Articles - Page 39

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

matt-garrepy

BlackMonk CMS Review

mike-johnston

Welcome to yet another featured week here on CMS Critic! For the next five days, our focus will be on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ecwid.com/">Ecwid</a>, the cloud-hosted shopping cart that integrates with your existing website or social media page. Impressively, over 900,000 merchants make use of Ecwid to power their online stores.According to Internet Retailer, 42% of all mobile sales generated by the world’s leading 500 retailers came from mobile apps during 2014.Furthermore, the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.statista.com/statistics/330695/number-of-smartphone-users-worldwide/">number of smartphone users is forecast to surpass 2 billion</a> by the end of 2016 – meaning that the demand for mobile shopping experiences is only increasing.With these statistics in mind, Ecwid recognized that they couldn’t rest on their laurels as just an eCommerce solution. They needed to be an eCommerce solution that give merchants the power of the app.<h2>App Power</h2>Thanks to Ecwid’s recently released ShopApp feature, Ecwid users can now launch their very own native iOS and Android retail app.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ios-img.jpg" alt="ios-img" />ShopApp’s store content, such as inventory, prices and product descriptions, is fully synchronized and integrated with a retailer’s online store and includes one-touch checkout with Apple Pay, providing a seamless omnichannel ecommerce solution.And perhaps best of all – the ShopApp is available for free to all Ecwid Unlimited users.<h2>Your Store In Your Customer’s Pocket</h2>This goes beyond simply adopting responsive design to meet the needs of mobile device users. By having a native app, you give your online store a whole new shiny layer of professionalism.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sync-img-1024x684.jpg" alt="sync-img" />With your store in your customer’s pocket – a mere finger tap away – sales are bound to increase.Ecwid’s President, Jim O’Hara, called the release of ShopApp a “huge leap”:<blockquote>“With ShopApp, Ecwid is making a huge leap in how native ecommerce mobile apps are created and operate for smaller retailers globally.Similar to how the dramatic innovation in web development introduced by DIY sitebuilders like Wix, WordPress and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.weebly.com/">Weebly</a> democratized website creation, Ecwid now allows our merchants to create their own ecommerce apps instantly.”</blockquote>For me, this release is nothing less than exciting. In fact, I almost want to start a brand new store with Ecwid just so I can launch my own app.But for now, I’ll be keeping tabs on it to see just how much of an impact it has on the bottom lines of Ecwid’s merchants.To find out more about Ecwid’s ShopApp, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ecwid.com/">check out their website</a>.

Launch Your Own Retail App With Ecwid’s ShopApp

<a href="http://designmodo.com/?u=1182" target="_blank">DesignModo</a>, the company behind Startup Framework, has released a new version of their WordPress plugin, Qards.
Qards 1.1 adds to the plugin's ability to bring drag-and-drop website building to WordPress. Users can combine pre-designed cards (or Qards!) to create a variety of one-page-style website types. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/reimagine4700x0.png" />
No coding is neccessary of course, and the interface works nicely with the standard WordPress backend, making for a relatively smooth website creation and management process. Here's a short video detailing Qard 1.1.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uj2rOm8Jdx8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
According to their announcement, DesignModo claim to have added new Qards and “spiced up the process of site created on WordPress and now you have a completely new fun and simple experience.”
To get the full breakdown of Qards 1.1, checkout the official features page.
Also, you can check out my <a href="/startup-framework-review/" target="_blank">review of DesignModo's Startup Framework</a>.

