Articles - Page 41

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

matt-garrepy

All open source news is good news, right? Well, SiteSupra, the website builder and CMS designed for building small responsive websites, has just launched an open source edition.
SiteSupra Open Source Edition is a PHP-based free, GPL-licensed CMS that is available to download from <a href="http://www.sitesupra.org/" target="_blank">www.sitesupra.org</a> via GitHub. The product contributes to a hosted version of the product available under the same name at <a href="http://www.sitesupra.com/" target="_blank">www.sitesupra.com</a>. You can find out more about the original platform via our <a href="/sitesupra-review/" target="_blank">SiteSupra Review</a>.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ss700x0.jpg" />
<h2>An “Elegant” CMS</h2>
According to the official announcement, “SiteSupra Open Source Edition, which was released today, brings a new dimension to the web development market, as a product that comprises an elegant CMS and a powerful web development framework.”
SiteSupra has designed a unique visual drag-and-drop interface, which allows website editors to easily complete sophisticated website management tasks without any coding skills.
The drag-and-drop interface includes page widgets, a site map, file storage, and the intuitive access and use of various internal applications. SiteSupra have dubbed it one of the most “comprehensive” drag-and-drop interfaces on the market.
Anton Sulsky, the CEO of SiteSupra, made these comments upon the announcement:
<blockquote>“Over ten years we tried to develop a sophisticated CMS, which is extremely powerful as a development framework and extremely easy to use as a website management tool. We are excited that our work is now released in open source. We hope it will allow developers to build sites fast, and win more clients because of the elegant CMS they will love.”</blockquote>
Eugene Kharkov, SiteSupra’s CTO, added the following statement:
<blockquote>“We welcome feedback and contributions from developers. We are working to enrich the product with widgets and modules, and so we need developers’ views on required components, and also their help in improving the product further.”</blockquote>
To find out more about SiteSupra's open source project, check out their <a href="http://sitesupra.org/" target="_blank">newly launched website</a>.
And of course, be sure to check out SiteSupra through our CMS Directory.

SiteSupra CMS Launches Open Source Edition

mike-johnston

Today, I'm going to announce the winner of the 2014 Critics' Choice Award for Best Commercial Forum Solution.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bestcommercialforumsolution.png" />
This award is a tough one to judge but we decided on the one solution most likely to continue to improve and grow over time. With a ton of beautiful options and a stunning interface, the best commercial forum solution for this year is <a href="https://plushforums.com/">Plush Forums</a>.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/plush300x0.png" />
We like it so much, we use it here on CMS Critic. To sign up and get your own forums with Plush Forums (or to learn more) go here: <a href="https://plushforums.com/">https://plushforums.com/</a>

2014 Critics' Choice Award Winner - Best Commercial Forum Solution

In addition to a significant update of their primary content management platform, Ektron has announced the release of two new products which they call Ektron Digital Experience Hub and Ektron Cloud Manager.
According to Bill Rogers, Founder of Ektron:
<blockquote>“These are important new releases for Ektron customers, the combination of Ektron 8.6 with the Ektron Digital Experience Hub represents the next stage in the evolution of our product beyond web content management to complete digital experience management. Ektron Cloud Manager extends the dynamic delivery of Ektron-powered websites and marketing campaigns into the cloud, enabling content authors to achieve their business goals without concerns about the impact on website hardware or IT resources.”</blockquote>
Some of the features present in this new release include:
<ul>
<li>a new HTML5 based content editor.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ektron-1-620x374.jpg" alt="New HTML5 Content Editor" /> New HTML5 Content Editor</li>
<li>dynamically resizing images based on device screen size.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img_6223_fyj5iv.jpg" alt="Mobile Adaptive Image Resizing" /> Mobile Adaptive Image Resizing</li>
<li>a new mobile preview option that allows you to see how your site will look on iPhone, iPad or Android.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ektron-3.jpg" alt="Mobile Preview" /> Mobile Preview</li>
<li>URL alias redirects.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img_6198-1_qnwmzo.jpg" alt="URL Alias Redirects" /> URL Alias Redirects</li>
</ul>
To learn more about this new release, visit <a href="http://www.ektron.com" target="_blank">Ektron</a> or download their “<a href="http://ektron.com/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=30064771130">What's New in Ektron 8.6</a>” pdf.

Ektron Releases Two New Products: Ektron Digital Experience Hub and Ektron Cloud Manager

