Articles - Page 49

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

matt-garrepy

Heads up for any Joomla site owners / developers. There is a new bug fix release available from Joomla. This is a security release for the 3.x series of Joomla addressing four security vulnerabilities and including over 100 bug fixes and improvements.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/joomla-384.jpg" />
This release fixes a few XSS vulnerabilities, an SQLi vulnerability as well as a few bug fixes. Here are some of the ones that have been handed:
<ul>
<li>Contact form loses data after submission with error <a href="https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/17743">#17743</a></li>
<li>Smart Search performance improvement for common words <a href="https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/12450">#12450</a></li>
<li>Performance improvement in Smart Search indexing process <a href="https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/17390">#17390</a></li>
<li>Update jQuery Autocomplete to 1.4.7 <a href="https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/18113">#18113</a></li>
<li>Update CodeMirror to 5.33.0 <a href="https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/18880">#18880</a></li>
<li>Update srcset url conversion to handle commas and spaces <a href="https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/18327">#18327</a></li>
<li>Custom Fields: Handle tag items properly <a href="https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/19006">#19006</a></li>
<li>Fix filepath to PHPMailer language file <a href="https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/19072">#19072</a></li>
<li>Display category title as page heading and page title when no menu item for com_content category <a href="https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/19195">#19195</a></li>
<li>Respect access level in com_content <a href="https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/18417">#18417</a></li>
<li>Miscellaneous PHP 7.2 compatibility fixes</li>
</ul>
Visit GitHub for the full list of <a href="https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/milestone/29?closed=1" target="_blank">bug fixes</a>.
Grab your updated copy of Joomla 3.8.4 today from <a href="https://www.joomla.org" target="_blank">https://www.joomla.org</a>

Joomla 3.8.4 Bug Fix Release Now Available

mike-johnston

Purchasing a content management system is a big investment. There are a lot of people who will be affected by the purchase, there’s a lot of research to do, and you’ll need to plan for the implementation, not to mention the actual cost of whatever system you choose. You may also want to audit your existing site content before migrating to the new system. Needless to say, there’s a lot to think about. The last thing you want to slow you down is colleagues or bosses standing in the way of a more efficient, more powerful content management system because they aren’t on the same page as you.
Based on our extensive experience with organizations buying content management systems, the best way to address the issue of organizational buy-in is to consider all your stakeholders from the beginning.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/url930x0.jpg" alt="company buy in" />
Make a list of each person (or department) at your organization who will be impacted by your selection, and consider their needs and desires. Depending on your role, this may include any or all of the following:
 MarComm 
As marketers become increasingly tech-savvy and analytics-driven, they are making more and more of the tech decisions at companies. Regardless of who the final decision-maker is at your company, the marketing and communications folks will be heavily invested in the final outcome. We recommend speaking with them before you get too far in your search in order to find out their needs. Are they concerned with in-context analytics, branding consistency, fresh and SEO-friendly content, converting visitors to leads, sharing content across pages and sites, and/or having a mobile-friendly or responsive site design? What are their top priorities and biggest pain points?
 Information Technology (IT) 
Even if you choose a CMS-provider that can handle your content migration, CMS implementation and hosting of your CMS server, your IT department will still need to be involved to an extent in getting the CMS up and running for your organization. Additionally, you’ll probably need to have at least one or two people responsible for maintaining users in the system, adjusting permissions and access levels, and serving as the first level of support. If you choose to do the content migration, CMS hosting, backups and software upgrades in-house, then they’ll be even more involved. Speak with this team early on, and be sure to consider their technical abilities and existing time commitments, as this will help determine what types of services you’ll need to look for in conjunction with your software purchase.
 Content Contributors 
These are any social media marketers, bloggers, journalists, writers, photographers, interns, administrative assistants or others who will be updating content on your site. Some of them will be using the system daily while others may only use it every six months. Technical abilities may vary greatly from company to company and within a single company. In order to get buy-in from this group, we recommend asking them about their current pain points during your research phase and having them test your top 2-3 systems. Another crucial step to getting buy-in and participation from this group is to provide training and on-going internal support to these users post-purchase. Some end user-focused features you may want to look for are in-context editing, spell-checking, non-HTML content editing, hidden links on the live site to jump into the system for editing, image and link management, and drag and drop functionality.
 Web Developers and Designers 
If you’re redesigning your site along with upgrading to a new CMS, you may choose to outsource the design to an agency. However, once the initial design has been implemented, you will probably still have an ongoing need for web development and design work. If you’ve got in-house developers, make sure you discuss their needs and let them demo your top finalist systems. Content management systems come with a wide array of different developer tools, and a single feature, such as a code editor, could make a big difference in how easy or difficult it is to get your developers on board. Ask your developers how much weight they place on having an advanced code editor, the ability to use unlimited templates, support for mobile and responsive technologies, an active community of other users, and sample templates that can be customized for your company.
 The Higher-ups 
Your CIO, CTO and/or CMO may never spend a single minute working directly with your new content management system, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t have opinions on the technology they want you to use or what results they’d like to see from the implementation of a new system. This group may hold the purse strings as well, so it’s important to seek out their opinions early. Talk to them about your overall web content strategy and your goals, so you can be sure the product you select can help you achieve those goals. If your opinions regarding technology differ, the conversation doesn’t have to end there; however, it’s good to know where they stand ahead of time, so you can be prepared to make the case for your favorite CMS later down the road.
This is not an exclusive list of potential stakeholders, so make sure you consider all angles at your organization and write down their different (and potentially conflicting) goals and pain points early on. The best way to get buy-in is to let your stakeholders be part of your team and by making sure their needs are represented in your search. Does this mean everyone is going to be happy with your final decision? Maybe not at first. But by working together, providing on-going training, and informing all your stakeholders of the most influential factors in your decision, you can minimize the grumbling and have a smooth transition to your new CMS.
Like this article? Read more in this free Intro to Content Management Whitepaper. 
[[hannon2]]

