Articles - Page 38

What I Mean to Say: A Practitioner Perspective on AI, Semantics, and Content Evolution

msalvatierra

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

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

paris-tuzun

WordPress, Frontity, and React logo icons

In the ever-expanding realm of CMS and DXP platforms, the category of “website builder” has long been an enigma. It’s not uncommon to have our readers ask us: how do I actually "create" a website using this tool?
And that’s the rub: content management systems have traditionally been designed to "manage content," while DXPs have evolved the stack by expanding the layers of data and optimization. But building an actual website? That’s another story. Or stories, to be more accurate.
Let’s provide a quick backdrop: with traditional CMS platforms, creating a website has often been a labor of technical love. In most cases, it requires the implementation of responsive HTML templates into a system by a trained developer or system integrator. While this model has given designers and coders greater control over the experience layer – and enabled content creators to preview rendered pages – it also comes with a much steeper learning curve and cost.
The rise of headless CMS has also changed the calculus. In this new omnichannel world, websites have become another endpoint in the experience landscape. This has shifted the thinking for marketers as they embrace new ways of distributing content and engaging with audiences via <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-jamstack-static-site-generators-for-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">JAMstack</a> libraries, custom apps, and other form factors.
Still, for many SMBs, a website is the center of their digital strategy. And with more demand at a do-it-yourself level, website building platforms have grown in popularity, giving way to more effective low-code/no-code tools with a myriad of drag-and-drop features. This includes purpose-built platforms like <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/squarespace-a-diy-website-builder-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Squarespace</a> but has now grown to include hosting ecosystems like <a href="https://www.godaddy.com/websites/website-builder" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GoDaddy</a> and marketing automation services like <a href="https://mailchimp.com/features/website-builder/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MailChimp</a>.
But if you’re a designer or an agency that’s focused on delivering a high-caliber customer experience – particularly in the bursting e-commerce sector – many do-it-yourself builder tools conjure a single word: compromise.
That’s where <a href="https://www.duda.co/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Duda</a> has been expanding their niche as a best-of-breed professional web building platform. Their unique solution continues to gain ground with digital agencies and SaaS companies as the demand for digital commerce solutions grows exponentially.
Recently, the company announced that it has acquired <a href="https://snipcart.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Snipcart</a>, an e-commerce solution that lets businesses add a shopping cart to any website. The acquisition news comes hot on the heels of a successful round of $50M in Series D Funding, bringing Duda’s total funding to $100M thus far.
<h2>What is Duda? </h2>
Let's start with the basics: Duda is a platform that allows designers and agencies to rapidly create websites at scale with tools that automate the entire site-building process.
One of Duda’s key attributes is that it enables web professionals to achieve pixel-perfect designs without touching code. This has long been a challenge for nearly every website builder, but Duda seems to have to married simplicity with flexibility – allowing designers granular control to customize around their unique brand requirements. This reduces the headaches that many open source platforms like <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/gutenberg-2-years-later-is-wordpress-better-off/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WordPress</a> or enterprise CMSes create for web designers that want to focus on the experience and not the code.
Duda also provides a robust set of pre-built themes and templates that are free of charge, as well as a drag-and-drop builder that accelerates the design process. They also feature a library of widgets, as well as a nifty <a href="https://www.duda.co/developers/widget-builder?_ga=2.61014890.730348107.1631540715-a422507c-3bf0-4b7b-ad7f-09f0a73ade15" target="_blank" rel="noopener">widget builder</a> for coding your own functionality.
Duda claims to outperform other industry-leading tools by ensuring every site built on its platform ranks high on critical SEO factors. They also suggest that their platform can reduce the average website build time by 50% to 75% – which can be a huge advantage to businesses that need to pivot quickly.
<h2>Leveraging Snipcart’s e-Commerce capabilities for digital transformation</h2>
It’s impossible to ignore the<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/how-covid-19-has-pushed-companies-over-the-technology-tipping-point-and-transformed-business-forever" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> impact of the Covid-19 pandemic</a> on consumer habits. As people turned to digital and contactless solutions over the last 18 months, e-commerce has exploded – and the market is <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/379046/worldwide-retail-e-commerce-sales/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forecast</a> to grow by 50% to an estimated $6.3 trillion by 2024.
According to Duda, the company has already seen a whopping 265% year-over-year increase in e-commerce sites built on its platform. This was the impetus for the Snipcart acquisition, which will enable the company to further accelerate its growth by providing customers with a flexible e-commerce solution that can make any data or inventory they have shoppable.
Snipcart’s dynamic team of experienced developers, marketers, and managers has built a state-of-the-art e-commerce platform used by thousands of customers worldwide. Their focus on flexibility and modern e-commerce store design is very much aligned with Duda’s product vision of providing its customers with beautiful and modular e-commerce solutions.
<h2>Q&amp;A with Itai Sadan, Duda CEO and Co-Founder</h2>
CMS Critic had a chance to connect with Duda’s CEO and co-founder, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/itaisadan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Itai Sadan</a>. We discussed the Snipcart acquisition, how e-Commerce is changing the landscape, and what Duda is planning next.
<hr />
CMS Critic (CC): It’s clear that digital agencies are a key focus for Duda. What other partner channels or vertical industries are emerging as opportunities? Is the enterprise becoming more of a target?
Itai Sadan (IS): Aside from digital agencies that have always been our focus, Duda has also been focused in the last two years on vertical SaaS platforms. These are typically SaaS solutions that serve a very specific industry (e.g. healthcare, professional services, real-estate) and want to expand into offering websites to their customers.
Duda has a very unique offering for this category as our website builder can be seamlessly embedded into their platform allowing them to automatically generate websites with their customers’ pre-populated data, giving their customers an amazing head start on their site builds and ensuring data is always in sync.
CC: What do Duda’s ideal SaaS customers look like? What in particular attracts them to Duda?
IS: Duda’s typical SaaS customer is a back-office platform that SMBs use to manage their business. Many times it could be a CRM, ERP, or a marketing platform for a certain industry vertical.
The moment these SaaS platforms want to help their customers acquire more clients, they need to provide some form of web presence to capture leads. Often these SaaS platforms have widgets that live on a website – such as a bookings engine or a form. Through integration with Duda they can have these widgets pre-installed on the websites, providing their customers with a hassle-free experience.
The great thing about Duda is that it is simple enough to be used by a business person via our simple drag and drop interface, and it is also a very powerful tool for developers who can make use of our API and add CSS, HTML, and JavaScript to our sites.
Our customers also know that Duda has their back in terms of ensuring our websites are highly converting and have great SEO. Duda handles all of the ongoing Google Core Web Vitals, AMP, and PageSpeed optimizations so that their clients will have a revenue-generating website that will perform well.
Lastly, I think what our partners really like is that Duda makes it very clear that we’re not in competition with them. Our go-to-market is always through channels; we are completely white-label and will never reach out directly to their customers. There is a certain trust and confidence that comes with that where these SaaS platforms know that they are our customers and we are 100% dedicated to seeing them succeed. Our Support and Account Management teams have received <a href="https://blog.duda.co/duda-honored-as-gold-stevie-winner-in-the-15th-annual-stevie-awards-for-sales-customer-service" target="_blank" rel="noopener">multiple awards</a> and have been heralded as one of the key reasons customers choose us.
CC: There’s no question that eCommerce is exploding, particularly with the pandemic driving more digital adoption and transformation. What has been the most important feature or capability in Duda’s current e-commerce toolbox that has given it an edge? 
IS: One of Duda’s current e-commerce solution strengths is that users can set up their store once to easily sync and sell across their website, social media (Instagram, Facebook) and  marketplaces (eBay, Amazon).
The existing e-commerce solution has a strong and loyal following, used by many of Duda’s customers to add website buying experiences and will stay in place for customers that prefer to keep using it. In addition, Duda will continue to support it and expand on its capabilities.”
CC: How quickly will Snipcart’s capabilities be woven into Duda’s offerings? 
IS: The Snipcart and Duda team are deeply focused on the integration. We believe the first phase of the integration will be released in early 2022. Initially, it will be offered to customers building new e-commerce sites.
CC: Compliance and governance are becoming pinnacle concerns for digital businesses – particularly those transacting with e-commerce. How is Duda approaching issues like data privacy, ransomware, etc.?
IS: As a SaaS provider with hundreds of thousands of customers and users from around the world, Duda cares deeply about the privacy and security of the data owned by its customers and users, and takes it very seriously. Regarding privacy - Duda has appointed a Data Protection Officer (DPO) and developed and maintains a set of internal policies, guidelines, and procedures to make sure personal data is being stored and processed in accordance with data privacy laws such as GDPR and CCPA.
We also have an Information Security Program which was developed by the Head of Cybersecurity security at Duda. The program aims to manage and reduce the risks to Duda’s data assets via an interactive process of business assessment, asset mapping, identification of vulnerabilities, potential threats, and the implantation of mitigating measures (i.e controls).
The controls we implement include information security awareness, developing required policies and processes, and the usage of technical measures. In an external audit that was handled in May 2021, we received very high scores both in Information Security and Business Continuity. Duda believes that Information Security is a fundamental requirement for business growth, and makes significant investments to improve the overall security posture each year.
Ransomware has become quite a popular threat recently, this is only one of the cyber threats Duda is dealing with on a daily basis. We use a large set of security controls to mitigate such risks, which include but are not limited to, security awareness among employees, email filtering and protection, identity management and access control, network segmentation, WAF and Firewalls, backups, as well as many others.”
CC: Some competitive platforms in your space are offering native app builders or API integrations to expand their omnichannel capabilities. How is Duda positioning against these offerings – and what’s on the horizon that we can share with our readers?
IS: We don’t have any plans to develop a native app offering. We think that most SMBs will do well with a website as the main way consumers are finding them is through a Google search or social media platforms that drive visitors to a website. We think the barrier to get an app installed is prohibitive for most SMBs and they will not see the ROI of building an app (for more detail see my <a href="https://blog.duda.co/how-the-web-was-won-apps-websites-the-birth-of-pwas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blog post</a> about this topic).
[On the horizon] we are investing in other areas that can help agencies. First, we always invest in our core platform. Web design is constantly evolving and we want to make sure our website builder always stays at the forefront of technology. We recently released <a href="https://flex.duda.co/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DudaFlex</a>, a way to build pixel-perfect sites in a very flexible way without needing to code. We are releasing a new membership feature that is in high demand and coming out in Q4 with a client billing solution that would allow agencies to seamlessly invoice and collect payments from their clients.
<h2>What’s next for Duda and Snipcart</h2>
Duda and Snipcart have already started working on their integration, which, as noted, is expected to be released in early 2022.
Along with Snipcart, Duda will continue to offer its existing e-commerce solution, which has a strong and loyal following amongst current users. They plan to support and expand these existing capabilities as well.
Duda also plans to invest heavily in growing the Snipcart team and adding more features to the core Snipcart platform. Additionally, Snipcart will continue to offer its product independently to customers, allowing Duda to grow their investment on multiple fronts.