DesignModo's Qards 1.1 For WordPress Released

DotCMS 2.1 has been released today and with it come a number of improvements to the java based, open source CMS. Specific changes include an improved site search, scheduled workflow tasks, content improvements, remote widgets and an integrated help system.
<h3>New &amp; Improved Site Search</h3>
First off, DotCMS 2.1 offers an improved upon site search using ElasticSearch to allow the creation of independent indexes for different search sections on your website. The new site search indexes all popular office document formats, pdfs, pages and content. You can even back up and restore indexes as needed.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/1-620x158.png" alt="dotcms site search" />
<h3>Workflow Tasks Can Now Be Scheduled</h3>
You can now schedule a Workflow Action to automatically execute if the task remains on that step for a certain length of time.  This allows you to create automatic review dates for content, escalate content stalled in workflow or perform any other workflow action on a timed basis.Workflow search has also been improved upon for those wanting to search for old tasks.
<h3>Improved Administration and Management</h3>
Two of the more valuable additions to the administration and management of the CMS:
<ul>
<li>You can now get Index Details and Cluster Statistics by hovering your mouse over the Cluster Health Bar under CMS Maintenance.</li>
<li>It is now possible to get a list of users currently logged in under the CMS Maintenance section.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Content Improvements</h3>
<ul>
<li>Via a REST URL you can now retrieve and search for content. Results can be XML or JSON. http://www.dotcms.com/docs/2.0/ContentAPI</li>
<li>dotCMS now ships with a 508/WCAG Accessibility Checker. This functionality is built directly into the WYSIWYG editor. Look for the green check mark icon in the WYSIWYG editor.</li>
<li>Binary Content – Will now attempt to use Hard Links for file storage.</li>
</ul>
Remote Widgets
<ul>
<li>dotCMS Widgets can be delivered into 3rd party and remote systems using a high performance restful API, as either code snippets or as full blown applications.</li>
</ul>
Integrated Help System
<ul>
<li>dotCMS has started a Help System built into the backend.</li>
<li>Users will be able to get documentation help on areas of dotCMS linked directly from the dotCMS backend.</li>
</ul>
A full list of changes to this section can be found in the <a href="http://dotcms.com/about/press-release/dotcms-releases-2-1" target="_blank">release announcement</a>.

New DotCMS 2.1 Release Offers Easier Administration and Manageability

With the number of ecommerce platforms out there, how does one determine which ones work as intended and offer the best bang for the buck? Today, we're going to help answer this questions by sharing with you our Top 5 Ecommerce Solutions for your Website.There's no doubt that ecommerce is playing a strong role in the content management market of late. Products and services are consistently being sold online more and more and traditional brick and mortar retailers are quickly discovering that without an online presence, they are sacrificing valuable opportunities to their competition.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bigcommerce.png" alt="Bigcommerce" /><a target="_blank" href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/">Bigcommerce</a> is one of the largest and most popular ECommerce providers out there. With a number of offerings including the recently announced <a href="/bigcommerce-launch-bigcommerce-next-beauty-brawn-brains/">Bigcommerce Next</a>, they should definitely be considered as a major player.Check out this video showcasing Bigcommerce Next that was just introduced today: We recently did a <a href="/bigcommerce-review/">Bigcommerce Review </a>, which highlights some of the advantages to using their system. Check it out or <a href="/products/bigcommerce">visit their website directly </a> to get the skinny on this great solution for your business.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magento-go-logo236x0.jpeg" alt="magento go" />Magento Go is the hosted ecommerce edition of Magento, the powerful enterprise ecommerce suite. With Magento Go, you get tons of power and configurability for a reasonable cost. It's intended for customers who are new to ecommerce and offers an app store, marketing tools and tons of options for the price.This video showcases (in less than a minute) what you need to know about Magento Go:http://youtu.be/2_1vPLB23LcIf you want to learn more, <a target="_blank" href="https://magento.com/">check out Magento Go</a> and see if it's the right fit for your business needs.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/3dcart-logo236x0.jpg" alt="3dcart" />3dcart is another excellent platform for ecommerce. Unlike several of their competitors, 3dcart does not charge transaction fees and offers 24/7 free technical support. With costs that are certainly within reason, they are an excellent option. You won't be sacrificing features either, 3dcart is loaded with all of the features you'd expect from a great online store builder / ecommerce solution.Here's a quick video introducing the product: If you want to learn more, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.shift4shop.com/">visit the 3dcart website</a> and see if it's the right fit for your business needs.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/shopify-bag-and-logotype236x0.png" alt="shopify" />Shopify is another popular ecommerce solution. While it doesn't have as many years on the market as some of it's competitors, the company and the product have developed a very good name for themselves since coming to market. Shopify is a great solution that's very easy to use and chock full of features. By comparison, Shopify isn't as strong on the feature set as say, Bigcommerce but it offers a far more attractive set of themes and is more visually appealing. You can check out our in-depth <a href="/shopify-review-ecommerce-only-simpler/">Shopify Review</a> to learn more.Here's a quick video introducing the product: If you want to learn more, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.shopify.com/">visit the Shopify website</a> and see it's the right tool for you.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ecwid-cart236x0.png" alt="ecwid" />ecwid has been making a great name for themselves recently. Having <a href="/ecommerce-integration-arrives-for-wordpress.com-business">recently been selected by WordPress.com</a> as an ecommerce integration partner, along with Shopify, the ecwid brand has seen a big boost in adoption. Setup is very simple and the costs (aside from their free plan which is available for up to 10 products) is quite low and very competitive considering the features you get in return. With unlimited storage and bandwidth, ecwid is a great option to consider. You will find, however, that when compared with some of the bigger ecommerce players, there are some gaps in both feature set and visual appeal.Visit the <a target="_blank" href="http://open.ecwid.com/3htsZ">ecwid website</a> to check it out and learn more.Do you know of an ecommerce solution that you feel should be on this list? Share it with us in the comments below. Have you had experiences (good or bad) with any of these vendors? We'd love to hear from you! Please feel free to share in the comments.

