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Critic: Mary Kathryn Patterson

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This week, <a href="https://uniform.dev/" target="_blank">Uniform</a> launched a new <a href="https://uniform.dev/resources/composable-cms-evaluation-guide" target="_blank">Composable CMS Evaluation Guide</a>, geared to help brands evaluate, compare, and better understand the options for leading headless CMS solutions.
Uniform, a digital experience composition platform (DXCP), composed the evaluation guide with the help of an experienced team of marketers and developers who have worked with many headless CMS vendors when integrating their software through Uniform.
In a <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230605005064/en/Uniform-Releases-Composable-CMS-Evaluation-Guide-To-Educate-and-Ease-Headless-Integration" target="_blank">news release</a> announcing the evaluation guide, Uniform noted a rapidly growing interest in composable tech stacks to avoid vendor lock-in while acknowledging the complexity of going headless.
“Over the last several years, the CMS marketplace has expanded exponentially, so has the architecture, making it harder for brands to track the differences between solutions and to know what to look for when evaluating solutions,” said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mdemeny/" target="_blank">Mark Demeny</a>, Uniform's head of product strategy. “Our guide describes the modern functional and nonfunctional criteria for evaluating headless CMS and walks planning teams through each step of the process.”
<h2>What’s in the guide?</h2>
Uniform helps to simplify the process of implementing a composable CMS by helping define the fundamentals, benefits, and differences between a composable and a traditional system. The guide also helps teams determine their CMS goals and compare the options available that align with those goals.
The guide is broken down into five sections designed to assist in the decision to go composable:
<ul>
<li>Introduction: explaining the basics</li>
<li>Background analysis and planning</li>
<li>Advice for meeting strategic goals</li>
<li>Vendor evaluation</li>
<li>Considerations for composable stacks</li>
</ul>
<h2>Uniform acts as a bridge to safer integrations</h2>
As a digital experience composition platform, Uniform helps companies bridge the gap between legacy systems and integrated composable solutions. It offers greater flexibility to companies currently locked into a monolithic system.
Uniform is also on a mission to eliminate glue code that presents issues when implementing new software. It recently launched a <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/uniform-launches-component-starter-kit-with-latest-product-release/">Component Starter Kit</a> that helps marketers and content creators to use RESTful API integrations to connect content from a headless CMS or commerce system with no glue code or developer tickets.
The new Composable CMS Evaluation Guide follows Uniform's <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/uniform-releases-comprehensive-cms-comparison-guide/">CMS Comparison guide</a>, launched early this spring. Both guides promise to help ease decision-making for those considering a new CMS, eliminating some guesswork through detailed explanations.
To download the Composable CMS Evaluation Guide, <a href="https://uniform.dev/resources/composable-cms-evaluation-guide" target="_blank">click here</a>.
<h2>About Uniform</h2>
Uniform DXCP speeds up time to value for composable-experience architecture, lowers development costs, and makes it easy for business users to build digital experiences. A composable orchestration layer for legacy systems and headless APIs in Uniform DXCP eliminates the need for complex custom integration code, which delivers no business value. Instead, available for marketers, merchandisers, and other business users are no-code tools with which to build digital experiences with content from any source—without submitting developer tickets. Furthermore, Uniform DXCP’s high-performance personalization capability, delivered at the edge, raises conversion and CX for all channels.
Learn more at <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Funiform.dev%2F&amp;esheet=53412657&amp;newsitemid=20230605005064&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=uniform.dev&amp;index=6&amp;md5=8de62c9041bb971931f2dbe29e50fdb0" target="_blank">uniform.dev</a> and follow us on <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fcompany%2Funiformdev%2F&amp;esheet=53412657&amp;newsitemid=20230605005064&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=LinkedIn&amp;index=7&amp;md5=f7401f00f4c02f49db054ae471cf62c3" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a> and <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FUniformDev&amp;esheet=53412657&amp;newsitemid=20230605005064&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=Twitter&amp;index=8&amp;md5=2040781de4ed11c82eeb1d52b6ea38c1" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.