Duda Snaps Up Snipcart to Boost e-Commerce Capabilities: Q&A with CEO Itai Sadan

cms-critic-staff

Duda and Snipcart logos with image of CEO Isai Sadan

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

With <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/805656/number-youtube-viewers-worldwide/" target="_blank">1.86 billion YouTube users</a> and the explosion of <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/en/" target="_blank">Tiktok</a>, it's clear that video is eating the internet. 
According to <a href="https://www.semrush.com/blog/youtube-stats/" target="_blank">statistics</a>, video is one of the most popular ways to consume content, with 85% of U.S. internet users accessing online video through YouTube at least once per week. Further, the demand for pandemic-induced streaming content is at an all-time high, with <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/250934/quarterly-number-of-netflix-streaming-subscribers-worldwide/" target="_blank">Netflix</a> counting 207.64 million paid subscribers worldwide in Q1 of 2021.
Of course, no one knows this better than <a href="https://www.adobe.com/" target="_blank">Adobe</a>, which powers best-of-breed video production via their flagship <a href="https://www.adobe.com/products/premiere.html" target="_blank">Premiere Pro</a> and <a href="https://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects.html" target="_blank">After Effects</a> products. Speed continues to be a critical component when it comes to video content creators, and in recent years, other tools have disrupted the market – including basic tools like Wondershare's <a href="https://filmora.wondershare.com/?AFFILIATE=102100&amp;__c=1" target="_blank">Filmora</a> and free platforms like <a href="https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/" target="_blank">DaVinci Resolve</a>. The widening expanse of choices has driven down costs and increased access to a wider range of users. 
To compete, Adobe is turning to the workflow "gap" that exists in the market around video collaboration. To shore up their offering and better position against the competitive field, the digital giant <a href="https://news.adobe.com/news/news-details/2021/Adobe-to-Acquire-Frame.io/default.aspx" target="_blank">has entered into an agreement to acquire Frame.io</a>, an industry-leading video collaboration platform. 
The transaction, valued at $1.275 billion, is expected to close during the fourth quarter of Adobe’s 2021 fiscal year.
<h2>What is Frame.io?</h2>
Frame.io streamlines the video production process by enabling video editors and key project stakeholders to collaborate using cloud-first workflows seamlessly. The cloud-native platform provides an elegant way to gather feedback from everyone involved in the video production – from the director to the script supervisor to all the people who need to approve the final project. 
<div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 mb-4"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7LjejmHOiTw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
Recently, Frame.io launched "<a href="https://www.frame.io/c2c/" target="_blank">Camera to Cloud</a>," the fastest, easiest, and most secure way to instantly get footage from cameras to collaborators anywhere in the world. Adobe has already been working with Frame.io to collaborate on videos for their website, social media, and events.
<h2>Collaboration is the name of the game</h2>
In a pandemic-driven world, shooting on location or traveling to obtain footage is becoming a more arduous task – if not altogether impossible. In addition, more teams are expected to work remotely yet still deliver large volumes of video content, all at a time when the demand for video content is increasing exponentially. 
All these changes have forced the video industry to adapt and rethink, and Adobe has been leading the way by investing in tools and products to execute complex workflows across teams. As part of their evolution, they <a href="https://news.adobe.com/news/news-details/2020/Adobe-to-Acquire-Workfront/default.aspx" target="_blank">acquired Workflow</a> – a leading work management platform for marketers – for $1.50 billion last year. This was rivaled by Salesforce's <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-monthly-recap-salesforce-completes-acquisition-of-slack-contentsquare-accelerates-ml-capabilities-and-more/" target="_blank">recent acquisition of Slack</a>, the leading team communications platform. 
What's clear is that digital collaboration is now a key foundation of all creative endeavors. Video teams must produce an ever-increasing continuum of content, and each video project requires various stakeholders, including video editors, producers, agencies, and clients. 
Today’s video workflows are disjointed, with multiple tools and communication channels being used to solicit stakeholder feedback. Frame.io eliminates the inefficiencies of video workflows by enabling real-time footage upload, access, and in-line stakeholder collaboration in a secure and elegant experience across surfaces.
“We’ve entered a new era of connected creativity that is deeply collaborative, and we imagine a world where everyone can participate in the creative process,” said Scott Belsky, Chief Product Officer and Executive Vice President of Adobe's Creative Cloud. “With this acquisition, we’re welcoming an incredible customer-oriented team and adding Frame.io’s cloud-native workflow capabilities to make the creative process more collaborative, productive, and efficient to further unleash creativity for all.”
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/09/image-viewer.png" alt="Frame.io image viewer" />
Adobe’s acquisition of Frame.io brings Adobe Creative Cloud’s collaboration services to video. It builds on recent innovations for creative collaboration, including Adobe Creative Cloud Libraries, Cloud Documents, Design Systems in Adobe XD, Adobe Stock, and Adobe Fonts – which together with Frame.io, will make it easy for teams to collaborate across Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and other Adobe Creative Cloud applications.
The combination of Adobe’s industry-leading creative software and Frame.io’s review and approval functionality will deliver a collaboration platform that powers the entire video editing process.
<h2>Video workflows must empower all stakeholders</h2>
With the combination of Frame.io and Adobe, Creative Cloud customers – from video editors to producers to marketers – will benefit from seamless collaboration on video projects. Frame.io's workflow functionality will now be a native part of Adobe Creative Cloud applications like Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, and Adobe Photoshop.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/09/commenting-and-collaboration.jpg" />
“Frame.io and Adobe share a vision for the future of video creation and collaboration that brings together Adobe’s strength in video creation and production and Frame.io’s cloud-native platform,” said Emery Wells, Frame.io's co-founder and CEO. “We’re excited to join Adobe to continue to drive video innovation for the world’s leading media and entertainment companies, agencies, and brands.”
Upon close of the acquisition, Wells and fellow Frame.io co-founder John Traver will join Adobe. Wells will continue to lead the Frame.io team, reporting to Scott Belsky. The transaction, valued at $1.275 billion (subject to customary purchase price adjustments) is expected to close during the fourth quarter of Adobe’s 2021 fiscal year and is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. Until the transaction closes, each company will continue to operate independently.
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
The role of video in any content strategy is more pronounced than ever. As CMS and DXP platforms continue to expand their functionality and integrations, the ability to leverage video and ease the process of delivery will be instrumental. With Adobe remaining solidly in a leadership role across multiple DX categories, they are uniquely positioned to think ahead of the market and address critical issues – like workflow collaboration.
While their heritage as a creative development ecosystem is strong, Adobe's vision for mapping the future of digital experiences is even stronger. We'll be curious to see how these latest investments chart as more products enter the hot video market and lower the barrier to entry. As Gen Z influencers generate instant videos with off-the-shelf tools and resources on their iPhones, it's clear that the game will continue to change at multiple levels. Even so, there's a compelling need to work with other people in a production environment – and that's where Adobe is leading the way.
<h2>About Frame.io</h2>
<a href="https://www.frame.io/" target="_blank">Frame.io</a> is one of the world’s leading video review and approval platforms with over 1 million users. Integrated with most major professional video tools, Frame.io streamlines the creative process by centralizing assets and feedback in the cloud. This allows remote creative teams to collaborate securely and in real-time from anywhere in the world.
Conceived and designed in 2015 by video creators Emery Wells and John Traver, Frame.io is intuitive and simple, yet powerful enough for creative professionals, technical administrators, and clients to use with little (or no) training. Frame.io accelerates workflows and eliminates obstacles to creativity. From script or storyboard to dailies through delivery, Frame.io has reinvented the modern video workflow.
<h2>About Adobe</h2>
Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For more information, visit <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.adobe.com&amp;esheet=52479752&amp;newsitemid=20210819005739&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=www.adobe.com&amp;index=3&amp;md5=16bfbb09ccdd811085bcdfd56783339b" target="_blank">www.adobe.com</a>.