Top 5 ECommerce Platforms for Your Website

<a href="http://buildwithcraft.com/" target="_blank">Craft</a> has made itself accessible in a new, faster, and much easier way.
Recently, Craft came out on top as the <a href="/2014-critics-choice-award-winner-best-php-cms-for-small-to-midsize-business/" target="_blank">2014 Critics' Choice Award Winner for Best PHP CMS for Small to Midsize Businesses</a>. This news comes just a few weeks after <a href="/craft-2.3-arrives-with-flurry-of-features/" target="_blank">the release of Craft 2.4</a>.
The all-new <a href="https://demo.buildwithcraft.com/" target="_blank">Craft Demo Website</a> allows users to try out the dedicated demo site is called, “Happy Lager”. Each user who signs up will get a personalized version of the site — so there's no having to share the demo with the rest of the community. All users need to provide is a name and an email address.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-1700x0.jpg" alt="Craft" /> 
Essentially, it's a super-easy way to try out Craft for yourself, and perhaps introduce it to friends or co-workers.
Furthermore, <a href="https://github.com/pixelandtonic/HappyLager" target="_blank">Craft have open sourced Happy Lager via GitHub</a>, so you can freely tinker with it on a deeper level.
To find out more, c/dir/products/craft/heck out <a href="http://pixelandtonic.com/blog/meet-happy-lager-crafts-new-demo-site" target="_blank">Craft's blog announcement</a>, and of course <a href="https://demo.buildwithcraft.com/" target="_blank">the demo website itself</a>.
Plus, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/craft-cms/" target="_blank">Craft via our CMS Directory</a>.