Uniform Publishes Composable CMS Evaluation Guide for Navigating Headless Integration

<a href="https://the.machalliance.org/" target="_blank">The MACH Alliance</a> has announced the finalists of its <a href="https://machalliance.org/mach-impact-awards" target="_blank">2023 MACH Impact Awards</a>, highlighting innovative and impactful technology projects that utilize a MACH (microservices-based, API-first, Cloud native SaaS, Headless) strategy.
The finalists were narrowed down from hundreds of entries and judged by an independent panel of judges with expertise in applying MACH technologies.
The awards finalists represent global brands that impact thousands of consumers across various industries. The winners will be announced at the MACH Alliance annual <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/mach-alliance-announces-speakers-for-mach-two-conference-in-amsterdam-june-13-14/">MACH TWO</a> conference in Amsterdam on June 13 - 14.
<h2>2023 MACH Impact Awards Finalists</h2>
Best Retail Project
<ul>
<li>Primark</li>
<li>John Lewis Partnership</li>
<li>River Island</li>
</ul>
Best B2B Project
<ul>
<li>Wavin</li>
<li>MKM Building Supplies</li>
<li>Sonepar</li>
</ul>
Best Digital Experience
<ul>
<li>Paul Smith</li>
<li>Anheuser Busch</li>
<li>Dutch Railway</li>
</ul>
Best Health/Pharma Project
<ul>
<li>Bulk Nutrients</li>
<li>Thommen Medical</li>
<li>Integria Health</li>
</ul>
Best Hospitality Project
<ul>
<li>Just Eat</li>
<li>Gordon Ramsay Restaurants</li>
</ul>
Best Overall Change Project
<ul>
<li>American Bath Group</li>
<li>WWF</li>
<li>Mars</li>
<li>Primark</li>
<li>Belcorp</li>
<li>Alamy</li>
</ul>
Contributor of the Year
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulhornby/" target="_blank">Paul Hornby</a>, The Very Group</li>
<li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-thomas8/" target="_blank">Justin Thomas</a>, Kraft Heinz</li>
</ul>
Team of the Year
<ul>
<li>TaxFix</li>
<li>Mars</li>
</ul>
<h2>Register for MACH TWO</h2>
If you’d like to get a closer view of the MACH Impact Award finalists, it’s not too late to register for <a href="https://the.machalliance.org/machtwo/#about" target="_blank">MACH TWO</a> at the DeLaMar Theater in Amsterdam on June 13 and 14. The conference is free to attend and promises 48 hours of solid instruction, workshops, speakers, and more all centered around MACH technologies.
With multiple tracks that fit your goals, chances to network with like-minded peers and plenty of opportunities to hear from the brightest MACH practitioners in the game, MACH TWO is the premier annual event of the year.
<a href="https://the.machalliance.org/machtwo/#register" target="_blank">Register here</a>
<h2>About the MACH Alliance</h2>
The MACH Alliance is a [501(c)(6)] non-profit organization governed by an independent board and does not endorse specific vendors, members, or otherwise. The Alliance was formed in June 2020 to help enterprise organizations navigate the complex modern technology landscape. It aims to guide and show the business advantage of open tech ecosystems that are Microservices based, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS, and Headless. All MACH Alliance members meet certification principles that are published on the website. The MACH Alliance welcomes technology companies and individual industry experts with the same vision for the future. Learn more at machalliance.org, read here about MACH certification, and follow us on <a href="https://twitter.com/MACHAlliance" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/machalliance/" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>.