Adobe Acquires Video Collaboration Platform Frame.io

If there's one company that's cornered the market on intuitive names, it's <a href="https://gathercontent.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GatherContent</a>. 
As their moniker suggests, they are a platform that brings together, well... content. But along this journey, they're also connecting the people, processes, and technologies that make "<a href="https://review.content-science.com/what-is-content-operations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Content Operations</a>" a real phenomenon. 
And let's face it: with so much content distributed across an expanding array of sources and endpoints, their role as the "gatherer" has never been more apropos. 
Now, GatherContent is making it easier for customers to streamline their martech stack experience. The company just announced a new set of integrations with <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/gatsby-unveils-v3-0-cloud-hosting-and-more-at-gatsbyconf-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gatsby</a> and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Netlify</a>, and deepened their existing integrations with <a href="https://www.adobe.io/apis/experiencecloud/aem.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Adobe Experience Manager (AEM)</a>, <a href="https://www.drupal.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Drupal</a>, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-monthly-recap-salesforce-completes-acquisition-of-slack-contentsquare-accelerates-ml-capabilities-and-more/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Slack</a>, <a href="https://vercel.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vercel</a>, and <a href="https://zapier.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zapier</a>.
Currently, GatherContent allows customers to seamlessly integrate their product with their own technology stack through these <a href="https://gathercontent.com/integrations" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">integrations</a>, as well as APIs and headless capabilities. This gives users a great deal of flexibility when it comes to multi-channel publishing and connecting GatherContent to production and project management workflows.
According to Gartner’s <a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/3992875" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2020 Marketing Technology Survey</a>, marketers only use 58% of their martech stack’s full breadth of capabilities because they have trouble with cross-functional collaboration compounded by a “sprawling array” of platform solutions. This is all validated by the eponymous <a href="https://chiefmartec.com/2020/04/marketing-technology-landscape-2020-martech-5000/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brinker Diagram</a>, which illustrates the flood of technologies available to marketers – including CMS. 
“GatherContent is the glue that connects these other platforms together,” said Angus Edwardson, Co-Founder and VP of Product of GatherContent. “Our goal is to allow GatherContent to easily slide into existing marketing workflows with as few barriers as possible.”
In addition to their new and enhanced integrations, GatherContent has expanded its API – including JavaScript helper libraries that use the popular <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-jamstack-static-site-generators-for-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">JAMstack</a> as a backbone. This makes it easier for developers to build on top of GatherContent and create seamless integrations with their existing martech stack that includes CMS, CRM, SEO tools, and more. 
“Marketing technology stacks are getting more cluttered," said Edwardson. "But when connected together in a way that makes sense, the result is better content, produced faster and with reduced risk.” 
<h2>About GatherContent</h2>
GatherContent is a Content Operations platform that brings together people, process, and technology. GatherContent has helped thousands of businesses save time and money, improve content quality, and reduce regulatory risk. The platform replaces the broken status quo of docs, spreadsheets, shared drives, and emails. These tools weren’t designed to manage high volume content production and workflow when many stakeholders are involved. Recognized as a Content Distribution Leader, Creation High Performer in G2’s Summer 2021 report, GatherContent is free to try, quick to set up, and very easy to use. Learn more at <a href="https://gathercontent.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://gathercontent.com/</a>.

GatherContent Adds New Integrations to Help Streamline Martech Stacks

There's nothing quite as sweet as ice cream on a hot summer's day. And speaking of hot, the last month has been a blaze of activity in the CMS and DXP markets. Grab something cold and we'll break it all down for you.
The heatwave started with <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/what-contentfuls-175m-investment-round-means-for-the-future-of-cms/" target="_blank">Contentful's $175 million investment round</a>, making the headless unicorn the latest platform to broadcast a big money moment over the past 18 months. But they weren't alone: <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/umbraco-cms-acquired-by-software-investor-monterro-interview-with-ceo-kim-sneum-madsen/" target="_blank">Umbraco</a> CMS also announced their acquisition by software investment firm Monterro, signaling a bold new chapter for the platform player. 
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/wix-launches-new-branded-app-builder-for-creating-code-free-native-mobile-apps/" target="_blank">Wix</a> also made waves with the release of a new code-free app builder, making it easier for users to add a native iOS or Android app to their digital strategy. It's another innovative move for the website builder, and we'll be following up with a closer look in the coming months. 
We also blew out the candles for <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/joomla-cms-turns-16-celebrates-with-long-awaited-release-of-version-4-0/" target="_blank">Joomla!'s 16th birthday</a>. Still want a slice of their open source layer cake? Check out <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/joomla-cms-turns-16-celebrates-with-long-awaited-release-of-version-4-0/" target="_blank">Joomla!'s Version 4.0</a>, which was released just prior to the festivities. Nine years in the making, the new upgrade offers a host of features that are worth sampling. 
Despite the glut of negative news, we also had a chance to hear from <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/solodev-selected-as-cloud-consulting-partner-of-the-2022-special-olympics-usa-games/" target="_blank">Solodev</a> about their partnership with the <a href="https://www.solodev.com/news/solodev-selected-as-cloud-consulting-partner-of-the-2022-special-olympics-usa-games.stml" target="_blank">Special Olympics 2022 USA Games</a>. The CMS-turned-cloud-app-ecosystem has built the first-ever serverless infrastructure for the non-profit, which will power a fan engagement experience for athletes and spectators. It's a feel-good story, and a great one to end your week on.
No plain vanilla in this stack. Keep reading for a few more scoops. 
 
<h2>Zoho launches Canvas, a design studio that rethinks the CRM Experience for enterprises</h2>
<h2><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/08/zoho-canvas.png" alt="Zoho Canvas user interface" /></h2>
Zoho recently <a href="https://www.zoho.com/news/zoho-launches-canvas-design-studio-to-re-envision-crm-experience.html" target="_blank">announced</a> Canvas for Zoho CRM, a design studio for CRM personalization. Canvas brings simplicity to the CRM user experience through a no-code design studio that helps customers craft their own personalized experiences. Businesses can now create their own CRM interfaces that are better suited to the role of each employee without IT or developer involvement.
Canvas looks and works just like a CMS but with drag-and-drop functionality. You simply click on an element in a list of fields, i.e., Full Name, email, and drag it onto the canvas. Once you drag the data on the canvas, you can customize the look of it however you prefer. You can adjust the shapes of elements, spacing, colors, and font styles; basically every visual detail you can think of. If creating a style from scratch is overwhelming for you, Canvas also comes with a library of templates crafted by their in-house designers.
"A lot of CRM software already offers an abundance of personalization for customer experiences, but the same is not true for employee experiences. As a result, everyone's using the same system and paying the productivity tax for no reason." said Mani Vembu, COO of Zoho, "Imagine a reality where the system is tailor-made for each employee's role. That is true all-around for personalization, and that's what we're bringing to market with Canvas. We believe it's a more natural solution to the challenge of software adoption. Our ultimate aim is for businesses to create enterprise-wide software experiences with consumer-grade simplicity."
Canvas Capabilities Include:
<ul>
<li>Drag-and-drop editor: facilitate designing without the need to write a single line of code.</li>
<li>Template gallery: customers can pick a preset template that speaks to them and their industry and dive right in.</li>
<li>Industry-relevant views: companies can create views that are relevant to their industry, their work culture, their sales process, and more.</li>
<li>Self-service portals: customers can share Canvas creations over portals to create a better experience for vendors, stakeholders, and more.</li>
<li>Role-based assignment: admins can assign different Canvas views based on roles, responsibilities, and teams in their company.</li>
<li>Extensive formatting: Canvas houses a wide range of formatting options to edit the finer details of a view and loads styles dynamically based on conditions.</li>
</ul>
Canvas will be available across all editions of Zoho CRM at no additional cost.
 You can find more information on Canvas at <a href="https://www.zoho.com/canvas/" target="_blank">https://www.zoho.com/canvas/</a>.
<h2></h2>
<h2>Acquia renews Drupal Steward Program support, brings critical security fixes to enterprises first</h2>
<img style="max-width:640px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/08/drupal-steward-logo-1024x839.png" alt="drupal steward logo" />
Digital experience platform Acquia <a href="https://www.acquia.com/newsroom/press-releases/acquia-renews-drupal-steward-program-support-brings-critical-security-fixes" target="_blank">announced</a> that it is renewing its founding partnership support of the <a href="https://drupalsteward.org/" target="_blank">Drupal Steward Program</a>, a web application firewall introduced by the Drupal Association and operated jointly with the Drupal Security team. Acquia implemented Drupal Steward protection across its entire <a href="https://www.acquia.com/products/drupal-cloud" target="_blank">Drupal Cloud</a> platform, protecting thousands of the world's largest sites with the most up-to-date security and vulnerability fixes.
Acquia's participation in this program affords seamless, immediate protection to customers by routing their website domains to Drupal Steward, which automatically filters requests through the firewall. Malicious requests are blocked, giving IT teams the time they need to test and implement security updates on their own timelines. 
For example, in November 2020, Drupal Steward implemented protection against a critical remote code execution vulnerability, immediately protecting Acquia's customers. 
<h2></h2>
<h2>HubSpot partners with Envato to launch hundreds of high-quality CMS hub templates</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/08/themeforest-hubspot-collection.jpg" alt="ThemeForest HubSpot Collection" />
HubSpot – an integrated CRM, CMS, and digital marketing platform – has partnered with <a href="https://envato.com/" target="_blank">Envato</a>, the world-leading online community for creative assets like website themes and templates. The result is something HubSpot CMS and website users will be thrilled about. 
This month, the companies <a href="https://www.hubspot.com/company-news/hubspot-partners-with-envato" target="_blank">announced</a> the launch of more than 250 diverse, high-quality website themes on the <a href="https://themeforest.net/lp/hubspot-cms-hub-themes" target="_blank">Envato Market</a>, all made specifically for the <a href="https://www.hubspot.com/products/cms?_ga=2.234685790.1384499146.1628085564-1129582407.1628085564" target="_blank">HubSpot CMS Hub</a>. As part of their partnership, Envato has added a specific HubSpot category to their marketplace, allowing developers to sell themes they have created specifically for CMS Hub. These new options will now be featured alongside other popular content management systems, including WordPress, Webflow, and Drupal. 
Built for marketers and developers, CMS Hub is designed to help customers create seamless digital experiences with drag-and-drop page editing, mobile optimization, premium hosting, and more.
"The Envato Market ecosystem and ThemeForest, in particular, is a well-respected website design marketplace, with millions of customers supported by a hugely talented group of largely exclusive theme authors," said Envato's Chief Content Officer, Cameron Gough.
You can check out the HubSpot CMS Hub themes collection on ThemeForest here: <a href="https://themeforest.net/lp/hubspot-cms-hub-themes/" target="_blank">https://themeforest.net/lp/hubspot-cms-hub-themes/</a>
<h2>WordPress releases Gutenberg 11.2</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/08/gutenberg-search-styles.jpeg" alt="gutenberg search styles" />
Let's consult Johannes before we stop the presses, but just two weeks after releasing Gutenberg 11.1, WordPress pushed <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/08/05/whats-new-in-gutenberg-11-2-0-4-august/" target="_blank">Gutenberg 11.2.0</a>. 
As you might expect, this rapid-fire release focuses primarily on bug fixes and tooling rather than major updates. But there are a few new features worth noting:
<ul>
<li>Search block button and border colors: the range of options for customizing blocks continues to improve. The search block now has<a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/32416" target="_blank"> additional options for customizing button and border colors.</a> </li>
<li>Group block flex layout: an <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/33359" target="_blank">experimental flex layout option</a> is being beta tested on the group block. This is an early glimpse at a feature that would give parent blocks the capability of defining the layout of their inner blocks.</li>
<li>New button for creating posts as part of the publishing flow: if you're creating more than one consecutive post, you can now <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/33276" target="_blank">create a new post from the editor</a> as part of the publishing flow.</li>
</ul>

