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Adobe Article

<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/shock-and-awe-adobe-to-acquire-ui-design-platform-figma-for-20-billion/">Adobe</a>, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/acquia-and-the-art-of-the-possible-interview-with-chief-market-officer-jennifer-griffin-smith/">Acquia</a>, and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/optimizely-integrates-b2b-commerce-cloud-and-content-cloud-combines-headless-commerce-with-cms/">Optimizely</a> are Leaders in the latest <a href="https://www.forrester.com/report/the-forrester-wave-tm-content-management-systems-q3-2023/RES178520" target="_blank">Forrester Wave: Content Management Systems, Q3 2023</a> – a quarterly report published by one of the most prestigious and respected analyst firms in the technology industry.
The report, published today, provides a glimpse of where CMS platforms are positioned. Forrester ranks companies on a visual graph across several concentric strata: Challengers, Contenders, Strong Performers, and Leaders. A CMS platform’s position is then determined based on criteria reflecting its offering strength, strategy, and market presence.
<h2>Leading the CMS category </h2>
According to a <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230822212172/en/Acquia-Named-a-Leader-in-Content-Management-Systems-Report-by-Independent-Research-Firm" target="_blank">press release from Acquia </a>– one of the three platforms in the Leader category – the Q3 Forrester Wave report evaluated 10 CMS providers based on 26 criteria, focusing on the aforementioned criteria.
The report cited that “Acquia performs the strongest in low-code/no-code, translations for global content deliveries, and back-end extensibility – all supported by strong practitioner and developer programs.” The company earned the highest possible scores in the architecture (extensibility and configuration), practitioner and developer communities, partner ecosystem, and global delivery strategy criteria.
Optimizely, another Leader, also <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/optimizely-named-a-leader-in-content-management-systems-by-industry-research-firm-301908245.html" target="_blank">issued a press release</a> about its position. The Forrester report stated that the platform "performs very well in personalization, A/B testing, and translation and localizations."
Additionally, the report indicated Optimizely's CMS "excels at depth of content and audience analytics off the shelf (no additional licensing) and a strong ability to scale content delivery through its partnership with <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/contentstack-offers-microsoft-azure-becomes-only-multi-cloud-saas-cms-qa-with-cto-nishant-patel/">Microsoft Azure</a> and its cloud-native architecture."
<h2>Contentstack drives strong performance</h2>
While the Leader category remains the domain of large enterprise DXPs, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/">headless</a> CMS players are gaining ground. Case in point: <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/contentstack-raises-57-5-million-in-series-b-round-qa-with-ceo-neha-sampat/">Contentstack</a>.
Buoyed by its <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/new-mach-alliance-maturity-assessment-tool-helps-organizations-evaluate-their-mach-readiness/">MACH</a> (Microservices, APIs, Cloud-native SaaS, Headless) focus and composable approach – along with best-in-class, turnkey, no-code integrations – the company is leading the Strong Performer category in the Forrester Wave report.
According to an article on the <a href="https://www.contentstack.com/resources/report/forrester-wave-report-2023?utm_medium=email-newsletter&amp;utm_source=marketo&amp;utm_campaign=2023-23-08-august-monthly-newsletter&amp;mkt_tok=NDg5LVdOSS0zODMAAAGNwg2flcZin6FEq-r-0_FcJUMeWdg_wzl49C_gzpN1gvxH7TnAnUakU4Mp4aFsa52WTa2dI1bZs97lBpqwBgmvq3Ivq1I0p0AUV9BkNOClolY" target="_blank">Contentstack website</a>, the report stated that “Contentstack performs well in several categories but shines in its ease of back-end extensibility through turnkey integrations, coupled with global deployments.”
Along with its MACH posture, the report also noted that “as a founding member of the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen/">MACH Alliance,</a> it excels in innovation, global delivery, and a straightforward pricing model.”
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/what-contentfuls-175m-investment-round-means-for-the-future-of-cms/">Contentful</a>, another headless platform, also scored as a Strong Performer in the report.
<h2>A broad CMS field from headless to open source</h2>
While a presumed crop of DXPs dominated the top of the mountain, headless players and managed open source platforms like <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-monthly-recap-wordpress-acquires-parse-ly-siteimprove-releases-upgraded-accessibility-product-twilio-segment-releases-2021-cdp-report-and-more/">WordPress VIP</a> provided some variance in the landscape.
As the downstream vendors look to contend and challenge the market, it’s clear that composable is becoming a more important part of the mix – and helping to propel those CMSes to the front of the line.

Adobe, Acquia, Optimizely Top Latest Forrester Wave for Content Management Systems