MACH Alliance Announces 2023 MACH Impact Awards Finalists

MACH Alliance Awards imagery - stacked award

Like most businesses, colleges and universities rely on digital experiences to reach and serve their audiences. While many were forced to transform during Covid-19 to support remote learning requirements, they have often trailed the commercial market – following more of a public sector arc when embracing new (and often expensive) technologies. 
That's why they require deep specialization from their digital partners, and this is where <a href="https://www.zengenti.com/" target="_blank">Zengenti</a> excels. The software and consulting firm behind the <a href="https://www.contensis.com/" target="_blank">Contensis</a> CMS recently announced a partnership with <a href="https://www.hw.ac.uk/" target="_blank">Heriot-Watt University</a>, growing its enrollment of higher education customers to more than 20.
Contensis, an <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/lets-celebrate-the-winners-of-the-2022-cms-critic-peoples-choice-awards/">award-winning</a> composable CMS, has carved out a niche within the higher ed marketplace with its flexible platform offerings – which is further buoyed by Zengenti's focused expertise in the higher ed sector. According to the company's press release, Heriot-Watt plans to use the new CMS to enhance the digital experience for prospective students, alumni, and partners.
<h2>A CMS built for a world-class university</h2>
If you're unfamiliar, Heriot-Watt is considered one of Scotland’s most international universities, with more than 27,000 registered students, five campuses, and over 100 learning partners worldwide.
The school's previous on-premise CMS powered a website serving thousands of users, including students from over 150 unique countries. By moving to Contensis, the legacy system will be replaced with a modern API-first and cloud-hosted CMS, enabling the school with greater flexibility and scalability to manage its digital experience.
“We’re excited to be working with Zengenti as our partner for this major transformation project,” said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmajaneleech/" target="_blank">Emma Leech</a>, Global Marketing Director at Heriot-Watt. “Their market understanding, wide-ranging expertise and track record of delivery will be pivotal in allowing us to rethink our global digital presence.”
<h2>A lesson for serving the higher education market</h2>
On its website, Contensis emphasizes the importance of content modeling, editing, and governance tools for helping content teams and developers – specifically those working in modern universities. Not only does Contensis deliver on these features, but its API-first approach makes connecting and managing content easier across websites, apps, and omnichannel experiences.
In addition to Heriot-Watt, Zengenti supports a multitude of notable higher ed customers in the UK, including <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/" target="_blank">King’s College London</a>, <a href="https://www.lse.ac.uk/" target="_blank">The London School of Economics and Political Science</a>, and the <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/" target="_blank">University of Waterloo</a>.
“We’re delighted to be working with the Heriot-Watt University team,” said <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/contensis-cms-writes-new-script-for-composable-and-headless-interview-with-ceo-rich-chivers/">Richard Chivers</a>, CEO of Zengenti. “This is an exciting and evolving period for the education industry, as leaders in the space continue to look for innovative new ways in which they can adapt to learning practices, hybrid working models and meeting the needs of its digital-savvy students who expect a seamless journey online.”
Chivers also mentioned a new Contensis feature called <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/contensis-launches-blocks-new-container-first-website-builder-qa-with-richard-chivers/">Blocks,</a> which was released earlier this year and covered by CMS Critic. 
“For developers, working with Blocks and React enables more of the team to work remotely in Contensis with a lower risk of change failure,” Chivers said. “For content editors and marketing teams, roles and permissions allow more changes to be pushed out, and its roll-back function can undo changes if needed.”
To learn more about Contensis CMS and its work with leading higher education institutions, visit <a href="https://www.contensis.com/" target="_blank">https://www.contensis.com/</a>.
<h2>About Contensis</h2>
UK-based Zengenti is the creator of Contensis, a headless Content Management System (CMS) with an integrated deployment platform. Contensis provides a single place to create, maintain and deliver content. Its content modeling, authoring, and governance features help teams create and keep top of well-structured content. Open APIs make integrating with leading platforms and products easy to deliver immersive digital experiences for audiences. Contensis powers websites for world-leading organizations across various industries, such as higher education, local government, and the private sector.

Zengenti Expands Focus on Higher Education, Brings Contensis CMS to Heriot-Watt University