CMS Monthly Recap: Zoho Launches Canvas, HubSpot Partners With Envato, WordPress Releases Gutenberg 11.2, and More

Image of CMS Critic Monthly Recap with ice cream cone superimposed

Weglot - The easiest way to translate a website

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Unless you're living under a pop culture rock, you've probably heard the phrase "there's an app for that."
Statements like this can often be hyperbolic. But in this case, it's on the money: <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/276623/number-of-apps-available-in-leading-app-stores/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to Statista</a>, there are 2.2 million apps available in the Apple App Store – and 3.57 Million in the Google Play store. That's a whole lotta apps.
The app revolution makes sense when you consider that most great ideas are born out of necessity. What's amazing is how the marketplace has enabled ordinary people with no tech or development background to access apps as a solution to their problems – like knowing which wine to pair with your salmon. Ask Vivino: they now have <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vivino-buy-the-right-wine/id414461255" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over 50 million users worldwide.</a>
OK, so maybe wine isn't your thing. But let's say you're at your favorite craft beer pub and inspiration strikes. You grab a cocktail napkin and start mapping out a new app and how it will change your business. But now what? If you don't have the technical skills, outsourcing an app can be an expensive and risky endeavor. According to Utility, more advanced, multi-function and gaming apps <a href="https://utilitynyc.com/blog/app-development-cost#:~:text=Basic%20database%20apps%20cost%20between,based%20on%20quality%20and%20detail." target="_blank" rel="noopener">can cost between $150,000 - $250,000</a> or more based on quality and detail.
It's easy to get overwhelmed by these numbers. And if you're going big, it's always best to think about how an app can be sustained or even monetized. It's for this reason that <a href="https://www.fyresite.com/how-many-apps-fail/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">many people believe that 99% of apps fail</a> - but that doesn't reflect branded apps that reinforce your core business. 
So what if you just need a branded app? Not necessarily a suped-up AR-powered megalith, but a customized experience that allows you to enrich your users through a mobile channel with hundreds of different business solutions?
Well, it looks like <a href="https://www.wix.com/app-builder" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wix</a> might have cracked that code – with no code at all. The popular website building platform recently announced a new product for business owners called <a href="https://www.wix.com/app-builder" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Branded App by Wix</a>, which allows users to create native apps for the iOS and Android stores without any complex development.
Wix – which is best known for its slick drag-and-drop website builder and CMS – has become a go-to platform for artists, freelancers, and small business owners looking to establish brands online without the hassle of coding and complexity. Now, the platform is expanding its user-friendly approach by making it possible for anyone to get into the app game without learning any code or relying on expensive, third-party development sources. 
Branded App by Wix will offer users a simple experience for customizing their apps, starting with their logo – which will appear in the major app stores alongside other leading apps. This alone can provide a significant branding boost to any business.
The app builder also allows what Wix describes as "total creative freedom" to design an app icon and customize the layout and general look and feel of the app UI, and enhance it with access to hundreds of features including eCommerce storefronts and forums.
One of the most challenging (and overlooked) costs of an app is management and maintenance, particularly when dealing with the native app stores themselves. Wix alleviates this by enabling automatic updates, ensuring that your app is constantly working with the latest versions of the iOS and Android stores – and that your data is always being synced.
"Building my own app with Branded App by Wix has been a total gamechanger for my business," said Wix user Benji Beasts, Founder and Fitness Trainer at Core Attack Fitness Club. "I had to have an app that I could customize to achieve the exact look, feel and service my members experience when they walk through my doors. Members use the app every day—whether it's to book sessions, buy merchandise or even stream sessions on demand. The most amazing thing about this app, especially for the time we are living in, is the place it provides for customers to connect with me and other members, creating a community experience that keeps them motivated and coming back for more. No need for a background in coding, just my passion and my brand."
While it's a far cry from a complex app like Vivino, don't cry over any spilled wine: Branded App by Wix is another signal that the app marketplace is becoming more accessible and cost-effective to a wider range of businesses – particularly in the do-it-yourself range. Right out of the gate, the experience is offering some fairly decent design capabilities, and Wix plans to push new features that offer extended customization and navigation in the coming months.
"This release is another step in our native mobile app strategy making sure users can create custom iOS and Android apps as easily as they create custom websites," said Ronny Elkayam, SVP of Mobile, App Market &amp; Strategic Products at Wix. "The Branded App is a major addition to the Wix offering, enabling business owners to have another medium to activate their brand. We are happy to equip any type of business owner or service provider with the native mobile experience they need to enhance their customers' experience, grow their businesses, and ultimately compete with today's biggest brands."
The Branded App unlimited is currently being offered at <a href="https://www.wix.com/app-builder" target="_blank" rel="noopener">50% off</a> its original price – making it just $100 a month (paid annually). Note that the current plan doesn't include the registration fee for Apple's App Store (from $99 a year) and Google Play ($25 one-time fee), or any additional fees that Google or Apple may apply.
Even so, at this price point, you might want to pop a cork and start toasting to your new branded app.
<h2>About Wix</h2>
<a href="https://www.wix.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wix</a> is leading the way with a cloud-based website development platform for over 200 million registered users worldwide today. The Wix website builder was founded on the belief that the Internet should be accessible to everyone to develop, create and contribute. Through free and premium subscriptions, Wix empowers millions of businesses, organizations, artists, and individuals to take their businesses, brands and workflow online. The Wix Editor, Wix ADI, Editor X, a curated App Market, Ascend by Wix and Velo by Wix enable users to build and manage a fully integrated and dynamic digital presence. Wix's headquarters are in Tel Aviv with offices in Austin, Be'er Sheva, Berlin, Cedar Rapids, Denver, Dnipro, Dublin, Kyiv, Kraków, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco, São Paulo, Tokyo and Vilnius.

Wix Launches New Branded App Builder for Creating Code-Free Native Mobile Apps

With so much negative news these days, it's great to be covering something positive – and that's exactly what the Special Olympics brings out: positivity.
As an organization, the Special Olympics goes far beyond the field of play. Not only does it provide a diverse and inclusive community for athletes and their families, but it delivers life-changing healthcare to thousands of individuals. Tragically, over the last year and a half, Special Olympians have been largely sidelined due to the pandemic, as people with intellectual disabilities have the <a href="https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/terrible-toll-covid-19-people-intellectual-disabilities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">highest independent risk factor</a> for contracting COVID-19.
But that all changes next June at the <a href="https://www.2022specialolympicsusagames.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 Special Olympics USA Games</a>, which will be held from June 5th through the 12th in Orlando, Florida. These will be the largest Games in history, as several Caribbean nations have also been invited to compete (the charter of the Special Olympics is inclusion, so this fits right in).
As with most modern large-scale live events, mobile apps and digital experiences have played a key role in the fan engagement strategy. The 2022 Special Olympics USA Games is planning to take that innovation even further – and is looking to the Cloud as a means to unlock the possibilities.
To get there, they've engaged <a href="https://www.solodev.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Solodev</a> – a cloud-first content management and customer experience platform with a distinct focus on AWS. More recently, the company has transformed into something of a marketplace ecosystem for building and deploying custom cloud apps and experiences, leveraging their knowledge of containers and DevOps to help companies launch advanced cloud services at scale. This includes their legacy <a href="https://www.solodev.com/marketplace/solodev-cms-enterprise" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Solodev CMS</a>, but now a whole lot more.
Today, <a href="https://www.solodev.com/news/solodev-selected-as-cloud-consulting-partner-of-the-2022-special-olympics-usa-games.stml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the company announced</a> that it has been awarded the status of "Cloud Consulting Partner" of the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games. Solodev will be responsible for building and deploying an advanced cloud infrastructure that powers immersive digital experiences – including a mobile fan engagement app designed exclusively for the event.
With the Games anticipating over 5,500 athletes and coaches, 20,000 volunteers, and more than 125,000 spectators, any apps will be expected to scale with a high degree of assurance. The fan engagement app, for example, will provide ticketing, scheduling, wayfinding, and other features that are essential to athletes and fans. Ensuring a seamless experience for tens of thousands of users will require an intelligent, secure, and highly scalable cloud strategy, which is where Solodev excels.
As an <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amazon Web Services (AWS)</a> Advanced Technology Partner, the company has amassed deep experience building world-class cloud architectures – the kind that enable applications to serve large communities of users. To meet the unique goals of the USA Games, Solodev chose AWS as the cloud of choice to design and deploy a container-based “serverless” infrastructure. The solution will integrate AWS’s most advanced portfolio of services, and Solodev's team will provide the necessary DevOps to support the infrastructure leading up to and during the event.
“Being a Cloud Consulting Partner to the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games is one of our proudest moments,” said Shawn Moore, Chief Technology Officer at Solodev. “Leveraging our cloud expertise to help create a unified and connected event for these incredible athletes – as well as their families, friends, and fans – is part of our own mission to positively impact the world through digital experiences.”
“We’re proud to have Solodev on our technology team,” said Lonnie Snyder, Chief Information Officer at the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games. “As we build our mobile fan engagement app, the cloud has become a critical part of our overall digital strategy. We needed a trusted partner to help guide us through key decisions, so we can deliver the best experience for our athletes, coaches, volunteers, spectators, and ambassadors.”
Solodev has long supported the technology goals of not-for-profit organizations, delivering best-in-class cloud consulting, CMS, and other digital experience services. This includes public sector and healthcare organizations with critical requirements around security, scalability, and high availability. According to the company, their experience will provide key advantages to the USA Games, bringing deep cloud expertise that will support safety and healthcare-related services that help improve the lives of Special Olympics athletes.
“What we’re building is more than a cloud infrastructure for fan engagement, it’s digital transformation,” said Matt Garrepy, Chief Digital Officer at Solodev. “Our underlying serverless architecture powered by AWS will have an impact on an athlete’s entire experience. Our team’s contribution will help change lives for the better, and that’s a unique privilege for any company.”
The mission of Special Olympics is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-style sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities – giving them opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills, and friendship with their families, other athletes, and the community. The USA Games is held once every four years in the United States, offering athletes from across the nation to compete in summer sports.
To learn more about the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games, visit <a href="https://www.2022specialolympicsusagames.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.2022specialolympicsusagames.org/</a>
<h2>About Solodev</h2>
Solodev is the galaxy’s largest ecosystem of cloud and digital marketing services, from containers to content management to AI. With Solodev, developers and organizations can build and launch amazing customer experiences, power omnichannel strategies across the IoT, deploy custom cloud apps, and collaborate on digital transformation. Solodev also provides consulting, training, managed services, and 24/7 human support to help users succeed on their cloud journey. An Amazon Web Services (AWS) Advanced Technology Partner, Solodev has achieved rigorous competencies in Government, Education, Digital Customer Experience (DCX), and Public Safety &amp; Disaster Response. Solodev products – including CMS, Kubernetes, and Personalize – can be purchased on-demand in the AWS Marketplace, through State and Federal contract vehicles, or online at <a href="http://www.solodev.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.solodev.com</a>
<h2>About 2022 Special Olympics USA Games</h2>
The 2022 Special Olympics USA Games, scheduled for June 5-12, 2022 in Orlando, Florida, will unite more than 5,500 athletes and coaches from all 50 states and the Caribbean during one of the country’s most cherished sporting events – the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games. The Games will offer 19 Olympic-style team and individual sports, including athletics (track &amp; field), basketball, bocce, bowling, cheerleading, equestrian, flag football, golf, gymnastics, open water swimming, powerlifting, soccer, softball, stand up paddleboard, surfing, swimming, tennis, triathlon and volleyball. For over 50 years, Special Olympics has been empowering athletes and encouraging a more inclusive world for those with intellectual disabilities and beyond. For more information, <a href="http://www.2022USAGames.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.2022USAGames.org</a>