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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin" target="_blank">Benjamin Franklin</a>, the revolutionary American statesman who helped architect the fledgling U.S. republic (and flew a kite during a thunderstorm), once said, "Look before, or you'll find yourself behind."
When it comes to the future of CMS, that same observation applies – but with another Franklin that dared to look ahead.
Recently, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/adobe-experience-cloud-adds-new-headless-cms-capabilities-updates-to-commerce-integration/">Adobe</a> – the <a href="https://business.adobe.com/blog/the-latest/adobe-named-a-leader-in-2023-gartner-magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms#:~:text=The%20Latest-,Adobe%20named%20a%20Leader%20in%202023%20Gartner%C2%AE,%E2%84%A2%20for%20Digital%20Experience%20Platforms&amp;text=Gartner%20published%20the%20latest%20Magic,has%20been%20named%20a%20Leader." target="_blank">Gartner MQ Leader</a> for DXPs –  introduced a new feature in its <a href="https://www.adobe.com/?clickref=1101lwIXbvhb&amp;mv=affiliate&amp;mv2=pz&amp;as_camptype=277929&amp;as_channel=affiliate&amp;as_source=partnerize&amp;as_campaign=chelen" target="_blank">Experience Manager</a> suite called <a href="https://experienceleague.adobe.com/docs/experience-manager-cloud-service/content/forms/forms-overview/latest-innovations.html?lang=en" target="_blank">Next-Gen Composability</a>, the new mantle for its AEM "<a href="https://www.hlx.live/home" target="_blank">Project Franklin</a>" initiative.
A bit of background on the skunkworks: Franklin was introduced in January as a lightweight CMS architecture designed to launch new sites faster and accelerate page performance. It also provided a more intuitive way to create and publish content using simple tools like <a href="https://www.google.com/docs/about/" target="_blank">Google Docs</a> or <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/word" target="_blank">Microsoft Word</a> for authoring. 
The news was officially announced last month at <a href="https://business.adobe.com/summit/adobe-summit.html" target="_blank">Adobe Summit 2023</a>, but Adobe is already experiencing success with a pilot customer (keep reading for more details). 
<h2>What is Next-Gen Composability?</h2>
Content management jargon can take on many forms, with enough variations to make any head spin. With Next-Gen Composability, Adobe is attempting to make things simple. Really simple.
When implementing Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) in the past, developers and marketers would be tasked with learning new publishing tools, workflows, and more – often requiring several different learned processes across multiple channels. With Next-Gen Composability, AEM can now leverage commonly used tools like Microsoft Office 365 or Google Workspace and implement content built from those tools directly into the experience manager.
Producing and editing content in channels that marketers are already familiar with can reduce the back and forth that plagues many enterprise CMSes. With these hurdles now removed from the equation, building websites and producing content should become faster and more reliable – and further reduce dependence on technical support teams. It should also reduce the overall friction with implementing AEM. 
<h2>Lightning-fast pages with high Google Lighthouse scores</h2>
The cloud-native infrastructure behind Next-Gen Composability is designed for speed. The tools built into the program require each web page to render a <a href="https://developer.chrome.com/docs/lighthouse/overview/" target="_blank">Google Lighthouse</a> score of 100 on live pages – made possible by fast caching and an edge delivery engine.
Along with enhanced page performance, content can be built quickly with Next-Gen composability because teams can use tools they already know – and all with a few clicks. For content creators, this should eliminate many obstacles throughout the publishing workflow, giving them greater speed and agility. 
<h2>Supercharged forms</h2>
Forms continue to be one of a website's most important engagement tools. They're also a huge pain for content creators.
According to Adobe's website, with Next Gen Composability, users across an enterprise can create forms using their preferred tools, such as Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets – without extensive training on new UI workflows.
What’s more, Next Gen Composability is designed to load forms with unmatched speed, achieving a near-perfect Google Lighthouse score on live pages, practically guaranteeing top performance and user experience.
<h2>Tried, Tested, and Approved</h2>
The first to implement Next-Gen Composability within AEM was Adobe partner <a href="https://www.netcentric.biz/insights/2023/04/next-gen-composability-reimagines-content-management" target="_blank">Cognizant Netcentric</a>. They used the new feature to produce <a href="https://www.netcentric.biz/" target="_blank">cognizantnetcentric.com</a> – drafting their content in Google Workspace.
In a blog article reflecting the project’s success, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrin-weissenborn/" target="_blank">Katrin Weissenborn</a>, a commercial marketing manager at Cognizant Netcentric, commented on the ease of use and overall satisfaction with Next-Gen Composability:
“Next-Gen Composability has completely transformed the way we work, our web publishing has never been that fast and easy before. Whenever I spot something on the website that I want to change, I just do it myself in record time, no need to brief content editors. As soon as the change is live, I just tag my content editing colleagues directly in the content repository so the change will also be done in other languages to ensure a consistent user experience throughout.”
<h2>About Adobe</h2>
<div class="main-content">
Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For more information, visit <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.adobe.com&amp;esheet=52479752&amp;newsitemid=20210819005739&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=www.adobe.com&amp;index=3&amp;md5=16bfbb09ccdd811085bcdfd56783339b" target="_blank">www.adobe.com</a>.
</div>

Adobe Experience Manager Evolves Franklin, Launches Next-Gen Composability Feature