How to Get Company-wide Buy-in for a New CMS

<a href="https://wpengine.com/">WP Engine</a>, a WordPress hosting company, has announced the introduction of <a href="https://wpengine.com/support/best-practices-using-wp-engine-page-performance/">Page Performance</a>, which will focus on delivering actionable insights for websites across its 47,000 customers and agency partners in 133 countries.
<img style="max-width:432px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wp_engine_logo_bb.png" alt="wp_engine_logo_bb" />
Impressively, this product launch makes WP Engine the first managed WordPress platform to offer a web page speed performance tool integrated into the user dashboard through which customers can quickly improve the speed of their websites.
<h2>WP Engine Page Performace</h2>
Here's a breakdown of the benefits brought forth by WP Engine's newest project:
<ul>
<li>Access to Key Metrics on Any Page with Report History to See Improvements Over Time. Report includes such metrics as cacheability, render start, visitor complete, render complete and other data.</li>
<li>Actionable Recommendations with Rich Context including links to a library of support material enable users to make fast, significant, measurable impact to site performance.</li>
<li>Integrated into WP Engine User Portal to support developer workflow.</li>
</ul>
<h2>“Helping Out Customers Win Online”</h2>
Website speed is a major part of Search Engine Optimization, and WP Engine have recognized this with this release, as Heather Brunner, CEO of WP Engine, states:
<blockquote>“WP Engine Performance Intelligence is our ongoing commitment to develop tools and insights to help our customers win online.
A website’s speed affects nearly every metric a brand or agency might care about from page views to conversion rates. Our Page Performance product gives you specific recommendations to do just that.”</blockquote>
According to a recent study published on <a href="https://blog.kissmetrics.com/speed-is-a-killer/">KISSmetrics</a>, a one-second delay in page load time results in 11 percent fewer page views; a 16 percent decrease in customer satisfaction; and a 7 percent drop in conversion. Thus proving that site performance can make or break a brand and a customer’s digital experience.
The aim of WP Engine’s Page Performance feature is to gives site owners a detailed site speed report and actionable recommendations to solve for technical issues impacting digital business.
I think WP Engine has made a strong move with this project. It's well established that site speed plays a big role in SEO and overall user experience, and a WordPress-integrated performance checker will surely play into the hands of SEO specialists who work with WordPress.
To find out more about WP Engine's new Page Performance features, <a href="https://wpengine.com/support/best-practices-using-wp-engine-page-performance/">check out their website</a>.
And as per usual, you can explore and review this product through the <a href="/products/wp-engine/">WP Engine hub</a> on our Hosting Directory.

WP Engine Rolls Out WordPress Integrated Page Performance Tool

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/episerver_partner_portal_2-01.png" alt="Episerver_partner_portal_2-01" />
According to <a href="http://www.channelpartnersonline.com/">channelpartersonline.com</a>, 80% of partner portals don’t live up to channel partners’ expectations, as employees don’t regard them as effective everyday tools to sell their vendors’ products.
Usually, partner portals fail because they:
<ul>
<li>Are not user-friendly, i.e. navigation or search is so complicated that a vendor management might seek help from support to find the needed page.</li>
<li>Don’t engage partners through communication and help, e.g. do not encourage them to ask questions on business-related issues or share insights on the community board.</li>
<li>Don’t offer useful tools that can help salespeople to support sales, e.g. generate a customized proposal or calculate ROI.</li>
</ul>
In my <a href="https://www.scnsoft.com/blog/how-to-engage-channel-partners-with-a-portal">recent blog post</a>, I outlined several tips on how to reverse these flaws and start engaging partners for better sales.
Now, let’s get to the technical aspect of creating an actionable partner portal, which first of all boils down to choosing a capable CMS.
Serving established enterprises that seek to increase sales through partnerships, we at <a href="https://www.scnsoft.com/">ScienceSoft</a> prefer the commercial <a href="https://www.scnsoft.com/episerver">Episerver</a> platform, and here’s why.
<h2>Engage Multiple Employees in One Company</h2>
To encourage the existing partners to sell more through your partner portal, you should engage not only their vendor managers but also other employees who can influence an end customer’s purchase decision, i.e. sales reps, marketing specialists and tech people.
Episerver allows adding to a company account multiple employees as users with predefined roles, including an administrator who will be able to manage members (create, edit or delete).
<h2>Tailor Content to Every Employee</h2>
With Episerver, you can personalize virtually any type of content – from on-page information such as a text, image or block to a set of pages or sections to be shown to a visitor depending on their role.
This way, you will make sure that a sales rep and a tech specialist will find their shortest ways to the required information without wading through tons of generic content.
<h2>Improve Your Portal on the Go</h2>
Episerver offers an open and layered architecture so that you won’t need to go through a full-blown portal redesign while changing or expanding your information structure, be it introducing a community board or building advanced search-based navigation.
<h2>Offer Handy Interactive Tools</h2>
Working with multiple partner portals, employees will naturally stick to the most convenient ones. The Episerver CMS will help you to stand out from your competitors by implementing useful tools such as:
<ul>
<li>Marketing material customizer to change logos, prices and contacts</li>
<li>Configurators and calculators for products with options</li>
<li>Reports on sales, and others</li>
</ul>
<h2>Winding It Up</h2>
A convenient partner portal that serves relevant content to all of your partners’ employees engaged in sales becomes an everyday helper and eventually boosts sales.
The question is, can your CMS ensure the necessary level of personalization and usability? If you are only thinking about creating a partner portal or willing to redesign the existing solution, we recommend to consider Episerver as a proven option.