Solodev Selected as Cloud Consulting Partner of the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games

Image of Solodev, AWS, and 2022 Special Olympics USA Games logos

Scandinavia has long been regarded as a cradle of CMS innovation. And while that cradle has been rocked by the rise of Western competitors, the Nordic legion of web content management systems still holds a strong position in the minds – and hearts – of their users.
Heart. That might be one of the most tangible differentiators for <a href="https://umbraco.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Umbraco</a>, a Danish platform that was originally coined “The Friendly CMS” <a href="https://umbraco.com/about-us/values/why-the-friendly-cms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by one of its community members</a> back in 2006.
As this now-legendary designer was credited with observing: Everything about Umbraco is friendly. The UX, the community, and the pricing.
Turns out this tagline has stood the test of time – just like Umbraco itself.
In a global marketplace where CMS providers are struggling to establish or re-establish their identity (be it headless, DXP, or some bolt-on Frankenstein of neo-monolithic proportions), Umbraco is staying true to its core. It’s doubling down on its community, making complex technologies easier to use, and reminding us that open source is really about people – not just platforms.
For all these reasons (and presumably more), <a href="https://www.monterro.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Monterro</a> – the Swedish software growth investor that prides itself on turning Nordic software companies into global players – <a href="https://umbraco.com/blog/swedish-software-growth-investor-monterro-acquires-a-majority-stake-in-umbraco/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has just purchased a majority stake in the Danish vendor</a>.
We had a chance to discuss this news with Umbraco’s CEO and self-proclaimed “Chief Friend Maker,” <a href="https://twitter.com/kimsneummadsen?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kim Sneum Madsen</a>, who has been with the outfit since 2016. While acclaimed founder Niels Hartvig will be parting company, Madsen will continue to man the reigns as Monterro’s operational and financial backing comes online.
In our exclusive interview, we discussed where the company has been, what’s ahead – and how open source is “not a hippie thing anymore.”
<h2>Expanding best-of-breed digital experiences</h2>
Umbraco has come a long way since its founding in 2005, and like the rest of the market, the company has adapted to significant change. But according to Madsen, what hasn’t changed is their persistent focus on making things simpler.
While describing Umbraco’s history, Madsen said there have been three key elements to their success: software, community, and company. The first decade of their growth was focused on making great software and aligning with Hartvig’s vision of open source. The second was focused on nurturing an active community that loved their product – and built on it in a big way. At last count, Umbraco boasts over 220,000 developers and users worldwide, which is an astounding amount of adoption by any measure.
With the software and community pieces firing on all cylinders, the company is now focused on the company, which is where Madsen comes in. While his mission over the last five years has revolved around “customer happiness,” his job as CEO will require a balancing of the elements to achieve scale in a competitive, mature, and increasingly commoditized market.
“We believe we’re in a very strong position with the balance of the elements,” said Madsen, speaking of the software, community, and company components. “We’ve reinvented the way our community works, we have a mature model for engaging community teams around the globe, and we can give them something to build on.”
To reach the next level, Umbraco has invested in expanding its product set. Along with its flagship open-source Umbraco CMS, they now feature <a href="https://umbraco.com/products/umbraco-heartcore/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Umbraco Heartcore</a>, a headless offering; <a href="https://umbraco.com/products/umbraco-cloud/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Umbraco Cloud</a>, a fully-hosted ecosystem that boasts simplicity as one of its core attributes; and <a href="https://umbraco.com/products/umbraco-uno/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Umbraco Uno</a>, a one-stop platform for non-technical marketers and creative agencies.
Along with its vast community of members, including a large partner network that offers customized solutions that integrate with Umbraco, the company now counts more than 700,000 websites worldwide – the majority in Europe and the U.S. – running live on its solutions. Along the way, the company has scored some impressive customers, including JP Morgan, Rubbermaid, Scholl, the NFL, and other market leaders.
<h2>Monterro brings extensive CMS experience to Umbraco </h2>
On the Monterro side of the ledger, the stars couldn’t be more aligned – and Madsen is thrilled with the outcome. He said the private equity partner stood out because of their financial structure, but also because members of their operational staff served in key roles at other CMS platforms, including Episerver.
“With extensive CMS experience and a true belief in open-source software, Monterro is a perfect match as we strive to meet the increasing demand for best-of-breed DXP solutions that make complex technologies easy to use,” Madsen said.
As part of its mission to turn Nordic software companies into global market leaders, Monterro has completed 17 investments and 17 add-on investments since 2012. These include operational experience from successfully developing and running companies such as Pointsec, Orc Software, and CMS vendor Episerver, now <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/episerver-rebrands-as-optimizely-following-acquisition/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Optimizely</a>.
“With Monterro’s valuable guidance and capital,” Madsen remarked, “we will continue to work closely with our active open-source community to bring the Umbraco family of user-friendly, flexible, and robust CMS platforms to an even greater portfolio of companies in even more countries.”
While the structure of Umbraco’s ownership has changed, Madsen affirmed that the company’s direction will remain the same. “Our ambition is to use this position and invest money back into the continued growth of all the elements that constitute Umbraco," he said. "We will continue to focus on creating world-class software that produces outstanding value for users and customers.”
<h2>Market consolidation and confronting the data challenge</h2>
One area we discussed was the breakneck consolidation echoing across the CMS market and the drive to shore up the data layer – <a href="https://www.gartner.com/reviews/market/digital-experience-platforms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a key requirement for Gartner</a> in their assessment of modern digital experience platforms.
Earlier this year, we saw several DXP players purchase customer data platforms (CDPs) to address the “missing data link” in their vision of completeness. This includes <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/optimizely-acquires-customer-data-platform-zaius/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Optimizely’s purchase of Zaius</a> this past March.
Madsen said that data is important, and while Umbraco would love to claim itself as the “single source” for data, what’s important is the aggregation of all relevant data – particularly as it relates to GDPR and other compliance requirements. He said customers must be in control, and with CMS as the backbone of a digital business, this should be made simpler in the process.
<h2>The growth of Enterprise and the role of Microsoft</h2>
“As Umbraco has matured over the last five years, we’re seeing increased demand from Enterprise customers,” said Madsen. At the same time, he said they’re seeing more customers wanting to move campaign sites closer to marketers – which is where Umbraco Uno comes in. As an out-of-the-box solution, it’s providing shorter delivery times for a wider range of clients, from enterprise to full-service digital agencies to design shops.
We also discussed the legacy role of <a href="https://dotnet.microsoft.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Microsoft</a> and their history of .NET – which Madsen said continues to be a differentiator given Microsoft’s footprint in key geographies.
<h2>The rise of headless CMS</h2>
In our discussion of Umbraco Heartcore – their headless offering – Madsen reflected that it’s still very new as a stand-alone product. Like other traditional CMS platforms, their API nature has enabled connections and integrations before headless exploded in demand. He maintains that users want the freedom to build and connect as they see fit.
While the jury may be out on whether headless is a lasting trend, Madsen supports the need for agencies to have greater freedom over the frontend and focus on omnichannel. However, he underscored the need for the CMS to be structured around the workflow for users, so it remains easy for editors to do their job.
“We’ve always been focused on the content editor,” he punctuated. “It has to be easy, or they won’t bother.”
<h2>Mining growth from a strong open source community</h2>
What’s abundantly clear is that Umbraco’s fiercely loyal community has been a keystone to their success. Madsen knows this well given his history and proximity to partners during his tenure at Umbraco.
“Users and partners are intertwined, as developers often work for an agency,” he said. “Every developer working on Umbraco makes a living on our software.” This underscores the value of their open source community to their future growth.
Focusing on partners has had an intrinsic “one to many” effect on multiplying Umbraco’s business. Madsen describes their community as the implementers, which has allowed Umbraco to focus on perfecting their software.
We asked Madsen if there’s one thing he would want the market to know about Umbraco, and he again came back to the value of being open source – and the contributions of their community.
“Open source is not a hippie thing anymore,” he noted. “It has a far better development cycle. Developers can raise an issue and get an answer quickly from other developers. It is the true ‘outside in’ approach, not us inventing in a lab and taking something to market. This is all based on real-life experiences that our developers have.”
That sounds like a friendly CMS experience to us – and a true differentiator for an investor like Monterro.
Peace, love, and integration.
<h2>About Umbraco</h2>
Danish Umbraco was founded in 2005 with the vision of making the complex simpler. The company offers a user-friendly best-of-breed platform for content management (CMS) based on open-source technology. With more than 700,000 installations, Umbraco is one of the most deployed Web Content Management Systems on the Microsoft stack. Its success lies in the open-source model, a unique community of more than 220,000 developers and users, and a well-established partner network of digital agencies. Umbraco has 100 employees and is headquartered in Odense, Denmark, with a branch office in Charlotte, North Carolina. For more information, visit <a href="https://umbraco.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.umbraco.com</a>