Let's be honest: there's nothing quite like Awards Season. Just ask Moira Rose.
<div style="height:auto;width:500px">
<div class="tenor-gif-embed"><a href="https://tenor.com/view/moira-rose-schitts-creek-awards-favorite-season-gif-16223893">Moira Rose Schitts Creek GIF</a>from <a href="https://tenor.com/search/moira+rose-gifs">Moira Rose GIFs</a></div>
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And it's not because of the glitz, the glamour, or even the drama (although last year's Oscars did deliver the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/23/entertainment/oscars-crisis-will-smith/index.html" target="_blank">slap heard 'round the world</a>).
No, we love Awards Season because it's a celebration. An opportunity to cheer for the things we love. From film to music, actors to performers. Heck, even our favorite technologies.
Each year, CMS Critic is proud to feature our People's Choice Awards: a unique, one-of-a-kind platform for celebrating our industry. Since 2012, the People's Choice Awards have provided an opportunity for you – our community of digital professionals and stack fanatics – to tell us which platforms you love the most.
The People's Choice Awards are always fun and engaging, and the results never fail to surprise us. We put the power in your hands to nominate and vote, so it reflects your community participation. No matter how you feel about the outcomes, this is a win for every platform involved and your passionate users and fans.
This year, we had record participation from around the globe for both the nominations and final voting, and we're thrilled to share the winners you selected!
<h2>And the Oscar goes to...</h2>
But first, a quick reminder about the contest and how it worked:
<ul>
<li>In <a href="/nominate-your-favorite-platforms-for-the-2022-cms-critic-peoples-choice-awards/">December 2022</a>, we invited readers to nominate platforms across a set of categories on our website.</li>
<li>Nominations closed at the end of January.</li>
<li>The top five nominees (in the case of a few ties, the top six) were selected for voting in each category.</li>
<li>General voting began in early February and closed on February 20.</li>
<li>Participants could vote only once, and companies that offered incentives of any kind were disqualified.</li>
</ul>
And that's it! Without further ado, here are the winners of the 2022 People’s Choice Award winners:
<h4>Best Enterprise CMS: Contensis</h4>
<a href="https://www.contensis.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/03/contensis-logo.jpg" alt="Contensis Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best DXP: Adobe Experience Cloud</h4>
<a href="https://business.adobe.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/adobe-edited.jpg" alt="Adobe Experience Cloud Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Free CMS: Joomla!</h4>
<a href="https://www.joomla.org/" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/joomla-edited.png" alt="Joomla! Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Flat File CMS: Statamic</h4>
<a href="https://statamic.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/statamic-edited.jpg" alt="Statamic Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Open Source CMS: Umbraco</h4>
<a href="https://umbraco.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiAr4GgBhBFEiwAgwORrRdPATQsqJ5M2tqVIMIHVlkjBnO2Cl29dGTXI9dhb9_BNa9pqdulIhoCK40QAvD_BwE" target="_blank"><img style="width:120px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/umbraco-edited.png" alt="Umbraco Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best ECM (Enterprise Content Management): Microsoft SharePoint</h4>
<a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/sharepoint/collaboration" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/sharepoint-edited.png" alt="Microsoft SharePoint Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best E-Commerce Solution: Shopify</h4>
<a href="https://www.shopify.com/free-trial?term=shopify&amp;adid=565872334073&amp;campaignid=15436644439&amp;branded_enterprise=1&amp;BOID=brand&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiAr4GgBhBFEiwAgwORrQTcMx9LwHQNvRFM6fN3NdS4GIn0wcvVgK3LdPDmBWiVFRhMOA64HxoCZEQQAvD_BwE&amp;cmadid=516586854;cmadvertiserid=10730501;cmcampaignid=26990768;cmplacementid=324494812;cmcreativeid=163722649;cmsiteid=5500011" target="_blank"><img style="width:250px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/shopify-edited.png" alt="Shopify Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Headless Commerce Solution: commercetools</h4>
<a href="https://commercetools.com/resources/booklet/microservices?utm_source=Paid%20Search&amp;utm_medium=Google%20Search&amp;utm_content=microservices-bookle-CA&amp;utm_campaign=MACH&amp;utm_term=commercetools&amp;utm_campaign=MACH%20retargeting%20AMER&amp;utm_source=adwords&amp;utm_medium=ppc&amp;hsa_acc=9131799125&amp;hsa_cam=19415290532&amp;hsa_grp=145609670540&amp;hsa_ad=643141341485&amp;hsa_src=g&amp;hsa_tgt=aud-1945381266863:kwd-366236213007&amp;hsa_kw=commercetools&amp;hsa_mt=p&amp;hsa_net=adwords&amp;hsa_ver=3&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiAr4GgBhBFEiwAgwORrbE7RUL47caWM3RyFkC6b649F5PR5Z6DHNnToZTeBOWkTjGjxOL6IBoCGAMQAvD_BwE" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/commercetools-edited.png" alt="Commercetools Logo" /></a>
<hr />
<h4>Best Headless CMS: Contentful </h4>
<a href="https://www.contentful.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:260px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/contentful-edited.jpg" alt="Contentful Logo" /></a>
<hr />
<h4>Best Website Builder: YOOtheme</h4>
<a href="https://yootheme.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:250px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/yootheme-edited.png" alt="YOOtheme Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Static Site Generator: Next.js</h4>
<a href="https://nextjs.org/" target="_blank"><img style="width:200px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/next-js-edited.png" alt="Next.js Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Composable System: Uniform</h4>
<a href="https://uniform.dev/" target="_blank"><img style="width:250px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/uniform-edited.jpg" alt="Uniform Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Digital Experience Composition (DXC): Occtoo</h4>
<a href="https://www.occtoo.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:250px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/occtoo-edited.png" alt="Occtoo Logo" /></a>
<h2> </h2>
<h2>Congratulations to our People's Choice Winners!</h2>
There you have it, folks! Thank you again for participating in our Awards this year, and always, we welcome your feedback and your votes for next season!

Let's Celebrate the Winners of the 2022 CMS Critic People’s Choice Awards

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The easiest way to translate a website