A Look at Episerver as a Partner Portal Platform

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wordpress-intranet-theme638x0-is.jpg" />
We’ve all used it in some way, shape, or form. In fact, up to <a href="https://managewp.com/statistics-about-wordpress-usage">26% of websites</a> worldwide are powered by WordPress, making it one of the most popular content management systems globally. For many uses, WordPress is a fantastic choice. It’s aesthetically pleasing, easily customizable, and up and running in no time. However, it’s also easy to fall into the trap of thinking that WordPress is the best system for all your online needs—when in fact, this is not always the case. Here we to look at some of the downsides of using a WordPress intranet theme as an intranet solution and suggest a better alternative.
<h2>Lots Of Options, Lots Of Headaches</h2>
One of the big attractions to WordPress is the vast array of plugins and different themes that it offers users. It seems as though there is a plugin to serve every purpose under the sun—over 40,000 of them! When creating a blog (WordPress’s core purpose), these can be great. However, many users find that the sheer range and complexity of plugins are a real headache.
For example, imagine that you’re looking to have a document sharing center and a staff calendar as part of your WordPress intranet. These would both require plugins, which would seem like a straightforward task. The issue is, WordPress plugins are supplied by thousands of different developers, meaning that you’re likely to end up with two different plugins, run by different suppliers. What does this mean for you? Most likely different support policies, varying schedules for updates, differing mobile compatibility, and a completely different look and feel. Overall? Messy.
Having such a range of plugins to choose from may seem like an intranet heaven, but it’s far from it. They clutter and complicate your intranet, adding unnecessary third parties and creating a disjointed experience. If you’re looking for a great intranet design to engage your staff, WordPress may be the intuitive choice, but it’s not the logical one.
<h2>Using A Blogging Site… For Intranet</h2>
If you choose to use WordPress to create your intranet, what you’re doing is using a blogging website, for an intranet. As much as WordPress tries to appeal to broader purposes than its initial target market of bloggers, at the end of the day, it’s still a blogging tool.
With this in mind, WordPress has not been designed in the same way that an intranet solution will have been. Some of the typical features you may wish for your intranet to have, such as different levels of access to different pages, may actually be rather difficult to create in practice. Inevitably, the answer for everything on WordPress is plugins—but as we already know, these come with their own set of issues. Often we find that an intranet with all the necessary features takes a painfully long time to load on WordPress, purely because of the quantity of plugins that must be loaded with every new page. Contrast this to an intranet hosted on software specifically designed for intranet, and the difference is remarkable.
<h2>Support Responsiveness, What’s That?</h2>
An intranet is all about engagement. It’s designed to enhance engagement, and its success pivots around staff engagement. That’s why one of the most important features of an intranet provider is their service—their ability to dive in and fix problems immediately before staff get apathetic and begin disengaging with the platform.
Unfortunately, this level of responsiveness is simply not present in WordPress intranets. For starters, issues are more likely to occur, given the number of plugins needed to run the necessary features of an intranet. Importantly though, there’s no one provider with a service agreement. As we’ve touched on, different plugins are run by different suppliers, often individuals. If your document sharing center crashes, your staff may have reverted back to paper-based systems before Gary from Albuquerque has responded to your calls.
<h2>To Build, Or To Buy?</h2>
One of the questions that always comes up early on in a discussion about intranet implementation is “Should we build our own? Or buy one off the shelf?” It can be tempting, particularly for large companies with well-resourced IT teams and servers, to build an intranet solution to meet the bespoke needs of their company. This can come with a few pitfalls, however:
<ul>
<li>Creating your own bespoke intranet can be deceptively time and labor intensive</li>
<li>Housing a server requires a physical space</li>
<li>Ongoing management, maintenance and security the server and intranet become your sole responsibility</li>
</ul>
So, why not buy an off-the-shelf WordPress intranet solution? It’s cost effective, quick to set up and easy to manage, but beyond this, it’s not all plain sailing. Firstly, you’ll have to host the solution yourself unless you are going pay to host it in the cloud. The cost for hosting with the performance level needed for a stable intranet alone will be the same as paying for a cloud intranet that's ready to go. Secondly, you’ll have a restricted level of functionality, depending on the provider’s development schedule. Thirdly, you’ll likely find that after a couple of years, a new solution is required, if you choose a cloud intranet solution, then it will stay up to date with current trends.
To truly make the most of a <a href="http://www.myhubintranet.com/wordpress-intranet">WordPress intranet</a>, you’ll need someone on your team who has a thorough knowledge of WordPress. Technical expertise in CSS is necessary too, which is often not available in small to medium-sized organizations. Even if it is, it comes at a cost—and is building an intranet, on a blogging website, really the best use of that resource?
<h2>Security Alert!</h2>
WordPress websites are notorious for security concerns. Given the overwhelming popularity of WordPress globally for its core offerings, it’s naturally vulnerable to SQL injections, hacking, and other unwanted attention. No doubt WordPress is working hard to address these concerns in their updates, however, at the end of the day responsibility for security lies with you. That means if you want cutting-edge security features, such as SSL, you’ll need to set those up yourself.
<h2>WordPress Intranet Theme? </h2>
We love WordPress, just not for an intranet.
So, what’s the alternative? We believe it’s a cloud intranet solution. Some cloud intranets have several advantages over WordPress, such as:
<ul>
<li>No requirement for specific technical knowledge</li>
<li>Easily customizable, pre-tested templates and features</li>
<li>Easy to set up, guided site builder process</li>
<li>Mobile responsiveness</li>
<li>Secure external hosting using industry-leading online security features</li>
<li>Straightforward ongoing management for users and content</li>
<li>High availability and uptime (approx. 99.99%)</li>
<li>Fully integrated platform, and no need for plugins</li>
<li>Responsibility for updates and backups remains with the provider</li>
</ul>
Ultimately, if your business wants an intranet that doesn’t compromise on functionality or service, that your staff can be engaging with within hours, then consider a cloud intranet. Doesn’t it make sense to choose a solution that has been specifically designed for the purpose in mind, rather than a cobbled together set of plugins on a platform originally designed for an entirely different use?
Get in touch with us at MyHub if you’d like to know more about cloud intranets. MyHub is the premier cloud intranet choice for hundreds of businesses of different sizes and in different markets across the globe. Contact us today for a <a href="https://www.myhubintranet.com/book-demo/">free intranet demo</a> and to find out why.

WordPress Intranet Theme vs Cloud Intranet Provider?

I'm a huge fan of simplicity and elegance and I was very excited when I first saw a new Linux distribution called <a href="https://budgie-remix.org/">Budgie Remix</a> hit the news. For those who are unaware, Budgie Remix is a distribution featuring the beautiful Budgie Desktop.
Here's a screenshot of my desktop as I write this:
<img alt="Screenshot from 2016-04-26 16-31-25" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot-from-2016-04-26-16-31-25.png" />
Yes, I'm a bit of a gamer and Budgie Remix does a great job of getting out of the way and looking good doing it. For those who are curious, the bottom panel is <a href="https://launchpad.net/plank">Plank</a> which is installed as part of the desktop. Some may not be fans but I think the overall look is pretty sweet and I've found myself preferring it over Gnome and Unity.
Based on Ubuntu 16.04, Budgie Remix is aiming to be an official Ubuntu flavor, specifically, Ubuntu Budgie and needs your help to get there. If you are a fan of the Budgie Desktop, don't hesitate to head on over to their <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/BudgieRemix/">subreddit</a> or <a href="https://plus.google.com/communities/106822666079268690759">Google Plus community</a> and get involved with testing, development, etc.
Obviously, the advantage to being based off of Ubuntu is the amazing amount of software and support from various vendors. Furthermore, most game makers tend to favor Ubuntu as a testing ground for their latest releases and as much as I love Archlinux as well, Ubuntu is just a more commonly supported distro.
For those who are interested in learning more about Budgie Remix or grabbing a copy to play with, head on over to <a href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/budgie-remix/files/">Sourceforge</a> and start downloading your today. I'd love to hear about your experiences in the comments below as well.

First Look at Budgie Remix

Power your CMS on AWS

Manage your websites & apps in the most trusted cloud.