Umbraco CMS Acquired by Software Investor Monterro: Interview with CEO Kim Sneum Madsen

Image of Umbraco logo and CEO Kim Sneum Madsen

Turning 16 is a huge milestone. For many, it means a driver's license – and the first taste of freedom.
For <a href="https://www.joomla.org/">Joomla!,</a> the popular open source CMS, turning 16 is more like a license to brag.
And why not? In just over a decade and a half, their free content management system has been downloaded a staggering 123 million times and translated into 77 languages. At last count, they're powering over 2.5 million websites, making it the third most popular CMS on the planet.
Pretty sweet stats.
And speaking of sweet... if your invitation to their "Sweet 16" shindig got lost in the mail, there's some <a href="https://community.joomla.org/events/user-group-meetings/4244-joomla-turns-16.html">digital merrymaking planned</a> by the Australia chapter of the Joomla! Community on August 17th (the actual birthday). We're told that both the London and Chicago user groups will make an appearance, but they're still waiting on Lizzo to RSVP.
Now, it wouldn't be a celebration without some presents, and the <a href="https://www.joomla.org/about-joomla/the-project.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joomla! Project</a> is unwrapping some big ones with the<a href="https://www.joomla.org/announcements/release-news/5843-birthday-present-announcement-joomla-4-stable-17th-august.html"> stable release of Joomla! 4.0 and Joomla! 3.10</a> (the latter bridging the transition between the two major series). Just a month ago, Joomla <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-monthly-recap-wp-engine-launches-enterprise-wordpress-platform-salesforce-and-aws-expand-partnership-and-more/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> the availability of the first <a href="https://joom.la/4rc3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joomla! CMS 4.0 Release Candidate 3</a> and <a href="https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/releases/tag/3.10.0-alpha8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joomla 3.10 Alpha 8</a> – so fully launching both versions in a matter of weeks is an exciting way to mark the milestone.
<h2>Joomla! 4.0: a story nine years in the making</h2>
It's fair to say that a Joomla! 4.0 had become a victim of "someday" mythology. A decade is a lifetime in technology, and it seemed stuck in the skunkworks. On the announcement page of their website, they describe the venture as "nine long years in the making," which sounds... well, long. 
To give you some context: a decade ago, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/acquia-digital-commerce-unifies-data-content-commerce-and-digital-merchandising/">Acquia</a> was just a rambunctious toddler, and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/gatsby-unveils-v3-0-cloud-hosting-and-more-at-gatsbyconf-2021/">Gatsby</a> wasn't even a twinkle in the headless sky. Of course, being a completely volunteer-built platform means timetables are often a little more fluid. 
Regardless of the delays, the hard work has finally paid off. And now that Joomla! powers one in every 50 websites, this new version could provide a real boost to their position in the free and open source field of CMS players. 
Here are a few highlights we can expect to see in the planned release:
Enhanced Accessibility: Joomla! has improved its overall accessibility posture by aligning with W3C Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) and striving for AA compliance. They've elevated everything from the layout, contrast, and infrastructure capabilities by building a stronger foundation around accessibility standards.
Improved UX: A redesigned administration dashboard will help to speed up content creation, while an improved media manager will help streamline editor updates. There are also new article templates that will help maintain page structure and design standards.
Customizable Emails: Now, users can deliver customized messages that welcome and inform audiences. With Joomla's new email templating system, it's quick and easy to create emails that improve communication and enhance the customer experience. 
Elevated Search: We all know that search is a boost to any website, allowing visitors to hone in on areas of interest and increase engagement. Joomla! 4 brings smart search features that dramatically improve its previous capabilities.
Built-in SEO: Get to the top of any search engine faster with Joomla 4.0's built-in SEO foundation. The new platform "bakes" search standards into the architecture of each page without any additional extensions – providing stronger SEO performance out of the box. 
Tighter Security: Security is top of mind for every website and CMS. That's why the Joomla! Project made security a key part of their focus for Joomla! 4.0, which features an array of architectural enhancements designed to maximize security and keep hackers out.
Higher Speeds: With eCommerce and transactional websites becoming prolific during the Covid-19 pandemic, speed has become absolutely essential to improving conversions. Joomla! 4.0 has made a point to improve performance and accelerate load times by enhancing the backend and overall structure of the platform. 
Refined Workflow Capabilities: Workflows help run websites – and businesses – more efficiently. Joomla! 4.0 brings a combined bench of enhanced workflow services that enable marketing and content managers to customize their requirements and streamline their efforts. 
<h2>How to transition to Joomla! 4.0</h2>
As noted, Joomla! is releasing versions 4.0 and 3.10 simultaneously, with the goal of easing the upgrade. 
The process is relatively simple. Start by upgrading to 3.10, and the pre-update checker will allow you to confirm compatibility with Joomla! 4.0's minimum requirements (including the current hosting environment and, more importantly, any installed extensions). Follow the prompts and the migration should be relatively smooth. 
If you do run into challenges or issues, don't forget that you have one of the largest user groups to turn to on the <a href="https://community.joomla.org/">Joomla! Community Portal. </a>
Ready to celebrate? Download the latest version of Joomla at <a href="https://www.joomla.org/3/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.joomla.org/3/</a>
From all of us at CMS Critic, we wish the entire community of contributors a very happy birthday – and hopefully, we're not waiting as long for the next update from Joomla!
(We mean that with the exclamation point, BTW...)
<h2>About Joomla! </h2>
Joomla! is an award-winning, open source content management system (CMS) that enables users to build powerful websites and online applications. Built and supported by a global community of volunteers, Joomla! contains easy-to-use features and it is freely available to everyone. Founded in 2005, Joomla! has become the third most popular CMS, powering over 2.5 million websites.

Joomla! CMS Turns 16, Celebrates with Long-Awaited Release of Version 4.0

Background graphics of birthday themed elements with Joomla logo

Another week, another unicorn makes its way across the windswept landscape of CMS...
OK, enough melodrama. The dust has been settling for a few days since <a href="http://www.contentful.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Contentful's</a> $175 million Series F funding round, and it's time for a little reflection. No question: this is a big deal for the Berlin-based headless CMS platform, which is now sporting a valuation of around $3 billion. 
As they say in the pizza industry, that's a lotta dough.
Clearly, <a href="https://www.tigerglobal.com/">Tiger Global</a> – who led the round – sees a lot of promise in Contentful's strategic "recipe" for growth (with perhaps the promise of a public offering on the map one day?) <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/tidemarkcap/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tidemark</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/base10-partners/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Base10 Partners</a> also joined Contentful's robust investment ticket, which is over twice their previous <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/17/contentful-raises-80m-series-e-round-for-its-headless-cms/">Series E round of $80 million</a>.
It goes without saying that we've seen a lot of investment activity in the CMS category over the last year. But it's the headless variety that seems to be building more traction in recent months as brands and organizations expand their content channels beyond the website layer. In early June, <a href="https://www.contentstack.com/">Contentstack</a> – another headless provider – announced a <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/contentstack-raises-57-5-million-in-series-b-round-qa-with-ceo-neha-sampat/">$57.5 million Series B</a> infusion.
Again, a lotta dough. And a big opportunity for these growth-stage challengers in the CMS and DXP markets.
So what does this all mean for the future of CMS?
In a word: transformation.
<h2>Building on a Headless Legacy</h2>
There's no question that Contentful had a banner 2020; Tiger wouldn't have invested at a 9-figure level without some confidence around performance. But more importantly, investors bank on the vision – something that Contentful is already laying out for the market. They no longer view themselves simply as a "headless CMS" for creating omnichannel experiences, but as a content platform that thinks beyond the limitations of networks and bandwidth.
Sure, this is still grounded in the world of APIs, where apps "talk" to one another and integrate around key capabilities. As digital experiences have evolved to include a wider range of endpoints (think IoT devices, voice assistants, and more), the landscape has become more complex and disjointed.
This is where Contentful is focusing its transformation. They want to simplify the complexity and harmonize organizations by helping them deliver their digital content faster – and personalize it for the right target at the right moment.
As the name implies, Contentful’s focus has always been on content. And while building apps has often been the domain of developers, Contentful has made its product much more approachable for marketers and content strategists. As the role of the "builder" expands, their tools are becoming even more accessible to a wider range of users within an organization, from sales to customer support. This is yet another way that Contentful is transforming its value and charting a new course for CMS.
<h2>Funding the Future of Digital Experiences</h2>
According to Steve Sloan, Contentful's CEO, the latest round of financing will enable the company to accelerate its investment in both its team and technology, helping to support its growing ecosystem of customers and partners. Contentful is already trusted by over 30% of the Fortune 500, with leading brands such as Shopify, Staples, Atlassian, Electronic Arts, Chanel, Roche, and Vodafone relying on the platform to deliver content experiences.
Along with increased market penetration and a growing customer base, Contentful has gained ground with analysts – a critical indicator for success, particularly with enterprise software. Most recently, the company earned the highest score possible in the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/contentful-responds-to-market-shift-with-new-partner-program/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">partner ecosystem criterion</a> (along with five other criteria) in the <a href="https://www.contentful.com/resources/forrester-wave-agile-cms-2021-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Forrester Wave™ Report for Agile Content Management Systems (CMSes)</a>. 
As companies re-platform to modern software stacks, they are turning to agencies and system integrators such as Accenture, Publicis Sapient, Huge, Valtech, and others to define a new generation of digital experiences. Contentful is doubling down on relationships with these leading authorities and has now built a channel ecosystem with over 300 partners. This strategy is yet another signal of their overall market maturity – and the potential to scale globally. 
<h2>What's next for Contentful – and CMS?</h2>
It's nearly impossible to read the tea leaves these days.
When Covid-19 first emerged, every economic indicator called for a long winter. But the increased demand for technology in a remote and contactless world created unprecedented opportunities across the digital industry.
<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/business%20functions/mckinsey%20digital/our%20insights/how%20six%20companies%20are%20using%20technology%20and%20data%20to%20transform%20themselves/the-next-normal-the-recovery-will-be-digital.pdf">According to McKinsey</a>, more than half (58%) of all global customer interactions are happening in a digital environment. Brands that intend to survive and thrive need to be able to not only deliver engaging content – but do it quickly and at scale.
While the pandemic appeared to be dissipating just two months ago, the more <a href="https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20210726/breakthrough-cases-rising-with-delta-heres-what-that-means">recent rise of the Covid Delta variant and breakthrough cases</a> has again changed the calculus. The prolonged crisis also means the demand for digital content, from streaming services to eCommerce, will continue to grow.
Contentful's focus on both the mid-market and enterprise gives it a lot of room for growth in multiple directions. As companies continue to digitally transform and adapt to a new world, Contentful is well-positioned for whatever comes next - particularly as the role of the "builder" becomes more expansive within organizations.
At the same time, there are many headless CMS platforms entering the market – particularly around the flourishing <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-jamstack-static-site-generators-for-2021/">JAMstack</a> – which is creating both competition and confusion. Additionally, many traditional CMS and DXP platforms have adopted an API strategy, creating greater commoditization and putting pressure on price. And of course, one of the most persistent challenges facing all headless CMS platforms is what <a href="https://preston.so/writing/digital-experience-orchestration-and-the-problem-of-headless-cms-preview/">Preston So</a> has written about extensively: the inability to preview content.
But Contentful might be breaking away from these limitations. By broadening their view and thinking beyond the confines of the "headless" moniker, Contentful is doing precisely what leaders do by transforming the narrative. They're laying out a vision – and if they can muster $175 million to invest in that vision, they might just deserve that unicorn status.
"We are living in a digital-first era where content makes digital experiences come alive," said Sloan.
Let's see what they can bring to life with a whole lotta dough.