April 2022 is already behind us. And when it rains... it pours. 
As bad news befalls the globe – from a persistent conflict in Ukraine to stumbling stock markets – CMS and DXP vendors continue to slug it out. How will tech fare in the coming months with the specter of recession on the horizon? Tough to say, but we'll be watching.  
By most measures, last month was relatively quiet. We saw announcements from <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/hyland-releases-new-content-services-and-intelligent-automation-product-enhancements/">Hyland</a>, updates from <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-announces-updates-to-product-suite-enhances-composable-features-and-innovation-from-acquisitions/">Sitecore</a> around its composable features, and a new partnership between <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/woocommerce-and-pinterest-announce-partnership-offer-new-integration-for-connecting-with-shoppers/">WooCommerce and Pinterest</a>. We followed a few additional stories in April and wrapped them up (as we always do). 
Enjoy the scoop. And you might want to keep an umbrella handy. You never know if the forecast might change. 
<h2>WordPress.com changes pricing and rattles users </h2>
Speaking of rain, WordPress.com has been gathering a few storm clouds by adding some significant <a href="https://wordpress.com/pricing/">price changes to its plans</a>. To add salt to the wound, the changes were apparently <a href="https://rootprivileges.net/2022/04/03/what-are-you-doing-wordpress-com/">unannounced,</a> and many people have been expressing their disappointment. The biggest sly: replacing all its paid options with a single Pro plan. The platform also slashed the storage on its free tier from 3GB to 500MB. Ouch.
Dave Martin, the CEO of WordPress.com, took to <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30896807">Hacker News</a> to address the concerns. As he noted: "You're right to call us out. I did a poor job of sharing context around why we are making change, so I can see how they could come as a shock. I'm sorry! That's on me."
Martin went on to say that more changes were in the works and that this was the first of several phases. He also clarified that no legacy sites or blogs have been affected by these new price changes – so if your site is on an older plan, there should have been no changes to your billing. He mentioned that many of the existing plans were haphazardly added to WordPress.com with no real strategy, making it hard for customers to see at-a-glance why they should choose one plan over another.
That said, it's a classic lesson in the need for transparency. 
<h2>WordPress releases version 6.0, Gutenberg 13.0</h2>
When <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/updates-on-wordcamp-2021-wordpress-5-8-beta-details-and-gutenberg-enhancements/" target="_blank">WordPress 5.8</a> was released in July 2021, it introduced some major features that would pave the way to <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/handbook/focuses/full-site-editing/" target="_blank">Full Site Editing (FSE)</a>. <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/5-9/" target="_blank">WordPress 5.9 Josephine</a> took that to the next level, putting users in control of the whole experience of the FSE’s visual editing capabilities. 
Now, WordPress 6.0 is almost here, making it the second<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/about/release-cycle/releasing-major-versions/" target="_blank"> major release</a> of 2022. While the 6.0 beta version arrived in mid-April, it is expected to be<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/6-0/" target="_blank"> released on May 24, 2022</a>.
While we’re waiting for the release of WordPress 6.0, WordPress released another update to Gutenberg on April 14.
<img style="max-width:900px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/05/featured-image-in-cover.png" alt="Featured Image in Cover" />
The major updates include text selection across blocks, cover blocks with feature images, new responsive layouts for the Groups, Rows, and Stacks, and customizable borders to make your blocks stand out. 
There are also many other<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/14/whats-new-in-gutenberg-13-0-14-april/" target="_blank"> notable improvements</a> that are worth checking out. 
<h2>WP Engine accelerates headless WordPress innovation with launch of new plans and Atlas Blueprints</h2>
<img style="max-width:900px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/05/wp-engine-atlas-blueprint.webp" alt="WP-Engine-Atlas-blueprint" />
WordPress has always been a traditional monolithic CMS. While it still maintains its crown as the most popular CMS in the world, it's been playing catch up in the move to headless.
But that's starting to change as <a href="https://wpengine.com/" target="_blank">WP Engine</a>, the world’s most trusted WordPress technology company, as they announced the launch of Atlas – its award-winning headless WordPress solution. It's now available to businesses of all sizes with four new headless WordPress plans, ranging from $49 to $499, allowing developers to learn, build and grow their sites on Atlas. 
WP Engine also announced the launch of Atlas Blueprints, which are free, professionally-designed templates allowing anyone to get started fast with headless WordPress. Developers can also try out Atlas by signing up for a free Atlas Sandbox account, which allows developers to learn more about developing with headless WordPress and create prototype projects.
<h2>Postman API platform surpasses 20 million users, driven by vision for API-First world</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/05/20-million-postman-users.jpg" alt="20-million-postman-users" />
<a href="https://www.postman.com/" target="_blank">Postman</a>, the world's leading API platform, <a href="https://blog.postman.com/celebrating-20-million-postman-users/">announced</a> that more than 20 million developers and builders have adopted its platform to build and use APIs, strengthening the company's reputation for simplifying the API lifecycle and streamlining collaboration. Postman's public API hub is the world's largest, with workspaces from Microsoft, Stripe, Meta, Notion, Intel, Oracle, and more.
In <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/postman-releases-2021-state-of-the-api-report-shows-global-trend-towards-api-first-digital-era/">Postman's 2021 State of the API Report</a>, 67% of survey respondents ranked themselves a five or higher in terms of embracing an API-first philosophy – a five-point increase from 2020. Furthermore, the "API-first leaders" who ranked themselves highest produced APIs more quickly, deployed more frequently, had fewer failures, and recovered more swiftly when failures occurred.
<h2>Hyland expands infrastructure to deploy new OnBase and Brainware customers on AWS</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/09/e0030_thumb_big_media.png" alt="Hyland OnBase" />
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/hyland-releases-new-content-services-and-intelligent-automation-product-enhancements/">Hyland</a>, recognized as a leading content services provider with more than 1,700 cloud customers, has expanded its work with <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/">Amazon Web Services (AWS)</a> to support its customer base and their increased cloud deployment and migration needs. 
Working with AWS, Hyland will expand its <a href="https://www.hyland.com/en/innovation/hyland-cloud" target="_blank">Hyland Cloud</a> infrastructure to deploy new <a href="https://www.hyland.com/en/onbase" target="_blank">OnBase</a> and <a href="https://www.hyland.com/en/platform/product-suite/brainware" target="_blank">Brainware</a> cloud customers and cloud migration environments in North America on the appropriate AWS Region – fully supported and managed by Hyland's technical experts.
The strengthened relationship with AWS delivers an expansive infrastructure footprint for the Hyland Cloud, allowing Hyland to meet customer requirements with agility and scale while providing a more flexible architecture that supports customers' evolving information technology (IT) and business challenges. Backed by innovative technologies, security-driven policies, and dedicated support from knowledgeable technology experts, customers deploying Hyland's software-as-a-service (SaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offerings on AWS benefit from its continued focus on cloud innovation and support for next-generation cloud solutions.
"Our work with AWS gives customers and prospects greater confidence and agility when deploying their cloud content services solutions, which are optimized for their unique needs and requirements," said Will Milewski, Senior Vice President, Cloud Infrastructure and Operations at Hyland. "With organizations continuing to evolve their business strategies to support remote work, cloud-based solutions are becoming the default and our relationship with AWS will ensure we're exceeding our customers' requirements from their content services platform."
Gartner has recognized Hyland as a content services industry leader for 12 consecutive years, and the winner of our own <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/introducing-the-winners-of-the-2021-cms-critics-choice-awards/" target="_blank">Critic's Choice Awards</a> for ECM in 2021. 
<h2>Concrete CMS 9.1.0RC1 is now available</h2>
Solid as a rock.
That was the news from the <a href="https://www.concretecms.com/" target="_blank">Concrete CMS</a> team as the company announced the availability of its first release candidate for Concrete CMS 9.1.0 – featuring a multitude of improvements, new features, and bug fixes, including:
<ul>
<li>Enhanced compatibility with PHP 8 and PHP 8.1.</li>
<li>Improved appearance and functionality when editing block, area, layout, and container styles inline in the page.</li>
<li>Express improvements like the ability to mark attributes as unique, handle re-use across objects, and much more.</li>
<li>Much improved version comparison features that can compare the HTML of two-page versions and highlight the differences.</li>
<li>Improvements to Dashboard listing screens and the file details screen.</li>
</ul>
Additionally, there are many behavioral and performance improvements included. The boulder-sized list is far too large for this blog post. <a href="https://documentation.concretecms.org/developers/introduction/version-history/910-release-notes" target="_blank">Click here</a> to read more of the details.
Concrete CMS was also recognized as a 2022 Leader in Content Management Systems by <a href="https://sourceforge.net/">SourceForge</a>.