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No. It's not just a "figma" of your imagination. 
<a href="https://www.figma.com/blog/a-new-collaboration-with-adobe/" target="_blank">Adobe has agreed to spend $20 billion</a> – that's billion, with a "b" – to buy <a href="https://www.figma.com/" target="_blank">Figma</a>, the popular web-based collaboration and UI design platform. 
We'll give you a minute to pick your jaw up off the ground. 
Adobe said it expects the transaction to close sometime in 2023. That said, the deal has not yet been approved by Figma stockholders and must proceed through customary closing. The dollars are a mix: about half the total will be paid in Adobe stock, with the balance paid in cash. 
If you're not familiar with Figma, you will be now – but it's worth noting how awesome a platform it really is. It offers a deep set of collaboration options for joint software development, as well as its popular FigJam collaborative whiteboarding environment. If you haven't used that wipeboarding feature before, we highly recommend it. 
By now, we’re accustomed to Adobe spending big bucks to expand its copious monolith. These tasty acquisitions have bolstered its stronghold on the digital experience category – and while there may not be an Iron Throne to claim, it has certainly earned the crown as the King of the <a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/3995917" target="_blank">Gartner Magic Quadrant for DXPs</a>.
But forget all that. Forget the fact that <a href="https://www.computerworld.com/article/3673934/adobes-20b-figma-acquisition-highlights-web-based-collaboration-trends.html#:~:text=The%20%2420%20billion%20figure%20is,a%20dedicated%20following%20among%20developers." target="_blank">Figma was valued at around $10 billion</a> at its last funding round in 2021 (meaning this purchase doubled the bounty). And let's not overlook that the market has been in a bout of turmoil lately, especially for tech stocks.
No – what's been really interesting is how this acquisition triggered such an emotional response from the market. Despite Adobe's enthusiasm about the deal, the Figma fanbase seemed a little less enthusiastic…
<img style="max-width:800px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/09/luke-skywalker-meme-no.jpg" alt="Luke Skywalker meme" />
And just like that, the Empire Strikes Back.
<h2>Why Figma? And why the pushback from fans?</h2>
The Figma acquisition speaks volumes about the growth of web collaboration software and the central role of design. But for its users, Figma represented everything Adobe wasn’t. In fact, Figma was a sort of the anti-Adobe. 
The fanbase has reason to be concerned: Adobe could bring Figma aboard the mothership under its expensive subscription model. There could be some poor integration or uncomfortable bloat. Even worse, it could become the kind of bolted-on utility that's prone to crashing – kind of like the Millennium Falcon with a broken hyperdrive.
Or, Adobe could do wonders with this amazing platform, building deeper functionality that expands the frontier for web-based collaboration within its toolsets. Figma's flexibility could be a game changer for the company and removes one of its digital experience rivals from the chessboard. 
One thing both companies have in common is the commitment to design. Founded by Dylan Field in 2016, Figma has held to the mantra that design should be collaborative, web-based, and real-time – with the mission to “open up” and move from the solitary design process. Figma has crystallized the concepts of sharing ideas and working collaboratively, something that Adobe’s UI design products like Photoshop have struggled to embrace. 
As for the fans, that's a product of Figma's heavy emphasis on community, which they have nurtured and grown over the years. This was likely a big driver of <a href="https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/figma/company_financials" target="_blank">Figma’s unicorn valuation</a>, which skyrocketed from <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-24/software-design-startup-figma-is-now-worth-10-billion" target="_blank">$2 billion to $10 billion</a> in just a year. With more than 4 million users, including giants such as Microsoft, Slack, Google, Dropbox, and Twitter, the company has achieved the kind of presence and loyalty that are the envy of the tech world.
 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/09/nothing-great-is-made-alone.jpg" alt="Figma - Nothing Great is Made Alone" />
<h2> </h2>
<h2>Adobe XD vs. Figma</h2>
So let's get down to brass tacks: Adobe XD and Figma are currently the most popular design tools on the market, both with similar features. For the past 5 years, Figma has been the biggest rival and competitor to Adobe XD, but Figma has managed to with the hearts of the design community. 
Figma believes the acquisition will help the Figma platform benefit from Adobe’s technology, expertise, and resources in the creative space. Figma has big ambitions for its products, with plans to improve its <a href="https://www.figma.com/design/" target="_blank">Figma Design</a>, <a href="https://www.figma.com/figjam/" target="_blank">FigJam</a>, and the <a href="https://www.figma.com/community/" target="_blank">Figma community</a> platforms while expanding into new areas.
“We will have the opportunity to incorporate their expertise in imaging, photography, illustration, video, 3D, and font technology to the Figma platform," said <a href="https://twitter.com/zoink" target="_blank">Dylan Field</a>, Co-founder &amp; CEO of Figma. "Additionally, we will have the opportunity to reimagine what the best creative tools could look like within the Figma technology stack.”
Top-down leadership is key in these kinds of earth-shattering transitions. Taking designers’ concerns into account, Field reassured the Figma community that he will remain CEO and that Figma will keep operating autonomously – without compromising its culture, the way it runs its business, and (perhaps most importantly) its pricing. 
<h2>Growth by Acquisition</h2>
The news from Adobe is huge – but maybe not that surprising. Adobe has been driving growth by investing in tools and products to execute complex workflows across teams. As part of this evolution, it <a href="https://news.adobe.com/news/news-details/2020/Adobe-to-Acquire-Workfront/default.aspx" target="_blank">acquired Workflow</a> – a leading work management platform for marketers – for $1.50 billion in 2020. Last year, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/adobe-acquires-video-collaboration-platform-frame-io/" target="_blank">Adobe also acquired Frame.io</a>, an industry-leading collaboration platform, for $1.275 billion. 
In its <a href="https://news.adobe.com/news/news-details/2022/Adobe-to-Acquire-Figma/default.aspx" target="_blank">press release</a>, Adobe stated that Figma’s web-based, multi-player capabilities will accelerate the delivery of Adobe’s Creative Cloud technologies on the web, making the creative process more productive and accessible to more people.
With this acquisition, Adobe once more solidified its position in the creative industry. With responsive design taking over about a decade ago, other apps such as <a href="https://www.omnigroup.com/omnigraffle/" target="_blank">Omnigraffle</a> and later <a href="https://www.sketch.com/" target="_blank">Sketch App</a> were born – and embraced by designers by offering a better solution for creating wireframes and high-fidelity prototypes suited for the responsive web. This was a huge departure from Photoshop and Illustrator and their respectively rigid structures. 
Figma is not alone in the web-based collaboration and UI design space. Platforms like <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/uxpin-merge-review-sync-react-components-with-prototypes/">UXPin</a>, another subscription-based wireframing and prototyping tool, are effectively <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/uxpin-merge-review-sync-react-components-with-prototypes/" target="_blank">bridging the gap between designers and developers</a>. 
As Figma zeroes in on $400 million in revenues at the end of 2022, it's safe to say that there's ample potential in this growing market space – and we'll have to see how Adobe's mindboggling acquisition brings imagination to life. 
<h2>About Figma</h2>
Figma is the open design company founded in 2012 by Dylan Field and Evan Wallace. With Figma’s cloud-based screen design tool, teams achieve a shared understanding around design without worrying about syncing, exporting, or installing software. Anyone involved in the product development process can always share up-to-date files with a link. That makes it easy to collaborate on the latest designs and prototypes and see their code attributes. Figma has simplified collaboration across the entire design process for thousands of companies like Microsoft, Slack, and Uber and millions of users, including designers, developers, product managers, marketers, and others.

Shock and Awe: Adobe to Acquire UI Design Platform Figma for $20 Billion

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Kentico - Gartner

Analysts and customers recognize Kentico DXP in Gartner Reports.

Kentico has been recognized by Gartner.

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CMS Monthly Recap: Google Sunsets Universal Analytics, WordPress Releases a New Performance Plugin, and More