Heriot-Watt University and Zengenti logo icon again a wall of books

This week, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/uniform-raises-28m-in-series-a-funding-round-for-composable-dxp/">Uniform</a> – a digital experience composition platform (DXCP) – announced its latest product release, which promises to help simplify <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/">headless</a> architecture for the modern user. This includes a new <a href="https://components.uniform.app/" target="_blank">Component Starter Kit</a> that complements its Mesh layer and additional enhancements to its Edgehancers. 
Uniform has been evangelizing the benefits of slaying the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/is-the-birth-of-dxc-the-death-of-dxp-a-conversation-with-darren-guarnaccia-president-at-uniform/">“glue code monster”</a> through a clever marketing campaign. With its newest release, they’re endeavoring to create easier processes for connecting data from any source to any front-end component – without the painful rigors of producing and managing integration code. 
<h2>Does headless mean harder? </h2>
When companies are operating a headless system – or even considering a new one – they might hit a few roadblocks. One of the most common examples is managing multiple content silos that must be coded into one central CMS. If the systems are difficult to integrate, content teams must rely on developers throughout the process and for future changes.
Uniform believes this is the opposite of “composable,” where developers and marketers find themselves limited by systems and processes that aren’t agile or easy to maintain. This has made the headless journey harder.
<h2>Composable is key</h2>
Uniform tackles these issues head-on, promising to reduce or eliminate glue code from the equation. With its newest feature release, the DXCP is aiming to deliver a “new headless paradigm,” outlined by Uniform co-founder <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lars-birkholm-petersen/" target="_blank">Lars Birkholm Petersen</a> in a <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/evolution-headless-from-glue-code-composable-lars-birkholm-petersen%3FtrackingId=AelqHfr4TSKkqU0RPHDyXw%253D%253D/?trackingId=AelqHfr4TSKkqU0RPHDyXw%3D%3D" target="_blank">blog post</a> announcing the launch this week.
As he noted, the new headless paradigm includes these core tenants:
<ul>
<li>Make solutions composable instead of composed</li>
<li>Optimize workflows and aim for the shortest time to market</li>
<li>Connect data and content across technologies</li>
<li>Enable marketers and merchants to do their jobs independently, freeing developers from having to maintain glue code</li>
<li>Give brands an unfair competitive advantage to launch new initiatives faster</li>
<li>Boost agencies’ competitiveness through the elimination of custom code</li>
</ul>
<h2>Open source Component Starter Kit</h2>
Uniform’s Component Starter Kit gives users the flexibility to create dynamic web experiences quickly and easily. The open source Kit is built on a TNT stack – <a href="https://www.typescriptlang.org/" target="_blank">TypeScript</a>, <a href="https://nextjs.org/" target="_blank">Next.js</a>, and <a href="https://tailwindcss.com/" target="_blank">TailwindCSS</a> – making it extremely adaptable to build with.
With the Component Starter Kit, users can easily clone, run locally, and customize based on their specific needs. By leveraging lightweight React components, it also helps keep Core Web Vitals in the green. And because the whole library is open source and based on TailwindCSS and <a href="https://daisyui.com/" target="_blank">DaisyUI</a>, it makes it easy for users to adapt their brand style.
With these component tools, marketers and content creators can use RESTful API integrations to connect content from a headless CMS or commerce system with no glue code or developer tickets.
<a href="https://components.uniform.app/" target="_blank">Browse components and learn more</a> about the Component Starter Kits from Uniform.
<h2>Mesh and Edgehancers</h2>
Uniform’s Mesh – its API integration layer – connects data or content sources with the user’s preferred design system in just a few clicks and zero coding. Marketers can enjoy total flexibility in how they build and connect their content without wasting precious developer time and resources.
When connecting to sources or on-premise APIs as a step for creating digital experiences, performance can be a bottleneck. With Uniform’s latest release of Edgehancers, users can cache data from any API on its global distributed edge, which makes sites run lightning fast – rendering in under 50 milliseconds – while supporting surgical cache invalidation from the underlying technologies.
<h2>Composable, not coded</h2>
With this latest launch, Uniform has gone above and beyond to save users from the hassle of integrating software. These new capabilities empower content creators and developers to focus on what’s important – so going headless doesn’t have to be harder.
“With the launch of these new capabilities, Uniform is taking how brands and agencies build digital experiences to the next level,” said Petersen. “With orchestration at each layer of the digital experience composition platform (DXCP), it’s easy to get the job done in minutes instead of days.”
The frightening glue code monster may be on his way out, but what’s coming next might be scary, scary good.
<h2>About Uniform</h2>
Uniform's digital experience composition (DXC) solution turns headless and legacy stacks into a seamless end-to-end digital delivery pipeline. Uniform transforms the approach to digital delivery by empowering developers, content creators, and marketers to easily create and deliver amazing experiences while allowing the tech stack to evolve with your brand. Several top brands use Uniform to power their digital experiences, including Cobham Satcom, Cirque du Soleil, Life Extension, Sunweb and Trimble. Learn more at uniform.dev and follow on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/uniformdev/" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/UniformDev" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.

Uniform Launches Component Starter Kit with Latest Product Release

Mary Kathryn is a full-time staff writer and editor at CMS Critic. With a strong background in PR, marketing, and communications, she brings a passion for content and digital experiences to her role.

Mary Kathryn Patterson

Articles by Mary Kathryn

Articles by Mary Kathryn

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