Craft Launches New Demo Site

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-7.png" alt="sshot-7" /> Website security is a concern for one and all. Content management systems are fighting a constantly evolving battle against hackers and malware producers by releasing regular security patches to keep our data as safe as possible.
Still, for further protection, we install plugins and rely on third party applications to build a secure digital perimeter around our websites as a first line as defence – and rightly so.
But what about your last line of defence; the worst case scenario of total data loss?
Backing up your data is supremely important, as anybody who has endured the pain of having their website hacked or compromised will testify to.
Let’s take a look at how <a href="https://mithra62.com/projects/view/backup-pro">Backup Pro</a> can help.
<h2>CMS Agnostic Backups</h2>
Backup Pro is the first – and so far the only – CMS agnostic data backup tool that will save your skin in the worst case scenario.
At the time of writing, it supports the following five content management systems:
<ol>
<li>WordPress</li>
<li><a href="/concrete5-marketplace-gets-backup-pro/">Concrete5</a></li>
<li>Prestashop</li>
<li>Craft</li>
<li>ExpressEngine (2 &amp; 3)</li>
</ol>
Although, further support for other content management systems is in the works.
Launched in 2011 by <a href="http://blog.ericlamb.net/">Eric Lamb</a>, Backup Pro has built a reputation for being feature-rich and flexible in the face of disaster recovery.
<h2>Backup Pro: The Solution to the Risks of SaaS Backup Platforms</h2>
SaaS backup platforms are popular because they handle all the heavy lifting in a remote location. But such solutions come bundled with risk.
What happens if you change FTP or database credentials? What happens to your data should you cancel or miss a payment? What about losing access to the account? What about the general security of those backups?
The point is; SaaS solutions are a relatively hands-off way of handling the data that is most vital to your business but isn’t without very real risks. The questions above easily illustrate that.
Alternatively, Backup Pro provides a solution that eradicates all of the risks outlined above.
How? I’m glad you asked.
Backup Pro allows for abstract and redundant storage of your backups through any combination of Local Storage, Amazon S3, Rackspace, Google Cloud Storage, Dropbox, FTP (with SSL), SFTP, and even an Email Inbox
Furthermore, you can create your own Storage Engines for complete control over your backups. Talk about flexible.
What’s more, Backup Pro further outdoes SaaS solutions by offering itself as a product that only requires one initial purchase, with no extra running costs, and no expiry date. Install Backup Pro, set it up, and walk away.
On top of ALL that, Backup Pro will even let you know if there are issues in missed backups (missed scheduling, for example), or worst case, even if a backup archive file is corrupted and not usable in disaster recovery. All automated.
<h2>Customizable &amp; Developer Friendly</h2>
Backup Pro is also a highly customizable tool. It comes with over 70 configurations out of the box, allowing you to configure things like:
<ul>
<li>Exactly what you want to backup, and what you don’t want to backup</li>
<li>Notifications and alerts</li>
<li>File size limits</li>
<li>Backup frequency/amount limits</li>
</ul>
As for catering to developers, Backup Pro is scriptable through console commands, has online database restoration, and allows for  configurations to be overridden in a file for VCS (git, svn, mercurial, etc) love.
Plus, thanks to the new REST API support (added in 3.3), administrators don’t just have total access to their data, they have absolute control over it, too.
To find out more about Backup Pro <a href="https://mithra62.com/projects/view/backup-pro">visit their website</a>.
Also, be sure to check out the <a href="/backup-pro/">Backup Pro hub</a> here on CMS Critic.
<hr />
This post is <a href="/advertising/">sponsored</a> by Backup Pro. Find out more on <a href="https://mithra62.com/projects/view/backup-pro">their website</a>.

Backup Pro: CMS Agnostic Backups

<div>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/arastta-welcome.jpg" alt="arastta-welcome" />
As with many other software solutions, Open Source will soon be a standard for the eCommerce platforms, too. That’s why <a href="https://arastta.com">Arastta</a> team developed Arastta Cloud service.
The question is simple in this regard: Is there any other Open Source eCommerce platform or solution on the cloud? And the answer is: No! Arastta Cloud is the first and the only Cloud based Open Source eCommerce service. So when you create an Arastta Cloud account, you can access your store’s all PHP files and database tables via phpMyadmin interface.
So let’s say you need a feature for your store and couldn’t find an extension for that specific need, or you have your own development team and want to create your own solution for your needs. It’s not possible to implement them to your store on the other Cloud eCommerce services. But thanks to open source Arastta Cloud service, you can easily implement any customization or modification on your store.
Also you can see what lays beyond your store’s interface. Arastta Cloud is a trustful eCommerce solution because you know what’s executed with your codes and what they do.
<h2>The Advantages of Open Source</h2>
</div>
<div>
Being Open Source provides another great advantage to Arastta Cloud users: freedom of leaving. If you are not satisfied with the Arastta, then you can leave it with all your data because you can access all the files and database. But this is not possible with other cloud platforms since they only allow access to limited areas of your store.
Arastta Cloud brings all advantages of being an Open Source platform to its users but at the same time that doesn’t cost them. Whole structure is built as single-tenant, thus all stores are isolated from each other. In case of an attack or hack, it doesn’t affect other stores and accounts.
Additionally, automatic / one-click updates, server and hosting maintenance, extra security measurements are included in the Arastta Cloud plans. So Arastta Cloud users can focus on their sales, marketing and customers while Arastta team do all the technical and boring stuff for them.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/dashboard.png" alt="dashboard" />
Here is a quick overview about Arastta Cloud’s advantages:
 