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

Adobe Acquires Video Collaboration Platform Frame.io

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April brought Spring to many of us. While Covid-19 continues to cast a shadow of uncertainty over the world, it’s safe to say that the digital field is in full bloom.Last month was full of new announcements about upgrades and updates, primarily focused on content teams. Adobe, Contentful, Strapi, and Kentico Kontent all released new features that are designed to break down silos and deliver greater efficiency to users.Here are some of the highlights from the stories we’ve been tracking: <h2>Adobe Introduces Adobe Experience Manager Assets Essentials, Announces New Solutions to Improve E-commerce Experience for Adobe Commerce</h2><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/05/36391-benefits-media-library-essentials2xpngimg_.png" alt="Adobe media library essentials" />Adobe introduced its new <a target="_blank" href="https://business.adobe.com/products/experience-manager/assets/assets-essentials.html">Adobe Experience Manager Assets Essentials</a> – a lightweight edition of <a target="_blank" href="https://business.adobe.com/products/experience-manager/assets/aem-assets.html">Adobe Experience Manager Assets</a>. It offers a simplified user experience for marketing and creative pros to store, discover, and distribute digital assets across their teams. Assets Essentials will serve as the default asset management experience across Experience Cloud apps, starting with the new Adobe Journey Optimizer and later this year with Adobe Workfront.The new Assets Essentials provides a centralized workspace for the asset repository to store, share, and manage images, videos, documents, and other assets. It allows teams to create, assign, track, review, and approve tasks in a collaborative workspace. And of course, being an Adobe product, it supports all file types including full-sized Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, XD, and more.On the same day, Adobe also announced new capabilities for <a target="_blank" href="https://business.adobe.com/products/magento/magento-commerce.html">Adobe Commerce powered by Magento</a> (formerly Magento Commerce) that extend the intelligence of features like Product Recommendations and Live Search. An upcoming integration with <a target="_blank" href="https://acrobat.adobe.com/us/en/sign.html">Adobe Sign</a> means a more seamless commerce experience for any transactions that require e-signatures as part of the checkout process. <h2>The Digital World Mourns the Passing of Chuck Geschke, Co-found of Adobe and Father of the PDF</h2>There are many icons in the computer and software world, and some of the earliest pioneers have made significant contributions that we take for granted every day. One such notable creation: the ubiquitous Portable Document Format, otherwise known as the PDF.Today, we pay homage to Charles “Chuck” Geschke, the co-founder of Adobe, who died on April 16th at the age of 81. Not only did he help develop the PDF, but he drove innovation across desktop publishing, turning Photoshop into a cultural Webster’s reference – and Adobe into a powerhouse. Chuck radically changed the way people create, view, and share documents and images, and his impact cannot be overstated.Farewell to the Father of the PDF, and one of the great digital innovators of all time. <h2>Contentful Unveils New Features and Partner Apps at Second Annual Blueprints Conference</h2><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/05/contentful-logo-dark.png" alt="Contentful logo - dark" /><a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/">Contentful</a>, a leading enterprise headless CMS provider, <a target="_blank" href="https://press.contentful.com/197449-contentful-unveils-new-features-and-partner-apps-at-second-annual-blueprints-conference">announced</a> the release of new features and partner-built apps at its second annual <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/blueprints-2021/">Blueprints</a> user conference.The new features include <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/blog/2021/04/08/governance-tagging-metadata/">tags and permissions</a> that provide content teams greater flexibility and control over how they organize, find, and edit content – and manage permissions across the organization.These platform enhancements build on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/blog/2021/03/16/launch-compose-release/">the recent release of Compose + Launch</a> – two new Contentful apps that allow content authors, editors, and planners to adapt and publish content independently without having to rely on developer resources.Contentful also announced the release of several partner-built apps in the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/marketplace/">Contentful Marketplace</a>, including an app built by digital services provider <a target="_blank" href="https://portaltech.reply.com/portaltech/en/">Portaltech Reply</a> that connects Contentful with SAP Commerce Cloud – enabling businesses to adapt quickly to changing market conditions to deliver direct-to-consumer and omnichannel experiences.Other recently released partner-built apps for Contentful extend the platform's capabilities across personalization, e-commerce, translations, and video, including Uniform Optimize, Saleor Commerce, GlobalLink Connect by Translations.com, and Qencode Video Transcoding.Contentful recently earned the highest score possible in the partner ecosystem criterion – along with five other criteria – in the recent <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/resources/forrester-wave-agile-cms-2021-report/">Forrester Wave™ Report for Agile Content Management Systems (CMSes)</a>. <h2>Crownpeak and ilumino Announce Strategic Partnership to Advance Digital Accessibility</h2><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/04/crownpeak_ilumino.jpg" alt="Crownpeak and ilumino logos in lockup format." /><a target="_blank" href="https://www.crownpeak.com/">Crownpeak</a>, a digital experience platform (DXP), <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/crownpeak-and-ilumino-announce-strategic-partnership-to-advance-digital-accessibility/">has announced</a> a strategic partnership with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ilumino.co/">ilumino</a>, a digital accessibility services and consulting firm. The two companies will offer an integrated solution that helps improve digital experiences for users with disabilities while evolving accessibility strategies for organizations.Together, Crownpeak and ilumino offer a single, integrated approach that evolves the accessibility model. The solution combines Crownpeak’s DQM technology, providing automated and ongoing scanning and auditing against WCAG guidelines, with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ilumino.co/solutions/">ilumino’s expert services</a> – which focuses on nurturing a company’s “culture of accessibility.”Some noteworthy highlights of the Crownpeak + ilumino solution include:<ul><li>Accessibility and compliance dashboard – providing a “single source of truth” for automated and manual accessibility monitoring</li><li>Automated site scanning (enriched by manual testing) – enterprise-grade, multi-site scanning technology</li><li>Manual testing and consulting – performed by certified accessibility experts</li><li>In-house or guided remediation – tailored to each organization’s unique design and development workflows</li><li>Ongoing support – ensuring sustained compliance through a proactive approach</li><li>Accessibility pattern library – simplifying remediation and establishing long-term organizational assets</li><li>Litigation support – with expert review and consulting on any accessibility-related legal actions received</li><li>Accessibility statement – drafted to demonstrate an organization’s commitment to digital inclusion</li><li>Enterprise strategy – assisting with a prioritized roadmap and risk management</li></ul> <h2>Strapi Headless CMS Announces v3.6 with Free Content Internationalization</h2><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/04/i18n-2.png" alt="content internalization" />Strapi, a leading open-source headless CMS, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/strapi-headless-cms-announces-v3-6-with-free-content-internationalization/">has announced</a> the release of Strapi v3.6, which includes a highly anticipated content internationalization (i18n) feature as part of their Community Edition. Now, Strapi users will have the ability to create and manage content in multiple languages and locales for free and without limitations – and personalize messages delivered to target audiences based on language and geographic data.Leveraging integrations with Strapi’s draft and publish system and role-based access control, users will be able to manage their editing and publishing permissions based on specific locales. With Strapi’s internationalization, content is displayed for each locale based on content types. For example, if a company has an e-commerce website, they can select which product pages are displayed in French, Portuguese, or Mandarin. This level of localization is what enables a global digital strategy to work across borders and languages.In our exclusive discussion with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/victorcoisne/">Victor Coisne</a>, Strapi’s Vice President of Marketing, it’s clear that internationalization was a big part of the CMS vendor’s roadmap, and of significant importance to their growing base of global users. <h2>Kentico Kontent Gets a Fresh New User Interface, Adds Features to Streamline Enterprise Content Operations</h2><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/04/kentico-new-ui-1.png" alt="The new Kentico content UI" />Kentico Kontent, a headless CMS, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/kentico-kontents-new-user-interface-streamlines-enterprise-content-operations/">announced</a> the launch of their new user interface, designed to help enterprise content teams execute their content operations faster.The new UI has a fresh, modern design approach that fuses an array of vibrant colors with plenty of contrast to emphasize important elements.Kentico Kontent also unveiled new upgrades in their latest release, including the Collections feature – which lets enterprises manage all their content in a single repository, allowing the content to be shared across teams and channels without losing any control.With the Collections feature, teams can share content items across departments, websites, and experiences to ensure consistency and eliminate error-prone duplication. The goal is to improve efficiency and minimize the frustration that many enterprise content teams experience.