CMS Monthly Recap: WP Engine Launches Headless Plans, Postman API Platform Surpasses 20 Million Users, and More

paris-tuzun

Featured image of April monthly recap of an umbrella with raindrops

Microsoft Office 365 subscribers can now make use of <a href="http://www.wix.com/" target="_blank"> Wix.com </a>  to launch a website directly from within the Office 365 platform.
Wix, <a href="/the-winner-of-the-2014-peoples-choice-cms-award-for-best-website-builder/" target="_blank"> winner of the 2014 People's Choice CMS Award for Best Website Builder </a> , is one of the world's most popular website builders, and was recently <a href="https://www.websitebuilderscritic.com/website_builders/reviews/wix/" target="_blank"> featured on Website Builders Critic </a>  as a recommended product for those with no website building experience. The cloud-based platform boasts hundreds of high quality templates, a simple drag-and-drop design system, and an array of useful apps.
In addition to having access to Wix within the Office 365 platform, subscribers who currently host a domain with Microsoft will also be able to automatically connect the domain to their site built on Wix.com.
<h2>Wix To Fill The Void, Empower Businesses</h2>
<a href="http://www.wix.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wix_com.png" alt="Wix" /></a>
This news comes as Microsoft pulls the plug on its “Public Website” feature on SharePoint Online. The feature is no longer being offered to new Office 365 customers, while existing customers may only have access to it for the next two-years.
This Wix integration then, will fill the website building void being left within the Microsoft platform.
Avishai Abrahami, the Co-Founder and CEO of Wix, made these comments:
<blockquote>“Both Microsoft and Wix share the common vision of enabling small and medium-sized businesses to access and utilize cloud technology to operate all aspects of their business. Wix simplifies the website and mobile site creation and management processes, all critical for any business today, by providing enterprise class functionality to every business, no matter how small. Through Office 365, we are excited to provide even more business owners with an easy and affordable platform on which to create, manage and grow their business online.”</blockquote>
According to Eric Mason, the Wix Director of Strategic Marketing Communications, Office 365 users will have access to Wix “immediately”.
The full press release regarding this exciting piece of news <a href="http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2015/02/04/702998/10118512/en/Wix-Announces-New-Microsoft-Office-365-Capabilities.html" target="_blank">can be found here</a>.
Visit the <a href="http://www.wix.com/" target="_blank">Wix website</a> for more information about their platform, and of course, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/wix/" target="_blank">Wix via our CMS Directory</a>.