What Contentful's $175M Investment Round Means for the Future of CMS

Yup. July officially marked the "dog days of summer" in the Northern Hemisphere. While many of us were melting under the malaise of record-breaking heat, the news has yet to cool off.
Seemingly, neither does <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/02/no-ones-invincible-fresh-mask-mandates-and-rising-delta-cases-hit-california">Covid-19 and its latest wave of hyper-contagious Delta variant</a>. The entire month was mired by headlines about hotspots and breakthrough cases that are once again challenging our world. Delta is the new version that no one wanted an upgrade to, and we're hoping for better days ahead.
But what does a prolonged Covid pandemic mean for the content and digital experience sector?
As more businesses mull the option of <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22583285/companies-remote-work-home-office-tsedal-neeley-harvard">never returning to a physical office</a> – and consumers keep buying their drones and toilet paper online – it's clear that digital experience technologies, from CMS to DXP to eCommerce, will continue to drive transformation across the economy.
This was evidenced by <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/28/contenful-raises-175m-from/">Contentful's announcement last week</a> that it had raised $175 million in a round led by Tiger Global – valuing the company at $3 billion. After posting a banner 2020, the headless CMS player has a mighty wind in its sails with the confidence of a major investment firm. With 600 employees and room to grown, this news also led the Berlin-based firm to <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2021/08/03/contentful-takes-three-floors-molson-coors-former-headquarters/">secure three floors of a Denver high rise</a>, formerly occupied by Molson Coors.
If that makes you want to crack open a digital brew, you're not alone. So cheers - and enjoy the rest of our round-up.
 
<h2>Contentsquare Accelerates Machine and Deep Learning Capabilities with Acquisition of AI company Upstride</h2>
<h2><img style="max-width:768px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/contentsquare-upstride.png" /></h2>
It's hip to be square. And with this kind of investment capital, you can take almost anything in stride.
That must have been the sentiment at <a href="https://contentsquare.com/" target="_blank">Contentsquare</a>, a digital experience analytics platform, as they announced the acquisition of <a href="https://ww2.upstride.io/" target="_blank">Upstride</a> – a Paris-based deep-tech company. Upstride's engineers will join Contentsquare's data science and Clickhouse development team in their Paris product hub to accelerate the company's ambitious AI innovation roadmap. 
As far as we know, their offices are not located in the Eiffel Tower. Or are they...
The news isn't that surprising considering that in May, Contentsquare raised <a href="https://contentsquare.com/blog/contentsquare-500m-series-e-investment/" target="_blank">$500M in Series E funding – placing them at a $2.8B valuation</a>. At this time, Contentsquare revealed its plans to further invest in AI and accelerate innovation both organically and through acquisitions. 
"AI will fundamentally reshape our digital journeys towards better and more personalized experiences," said Gary Roth, Co-Founder, and CEO of Upstride. "With trillions of user interactions analyzed daily, Contentsquare is ideally placed to lead this transformation and become one of the world's top tech companies. We are very excited about joining such an amazing company and leveraging AI to its fullest potential!" 
As Contentsquare continues to transform the way teams use behavioral data to elevate the digital experience and transform their business, the company has also been investing in digital trust – and recently cemented its leadership on digital privacy with the launch of a cookieless version of its solution.
<h2>Salesforce Completes Acquisition of Slack</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/salesforce-slack.png" />
Unicorns unite! After one of the most anticipated and gut-wrenching battles in recent M&amp;A history, Salesforce just <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/news/press-releases/2021/07/21/salesforce-slack-deal-close/" target="_blank">announced</a> that it has completed its acquisition of Slack. 
So... what happens when the world's biggest CRM and most used business messaging platform join forces? You show everyone how to navigate a pandemic. 
With the persistence of Covid languishing over the economy, businesses are still adapting to an unpredictable "normal" and continuing to rely on digital technologies to maintain continuity and drive revenue. While much has changed in the latest Delta wave, what hasn't is the need to connect people across systems, apps, and devices – from sales to collaboration. 
This acquisition crystallizes that connection and paves the wave to a more meaningful and integrated future for Salesforce. 
"We've learned over the past year that the workplace isn't snapping back to the way it was," said Bret Taylor, President and Chief Operating Officer of Salesforce. "Together, Slack and Salesforce Customer 360 will give every company in the world a single source of truth for their business and a single platform for connecting employees, customers, and partners with each other and the apps they use every day."
With the acquisition, Slack will be integrated into every Salesforce Cloud. Together with Salesforce Customer 360, Slack will provide a single source of truth for businesses – and a single platform for connecting employees, customers, and partners in one ecosystem. 
<h2>Optimizely Named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™ for Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs)</h2>
<img style="max-width:715px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/optimizely-logo.png" />
In the DXP Game of Thrones, Optimizely <a href="https://www.optimizely.com/company/press/optimizely-named-a-leader-in-digital-experience-platforms-by-independent-research-firm/" target="_blank">announced</a> its crown as a Leader in The Forrester Wave™ for Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs), Q3 2021. 
While no dragons were involved (at least to our knowledge), Optimizely – <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/episerver-rebrands-as-optimizely-following-acquisition/" target="_blank">formerly Episerver</a> – has had a series of industry-conquering <a href="https://www.crunchbase.com/search/acquisitions/field/organizations/num_acquisitions/episerver" target="_blank">acquisitions</a> in its rise to DXP domination. Their latest snack: Zaius, a Customer Data Platform (CDP) with key AI and ML capabilities and a decent industry footprint. Like other leading enterprise DXPs, Optimizely saw this acquisition as a necessity for addressing its critical data gap and improving its competitive posture. 
In its vendor profile, the Forrester report noted that "Optimizely has a highly acquisitive strategy as it grows beyond its content roots as Episerver. Compared with other vendors we evaluated, Optimizely shows strength in testing and optimization, digital commerce, and platform operations. It also has strength in campaign management, customer journey management, and platform certifications." 
All solid points in Optimizely's favor as the competition at the top gets heavier. 
You might recall that Optimizely was also recognized as a Leader for the second consecutive year in the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/key-takeaways-from-gartners-2021-magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms/" target="_blank">Gartner 2021 Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms</a>, trailing right behind Adobe and <a href="https://www.acquia.com/" target="_blank">Acquia</a>. But the Forrester report reorients the players on the chessboard, with Optimizely trailing just behind Adobe but outperforming the likes of Acquia, Sitecore, and Bloomreach.
Optimizely's platform received the highest possible scores in experience management and delivery, vision, delivery model, supporting services, and average deal size criteria. According to the Forrester report, "Reference customers told us that they like Optimizely's flexibility in their licensing model when expanding the set of sites… one reference said, 'Optimizely was very simple to get up and running — more so than other DXPs I've implemented.'"
Not a bad place to be as the race heats up.
<h2>WordPress Releases "Tatum" 5.8 </h2>
<img style="max-width:632px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/5x8-album-1.jpg" />
There's a moment in "Kind of Blue" where Mile Davis and John Coltrane start merging into one being, completing each other's scales and echoing one another's brassy calls. Like anything in jazz, it's the improvisation – and the unexpected composition – that makes your toes tap. 
And like jazz, the latest version of WordPress attempts to bring a little more poetic soul to its code. Whether it hits the right notes is entirely up to users now.
Speaking of... WordPress <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2021/07/tatum/" target="_blank">released its new 5.8</a> record last week. They're calling it "Tatum" in honor of Art Tatum, the prolific jazz pianist. It's now available for download or update in your WordPress dashboard. 
Last month, we talked about WordPress 5.8's Beta and the features that it was expected to deliver, such as more powerful blocks, enhanced editing capabilities, and other <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2021/01/21/big-picture-goals-2021/" target="_blank">big picture goals</a> like <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/updates-on-wordcamp-2021-wordpress-5-8-beta-details-and-gutenberg-enhancements/" target="_blank">Full Site Editing</a>. Here are just a few of the highlights:
Manage Widgets with Blocks: The power of blocks has come to both the Block Widgets Editor and the Customizer. Now you can add blocks both in widget areas across your site and with live preview through the Customizer.
Display Posts with New Blocks and Patterns: The Query Loop Block makes it possible to display posts based on specified parameters, like a PHP loop without the code. Easily display posts from a specific category to do things like creating a portfolio or a page full of your favorite recipes.
List View: As blocks increase, patterns emerge, and content creation gets easier. As a result, new solutions are needed to make complex content easy to navigate. List View is the best way to jump between layers of content and nested blocks. Since the List View gives you an overview of all the blocks in your content, you can now navigate quickly to the precise block you need.
Edit Templates Around Posts: You can also use the familiar block editor to edit templates that hold your content. Simply activate a block theme or a theme that has opted in for this feature. Switch from editing your posts to editing your pages and back again, all while using a familiar block editor.
Global Styles and Global Settings APIs: Control the editor settings, available customization tools, and style blocks using a theme.json file in the active theme. This configuration file enables or disables features and sets default styles for both a website and blocks. 
You can see the complete list of new features and updates <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2021/07/tatum/" target="_blank">here</a>. 
<h2>Agility CMS Announces GraphQL Support</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/agility-cms-graph-q.jpg" />
Agility CMS, an API-first headless CMS, has <a href="https://agilitycms.com/resources/posts/agility-cms-graphql" target="_blank">announced</a> the general availability of its GraphQL API, which provides users with a GraphQL Playground Interface – where they can query content from their Agility CMS Instance using a GraphQL schema based on defined content models.
"GraphQL powers modern e-commerce and digital transformation," said Jon Voigt, CEO at Agility CMS. "With this launch of GraphQL support, Agility CMS can help enterprises to build superior digital solutions with ease." 
Developed by Facebook, GraphQL has been the query language of choice for many CMSs, especially headless CMSs. GraphQL is designed to make APIs flexible, fast, precise, and developer-friendly, and it's rapidly becoming the standard for API-based data access.