CMS Monthly Recap: Adobe Experience Manager Assets Essentials, Contentful Unveils New Features, Crownpeak Announces Partnership, and More

Adobe is introducing new features to its Adobe Experience Cloud, including headless content management system (CMS) capabilities in their industry-leading <a href="https://www.adobe.com/marketing/experience-manager.html">Adobe Experience Manager</a> (AEM) and updates to their Commerce Integration Framework (CIF).
The features were announced at the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOVtXt-xx4c&amp;ab_channel=AdobeDevelopers">Adobe Developers Live</a> Conference, giving their community a first glimpse of how these dynamic enhancements will streamline the development of headless content delivery via GraphQL APIs, as well as enable users to create shoppable, app-like experiences that combine content and commerce.
The announcements were made just as the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/key-takeaways-from-gartners-2021-magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms/">Gartner 2021 Magic Quadrant for DXPs</a> and the <a href="https://go.forrester.com/blogs/agile-cms-moves-the-market-beyond-headless-forresters-just-released-wave-evaluation/">2021 Forrester Wave for Agile CMSes</a> were being released. Both reports position Adobe as the top vendor, and the addition of these new features reinforces their leadership role in a rapidly-evolving market landscape.
<h3>What is Adobe Experience Cloud?</h3>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/03/adobe-journey-diagram.png" alt="Adobe Journey Diagram" />
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"></figure>
Adobe Experience Cloud is a comprehensive collection of integrated cloud applications and services that give enterprises the best-of-breed tools for marketing, analytics, advertising, and commerce. Adobe Experience Cloud also integrates with <a href="https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud.html">Adobe Creative Cloud</a>, which features an industry-standard suite of digital publishing and experience design tools – including <a href="https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html">Photoshop</a>.
Heading up the Leader quadrant of this year's Gartner MQ, Adobe reigns over the DXP landscape. Over the course of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic elevated competition across the enterprise marketplace, forcing the CMS and DXP industries to accelerate their own transformation goals.
Adobe has remained in a solid leadership position because of its ubiquitous brand presence and continued commitment to innovation. The most recent enhancements to Adobe Experience Cloud reflect current market trends and elevated demand for headless and API-driven strategies – as well as a heightened need for integrating with customer data.
So, what’s new with Adobe Experience Cloud?
<h3>New Headless CMS Capabilities</h3>
Headless platforms have seen a dramatic rise in the CMS and DXP enterprise market over the last few years. This includes <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/contentstack-and-gatsby-announce-partnership-to-power-ultra-fast-websites-with-headless-cms/">Contentstack</a> – which was positioned as a <a href="https://www.contentstack.com/company/press/forrester-named-contentstack-strong-performer-agile-cms/?utm_source=facebook&amp;utm_medium=organic_social">Strong Performer</a> on the 2021 Forrester Wave Report for Agile CMSes.
To enable developers to distribute content across multiple touchpoints, Adobe is now introducing <a href="https://graphql.org/">GraphQL APIs</a> for headless content delivery. GraphQL is a data query language developed by Facebook and open-sourced in 2015 and is trusted by many big tech brands – including Pinterest, GitHub, Netflix, Shopify, Twitter, and more.
Facebook initially developed GraphQL because they needed a more powerful data-fetching API for their mobile applications. REST API has its limitations because whenever data requirements change, more endpoints are needed. GraphQL is typically served over HTTP via a single endpoint, which expresses the full set of capabilities of the service without the need for additional endpoints.
GraphQL also makes personalization much easier. For instance, using a REST API to retrieve a customer’s information (like recently viewed products and purchases), you need to send a fetch request for three endpoints: USER, USER_PURCHASE, and RECENTLY_VIEWED. This makes data fetching slow and cumbersome. With GraphQL, all you need to do is fetch the user object to gather all the data.
By leveraging GraphQL, Adobe is giving developers the power to deliver content to any touchpoint and access data across the Adobe ecosystem. For example, a mobile app developer can query marketing content from Adobe Experience Manager and have personalized results sent to the app, which renders in its UI. From there, a marketer can use Adobe Experience Manager’s authoring capabilities to add or edit marketing content across multiple devices and touchpoints – saving time and resources.
Siloing has been a significant problem in experience platforms. In the customer data (CDP) layer of the stack, Segment has been working to unify customer data from fragmented corners of the ecosystem. That’s why Twilio dropped a whopping $3.2 billion to <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/twilio-acquires-segment-for-3-2b-adds-market-leading-cdp-for-building-data-driven-apps/">acquire Segment</a> to build data-driven apps.
Likewise, Adobe has also recognized the deep gaps around siloed data. They are working to enhance their platform capabilities for creating personalized app-like experiences and leverage customer data from end to end.
<h3>Easy Integrations with Commerce Integration Framework</h3>
In addition to the headless capabilities, Adobe Experience Manager can now integrate and extend commerce services from <a href="https://magento.com/">Magento</a> and other commerce solutions through Adobe’s Commerce Integration Framework (CIF). CIF is built on rich APIs that can be easily extended, enabling a seamless storefront authoring experience in Adobe Experience Manager with faster-time-to-market at a lower cost.
Headless is quickly becoming a necessity for commerce platforms because it enables marketers and merchants to deliver world-class commerce experiences without the engineering burden. Nearly all the vendors who earned a place on the Gartner 2021 Magic Quadrant for DXPs offer headless capabilities; in fact, Adobe’s largest competitors – <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/acquia-digital-commerce-unifies-data-content-commerce-and-digital-merchandising/">Acquia</a> and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-updates-experience-platform-and-experience-commerce-releases-new-sitecore-content-hub/">Sitecore</a> – have been successfully advancing in the DXP Leaders quadrant by offering a headless play.
<h3>Headless in a hybrid world</h3>
While Adobe’s addition of headless isn’t a shocker, it represents the challenges that CMS and DXP platforms face. Content operators have multiple channels to contend with, and each consumes content in a different way. While one may access HTML, another requires JSON, and so on. These channels are also independent of one another, creating the aforementioned silo effect around content and data.
Adobe has always lead the way in CX and personalization, and headless is essential to every part of their experience ecosystem – specifically commerce. There are significant challenges with maintaining brand, message, and price consistency, as well as the cost of duplicating content from channel to channel. Now, Adobe provides more of a complete solution for managing the chaos.
One of the biggest issues that pure headless platforms face is the ability for content owners and marketers to visualize their channels. Adobe has clearly stated that developers are struggling to deliver cohesive content across every touchpoint (modern web, smartwatches, native apps, etc.) – and the limitations of headless are a big part of the pain.
By offering a hybrid platform, Adobe addresses some of the "multiverse" that exists by bringing websites and applications together with headless capabilities. That said, even Adobe doesn't have a solution for presenting digital signs, IoT devices, or other form factors within their CMS. At least not yet.
The real challenge for Adobe? Staying in the leadership position.