Microsoft Office 365 Subscribers Now Have Wix Website Building Power

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bigstock-five-businesspeople-at-boardro-4132768-e1465817759919.jpg" alt="Business meeting" />
Many fear financial advisors will become obsolete due to robo-advisor technologies. Ironically, another technology, DMS (document management software), forces us to reconsider that claim.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/can-robo-advisers-replace-human-financial-advisers-1456715553">robo-advisors</a> are posing a threat to their human counterparts in the financial services industry.
Financial services professionals worry their expertise will be rendered obsolete by the algorithm-based precision these robo-advisors bring to the marketplace, relegating humans in the financial services industry to the economic equivalent of cashiers and data entry specialists.
In fact, there hasn’t been such a resurgence of fear in humankind losing its proverbial battle with artificial intelligence since Garry Kasparov, arguably the greatest chess player who ever lived, lost a chess tournament to IBM’s super computer, Deep Blue, in 1997.
On one hand, the human brain and software are very similar: both are conduits for electrical activity—the brain’s synaptic, whereas software’s are silicon-derived.
On the other hand, at the threshold of each sits a world cognitive computing may never grasp: Although computer scientist and creator of modern computing, Alan Turing, proved nearly 70 years ago that computers are capable of ‘thinking’ as humans can, financial advisors aren’t doomed so long as they rely on DMS as a means to the following ends:
<h2>1. DMS Enhances Financial Advisors’ Already Superior Accountability</h2>
As human beings, financial advisors have an innate sense of accountability to their clients, whereas technology itself, without any human guidance, doesn’t. What’s more, money is never an asset in and of itself. Rather, it’s a means to another end whether that end be more vacations, fewer years to retirement, or a nicer car. Cognitive computing and robo-advisors alike cannot account for the value these items hold in the eyes of their users.
Working in unison with the human understanding of clients’ values, DMS helps financial advisors remain SEC and FINRA compliant, keep track of sensitive information, organize client materials effectively, and access critical information from <a href="http://www.efilecabinet.com/efilecabinet-online/">anywhere there’s an internet connection</a>. In other words, being accessible and reliable to clients through the right technology forges the professionalism and accountability which, in the hands of the advisor who possesses it, enables him or her to produce the staying power technology alone will never emulate.
<h2>2. DMS Yields Greater Value to the Advisor-Client Relationship</h2>
The adage ‘it’s all about relationships’ persists, and for good reason: Research has proven strong relationships, whether with family members, loved ones, or financial advisors, help us cope better with stress, and managing money is a stressful business for both financial advisors and their clients alike. What’s more, trust has brought humankind together for thousands of years. It’s a fundamental component of how we understand and relate to others.
DMS, in confluence with the benefits it provides as a technology used to go paperless, helps facilitate an advisor-client relationship built on value-added responsiveness—an advisor’s ability to rise to the occasion of a client’s requests with poise, knowledge, and understanding of the task at hand. Any financial advisor relying on paper to conduct his or her business will find it difficult to create value-added responsiveness in a way as profoundly impactful and positive. Although updating traditional service channels in other ways (such as for telecommunications purposes) can help streamline processes outside the context of documentation, most financial advisors understand the need to work from the point of filing and documentation outward when reconstructing their business processes.
<h2>3. DMS Abounds Operational Efficiency</h2>
The term ‘robo-advisory’ has become so pervasive in the finance industry that a term explaining the methodology of controlling it has come to the forefront, and this term is ‘robo-shield.’ Financial advisors are increasingly interested in how they can leverage the tools and strategies comprising ‘robo shield’ to their competitive benefit, and much of it has to do with any means that creates the operational efficiency to stave off the analytical superiority these robo-analysts are believed to possess.
For instance, Deborah Fox, the woman who coined the term ‘robo-shield,’ asserts that using ‘technology to be more effective and by creating operational efficiencies that will enhance client services,’ is crucial to financial advisors’ ability to stave off competition from robo-advisors.
At least as Fox contends, DMS can augment this robo-shield by way of the operational efficiencies it provides as a model for going paperless and reducing the amount of time spent searching for information. The metadata-enhanced retrieval features of DMS are integral to this outcome, and are even more intuitive (and effective) than search features inherent to windows operating systems.  Essentially, a well-organized financial planner with time to help sort the answers to your questions can take a client far, and DMS provides financial advisors with the <a href="/the-intangible-benefits-of-document-management-software/">time</a> to make this a reality.
<h2>4. DMS Provides Security to the ‘Human Touch’</h2>
The ‘human touch’ isn’t a term to justify some false sense of security, it’s a term used to justify the true value of financial coaching that only financial advisors can provide. Otherwise, too much reliance on robo-advisors turns what would be a temporary problem into a major kink in a long-term financial plan.
What’s more, the stock bots that buy and trade within slivers of a millisecond can neither manage nor convey the psychological aspects of wealth. For one, cognitive computing can’t replicate human intuition—a form of intelligence where both the left and right hemispheres of the brain process information in unison.
This intuition lets financial advisors look at the entire financial picture, and assimilate clients’ goals into a broader system of portfolio management. To put it simply, financial advisors (in human form) are better equipped to handle the personal aspects of finance, which range from taxation and retirement to estate planning and will writing.
However, as powerful as the ‘human touch’ is, it must be complemented by technology insomuch that a middle ground is obtained. By keeping files and client information compliant, accessible, and secure, financial advisors accent their ‘human touch’ with the technology their clients can trust.
<h2>5. DMS Lets Financial Advisors Profit More, and with Lower Client Fees</h2>
In order to compete with robo-advisors, financial advisors must lower their fees—especially when attempting to widen their scope of services and expertise for a younger demographic. And in an age dominated by instant gratification, hefty up-front fees (as usually administered from fee-only financial planners) are overlooked (despite the advisor’s skillset) due to the excitement of low cost robo-advisors.
You can truly charge clients less money with DMS, though. Carlene Patterson, founder and CEO of Ascension Financial Group, reports that she <a href="http://www.efilecabinet.com/financial-services-document-management-software/">saves $4,000</a> annually on storage alone—this is before accounting for the time saved on locating and retrieving information, and circumventing the costs of potential in-compliance issues.
<hr />
This post is <a href="/advertising/">sponsored</a> by eFileCabinet. Find out more at <a href="http://www.efilecabinet.com/">efilecabinet.com</a>.
Image: <a href="http://www.bigstockphoto.com/search/?contributor=monkeybusinessimages">MoneyBusinessImages</a>

DMS Keeps Financial Advisors from Yielding to Robo-advisors

Weglot - The easiest way to translate a website

The easiest way to translate a website

#18164c

Today, I'm going to present the winner of the 2014 Critics' Choice CMS award for Best Website Builder.
<img style="max-width:188px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bestwebsitebuilder2014.png" />
This is always a difficult award to choose but this year, we're giving it to the one website builder that has achieved the most in 2014. With a huge number of improvements and a laser focus on improving their product and adding new feature sets, we've determined that this year, the most deserving website builder is none other than Wix.
<a href="https://www.wix.com/"><img style="max-width:400px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wix-logo400x0.jpg" /></a>
Wix has done amazing things this year with their focus on adding features such as <a href="/wix-adds-ecommerce-stores-to-its-online-website-builder/">e-commerce stores</a>, a <a href="/wix-announces-freemium-booking-engine-wixhotels/">booking engine</a>, <a href="/microsoft-office-365-subscribers-now-have-wix-website-building-power/">Office 365 integration</a>, and more, they've done more than any other website builder this year when it comes to focusing on improving their brand.
Congratulations to Wix on their win. Check them out in our directory here: <a href="/products/wix/">Wix</a>