#ffffff

Please tell us a bit about yourself, your background and your position within dotCMS.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/stefan_schinkel250x0-is.jpg" />Stefan: I’m an Electrical Engineer by training and for the last 22 years I have been working in technology-focused enterprises (TNT, MCI WorldCom, Accenture, DM Interface, BloomReach/Hippo) – starting in service delivery/Professional Services roles and moving into consulting and sales roles. Prior to joining dotCMS, I was with Hippo for eight years and part of the team that scaled the company to where it is today. At dotCMS, I’ll pick up the role as Chief Sales Officer and focus on net new business growth and help to scale the company in the next 36 months. I couldn’t be more excited to be part of this highly talented and experienced team that will create some waves in the industry shortly. 
What do you feel makes dotCMS a strong player in the open source enterprise CMS market?
Stefan: A couple things. First, the product is very rich and really stands out in a couple areas that align very well with requirements that we see in industries like Financial Services, Manufacturing and Retail. Building flexible / custom approval workflows without any coding is one of them. Compliance is another one. For both internal policies as well as up-coming legislation (GDPR and the likes) it’s important to retrieve snapshots of historic content representations. DotCMS offers this out-of-the-box. Most recently we added content preview for future date/time which is key use-case for retailers driving digital campaigns / experiences. Secondly, dotCMS is very well positioned to accelerate the roadmap due to the low technical debt, the open and decoupled architecture and the modern technology stack. Most notably is the re-designed authoring UI in Angular that we’ll continue to extend and improve for marketers and business users. The architecture and the well designed and flexible REST APIs is already ahead of the competition and we’ll continue to improve there. Lastly, our cloud offering is unprecedented with industry-unique auto-scaling of cloud resources, making dotCMS enterprise-grade and appealing for large / global enterprises who wish to build their next generation digital experience platform. We currently serve 150+ enterprise customers on four continents. 
On the topic of open source. Do you feel that there are advantages to an open source company over proprietary?
Stefan: Absolutely. Open source products in general, and CMS for sure, offer very mature and feature-rich products which means enterprises can focus on more advanced capabilities. Secondly, open source products are more secure due to the exposure they have by definition. This creates secure and hardened software products. Lastly, open source products provide higher interoperability by nature, which makes them a very solid fit for best-of-breed architectures. All these advantages put enterprises (both marketing and IT) in the driver’s seat to focus on innovation.
How do you feel the open source market has advanced in the last few years?
Stefan: More and more, Enterprise customers building business-critical applications demand transparency into the code bases and platforms they adopt. As Microsoft chief Satya Nadella says, “every business will be a software business” and no software business wants to be built on top of a platform or foundation they cannot control or modify. In the past few years, I have seen a surge in the preference for best-of-breed solutions over full blown suites and, by definition, that means INTEGRATION. Open source products and the complete Java stack provide open and flexible architectures to drive time-to-market and more importantly innovation for enterprises.
Where do you see it going?
Stefan: Again, Open source is here to stay for sure and will become even more mainstream than it is already. The Digital Enterprise will have the flexibility to build its digital experience platform using both proprietary and open source products in hybrid deployment models where I do see a strong position for the Platform-as-a-Service play and microservices-based architectures. Front-end frameworks like Angular, React and Node will become more dominant in the application / presentation layer but I do believe that have an out-of-the-box delivery tier in a DXP as well makes sense and drive more agility for business teams, and will technology teams continue to innovate in a similar pace. 
How is dotCMS ensuring it is positioned for success within it?
Stefan: dotCMS is in the process to finalize their first round of growth capital funding. We’ll make strategic investments in our product around cloud, AI/ML, engagement analytics and digital experience orchestration to drive a compelling product roadmap for our customers and partners. In addition, we’ll be focussing on expanding our partner and tech alliance ecosystem to accelerate our global product adoption. 
What is dotCMS doing to give back to the open source community?
Stefan: I have seen a lot of companies use the “open source” moniker to greenwash what is really proprietary technology. At dotCMS, we believe in a transparent development process. Our codebase is freely available on github. And we keep developing our product and accepting contributions from our community members into this core open source offering. Open source will remain an important part of our product development philosophy because we believe that it is what forward thinking companies require to drive innovation that allows enterprises to start building / proofing business-critical digital experience platforms. 
Can you tell us a bit about some of the interesting and unique implementations of dotCMS you’ve seen in the wild?
Stefan: There are a couple great examples that I want to mention here. First, the Hospital Corporation of America is using our platform to run 1500+ large scale, complete websites – not microsites – and are able to spin up complete new sites in under 30 minutes. Second, dotCMS can handle really large content and document repositories- we have a financial services company that replaced Documentum with dotCMS and have over 10 million assets under management. Finally, Gettysburg College is combining our Content-as-a-Service capabilities to <a href="https://dotcms.com/clients/dotcms-and-content-as-a-service">feed Alexa and expose content to students</a>. It’s a testament to the flexibility of the product and how organizations can build their unique digital experience platform. 
What plans does dotCMS have to extend the product line, if any?
Stefan: dotCMS is already covering a lot in the core product. Not just the core CMS capabilities but also more advanced capabilities, like workflow and compliance as well as content targeting and personalization. dotCMS is moving into a world where all of an enterprise’s content can be managed centrally and delivered globally, at scale.
What can we expect to see from dotCMS in the next 6 months or so?
Stefan: dotCMS is accelerating its roadmap and doubling down on extending its capabilities as a mature and enterprise-grade Digital Experience Platform. We’ll continue to enhance our product in some key roadmap streams, like UI/UX enhancements to drive marketing operational excellence and engagement analytics to provide a 360 degree view on touch points for customer journeys. Experience Orchestration is a key pillar in our roadmap: driving content approval / mapping for digital experiences without any coding (project #NoCode). Lastly, authenticated business-critical applications that expose personalized experiences in a secure and cloud-based environment will be trending in 2018. We offer every single piece already out-of-the-box in our most recent release and continue to drive innovation along these lines. 
Final remarks
<a href="http://www.dotcms.com" target="_blank">dotCMS</a> is a great company delivering a great product to the marketplace already. We are uniquely positioned to become a leader in the Digital Experience Platform industry with a compelling roadmap, partner network and tech alliance eco-system to drive business outcomes for the digital enterprise.