Adobe Experience Cloud Adds Headless CMS Capabilities, Updates to Commerce Integration Framework

Here's a bit of a shocker for the day, I just received notification that Adobe has entered into an agreement to purchase Magento Commerce for $1.68 billion! Adobe has a history of sucking companies into their Adobe Experience Cloud (or Dark Experience Cloud as I call it), effectively making the brand disappear which is no doubt the plan here according to the release.
Here's a quote from the press release that marks the death sentence for Magento as a brand:
<blockquote>“Adobe is the only company with leadership in content creation, marketing, advertising, analytics and now commerce – enabling real-time experiences across the entire customer journey,” said Brad Rencher, executive vice president and general manager, Digital Experience, Adobe. “Embedding commerce into the Adobe Experience Cloud with Magento enables Adobe to make every moment personal and every experience shoppable.”</blockquote>
The obvious drawback here are that companies currently using Magento in some form or another, whether through integrations or otherwise. are going to have to find another solution fast or risk being badgered to death by Adobe Sales for eternity (and nobody wants that to happen). Take heed customers! Now is the time to flee before the behemoth descends! I kid, I kid (or do I?).
Here are some alternatives to consider if you are in this predicament:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/">BigCommerce Enterprise</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.prestashop.com">PrestaShop Enterprise</a></li>
</ul>
What are your thoughts on the purchase?

Adobe Sucks Magento into their Dark Experience Cloud

mike-johnston

Day 2 of the Adobe Summit kicked off with the General sessions in which John Mellor, VP of Strategy for Digital Marketing was greeted on stage by the crazy space jumper, (and I say crazy because you have to be crazy to jump from space.. ) Felix Baumgartner (@itsFelixB),
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/1day2.jpg" alt="Felix Baumgartner during Day 2 General Sessions" /> Felix Baumgartner with John Mellor during Day 2 General Sessions
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2day2.jpg" alt="Felix Baumgartner during Day 2 General Sessions" /> Felix Baumgartner during Day 2 General Sessions
It was an interesting session in which Mr. Baumgartner shared what he had to go through in order to pull off such a high profile event. It was especially interesting listening to his marketing mind and how it works. He is very appreciate of all of the hard work that the various team members put into making his jump happen. Mr. Baumgartner definitely did an amazing job of marketing himself for this jump and as a result, had a staggering amount of views on YouTube and broke the record for most live views.
Following Felix were representatives from Nascar and NBC Universal. They certainly had a tough act to follow with Felix taking the lead out of the gate but did an admirable job. You can catch a bit of what they said in our Twitter stream below.
The closing talk was given by Salman Khan, founder of the Khan Academy, a Not-for-profit organization aiming to provide free education to everyone, everywhere. I must admit, I didn't know what to expect from his talk but I would be surprised if there was anyone in the audience who wasn't completely engaged throughout his entire talk. Not only is this man an amazing inspiration, but his humor and humility easily stole the show.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/day2.jpg" alt="Salman Khan - Khan Academy" /> Salman Khan – Khan Academy
I will admit that there were a number of times during his talk when both my wife and I became choked up listening to how he has changed the lives of people who thought they were never going to succeed. He's an amazing man and you can tell from the Twitter stream below, I'm not the only one who was blown away. I feel privileged that I was able to hear his story.
For those who missed our tweets during the opening session, here’s a breakdown of the key items we, and some others, shared. Thanks for reading!
[[highlights2]]