</div>
<ul>
<li>Customize, extend and modify your store without any limitation</li>
<li>Control and see what lays under your store’s infrastructure</li>
<li>Backup or download any files or database tables</li>
<li>Not happy with your Arastta store, we do not hold you captive. You can move your store elsewhere since you can access everything</li>
<li>Single-tenant platform. Each store and account isolated from each other</li>
<li>Automatic backup &amp; restore with one-click</li>
<li>Auto updates</li>
<li>One-click updates</li>
</ul>
<div>Create an Arastta Cloud account for free and try it out today – <a href="https://arastta.com">https://arastta.com</a></div>
<div></div>
<div>Get more details about Arastta – <a href="https://arastta.org">https://arastta.org</a></div>
<hr />
This post is <a href="/advertising/">sponsored</a> by Arastta. Find out more at <a href="https://arastta.com">arastta.com</a>.

Open Source Cloud Hosted eCommerce

Semrush - Be an SEO hero

Be found everywhere search happens

#ffffff

The open source content management system <a href="http://typo3.org/" target="_blank">TYPO3 CMS</a> is available for Microsoft Azure effective immediately.
<a href="http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/" target="_blank">Microsoft Azure</a> is the Microsoft cloud solution for enterprises looking to integrate on-premises apps and data, whereas TYPO3 is a free and open-source web content management framework based on PHP. The Swiss software company was founded in 2004.
According to the TYPO3 Association, more than 500,000 active websites worldwide use TYPO3 CMS.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/typo3-logo-webdesign-duisburg1-1_400x0.png" alt="Typo3" />
Microsoft Azure customers now have total access to TYPO3 CMS on the Azure Web App Gallery. Naturally, this will enable such users to build, manage and/or adapt complex websites. Additionally, they can now easily change system requirements through autoscaling.
Peter Jaeger, the Senior Director Developer Experience &amp; Evangelism (DX), and Member of the Management Board of Microsoft, Germany, had this to say:
<blockquote>“Microsoft is increasingly embracing open source applications for the company‘s platforms and solutions. This is because we do not attach priority to technologies, but to people who wish to be productive across platforms and devices.
In recent months, we have made several development tools like .NET open source, thereby intensifying our collaboration with the open source community.
Deployments of TYPO3 on our Microsoft cloud platform Windows Azure are another step towards the community: not only do we address developers, but also many thousands of web designers and website administrators who benefit from Azure as a high-performance, secure and easily scalable platform.”</blockquote>
For more information on this integration, check out <a href="http://typo3.org/news/article/typo3-cms-now-available-for-microsoft-azure/" target="_blank">TYPO3's official announcement</a>.
Also, you can explore more of <a href="/products/typo3/" target="_blank">TYPO3 via our CMS Directory</a>.