2014 Critics' Choice Award Winner - Best Website Builder

When compared to mammoth rivals like Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok, <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> can feel... well, less interesting. 
OK, so maybe it's not as visible as its social brethren, and the stats codify this. According to a recent <a href="https://blog.hootsuite.com/pinterest-statistics-for-business/" target="_blank">article</a>, the image-sharing app – popular for posting recipes, home decor, and more – ranks fourteenth on a list of the world's most used social media platforms. 
Fourteenth. That seems like quite a few rungs down the social ladder. But shockingly, Pinterest's <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/463353/pinterest-global-mau/#:~:text=How%20many%20users%20does%20Pinterest,million%20international%20monthly%20active%20users." target="_blank">431 million active global users</a> still puts it ahead of Twitter.
Take that, Elon Musk.
Along with posting "pins" of paint chips and curtain fabrics, shopping is one of the top activities for Pinterest users, and the platform's expansive community has emerged as a channel for e-Commerce. Given the number of users browsing boards and perusing products and services, it makes sense that sellers might be interested in connecting their storefronts to Pinterest to peddle their wares. 
Now, <a href="https://business.pinterest.com/en/blog/introducing-pinterest-for-woocommerce/" target="_blank">WooCommerce</a> is giving its merchants a way to turn their product catalogs into shoppable "pins" on Pinterest, making it easier to build audiences and drive more sales. Whatever a seller might be offering – from fashion to apparel to appliances – this new feature will allow each product listing to become a shoppable pin on the platform, just like this:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/04/pinterest-product-tags-975x1024.webp" alt="Pinterest product tags" />
The companies recently <a href="https://business.pinterest.com/en/blog/introducing-pinterest-for-woocommerce/" target="_blank">announced</a> a strategic partnership that's designed to simplify the connection via a new integration, which will be available to WooCommerce merchants in the <a href="https://woocommerce.com/products/pinterest-for-woocommerce/" target="_blank">Products section</a> of the company's website. 
"By partnering together, we provide the best integrated Pinterest shopping experience possible for WooCommerce merchants to be on the cutting edge of social commerce," said Aleksandra Bettin, VP of Business Development at WooCommerce. "WooCommerce is highly invested in our merchants' success. Merchants need the right options to reach the right audiences – this integration with Pinterest helps them do that."
<h2>Using Pinterest to drive more traffic to WooCommerce stores</h2>
The category of <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/social-commerce.asp#:~:text=What%20Is%20Social%20Commerce%3F,retweets%2C%20likes%2C%20and%20shares." target="_blank">social commerce</a> is booming, and brands are looking for new ways to reach their audiences. While all social media platforms can help amplify traffic (both paid and organic), Pinterest has introduced some innovative features to help augment SEO. This includes a new visual search tool that makes finding customers on the platform even easier. Likewise, using pins, boards, and collections on Pinterest can drive organic traffic to a WooCommerce site. This combination gives merchants more power when it comes to expanding their reach. 
According to Pinterest's statistics, a whopping <a href="https://business.pinterest.com/audience/" target="_blank">97% of the top searches on Pinterest are unbranded</a>. That means Pinterest shoppers haven't made up their minds about specific products or brands – and they're open to learning and exploring. This is an opportunity that both WooCommerce and Pinterest have keyed in on, and are now simplifying the connection points to convert a shopper's interest into a real brand purchase. 
<h2>How to use the WooCommerce Pinterest extension </h2>
Adding the Pinterest integration to a WooCommerce store is very simple. It starts by installing the <a href="https://woocommerce.com/products/pinterest-for-woocommerce/" target="_blank">Pinterest for WooCommerce extension</a>, which will upload an entire WooCommerce product catalog to Pinterest. From there, shoppable pins will appear in people's feeds as they search and browse. The extension also logs when customers interact with products on Pinterest so users can track their best-selling or most saved items. 
While some WooCommerce merchants might have already manually uploaded their catalogs to Pinterest, the company recommends switching to the new extension instead. It's the easiest and most efficient way to keep your products current on Pinterest since it automatically updates details like pricing and product availability. 
The Pinterest for WooCommerce integration is currently available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Japan will gain access later this year. 
<h2>About WooCommerce</h2>
<a href="https://woocommerce.com/" target="_blank">WooCommerce</a> is the leading open-source e-commerce platform, powering 28% of the top million online stores (BuiltWith). Built on <a href="https://wordpress.com/" target="_blank">WordPress</a>, it empowers anyone, anywhere, to sell anything with truly unlimited extensibility, flexibility, and control over how they build and evolve their business. Founded in 2011 and acquired by Automattic in 2015, WooCommerce is a fully distributed company with employees based around the world.
<h2>About Pinterest</h2>
People around the world come to Pinterest for inspiration. It's a visual inspiration platform where people find inspiring creators, shop new products, and seek out ideas to take offline. People have saved more than 330 billion Pins across a range of interests, from creating a home office, cooking a new recipe to finding your next vacation spot. Headquartered in San Francisco, Pinterest launched in 2010 and has more than 400 million monthly active users. Available on iOS and Android and at pinterest.com.

WooCommerce and Pinterest Announce Partnership, Offer New Integration for Connecting with Shoppers

Woocommerce and Pinterest logos together on a dark background

<img alt="Magnolia Conference 2016" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img_4204-1.jpg" />
Need to catch up? Check out my <a href="/magnolia-conference-2016-day-one/">coverage of Magnolia Conference 2016 Day One</a>. 
Typically, the second day of a conference is far more mellow than the first – and Day Two of the Magnolia Conference 2016 was no different.
However, <a href="/magnolia-conference-2014-reflections-of-an-attendee/">just like back at the Magnolia Conference 2014</a>, Magnolia didn't try to force or feign urgency. Instead, they embraced this inevitability with open arms by hosting a far more casual ‘Unconference'. 
For those unaware of the concept, an Unconference is where attendees pitch topics to discuss, take a vote, and then take a more active role in discussing the selected topics. 
Magnolia began by explaining that concept to the audience early on Day Two, before opening up the floor for individual attendees to pitch their ideas to the audience.
The ideas soon rolled in, and it wasn’t long until we had a filled schedule for the rest of the day.
<img alt="Setting up the Unconference schedule" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img_4182-e1465600581489-1024x691.jpg" />
As the various discussions took place across the Pathe Kuchlin Theatre, I made my way around the various rooms and screens to try and drink in as much of the event as possible. And to <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23mconf16&amp;src=typd">live-tweet it all</a>, of course.
Unlike the presentations on Day One, attendees were free to voice opinions, suggestions, and concerns. You could feel the open source nature of Magnolia being physically lived out. <img alt="Magnolia Conference 2016" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img_4232.jpg" />
For those who wanted a more traditional conference experience, business and technical tracks continued to run throughout the day alongside the Unconference. Those presentations came from the likes of Netcetera Software, who explored Atmomic Design and how it related to Magnolia CMS.
<img alt="IMG_4200" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img_4200.jpg" />
Other presentations were given by Canto, SysEleven, Arvato, and others.
In fact, thanks to the Unconference events, there was actually more going on during Day Two than there was during Day One. However, because the day's activities were divided up across the theatre, you might be forgiven for thinking the opposite. 
<h2>Same Atmosphere, Different Day</h2>
The same friendly atmosphere I felt during Day One was also present during Day Two.
But, as Magnolia encouraged at the start of the day, I felt more comfortable leaving and entering rooms where discussions were already in flow. I also popped to the lobby for an Espresso every so often, without feeling the need to wait for the official coffee breaks.
The whole day was one, big, enjoyable blur.
And of course, I got my hands on some conference loot, including a tee-shirt, a hoody, and a very cool <a href="https://www.thetileapp.com/">Tile</a>.