Interview with dotCMS Chief Sales Officer, Stefan Schinkel

Piwik 1.8 is so packed with new features its hard to pick which ones to highlight. This is good. In the world of web analytics the more features and abilities the better. It is important to know if your hard work and efforts are making the difference and bringing traffic to your site. Let us examine some of the features shall we?
<h3>Historical Analytics Report of any row</h3>
Row Evolution allows to visualize a detailed report for a given row in any report table in Piwik. You can now hover over the row and see the graph icon. Click on it to open what Piwik calls the Row Evolution report. This report contains a graph of the last 30 days (or weeks or months etc.), below the graph you will find the main metrics: visits, page views, conversions, etc. along with a sparkline and a % change over the period. It is easy to change the metric being plotted so you can easily visualize the number of visits over the last 30 weeks of a particular search engine keyword. Still you are only one click away from plotting on the graph the number of conversions for this keyword.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/piwik_newfeat_histreport-620x428_bz7kmt.png" alt="Piwik_newfeat_histreport" />
<h3>Dashboard Mega Improvements &amp; Custom Dashboards</h3>
You can now create Custom Dashboards! They will be added as a submenu, you can create unlimited dashboards. It is also possible to set the default Widgets layout used for all newly created dashboard, the rename a dashboard, remove it (delete), or reset to the default widget selection &amp; default layout.
Dashboard now automatically records &amp; restore the full state of the widgets, including for example the columns you chose to plot on the graph.
Along with the ability to customize the columns layout (change to 4 columns, or one wide and 2 small for example), it makes it easy to create exactly the dashboard you need and reuse it over and over again, customizing it along the way.
Dashboard can now be embed via Iframe and token_auth and it works like a charm. Piwik also added widgets for the Visitor Log and for the All Websites dashboard. Really quite a lot of users were eagerly waiting for these improvements making it trivial to export ANY Piwik report anywhere… as an Iframe or direct link!
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/piwik_newdashboard-620x479_czc1uo.png" alt="Piwik_newDashboard" />
<h3>DoNotTrack support enabled by default</h3>
When users click “Tell websites I do not want to be tracked” in their web browser, Piwik will listen and not track the user. Piwik is proud to support this privacy initiative. It is of course possible to disable the DoNotTrack support, in Settings &gt; Privacy.
Note: DoNotTrack will not solve the (lack of) privacy online, it is however a small step towards a better world.
New Javascript function to disable all first party cookies from being read/set, existing cookies will be deleted. New function is: disableCookies(). This is particularly useful since the UK started requesting website owners to disclose the use of cookies, and make it easy to opt-out of all first party analytics cookies.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/piwik_do-not-track-privacy-620x155.png" alt="Piwik_Do-not-track-privacy" />
Many more features in this release are explained at <a href="http://www.piwik.org" target="_blank">piwik.org</a>

Piwik 1.8 Release

Do you want to improve your company culture while also getting your employees to share your content? Would you like to choose the right employee advocacy tool to help you achieve this?
Work occupies a major chunk of your employees’ lives. They spend about one-third of their days working, and on average, 89% of them are satisfied with their jobs. As it is a major part of their lives, they will chat about work life both online and offline. <a href="http://www.webershandwick.com/news/article/employee-activists-spark-a-new-social-movement-in-the-digital-age">50% of employees</a> already share content about their employers online, and many of them are always on the lookout for quality content to share.
Therefore, it is important for companies to equip employees with the right information. Employees can share this information while having conversations on social media.
An informed employee will share the latest and most flattering information about your industry and company. This can help create a positive brand impression and drive back traffic to your website, as employees can increase brands’ reach <a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/249153637/Infographic-MSLGROUP-Employee-Impact">tenfold</a>.
The best way to keep employees informed is with an employee advocacy platform. Choosing the right platform can be hard, though, as there are so many options available. Two of the options you can’t go wrong with are Smarp and Dynamic Signal. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. I have compared them side by side in this article, to help you select the right one.
Check out what they offer, and pick your favourite.
Smarp
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/smarp1132x0-is.png" />
<a href="http://www.smarp.com/">Smarp</a> is a full-featured employee advocacy tool. It has all the functionality you need to spark lively internal discussions and encourage employees to share content onto social media.
One of the best aspects of Smarp is how easily you can use it to queue up content for group sharing. You can post links, images and text messages. You can also move the content so that the most important content appears at the top and apply categories, so that your team members can work with topic-specific feeds. To save time, you can even integrate your social media accounts and RSS feeds so that content appears automatically. Posts can also be scheduled in advance to go live and be archived at set times.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/smarp2760x0-is.png" />
Employees can access this information via their browsers – or Android and iOS devices. They can comment on this content and share it with their friends and followers on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and many more.
Smarp also integrates with apps like Slack, MailChimp, Google Analytics and Dropbox. This simplifies various tasks and makes it easy to track performance metrics, like traffic generated.
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/smarp3666x0-is.png" />
Their advanced gamification features entice employees to share more by making sharing an enjoyable experience. One of these features is leader board that creates a contest between employees. Employees also get points for sharing. These points can either be exchanged to donate money to charities or to claim rewards.
Smarp’s messaging and communication features aren’t the best. The only way employees can communicate with each other and with the company is through comments. Of course, you can track employees with analytics, but if you are looking for more detailed written communication this isn’t the best option.
Smarp’s advanced analytics is second to none. They provide both companyanalytics for admins and personal analytics for employees. Using company analytics, you will be able to see your best performing content and most influential employees. Smarp also calculates the “estimated earned media value” of employees’ shares.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/smarp4861x0-is.png" />
The employees’ personal analytics helps them check how their shared content is performing across social media. They also have a feature called SmarpScore that makes it easy to measure their performance.
Most employee advocacy software companies get you to sit through a demo. You will only be able to sign up and get a quote after this taxing session. But not with Smarp. Here you can instantly sign up for a free 14 day trial and test drive the tool. Pricing is also available publicly. It starts at 3.5€ / user / month. If you prefer a demo they have that option too.
Smarp’s strength lies in keeping employees informed and getting them to share your content.
Dynamic Signal
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/dynamic1016x0-is.png" />
<a href="http://dynamicsignal.com/">Dynamic Signal</a> isn’t as comprehensive a tool as Smarp. But it does do everything it needs to, and it also sports some great features that other employee advocacy tools do not.
Dynamic Signal has well-designed native mobile apps that make it easy for you to share latest news and other content with your employees. Delivery and readership of messages can be tracked. This helps you share content at the right time with only interested employees.
You can also alert employees about the latest content using Facebook Messenger, SMS and Slack.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/dynamic2283x0-is.png" />
Employees can share content they like on to social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.
Their advanced communication features help you get detailed feedback from employees through quizzes and surveys. This will help you build an engaged internal community on the app. You can also use the data to craft a work culture that will improve company performance.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/dynamic3.png" />

You also have detailed analytics to track other metrics that you cannot obtain through communication only.
Sharing features aren’t very well developed, though, as Dynamic Signal is more focused on improving communication.
It is necessary for everyone to sign up for a demo. Pricing information can only be obtained after this session. You cannot sign up for a trial instantly.
Summary
As you can see above, both of these employee advocacy tools have their pros and cons. Smarp is a more well-rounded tool, but it lacks some internal communication features, while Dynamic Signal is more focused on team conversations.
You should choose the tool that satisfies all your needs. If you are looking for one to help understand your employees better, Dynamic Signal is the best option, while if you want one to help your company content’s distribution and performance, you should go with Smarp. Also, Smarp is the better choice if you want self-service onboarding.
Have you used both the above tools? Which is more useful, Smarp or Dynamic Signal? Please leave your comments below.