CMS Monthly Recap: Salesforce Completes Acquisition of Slack, Contentsquare Accelerates ML Capabilities, and More

CMS Critic Monthly Recap image with piano background

As headless continues to heat up, some of the leading platform providers are looking to the channel to differentiate their offerings and amplify their growth. That's certainly been the case for <a href="https://www.storyblok.com/">Storyblok</a>, which now touts over 600 solution partners worldwide.
While the North American market has remained a greenfield for the enterprise CMS, Storyblok just announced a strategic partnership with <a href="https://www.c-e.com/">Campbell Ewald</a> – an integrated advertising and marketing communications agency with offices in Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York.
Storyblok has certainly been gaining ground in a crowded field of commoditized platforms. Originally launched in 2015, the company has already managed to accrue over 51,000 users in over 130 countries, with more than 81,000 projects created on its platform in the last three years. Through this new partnership with Campbell Ewald, Storyblok aims to expand its U.S. presence and elevate its position in the headless market.
Campbell Ewald offers a wide range of strategic services, from advertising to media to content creation. Integrated digital experiences are core to their practice, and the agency plans to leverage Storyblok’s visual editor and component-based structure to drive efficiencies in their project delivery process.
“At Campbell Ewald, we value speed-to-market and efficiency," said Matt Riley, Associate Director Of Development at Campbell Ewald. "With Storyblok, we can knock out high-quality work quickly. We're excited to use it on upcoming client projects.”
Storyblok’s new and improved Partner Program is designed to provide better service practices and unlock new business opportunities on top of its CMS. Companies currently participating in the program include Portaltech Reply, Overdose, and Mediawave. According to Storyblok, the program has minimal barriers and no required waiting periods, making it easy for new partners to enroll and participate.
In addition to a Learning Centre that provides resources for sales and implementation, Storyblok's Partner Program offers up to a 10% ongoing revenue share for new customers in a monthly or annual subscription. The program also provides free unlimited staff members and development spaces for building and managing customers in one place.
<h2>Q&amp;A with Barry D'Arcy, VP of Partners at Storyblok</h2>
CMS Critic had an opportunity to connect with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/barrydarcy/">Barry D'Arcy</a>, VP of Partners at Storyblok. He shared some of his views on the CMS market, the value of being headless, and what his company is excited about.
<hr />
CMS Critic (CC): The headless CMS market is growing – but so are the platform choices. What gives Storyblok a competitive edge, particularly in a competitive field where large enterprise players are consolidating and expanding their offerings?
Barry D'Arcy (BD): One of the reasons the headless CMS market is growing is because it’s evolving with the ever-growing users’ needs. In fact, Storyblok was founded as a response to the need of a CMS that was working for both developers and marketers. Some of our value propositions can be found separately with other headless CMSs, but as it stands today, we have a pretty unique offer.
Starting with our one-of-a-kind visual editor with real-time in context preview, our highly customizable Rich Text Editor and editorial workflows, and our unparalleled content model which enables users to build a smart content strategy and to gain efficiency by reusing the content entries and templates they create. When it comes to security, we guarantee safe and compliant data transfer. We use ISO 27001 compliant data centers in EU with an option for separated infrastructure (eg. Mainland China), https protocols, data encryption, two-factor authentication, and daily backups.
Storyblok was also founded on the principle that no matter the size of the business, we should be affordable. Our pricing is scalable, transparent, predictable and it’s not necessarily based on usage. When you weigh in these features and compare our offer to one of larger enterprise players, you will see they fall short. They have high profile clients because they have been longer on the market, but we are catching up.
We are quick to react to feedback and user needs. This is reflected in our reviews in terms of ease of setup, use and admin, quality of support, and ease of doing business with, which are higher than those of most market leaders.
<hr />
CC: What is the greatest challenge facing headless CMS platforms and how is Storyblok addressing it?
BD: There is a very common expression when talking about headless CMS: “headless CMS is the future”. I believe that at the moment the challenge is to make business leaders (and others) realize that the future is now. Better yet, headless CMS should be our present, now is the time to migrate from traditional systems and embrace the benefits of headless.
One way in which we address this issue at Storyblok is with an informational and educational approach. We dedicate a lot of time and resources to create content (articles, whitepapers, ebooks, presentations, etc.) about the differences between traditional and headless, to point out the benefits of headless with real case scenarios, and to prove with use-cases the changes in speed and efficiency gain after migration to headless.
At the same time, we built a portal for our partners, a learning centre with educational &amp; promotional material, white-label sales decks as well as technical implementation guides to enable faster selling. We also have a dedicated partner team that supports all these efforts. 

<hr />
CC: Your partnership with Campbell Ewald marks a new strategic focus on the U.S. market. Are agencies the primary channel for growing your partner program, or are you targeting other partner verticals?
BD: Yes, we're delighted to have a U.S. agency giant like Campbell Ewald on board as a Storyblok partner. We look forward to enabling them to build out innovative projects for their clients. This partnership is part of our strategic growth plan to enter the U.S. market more actively over the next 3-6 months. The Storyblok Partner Program is predominantly aimed at digital agencies and software development groups that are implementing CMS projects. It is our goal to onboard our partners through the delivery of best practice implementation guides and sales enablement content.
In terms of other partner verticals, we're also activating multiple technology partnerships. We're working on some exciting integrations that will support our partner network to build better with Storyblok. We already have integrations with <a href="https://lokalise.com/">Lokalise</a>, a feature-rich localization and translation management platform, and many eCommerce platforms (more coming soon).
<hr />
CC: In your release, you position Storyblok as a “future-proof CMS” for building a partner program. What makes it future-proof?
BD: Customers want a technology stack that they can live on for 4 to 5 years. Our component-based approach allows brands to scrap the traditional cycle of redoing their digital platform every few years and instead focus on continuous improvements. A headless CMS approach powered by APIs helps our partners solve their customer’s content problems while saving resources and cost. For our partners, being able to give a higher quality project delivery while also driving efficiencies in development time is a real no-brainer. This is helping agencies to grow their business with Storyblok and we're delighted to join them on this journey. 

<hr />
CC: Are you able to give us any insight on Storyblok’s future innovation? Are there any new platform features we can expect in 2021?
BD: The recent launch of our new Storyblok Partner Portal is packed with new features. One key update I'd like to mention today is our new Learning Centre. This is an educational hub for all our partners to get acquainted with Storyblok. We want to assist in developing and creating co-marketing and co-selling opportunities, to elevate our partners and ourselves, hand in hand. If you’re not a partner yet and would like to take part, you can sign up at <a href="https://www.storyblok.com/partners">storyblok.com/partners</a>.
We're also launching V2 of our application later this year which will include a fresh new UI amongst many new features for developers and content editors.
<h3>About Storyblok</h3>
Storyblok is a Headless Content Management System that provides developers with all the flexibility they need to build reliable and fast websites whilst giving content creators with no coding skills the ability to edit content independently of the developer. Thanks to the headless approach your content can not only be used for one website, which is the case if you use a monolithic CMS like WordPress. Storyblok empowers you to use your content on iOS and Android apps, as well as any other platform of choice (IoT, smartwatch, AR/VR) through Application Programming Interfaces (“APIs”).
For more information: <a href="https://www.storyblok.com/partners">https://www.storyblok.com/partners</a>
<h3>About Campbell Ewald</h3>
Campbell Ewald is a full-service, fully integrated marketing communications agency with offices in Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York. Their mission is to create fans of brands and endorsers of products by igniting conversations and experiences that demonstrate how brands enhance consumers’ quality of life. They take pride in engaging consumers at every level of conversation. They turn consumers into advocates that carry messages across platforms. And whatever the discipline — Campbell Ewald thrivse on solving complex problems and turning big ideas into relevant communications that reach our target every day, in every medium. They have offices in Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York.
For more information: <a href="http://www.c-e.com/">www.c-e.com/</a>

Interview: Headless CMS Storyblok Expands Partner Program with U.S. Agency Campbell Ewald

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