeavor to create. It’s easy to let our imagination get the best of us, especially with the rapid adoption of ChatGPT. And while many technologies have rushed to integrate <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/tinymce-brings-advanced-ai-to-cms-text-editing-interview-with-fredrik-danielsson-elise-bentley">generative AI</a> with their offerings, I see most of them assuring their audiences that they're mindful of the ethics… and this is not Frankenstein's monster.Halloween might not be your jam, but embracing the unknown and understanding its pros and cons is how we face the future. Brands like Universal are leveraging it to improve its theme park experiences, a place where the physical and digital are now locked in a danse macabre.So why not brave the new world? If you’re lucky, you might have a little fun along the way.  So fun, it’s scary.

Fear the Future of AI? Not at Universal's Halloween Horror Nights

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