Although the nature of Day Two was entirely different to what I experienced during <a href="/magnolia-conference-2016-day-one/">Day One</a>, I can firmly say that the Magnolia Conference 2016 was a genuine joy to attend.
I saw some great presentations, learned a few things, and met some very friendly representatives from the likes of IBM, as well as Magnolia of course.
<img alt="Plus, free Croissants!" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img_4168-e1465600722119-1024x714.jpg" />
And with that in mind, I'd like to thank Magnolia CMS (and in particular <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorrainechandler">Lorraine Chandler</a>, Magnolia's Senior Content Strategist), for inviting CMS Critic to the event.
As for those who missed out, you can re-live the whole event through the Twitter hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23mconf16&amp;src=typd">#MConf16</a>. You'll find that, as usual at these events, CMS Critic's account was the most active.
Furthermore, be sure to keep your eye on <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/">Magnolia's website</a> for news on next year's conference. You won't regret making the trip.

Magnolia Conference 2016 Day Two: The Unconference

Hackers love websites. Maybe that's overstating the obvious, but in today's hyperconnected digital world, it can't be understated. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.webarxsecurity.com/website-hacking-statistics-2018-february/">According to McAfee</a>, hackers produce 300,000 new pieces of malware daily – and on average, 30,000 new websites are hacked every single day.The fact is, websites are easy targets. Not only are they abundant, but they're frequently built using open source technologies – meaning they're littered with holes that can be easily exploited.Most website owners have no idea how vulnerable they are until they've been hit. And with hackers sinking their teeth into financial data, patient records, IP, and more, a single breach can significantly damage a brand or even sink a business.While <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/gutenberg-2-years-later-is-wordpress-better-off/">WordPress</a>, Joomla, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/drupal-8-8-0-released/">Drupal</a> continue to own the open-source content management (CMS) market, they also represent the largest collection of security vulnerabilities. In fact, according to the 2020 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dimensiondata.com/en-gb/insights/global-threat-intelligence-report-2020">Global Threat Intelligence Report</a> from Dimension Data, almost 20% of all website attacks targeted these platforms – with WordPress owning the lion's share.Regardless of what software you're using, web security can feel like a never-ending game of "hide and seek." Hackers find holes in both modern and legacy web applications, and developers scramble to patch them as soon as possible – and the cycle repeats. But the biggest vulnerabilities often exist in layers that website owners take for granted like HTML5, Single Page Applications (SPA), and even password-protected web assets.The sharks are always circling. That's why security has become an essential part of any serious website or web application strategy. Historically, this required an expensive, multi-layered approach, combining both hardware and professional services. But now, you can automate your security processes with Netsparker: a powerful yet easy-to-use solution that's purpose-built for websites and web applications.In this review, we'll take a deeper look at Netsparker and how it can help website admins identify weak spots in their service. We'll tour its crawling and scanning tools and how it's designed to help maintain governance with domains, certificates, compliance, and more – so you can stay one step ahead of the threats.<h3>What is Netsparker?</h3>Netsparker is an automated yet fully configurable Enterprise DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing) utility that enables you to scan websites, web applications, and web services to identify security flaws. Netsparker can scan all types of web apps – regardless of the platform or language they're built with – making it incredibly extensible.Netsparker operates on what they call "Proof-Based Scanning," which automatically verifies detected vulnerabilities and confirms whether they're false positives by exploiting them in a safe, read-only manner. Here's a video overview of how it works:<figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF9eGAfBh8A"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uF9eGAfBh8A" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure>With Netsparker's scanning technology and automatic verification, you don't have to be a seasoned security professional to conduct thorough scans. You always know which results are actionable issues and not false positives, so you can prioritize your response.Netsparker is designed with productivity in mind. For example, you can send notifications and automatically assign vulnerabilities to developers, allowing you to patch web applications in real-time to maintain security. Bypassing expensive SecOps staff also means you save time and money on conducting regular scans, letting the cybersecurity pros focus on more complex issues.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/eliminate-the-uncertainty-of-false-positives.png" /><h3>Features</h3>There are a lot of security utilities on the market, but few that make vulnerability scanning at the web layer as streamlined as Netsparker. Not only is it easy to navigate and manage, but it gives both an individual user and an enterprise team access to integrated data and insights. We'll talk more about that when we cover Netsparker's product editions, but their central repository is one of the features that sets it apart within the cybersecurity landscape.First, let's cover some of the core capabilities that really stand out.Dashboard Security data can get complex – and fast. But this is where Netsparker really shines. With their visual dashboard, you get a holistic snapshot of your websites, scans, and active vulnerabilities in a single window. Intuitive graphs allow your team to track the severity of threats, assess your overall threat level, and automatically categorize the nature of your vulnerabilities from low to critical.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/netsparker-featured-image.png" />From the dashboard, you can also manage permissions for your users and groups, as well as assign team members to specific security tasks or establish security policies for your organization.Proof-Based Scanning™ As previously mentioned, Netsparker’s "Proof-Based Scanning" safely exploits any found vulnerabilities and automatically creates a proof-of-exploit or proof-of-concept to validate that it's real – and not a false positive. The process is further streamlined with automated notifications that assign vulnerabilities to developers, and patch web application firewalls in real-time to help maintain security.Vulnerability Scanning Identifying vulnerabilities is the most important mission for any web vulnerability scanner. Netsparker can spot all types of web application vulnerabilities, including multiple variants of the most common weaknesses such as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netsparker.com/blog/web-security/sql-injection-cheat-sheet/">SQL injection</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netsparker.com/blog/web-security/cross-site-scripting-xss/">cross-site scripting (XSS)</a>. Most direct-impact vulnerabilities are also automatically confirmed, so you can be confident that these results are not false positives.Vulnerability Details and Reporting<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/blind_sql_injection.png" />Every vulnerability uncovered by Netsparker is accompanied by detailed reporting that helps security teams and developers to not only fix issues but understand them. Vulnerabilities are also automatically tagged with a security severity level, denoting the potential damage they can do – and the urgency required to fix them.While Netsparker offers a number of out-of-the-box reports with different visualization options, you can also render your own custom report templates. Additionally, you can generate compliance reports that cover ISO27001, HIPAA, and other critical regulatory benchmarks – and you can have your PCI DSS reports <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netsparker.com/pci-vulnerability-scan/">validated by third-party entities</a> to ensure governance requirements.Armed with rich, in-depth information and remediation guidance, your experts can eliminate the root causes of vulnerabilities, write more secure code in the future, and meet fierce compliance with dynamic reporting.Built-In Assessment Tools<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/http_request_builder.png" />To help teams optimize scanning and manual testing, Netsparker features a number of advanced web security tools that work with modern and legacy web languages and technologies.