TYPO3 CMS Now Available For Microsoft Azure

Business users of WordPress.com were today treated to the eagerly awaited arrival of ecommerce integration. 
 The release allows <a href="http://store.wordpress.com/plans/business/?ref=ecom" target="_blank"> WordPress.com Business</a> users to connect their website to three popular online store solutions – <a href="/shopify" target="_blank">Shopify</a>,  <a href="http://open.ecwid.com/3htsZ" target="_blank">Ecwid</a> &amp;  <a href="http://en.support.wordpress.com/shoplocket/" target="_blank">ShopLocket</a>.
 Using the new ecommerce integration system, you can showcase, promote, and sell products to your customers directly from your WordPress.com site.
<h2>A Quick &amp; Easy Ecommerce Connection</h2>
Alongside features like live-chat support, unlimited storage, and free access to all WordPress.com <a href="http://theme.wordpress.com/themes/sort/premium/">premium themes</a>, Business users of WordPress.com can turn your site into a sleek online storefront, and let visitors shop from any post or page..
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2014-02-25-at-10-31-51-am700x0.png" alt="WordPress.com Ecommerce" />
Connecting to your store is supremely quick and easy. All you have to to is head over to ” eCommerce Plugins” on the left-hand side of your WordPress.com dashboard, and then simply select your desired service from either <a href="http://en.support.wordpress.com/shoplocket/" target="_blank">Shopify</a>,  <a href="http://en.support.wordpress.com/ecwid/" target="_blank"> Ecwid</a> &amp;  <a href="http://en.support.wordpress.com/shoplocket/" target="_blank"> ShopLocket</a>.
<h2>Endless Possibilities</h2>
Once your WordPress.com Business site is connected to your online store, the possibilities are endless. 
 Although each of the three services is slightly different, you can feature your products by simply embedding a link to your product into the editor, pasting in a shortcode from the services’ back end. Furthermore, in some cases at least, just copying over the embed code into the editor will suffice. It's just that easy. 
 Regardless of the method you choose, the WordPress.com platform is ready to automatically convert each link into a highly professional product image.
Options to tweak your products’ appearance are also available. You can modify the look and feel of the products on your page by customizing the shortcode, from image size and background color to “Buy” button text. 
Also, depending on the ecommerce service you’re using, you can add products to your sidebar with a designated widget, or even have a shopping cart on your page. 
 All three ecommerce options are now available, so if you're a WordPress.com Business user, you can <a href="http://wordpress.com/landing/ecommerce-plugins/?ref=ecom" target="_blank"> try out the new ecommerce integration feature right now </a> .