Smarp vs. Dynamic Signal: Which Employee Advocacy Platform Is Best for You?

Your work space has a bigger impact on your productivity than you might imagine.
 
A cluttered, disorganized office slows you down and makes you less productive, while an organized, streamlined office can help you to become a better and more efficient employee. Feel like you don’t have any time to organize your office? Think again.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/organized-office.jpg" alt="messy office" /> 
Following these six basic principles will help you to become and stay more organized, saving you time that would otherwise be wasted sorting through the clutter around your desk.
<h2>1. Only Touch Documents Once</h2>
According to professional organizer Ellen Delap, executives spend 6 weeks of every year just looking for documents. Imagine how much of that time could be saved if you only touched each document once. No more rifling through papers again and again. No more searching for the same file multiple times.
Instead, when you receive a file, digitize it immediately. Put it into an electronic document management system where the document becomes a searchable PDF file. And if you receive the files electronically in the first place, immediately enter it into your DMS—you don’t even need to touch the physical file once. After the files are in the DMS, they become easier and faster to find, saving you time that would otherwise be spent elbow-deep in a filing cabinet drawer.
As an added bonus, you’ll clear out those piles of paper that are always surrounding you on your desk. A less cluttered workspace will give you a greater sense of control over your environment and help you to become more effective as you work.
<h2>2. Establish Functional Work Zones</h2>
Each section of your office should have a dedicated purpose. Some of these zones will be obvious; where your computer is located is where you do all of your computer-related work. Other zones will have to be established. First, establish a zone for any non-computer work. This may include things like sorting through mail or reviewing other physical files (before you digitize them, of course). 
You can establish this zone in a separate area of your office, or on the same desk where you do your computer work. Just make sure that you have a clear, designated space for this type of work, and don’t allow clutter or other items take over that space.
You will also want to establish zones for activities like filing and digitizing files. Make sure you have everything you need in these areas in order to complete this task. Have the scanner near the filing cabinets, and a shredder nearby. This allows you to quickly grab a file, scan it into your system, and shred it without having to walk across the office to do it.
Create a designated zone for every task you complete on a regular basis, and ensure you always have the tools you need close at hand for that zone’s work. This will make sure you don’t have to hunt for things and can remain completely effective with every minute you spend in the office.
<h2>3. Don’t Let Paper Touch Your Desk</h2>
Paper is one of the biggest clutter-causers in any office, so if you want to ensure that your space stays organized, it’s best to never let paper even touch your desk. Of course, there will be times when papers are brought to you or documents need to be reviewed. Don’t let people just toss the documents into a messy pile on your desk.
Instead, put some kind of paper receptacle on your desk or on your door. When people bring you documents, just point to the paper tray on your desk. Though it would be best to keep things in electronic format, using a tray at least keeps items organized and reminds you that those documents still need your attention.
Better yet, if you have your own office, hang a paper receptacle on the door for people to drop in contracts, mail, and other files. This makes it so that you’re not interrupted every time someone needs to hand a document to you, allowing you to stay on task at all times.
<h2>4. Organize Your Office Supplies</h2>
We’ve already talked about having the right supplies in the right work zones, but you should take that idea one step further and ensure that every office supply you use is properly organized. First and foremost, this means not keeping all of your supplies out on your desk. Sure, you may have spent a little extra to have that super cute matching stapler and hole puncher, but you shouldn’t keep them out on display. This just adds to the clutter on your desk.
Keep your office supplies in an organized, easy-to-reach space like a desk drawer. Use organizing trays to keep small items like paperclips organized. Office supplies that are frequently used together should be close to each other—notepads should be near the pens, extra staples should be near the stapler, and so on.
Use a separate drawer or storage space for your personal items, like your wallet, sunglasses, and phone. This will keep your personal items from getting in the way when you need supplies. Plus, you won’t have to dig through all of your drawers at the end of the day, wondering where you left your keys.
<h2>5. Get a Bigger Trashcan</h2>
This might sound a little strange, but it can be surprisingly effective. When you get documents that you don’t need, you may be tempted to through it in an “I’ll deal with this later” pile. Dealing with paper is one of the most time-consuming tasks in an office, and therefore, it is the one that people put off the most. But most papers can either be discarded, or digitized and then discarded.
A larger trashcan has more of a physical presence, so you will be more aware of it and think of it more often, and will therefore be more likely to use it. Rather than piling up those papers to “deal with later,” you can quickly toss whatever needs to be tossed. In fact, make it a bigger recycle bin instead of a bigger trashcan; you can save the environment while saving your desk space.
<h2>6. The Five-Minute Rule</h2>
Don’t think that organizing your office is a one-time task. It is something that takes regular effort—but luckily, it doesn’t take much. Dedicate at least 5 minutes of your day to keeping your office organized. This is best done at the end of the day, when you can clear your desk and get yourself reorganized for the next day. Don’t skip this important task. Putting it off will result in things piling up, and if you’re not careful, you’ll once again be left with a disorganized space.
Put in just a few minutes every day, and your desk can stay neat and organized, and you’ll be more efficient as a result. 
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
Though initially organizing your office will take a bit of time and effort, you will get that time back ten times over by improving your productivity and eliminating a lot of wasted time. As we mentioned many times in this article, paper is one of the biggest time wasters in your office, and puts a huge damper on your ability to be efficient. So if you are dealing with large amounts of paper, make it your priority to deal with that problem first.
<a href="http://www.efilecabinet.com/">eFileCabinet</a> offers an easy way to digitize those papers so that you only have to touch them once, and they stay off of your desk for good. Look into this document management solution so you can be on your way to a more organized office.
Sources: <a href="http://www.inc.com/neil-patel/how-to-organize-your-office-for-maximum-productivity.html">Inc</a>, <a href="http://www.cio.com/article/2404456/time-management-productivity/how-to-organize-your-office-and-boost-your-productivity.html">Cio</a>, <a href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/21-tips-to-organize-your-office-and-get-more-done.html">LifeHack</a>