<ul><li>HTTP Request Builder: You can use the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netsparker.com/blog/docs-and-faqs/http-request-builder-penetration-testing-tool/">HTTP Request Builder</a> to create your own HTTP requests and modify imported requests. This is extremely useful for performing manual vulnerability assessments and troubleshooting complex issues like identifying logical vulnerabilities.</li><li>Encoding and Decoding Tools: Text encoding and decoding is a vital feature when manually crafting and modifying test payloads. To save precious time during manual vulnerability assessments, Netsparker includes a text encoder and decoder that supports multiple encoding schemes, including URL, HTML, Base64, UTF7, MD5, SHA1, SHA256, SHA512, and others.</li><li>ViewState Viewer: When security scanning ASP.NET and modern .NET web applications, Netsparker extracts ViewState data from HTTP requests and responses generated during scanning. The ViewState data is displayed in a separate preview tab for easier troubleshooting.</li><li>Asset Discovery: Another proactive security measure, Netsparker's Asset Discovery service continuously scans the Internet to discover your assets based on numerous variables – including IP addresses, top-level and second-level domains, and even SSL certificate information.</li></ul><h3>Plans</h3>Netsparker offers a few different plans based on your needs: Standard, Team, and Enterprise. The naming is fairly intuitive – and so is the pricing – but we'll explore each tier in more detail below.One quick note worth mentioning: Netsparker Standard and Netsparker Enterprise are actually designed to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netsparker.com/support/integrating-netsparker-standard-with-netsparker-enterprise/">integrate with each other</a>. This basically means that Enterprise includes Standard, and can synchronize and share data using a central repository. Use whichever edition best suits your needs – from one desktop scanner for a single site to hundreds via API – and share the results with your entire team.And one more thing: Netsparker provides 24-hour email, phone, and remote screen support Monday through Friday. They boast a 98% customer satisfaction rating on their website FAQ, and their product reviews seem to reflect that.Netsparker Standard Netsparker Standard is perfect for small and medium-sized businesses. The on-premises desktop scanner helps protect commercial and open-source web products, websites made by third parties, and custom web applications. If you have websites built on a popular CMS, an eCommerce shop on a platform solution, or a home-grown web application, Netsparker Standard is an ideal choice for up to 20 websites.Netsparker Standard is available as a Windows application with built-in penetration testing and reporting tools, many of which allow for fully automated security testing. You also get access to their crawling and scanning features, reporting, policy tools and more.Netsparker Team Netsparker Team is made for larger organizations seeking a complete vulnerability assessment and management solution with collaboration in mind. Netsparker Team helps streamline workflows for up to 50 websites, and unlike Standard, it's all accessed via Netsparker's REST API.Netsparker Team includes all of the essentials from Standard, like crawling, reporting, and tools – but also provides a multi-user platform with native CI/CD, messaging, and business workflow systems. It also features Netsparker's PCI Compliance Scanner, which brings greater value to websites with significant paycard data transactions.Netsparker Enterprise Netsparker Enterprise is a comprehensive security platform designed for large organizations with significant web properties and assets. Like Team, it is an API-driven, multi-user scanning solution with dynamic built-in workflow tools. The big difference is scalability: if you have over 50 websites you're managing, Enterprise brings hosted account options to the table that empower your teams with dedicated support and resources. You also get access to custom authentication for OAuth2, Single Sign-On (SSO), client-side certificates, and more.Netsparker Enterprise is really designed to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netsparker.com/online-web-application-security-scanner/sdlc-integration/">integrate seamlessly into the software development lifecycle</a>, allowing DevOps and SecOps teams to scan thousands of web applications and services as they are being developed, tested, or running in production. This makes Enterprise an ideal tool for software teams as they push new products and features to market, ensuring that they meet security and compliance requirements from end to end.<h3>Pricing</h3>Netsparker is an incredibly well-reviewed product, and based on our own experience, it delivers both the functionality and simplicity it claims. They also get points for a cool slider on their <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netsparker.com/plans/">Product &amp; Plans</a> page, which helps recommend a tier based on the number of websites you're scanning. This makes it easy (and maybe even a little fun) to determine which product is right for your needs.Here's how the tiers break down:<ul><li>1-20 websites: Standard plan</li><li>21-49 websites: Team Plan</li><li>50 + websites: Enterprise Plan</li></ul>Unfortunately, that's all you get: a recommendation. They don't provide a price, but it's reasonably clear that it's based in part on the tier itself and the number of websites you'll be scanning. Each plan progressively builds on the previous, allowing you to scale seamlessly. And as mentioned, the Enterprise edition includes the Standard edition desktop scanner as part of the suite.OK, so no price transparency. That requires a demo and a phone call for a custom quote. But the good news is that you can try Netsparker for free today with just a few basic steps. And once you're using it, you'll worry less about price – and wonder how you ever got by without it.<h3>About Netsparker</h3><a target="_blank" href="https://www.netsparker.com/">Netsparker</a> is the leading Enterprise DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing) solution and the only product that delivers automatic verification of vulnerabilities with exclusive pre-scan automation and Proof-Based Scanning™ technology. Netsparker scans any type of web application, provides actionable results, and integrates with company workflow tools to close the loop between IT and developers. It identifies vulnerabilities from the early stages of application development through production. With global headquarters in London and North American headquarters in Austin, Texas, Netsparker serves customers worldwide in the technology, professional services, banking, and government markets, including many Fortune 500 companies. Netsparker is part of <a target="_blank" href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=2947090-1&amp;h=30600359&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.invicti.com%2F&amp;a=Invicti+Security">Invicti Security</a>, the leading global provider of dynamic application security testing products.