Adobe Summit 2013 – Day 2 Highlights

Adobe today kicked off their annual Digital Marketing Conference, Adobe Summit. Each year, thousands of attendees ranging from digital marketers to senior leaders, descend on beautiful Salt Lake City for this one of a kind conference showcasing Adobe and their partner's amazing products and services. For anyone involved in marketing (and let's face it, we all are in some aspect) this is the place to be if you want to know what is coming down the innovation pipeline.
Adobe has long been the most innovative company, in my opinion, when it comes to digital marketing and the future of the industry and the announcements coming out of this summit are certainly a testament to that.
<blockquote>Adobe Summit brings together the best marketers and advertisers from all industries,” said Brad Rencher, senior vice president and general manager, Digital Marketing Business, Adobe. “At this year’s event we’ll explore why digital marketers are fast becoming strategic leaders within their organizations. We’ll also share how leading brands are using Adobe® Marketing Cloud to get from data to insight to action, faster and smarter than ever.”</blockquote>
<h2>Today's Announcements from Adobe:</h2>
<h3>A New Touch Interface for Adobe Marketing Cloud</h3>
This new UI allows marketers to work with and see how their campaigns are performing using touch capable devices such as tablets and smartphones. Adobe Marketing Cloud also now links with Adobe Creative Cloud, which is used to build and deliver campaigns. In addition, every solution within Adobe Marketing Cloud has been upgraded with new mobile marketing capabilities, including new mobile capabilities for analytics, advertising, social app development, targeting content on smartphones and tablets, and mobile content management and delivery.
Check out this video showcasing the platform in all its glory:
[[adobemc]]
<h3>Adobe Social for Mobile Phones and Tablets</h3>
Adobe today upgraded Adobe Social, part of Adobe Marketing Cloud, with a completely redesigned user interface focused on interpreting and presenting social data in a more digestible format that helps social marketers prove business results.  Adobe also debuted Adobe Social for mobile phones and tablets.  Social marketers now have a marketing tool that’s as mobile as they are.
<h3>Adobe CQ has been rebranded Adobe Experience Manager and it's Chock Full of New Features</h3>
Adobe CQ (winner of our Critic's Choice award for <a href="/critics-choice-for-best-enterprise-cms-goes-to/">Best Enterprise CMS</a>) has been rebranded as Adobe Experience Manager (a much more fitting name) and now comes with a new responsive design, social communities and new video capabilities thanks to integration with the Adobe Scene7 platform. In addition, Adobe today introduced a new <a href="http://www.adobe.com/go/dam/">Digital Asset Management</a> offering within <a href="http://www.adobe.com/go/aem/">Adobe Experience Manager</a>.
<h3>A New Standard Version of Adobe Media Optimizer</h3>
Adobe has announced a standard version of their Adobe Media Optimizer (a component of the Adobe Marketing Cloud). For those who are unaware, Media Optimizer is Adobe's digital advertising platform for campaigns across search, display and social media. This new edition offers a rules-based bidding solution that integrates seamlessly with Adobe Analytics and allows for improved performance of your search engine marketing campaigns. Designed for media buying agencies, search engine marketing firms and direct advertisers, this solution offers more control and transparency over campaigns at an economical price point.
In Addition to these announcements, Adobe has also introduced a host of new features to Adobe Marketing Cloud such as:
<ul>
<li>Adobe Marketing Cloud Cards
<ul>
<li>Using a share dialog feature, content or data in any Adobe Marketing Cloud solution can be turned into a sharable “card.” This collaboration feature also allows marketers to leave annotations and comments on cards, so that everybody working on the campaign is on the same page.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Adobe Marketing Cloud Feed
<ul>
<li>The feed is an aggregation of shared cards. It provides each marketer with an at-a-glance view of everything in Adobe Marketing Cloud that is relevant  to them. The feed helps marketers and their teams stay up to date.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Adobe Marketing Cloud Boards
<ul>
<li>Users can create a board to collect and curate cards.  Like cards, boards can be shared and commented on. Boards give a marketing team a common base for discussion and improve coordination of activities in Adobe Marketing Cloud.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Unified Login
<ul>
<li>The Adobe Marketing Cloud now provides a common access point for solutions allowing customers to access, navigate, and collaborate between and across user experiences.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Integrated Digital Asset Management (coming soon)
<ul>
<li>The integrated DAM system will store, manage and share assets across all Adobe Marketing Cloud solutions. Marketers will be able to search, find, edit, annotate and upload assets and organize assets by folder and campaign, and it will include full metadata support.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Campaign Setup Wizard (coming soon)
<ul>
<li>Marketers will be able to quickly create a campaign, specifying campaign title, team and asset repository. If Adobe Creative Cloud users are invited, their Creative Cloud account will be synchronized automatically with the campaign's Digital Asset Management folder. Automatic synchronizations and integrated sharing, commenting and annotations mean that marketers will always be up to date with their creative team and that assets don’t get lost in transfer.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
To learn more about any of these products visit <a href="http://marketing.adobe.com">http://marketing.adobe.com</a> or to learn more about the Adobe Summit, visit the <a href="http://summit.adobe.com">Adobe Summit website</a> or <a href="http://twitter.com/cmscritic">follow us on Twitter</a> during the summit for real time reporting.

Adobe kicks off Adobe Summit, their Digital Marketing Conference

My choice for Best Enterprise CMS for this year (and the one that will be my #1 recommendation in this category until next years awards) is the one and only, <a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/cq.html">Adobe CQ</a>!
<img style="max-width:383px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/adobe-cq5_5-xumak.png" />
Adobe CQ offers exceptional functionality for enterprise customers and Adobe is one of the few vendors in the enterprise space that continues to innovate year over year. Not only is a force to be reckoned with on it's own but when combined with the other products within the Adobe Marketing Cloud, CQ becomes a solution that beautifully fits with any enterprise marketing strategy.
Adobe has come a long way since their <a href="/adobe-acquire-day-software/">purchase of Day Software</a> back in the day and has truly become the top dog in the enterprise market place.
As my choice for this year, when asked to offer suggestions for a best of breed enterprise CMS, I will point to Adobe CQ.  They will receive my recommendation from now until next year’s winner is announced.

Critic’s Choice for Best Enterprise CMS goes to…

If we learned anything while attending Adobe's Digital Marketing Summit this year, it's that Adobe knows how to throw a party better than anyone.
Entering the aptly dubbed “Summit Bash” we were greeted with BMX and Skateboard stunts at an impromptu set of ramps that had been setup in one section of the party.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bash3-450x300.jpg" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bash2.jpg" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
Adding to the ambiance of the party was DJ Mick Boogie putting out some awesome tunes.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bash5-450x300.jpg" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
We had barely entered the party when a character on stilts swung open an enormous set of drapes expanding the already huge hall into one three times the size. Acrobats began twisting up the drapes and began to climb them while performing a series of impressive acrobatics while hanging from them.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/editrolespage_dedxre.png" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
Not only did we have acrobats, we then ended up with a number of beautiful ladies marching about the floor inside balloons, we'll call them “Bubble Girls”  They paraded around the party and popped their bubbles to introduce a band that truly can only be described as “Uniquely amazing”.
The band, named Recycled Percussion, then put on what was the most unique set I've seen, incorporating drumming on recycled materials, ladders, and much more. The music and show these four guys put on was one of the best I've seen.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot_2015-07-08_at_12_53_26_pm_amyh39.png" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
We could have easily watched them all night but there was another band that was about to come on stage and headline… Foster the People took the stage as the surprise headline act at the Bash and kicked up the beats with their hit songs, Pumped up Kicks, Helena Beat and more.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wpid-adobe2.jpg" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
It wasn't just about music and entertainment, though… there was an incredible amount of food and drinks all of which were free of course. Adobe spared no cost feeding the 4,000 attendees with some of the best food we've had in a long time.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot_2015-07-08_at_12_53_26_pm-1_obcryc.png" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
Of course, no party post is complete without a picture of yours truly enjoying a drink.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bash8.jpg" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
All said and done, Adobe knows how to entertain and we had an absolute blast. We look forward to attending again next year. Here are some more pictures from the party.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/lightmodule_png_2015-07-07-17-26-51_dzngyj.png" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/demo_png_2015-07-08-14-43-08_rxl6sd.png" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnoliacmslogo-1_jbzszi.jpg" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
For more info on the summit, visit the <a href="http://summit.adobe.com">Adobe Digital Marketing Summit website</a>.

The Summit Bash at the Adobe Digital Marketing Summit

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