The 6 Basic Principles of an Organized Office

<a href="https://automattic.com/">Automattic</a>, the parent company of WordPress, has announced that .blog domains will be available for everybody sometime during 2016.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/pr_sharable.jpg" alt="pr_sharable" />
According to <a href="https://en.blog.wordpress.com/2016/05/12/coming-soon-new-blog-domains-for-websites/">Automattic's announcement</a>, they have recently secured the rights to oversee and operate the sale and registration of .blog domains, a new and never-before available top-level domain.
<h2>.blog For All</h2>
Webmasters will be able to purchase .blog domains at <a href="https://wordpress.com/">WordPress.com</a> as well as through Automattic's partner domain name registrars (somehow <a href="/123-reg-deletes-customer-websites/">I doubt that 123-reg will be on the list</a>).
This means that .blog isn't dependent on WordPress. Even if you're running a Joomla website, a .blog domain could soon be yours to use as you wish, just like a .com.
Automattic themselves made a bolder comparison to .com domains, stating that the .blog domain extension will give people an alternative:
<blockquote>
For years, .com was the dominant choice for website names, but it’s become increasingly difficult to find a name. With a top-level domain like .blog, you can get a name that truly matches your identity. Plus, you’ll get all the same benefits with Google search results.
</blockquote>
<h2>What Does This Mean for Blogging?</h2>
There's no doubting the influence that Automattic has on the blogosphere. It has become a cliche statistic, but through WordPress, Automattic powers almost a quarter of the Internet's websites (the CMS' of which we have knowledge of).
But will this change the face of blogging? Probably not.
Will we see people using .blogs for anything other than small and personal websites? Will it rival .com domains and become as widely used? I don't even think Automattic believes that.
But still, it's exciting, tempting – and about damn time, too.
After all, with tacky domain extensions like .guru and .cash flying around, I'm surprised it's taken until 2016 to see .blog make an entrance.
Will you be picking up a .blog domain? Let me know in the comments section below.

Automattic Set to Launch .Blog Domains: A New Blogging Horizon?

Piwik is a free web analytics platform. Worked on by a dedicated group of developers as a free, open source, real-time web analytics platform, Piwik provides a nice interface and great functionality that is easy to install and use. I like it so much that I use it in conjunction with Google Analytics here on CMS Critic and thought I'd share my thoughts in this Piwik Review.
Piwik web analytics comes in a small 5.7 mb package that can be install on any traditional web server or host that uses PHP. In my case, I installed it on our web hosting service but you can use pretty much anything or host it yourself. Installation is one of the smoothest and quickest I've experienced and in the number of times I've installed it, I've never encountered any hiccups preventing me from completing successfully. I'd show you the install routine but it's really quite quick and I'd rather dive right into the meat of the matter and show you the tool itself instead.
This is what the default setup looks like once you've installed Piwik web analytics and have logged into the tool for the first time. In this Piwik review, we're using screenshots pulled from their demo (we'll post a link to it at the end of this article).
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bigstock-customer-relationship-manageme-95142614_ammalr.jpg" alt="piwik review - screenshot #1" />
As you can see, the dashboard is made up of a number of widgets which you can remove, minimize or re-add with ease using their Widgets &amp; Dashboard drop down menu. By default, Piwik has the following widget areas enabled, but you can easily add more if you like:
<ul>
<li>Last Visits Graph</li>
<li>Visitors in Real Time</li>
<li>List of Keywords</li>
<li>Visitor Countries (Map)</li>
<li>Visitor Browsers</li>
<li>Best Search Engines</li>
<li>Visits by Server Time</li>
<li>List of External Websites</li>
<li>Length of Visits</li>
<li>RSS of the Piwik.org Blog</li>
</ul>
There are a number of tabs along the top of the dashboard that take you to even more information. The first of which is the Visitors tab which gives you an overview of the visitors to your site over the last few weeks with additional information such as the percentage of bounces, downloads, outlinks and actions.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/piwik-2-620x393.jpg" alt="piwik review - screenshot 2" />One of the sub categories on the Visitors tab is the Engagement one. In this section, you are provided with a look at the number of returning visits to your site (graphed out over a period of a few weeks) as well as the Visits per visit duration, visits per number of pages and visits by visit number. Piwik Web Analytics also gives you a quick list of additional info such as the number of returning visits, actions by the returning visits, average visit duration of returning visitors and return visitors that have bounced.
I particularly find it useful for finding out how engaging our content is and this is a often frequented page in my daily review of statistics to see how well the site is performing. Of particular interest is the number of actions per visit as this is directly indicative of how well additional content is positioned within the site.
On the Actions tab, you will find information about the performance of various Pages within the tracked site. In the screenshot below you'll see that each page has it's own Pageviews, Unique Pageviews, Bounce rate, Exit Rate and Average time on the page tracked. This is obviously a great overview as to what content is being consumed on the site and how engaging it is.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wordpress-589121_960_720_qr4zun.jpg" alt="piwik review - screenshot 4" />
Have a high bounce rate? Perhaps the title isn't well aligned with the content or you need to consider restructuring the article to better present your points. Is the bounce rate low on a particular page? I guess you've nailed it and people find the content useful and well targeted towards what they were searching for.
Obviously, as with anything, this is a tool best used in conjunction with others content analytics tools in order to get truly in-depth detail, but it certainly assists in giving you the quick and dirty info on content / site performance.
On the Referrers tab you'll find information about (wait for it…) referrers. Shocking right? The overview page gives you quick information about the type of referrers (direct, search engine, websites or campaigns) and various information about each including evolution over a period of time.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/piwik-5-620x409.jpg" alt="piwik review - screenshot 5" />
In the past, the Search Engines &amp; Keywords sub category was a favorite haunt of mine but with the recent changes made to the way Google handles tracking of these things, a large portion of the keywords passed by Google are no longer provided and come across as “keyword not defined”. This is the same for other analytics tools we've tried although the results may not come across with the same term. For instance, in Google Analytics, they show up as “not set” as opposed to “keyword not defined”.
Some keywords still come across from Google users who are not logged into a Google account so it's still a good stop on the review but not as valuable as it once was.
Piwik also provides you with the ability to create and track goals using their Goal Conversion tracking option. Simply add a new goal using the screen below and you'll be able to track performance quickly and easily.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/piwik-8-620x414.jpg" alt="piwik review - screenshot 8" />
The results of your goal tracking will be shown as below on the Goals tab. You can select an overview or individual goals in the sub categories provided.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ingeniux_cms_logo_bpfghz.png" alt="piwik review - screenshot 6" />
Piwik doesn't just work for a single website either, you can manage multiple websites from a single installation. To change, simply select the one you wish to view statistics for. To track a site, you add a simple snippet of javascript to your site and you are off to the races.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/piwik-7-620x114.jpg" alt="piwik review - screenshot 7" />
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
This brings me to the end of my Piwik Review. While it's certainly true that I can get this same information (in some form or another) from Google Analytics as well.. I find the Piwik interface to be faster and easier when it comes to finding something out quickly and easily. That is not to say that it is better than Google Analytics but they are, in my mind, two completely different beasts. I tend to use Google Analytics for advanced reports and in depth research, while with Piwik, I get quick insight into site performance, visits and referrers.
If you are looking for a quick, easy to install, real time analytics platform that is both open source and free, look no further than Piwik. You won't regret it.
You can try out a <a href="http://demo.piwik.org/" target="_blank">demo of Piwik</a> or download it from their webpage, <a href="http://piwik.org/" target="_blank">Piwik.org</a>. Do you have any thoughts you'd like to share on Piwik or this Piwik Review? We'd love to hear them in the comments below!