Ecommerce Integration Arrives for WordPress.com Business

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ipad-820272_1280-1-2-e1466076927587-1024x538.jpg" alt="ipad-820272_1280 (1)" />
Why do organisations need to consider a digital transformation?
Organisations need to do more than just consider a digital transformation. It is a vital step when you need to kick start your company’s digital strategies overlooked during its evolution.
Being left behind and forced to play catch-up is an expensive gamble that will allow your competitors to gain a significant advantage over you. Digital transformation is not just an empty phrase, it is a true philosophy for defining a content strategy that charts the needs of your target audience by establishing the kind of content they should find engaging, by identifying the channels and schemes for reaching them and formulating the KPIs necessary to measure it effectively.
Only by defining the touch points you want to track across all channels, both online and offline, and then optimising the customer journey accordingly, can you determine the tools essential for you to capture and gather the data required for optimising your content strategies. In this way, you can achieve a marketing performance that goes way beyond just satisfactory.
Also, segmenting your customers using their behaviour or character traits and making sure you are integrating your e-commerce strategy with your multi-channel strategy, makes it possible for you to achieve customer delight and boost your sales revenue.
By delivering a consistent user experience that exceeds customers’ expectations across all devices and channels through things such as having a responsive web design, your digital presence can achieve a true single customer view.
These tools are vital parts of your digital brand marketing strategy, as well as ensuring that the client data you gather fully integrates with your email data through your CRM. Plus, when you are keeping your corporate vision in line with a thorough understanding of both your customers and current digital trends, you can help your company resonate as a brand-leading multi-channel business. This in turn will assist you in achieving your strategic objectives.
<h3>Can you point to examples of large organisations with traditional business models that embraced digital transformation, as well as the results they’ve seen?</h3>
Groundforce (part of the Vibroplant group) have been offering total solutions to the construction industry for the last 30 years in the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe. They had an obsolete CMS and it was crucial to improve the speed, functionality and usability by incorporating all websites into a one-domain strategy on a fully-responsive website. The challenge was to import products, users and technical documents to the new site and unify them into a consistent user experience.
As Claire Locker, Account Director at NetConstruct explains, “Our client, Groundforce, was very forward thinking… Rather than the website branding being born out of the existing marketing requirements, the website has been the driver for their branding and marketing. These aspects are now found in all their communications, from brochures to presentation formats.” Since that digital transformation, there has been a rapid upturn in results. Several large orders were placed on the UK and German sites shortly after launch and there is now a drastic reduction in page load time. These are precisely the ways in which digital transformation can improve the customer experience, promote brand advocacy and boost ROI.
By keeping an eye on how your customers relate digitally to their interaction with your company, you can actively continue to enhance and refine the customer journey, garnering favourable responses from your users.
<h3>What are the consequences for companies that don’t embrace digital transformation?</h3>
Ignoring digital transformation can be perceived by customers as you having a lack of interest in them. Clunky and awkward customer experiences quickly result in customers looking elsewhere. Users are no longer limited to where they can access online content, and they know it. With mobile phones, tablets and laptops affording consumers access on the go, it is necessary to keep your site fast and efficient, regardless of the device on which it is viewed. It is essential to understand the way in which your website is accessed as it is a defining factor in understanding your customers.
Claire Locker goes further to illustrate users’ perceptions of a bad digital experience. “Any obstacles in their way such as poor usability, poor navigation, links which don’t work or poor design are held against the company.  The website is possibly the first point of call for a potential client – if they do not like what they see, the chances are that they never contact the company at all – a missed opportunity.” It is then a tough, if not impossible, task to try and win that visitor over again. So, consider this when implementing digital transformation without a proper understanding of whom you are attempting to engage with.
<h3>What is the value of approaching digital transformation as a coordinated strategic programme as opposed to through separate digital initiatives when individual needs arise?</h3>
Coordinated strategic plans must be based on an understanding throughout all areas of the organisation. This means knowing what the goals and expected outcomes are, and what they mean to the people involved. They should have an clear understanding of the transformation process, and how their roles fit into it. Creating measures that in turn unify the look, the feel and the perceived identity of the company is an essential part of making sure that digital transformation has a consistent and homogenous quality.
Welcome the constructive input of all staff in the process, and gain an understanding of how the customer will relate to your changes – determine whether this reaction is favourable for your digital business model and your users’ needs. Implementing digital transformation based on deliverables and a realistic schedule means regular departmental meetings to assess the process, the project’s progress, measuring the real-time effect and checking that the vision is still relevant and being implemented correctly.
Claire Locker has done a lot of work with clients performing such transformations. In her experience, having a, “holistic and recognisable approach to all the marketing channels – website, social media, advertising campaigns, brochures and development internationally – serves to strengthen the design aesthetics and build customer loyalty and recognition.”
Making sure all processes are fully supported through the correct structure and tools will ensure the transformation promotes the digital maturity of your company.
After all, businesses need to grow and develop. A badly implemented digital transformation that generates a misaligned digital experience and loses customer loyalty will result in a King Midas in reverse effect, and nobody wants that.
<hr />
This post is <a href="/advertising/">sponsored</a> by Kentico. Find out more at <a href="http://www.kentico.com/">Kentico.com</a>