Netsparker Review: Web Application Security and Vulnerability Scanner

Today, I announce the winner of the 2014 Critics' Choice Award for Best Free Forum Solution.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bestfreeforumsolution.png" />
This is always a tough category but once again this year, we're giving the win to the ever popular, Vanilla Forums.
<a href="http://vanillaforums.org"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/vanilla_grad.png" /></a>
Congratulations to the Vanilla Forums development team. Check them out here: <a href="http://vanillaforums.org/">http://vanillaforums.org/</a>

2014 Critics' Choice Award Winner - Best Free Forum Solution

If you haven’t already noticed, video and the Internet go together pretty darn well.
From video-based social media to on-demand movies, video content is everywhere, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. Businesses large and small are making use of video to demonstrate their products, provide information, and above all, win custom.
Launched in 2013 out of Rockville, Maryland, <a href="http://www.uscreen.tv/" target="_blank">Uscreen</a> is a platform built to sell video content, allowing visitors to either download or stream the good stuff from any device. Vendors using Uscreen can set their content to be sold or rented, and can also run a video subscription service.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-1700x0.jpg" alt="Uscreen" />
Impressively, Uscreen already boasts of delivering over 10,000 videos per month, despite being less than two years old as a standalone platform.
<h2>A Flexible Video Storefront</h2>
Speaking of videos, here's a quick video demonstrating some of Uscreen's key features.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzcX2qFNvKc
Essentially, Uscreen enables you to create a digital storefront, similar to that of most other eCommerce websites. Visitors can then browse through your visual collection before deciding on how they wish to pay for, and eventually view the content.
Here's an additional breakdown of Uscreen's features:
<ul>
<li>Uscreen gives you a fully customizable storefront to post and sell videos to your customers. The platform also handles all transactions &amp; eCommerce duties.</li>
<li>Viewers can stream videos on any device including phones, tablets, TV’s &amp; Apple Airplay. They can do so at anytime, anywhere. Plus, they can even download them, if you allow them to.</li>
<li>Viewers can Buy, Rent, or Subscribe to any of your videos, you set the price and manage your subscriptions via your Uscreen publisher admin area.</li>
<li>All videos are protected with a proprietary DRM &amp; encryption, giving you optimum security across the board.</li>
<li>Dedicated iOS &amp; Android apps make the viewing expereince more enjoyable, and videos more accessible.</li>
</ul>
Furthermore, when viewers access your streamed video content, Uscreen gives you the ability to; offer different content chapter and episode markers, link to PDFs and other webpages, and more — all within the same window. Thus, the potential for what Uscreen could be used for, is intruiging.
One of the standout business models which crossed my mind when exploring Uscreen, was online training and education, although the possibilities are endless. 
<h2>Providing The Video Dimension</h2>
Remember when having a blog was the latest “new dimension” for online businesses?
Well, now that blogs are pretty much necessities, the newest dimension on the block is video content. It’s easy to interact with, highly effective at conveying messages, and it’s an excellent opportunity for brands to show yet more personality.
Uscreen is giving brands that outlet in a manageable way.
The pricing structure, which starts from $49.95 per month plus a 15% revenue share, doesn’t freeze out startups or small businesses. Rather, it’s a professional video selling and streaming service for the masses. Now that's an exciting prospect.
To find out more about Uscreen, <a href="http://www.uscreen.tv/" target="_blank">visit their website</a>.

Uscreen: Sell Videos, Simply

Shopify - The global commerce platform

Build your business with Shopify to sell online, offline, and everywhere in between.

The global commerce platform

#ffffff

<a href="http://www.sdl.com/" target="_blank">SDL</a>, one of the world's leading customer experience management solution providers, has released some updates to its Customer Experience Cloud, <a href="/sdl-launches-sdl-customer-experience-cloud-aiming-to-deliver-personalized-customer-experiences/" target="_blank">which was initially launched at the beginning of 2014</a>.
As always, the goal with modern customer experience management is to give a consistent, yet contextualised experience to each and every customer. SDL have recognised this need, stating that,
<blockquote>
“[This new] unified suite of offerings centers on four key pillars: Digital Experience, Knowledge Center, Customer Analytics and Language to meet the needs of today’s global organizations.”
</blockquote>
<h2>Value “Within Days”</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-1700x0.jpg" />
Here's a breakdown of what SDL's Customer Experience Cloud enhancements:
<ul>
<li>Digital Experience: SDL's Customer Experience Cloud solution helps brands engage customers through contextually relevant experiences. This includes a set of <a href="http://www.sdl.com/cxc/digital-experience/" target="_blank">digital experience</a> accelerators that allow the creation of adaptive web and mobile experiences that offer re-use of content, assets, customer profiles and rules without the need to be developed individually.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Knowledge Center: SDL's <a href="http://www.sdl.com/cxc/knowledge-center/" target="_blank">Knowledge Center</a> facilitates the creation of consistent brand journeys with key capabilities allow for the creation of dynamic product knowledge views that offer a superior experience for documentation and self-service support scenarios by providing the same brand richness as done for marketing experiences.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Customer Analytics: With its customer analytics technology, SDL has added the ability to model a single view of the customer that aggregates all customer data including profile, situational data, transactional data and third-party data that’s available within the enterprise to drive a segment of one experience which enables real-time analysis of the customer experience.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Language: SDL provides global brands the ability to effectively communicate across regions and languages ensuring organizations are communicating in the language of the customer. New <a href="http://www.sdl.com/cxc/language/" target="_blank">language</a> enhancements include SDL’s Targeted Industry Language Platforms for Travel &amp; Hospitality, Life Sciences, Financial Services and Digital Marketing; organizations can now cater to the terminology and language nuances required for these targeted industries.</li>
</ul>
SDL's CEO, Mark Lancaster, was full of praise for his company's latest release:
<blockquote>
“SDL is laser-focused on helping brands create better customer experiences, and we realize that doesn’t end with marketing. Our technology combines a rich expertise in language with a common data layer and the first context engine to simplify and unify the channels brands need to outperform competitors world-wide. Our Customer Experience Cloud begins delivering value within days, allowing organizations to focus on engagement and creating brand advocates, ultimately growing the bottom line.” 
</blockquote>
To find out more about the SDL Customer Experience Cloud, you can read the <a href="http://www.sdl.com/about/news-media/press/2015/sdl-enhances-customer-experience-cloud-to-deliver-the-only-global-ready-customer-experience-suite.html" target="_blank">official press release</a>.
Also, be sure to <a href="http://www.sdl.com/cxc/" target="_blank">visit the SDL website</a> for further information.

SDL Rolls Out Customer Experience Cloud Enhancements

Semrush - Be an SEO hero

Be found everywhere search happens

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