Piwik Review - An Open Source Web Analytics Tool

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/intranet-development.jpg" />
You’ve been chasing the client for months. Bringing on this account would mean the world to your firm, and you’d get all the glory. Countless proposals and presentations to try and get them across the line, and finally—you get the phone call. They want to start doing business.
But it’s not your usual request. They want you to build them an office intranet.
Developing a bespoke intranet can be a long and arduous process, with no guarantees at the end of your finished product. This is not your firm’s specialty—how do you select the right <a href="https://www.myhubintranet.com/intranet-development">intranet development</a> option to meet the client’s needs, without committing too much time and resource, or even worse, flunking the opportunity you’ve been given?
We’ve got good news. There’s another way, and it’s faster, cheaper and safer. Introducing: pre-built CMS intranet systems. Read on to learn how this can be a viable option for your customers, and the answer to all your intranet development worries.
<h2>A World Without Pre-Built CMS Intranet Systems</h2>
To truly understand the value of a pre-built CMS intranet system, it pays to first look at the other side of the coin. What does it typically take to build a bespoke intranet from scratch? Here are the standard steps:
<h3>1. Requirements Analysis</h3>
Firstly, detailed information needs to be gathered from your client around their requirements. What are they hoping to use the intranet for? Are there any particular activities they will be using it for, and any special tools they may require? What baseline requirements do they have around data and security? All of this information is gathered as a needs analysis, and typically involves staff questionnaires, workshops and focus groups. No surprises that it takes a while to complete! 
<h3>2. Documentation</h3>
Following the needs analysis comes documenting—essentially detailing all the information gathered. This involves the mapping out of the necessary business processes, data flow diagrams and information, including an initial site map. Again, a slow and labor intensive process.
<h3>3. Development</h3>
Next, a prototype must be developed to give your client a feel for the solution you’re proposing. This not only allows your client to see what the end product will look like, but enables you to move forward with confidence, knowing that your intranet will be the right fit. Creating a prototype can be a lengthy ordeal, particularly as it is an important point in the process from the customer’s point of view—show them a mediocre prototype, and they might pull the pin altogether.
<h3>4. Testing</h3>
Once your intranet is completely developed, the final step is testing. No one wants to present a solution only to find out it’s full of glitches that undermine your credibility immediately! Testing should cover functionality, ease of use, device compatibility, end user appeal, speed, reliability, user load and ongoing management. As well as this, it’s important to step back from the practical perspective, and look at the intranet’s visual appeal—after all, it’s being used by humans, not machines.
It goes without saying that developing a bespoke intranet is not a straightforward process. The potential for the process to quickly suck up time and money is very real—it’s a significant investment, not to be taken lightly. This holds a degree of risk to you as a developer. Too often the journey is embarked on optimistically, only to end in high costs due to unforeseen changes and labor intensive design. 
We’ve seen what it’s like building your own intranet. Now, let’s look at a pre-built CMS intranet. 
<h2>A Better World: Pre-Built CMS Intranet</h2>
When you need to drive to work, you don’t build the road to get there. You use a pre-built road. Why? Because it’s simpler, cheaper, faster.
Intranet is much the same—using a pre-built CMS intranet negates many of the issues we’ve seen in building a bespoke intranet. Here’s a quick look at how a pre-built intranet can save you time, money and hassle along each step of the development process.
<h3>1. Requirements Analysis</h3>
No more starting from scratch. Conducting a needs analysis looks very different with a pre-built intranet. Essentially, it involves walking your client through all of the already available functions and features within the CMS intranet software, and noting down which ones are needed for their particular business. This inverted approach is fantastic because it shifts the client’s perspective—they choose from what’s available initially, rather than dreaming up a plethora of potentially unrealistic options. Risk is also reduced for you as the developer, as the pre-set options mean you’re more likely to end up creating an intranet well suited to your client’s needs.
<h3>2. Documentation</h3>
Implementing a template approach means extensive documentation is no longer required. Your pre-built intranet comes already equipped with a site map, and modules which can easily be customized. Pre-planning becomes unnecessary, as adding or editing pages is straightforward.
<h3>3. Development</h3>
Say goodbye to tedious prototype creation, and hello to simple free trials. The majority of CMS intranet providers offer the option of ‘try before you buy’, meaning, as a developer, there’s no need to build a prototype or even go through the process of installing intranet software. Simply use the step-by-step building process, utilizing the flexible page options and design. 
<h3>4. Testing</h3>
Again—no need for any testing with a pre-built CMS intranet. All the pre-testing has been performed in advance, meaning functionality can be assured from day one. In fact, this aspect of a pre-built intranet is an easy sell to your clients—there are hundreds of users out there already using the product, who can attest to its usability. 
Clearly, pre-built CMS intranet systems offer huge benefits, with very little downside compared to bespoke intranets. As well as saving time and money in the needs analysis and documentation phases, a pre-built intranet is able to be customized to meet the requirements of the majority of companies, with all the development and testing already completed and proven. 
<h2>The Cherry On Top: Cloud Intranet Hosting</h2>
As if the benefits of saved time and money aren’t enough, cloud-hosted CMS intranets offer even more benefit for your customers. Instead of having to purchase additional servers, then hosting and maintaining the intranet themselves, customers are able to outsource it to a hosting company. What this means is:
<ul>
<li>Automatic backups</li>
<li>Fixed low monthly costs</li>
<li>Up-to-date security features</li>
<li>Unlimited users</li>
<li>Automatic updates </li>
<li>Managed storage</li>
</ul>
At MyHub, we firmly believe that configuration, as opposed to development, is the best approach when implementing a new intranet. Uncertainty is lowered and return on investment is maximized. From the developer’s perspective, this means more time to focus on what you do best: understand customers, and deliver requirements. Instead of spending the time and money necessary to become proficient in intranet development, market yourself as having a competitive edge over other developers when it comes to responsiveness and understanding.
Ultimately, CMS intranets can both meet your customers’ needs, and those of your web development agency. <a href="https://www.myhubintranet.com/book-demo/">Contact us at MyHub</a> for a free consultation on how a cloud intranet can make intranet development a much easier task.

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