The Importance of Digital Transformation for Large Organisations

<a href="http://www.blueconic.com/" target="_blank">BlueConic</a>, the digital marketing platform, has announced some new and notable integration options.
The platform collects and unifies user actions, decisions and profiles, thereby activating relevant interactions accordingly. Founded in 2010, and headquartered in Boston, more than 70 brands including Volvo, Boston Globe, ING and Ahold make use of BlueConic to drive their marketing campaigns.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-1700x0.jpg" />
BlueConic’s new “Quick Connections” feature, the main proponent of this update, connects previously separated marketing applications into a single, rich view of the customer that is actionable in real time. 
Built on a flexible Rest API structure, Quick Connections enables marketers to integrate BlueConic with platforms like Salesforce, Google Universal Analytics, Facebook Connect and a host of customer relationship management systems (CRM), data management platforms (DMP) and content management systems (CMS).
The integration allows for a direct exchange of information and data between previously compartmentalized components within the marketing stack. 
Bart Heilbron, the CEO and Co-founder of BlueConic, made these comments upon the release:
<blockquote>
“We’ve built BlueConic to help marketers identify, understand, and interact with customers on an individual basis. This release is another step in our commitment to improving marketing outcomes at a faster rate, without the need to rip and replace existing marketing applications and without reliance on IT organizations.
With this latest release, marketers can quickly synchronize and leverage their existing marketing ecosystem within the BlueConic platform, to drive richer, more meaningful customer engagement.”
</blockquote>
To find out more about BlueConic, <a href="http://www.blueconic.com/" target="_blank">visit their website</a>.
Furthermore, the official announcement for this piece of news <a href="http://www.blueconic.com/news/blueconic-delivers-unparalleled-marketing-outcomes-synchronizing-data-across-siloed-ecosystem/" target="_blank">can be found on the BlueConic blog</a>.

Digital Marketing Platform BlueConic Announces Enhanced Integration Options

<img alt="Inbound-Marketing-Report_465x475-thumbnails" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/inbound-marketing-report_465x475-thumbnails.png" />
A joint study between Act-On Software and Demand Metric has shown that 84% of marketers are moving away from inbound marketing.
Instead, what we're seeing is a merge between inbound and outbound marketing – forming something that Act-On and Demand Metric are calling ‘Allbound Marketing'.
<h2>The Emergence of Allbound Marketing?</h2>
According to Act-On and Demand Metric, marketing across the buyer's journey now requires an “Allbound” strategy to be effective. 
Their finding indicate that a campaign should be tailored to a persona or account, and needs to go beyond attracting a visitor to the site. Marketers must engage buyers to help them come to an educated decision. 
A balanced approach puts the right content in front of the right person at precisely the right time. Survey respondents underscored the value of an “Allbound” marketing strategy, with 84 percent agreeing that it’s the combination of inbound and outbound that drives their business.
Their study also debunked the notion that marketers perceive inbound marketing as more valuable than outbound. 
In fact, most surveyed marketers assigned near-equal numerical values to each approach. On a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 = very unimportant and 10 = very important, they gave outbound a score of 7.3 and inbound 7.4.
<a href="http://mktg.actonsoftware.com/acton/fs/blocks/showLandingPage/a/248/p/p-0860/t/page/fm/0">The study</a> also covers:
<ul>
<li>Which tactics are driving business, leads, and revenue</li>
<li>Average annual percentages of inbound and outbound spend</li>
<li>Top inbound and outbound marketing tactics</li>
<li>Where marketers plan to invest their marketing spend in the near future</li>
<li>Benchmarks so you can compare approaches</li>
</ul>
<h2>Inbound for Buzz, Outbound for Results</h2>
Act-On Software's CMO, Kevin Bobowski, also chimed in with some insights:
<blockquote>
“While Inbound Marketing generates buzz, combining Inbound and Outbound Marketing produce real business results.
And as more marketers adopt Account-Based Marketing and the outbound tactics that support it, it will be time to rethink the role of Inbound Marketing.”
It’s time to rethink Inbound Marketing and understand that a balanced approach to marketing drives the business.”
</blockquote>
Get your hands on the study <a href="http://mktg.actonsoftware.com/acton/fs/blocks/showLandingPage/a/248/p/p-0860/t/page/fm/0">here</a>.

Allbound Marketing: Study Shows Inbound & Outbound Marketing Merging

Best Video Experience

Give your audience the best video experience

#000000

Explore a wide range of informative articles, insights, and industry updates. Stay informed and ahead of the curve with our diverse collection of news and posts covering the latest trends and developments in the industry. Page - 39

News

Be found everywhere search happens

Give your audience the best video experience