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AI Article

<hr /> If it feels like you’re drowning in AI, you’re not alone.ChatGPT might only be <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/30/chatgpts-one-year-anniversary-how-the-viral-ai-chatbot-has-changed.html#:~:text=Nov.,human%20than%20an%20AI%20system.">a year old</a> (and acting a bit like a toddler), but the wave of innovation it spurred is dominating every conversation. To complicate matters, the ecosystem dynamics are evolving on a daily… er, hourly basis. One possible life raft on these stormy seas has emerged: data provenance. But before we drop anchor on that, let’s review the last few weeks of “AI headwinds,” shall we? And try to keep your head above water…First, we had the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/22/technology/openai-board-capitalists.html">epic drama at OpenAI</a> as Sam Altman played musical chairs with <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/microsoft-sharepoint">Microsoft</a>. The market is still unpacking what it means, but the hit left more than a black eye for both brands.Synchronously, AWS opened the proverbial floodgates at <a target="_blank" href="https://reinvent.awsevents.com/">re:Invent,</a> the cloud juggernaut’s annual confab in Las Vegas. AI felt like the only show on the strip, with Amazon introducing a slew of new models, services, and its hyper-connective <a target="_blank" href="https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/introducing-amazon-q-a-new-generative-ai-powered-assistant-preview/">Amazon Q assistant</a>. Finally, not to be bested by its cloud rivals, Google just unveiled its highly anticipated <a target="_blank" href="https://blog.google/technology/ai/google-gemini-ai/#sundar-note">Gemini AI</a> last week, an advanced LLM built for multimodal reasoning across text, images, video, and code.And that’s just scratching the surface. Floodgates… drowning… is there a lifejacket on this boat?  Despite the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/08/technology/eu-ai-act-regulation.html">EU’s landmark agreement</a> to limit the use of artificial intelligence, we can all agree that the genie isn’t going back in the bottle. And with businesses set to increase their AI investments by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/north-american-businesses-plan-to-invest-67-more-in-generative-ai-in-2024-to-drive-efficiency-experience-and-growth-infosys-research-301967370.html#:~:text=The%20research%20forecasts%20that%20companies,67%25%20in%20the%20next%20year.">almost 70% next year</a>, the pros currently outweigh the cons.  Still, there are challenges aplenty. As more organizations dive into AI, big questions linger around accuracy, security, and governance. Between rampant hallucinations, unsavory biases, and other “shenanigans,” organizations are wrestling with existential issues as they lean more heavily on AI to crunch their data. It’s worth pointing out that machine learning technologies have been around for quite some time, and data has always been the lifeblood. The recent AI acceleration is due in part to the advent of new LLMs, but also the growth of compute capabilities and cloud services to manage more of the heavy lifting. Now, enterprises can rapidly build and train their own AI models and leverage more datasets for critical use cases – like <a target="_blank" href="https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/publicsector/predict-diabetic-patient-readmission-using-multi-model-training-amazon-sagemaker-pipelines/">predicting diabetes</a> based on procedure data from diagnoses and medical claims.  But what about the trustworthiness of the data they’re feeding to AI? Do they know where, when, and how it was collected? If they rely on third-party entities, how do they ensure the data they inherit is clean and complete?This is one of the questions the <a target="_blank" href="https://dataandtrustalliance.org/">Data &amp; Trust Alliance</a> is endeavoring to answer. The not-for-profit consortium is comprised of Fortune 500 businesses across multiple industries (IBM, Pfizer, Nielsen, Walmart, Meta, just to name a few) – all focused on learning, developing, and adopting responsible data and AI governance.I recently spoke with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinapodnar/">Kristina Podnar</a>, Senior Policy Director for the organization, about the Alliance’s proposed <a target="_blank" href="https://dataandtrustalliance.org/our-initiatives/data-provenance-standards">Data Provenance Standards</a>. Kristina is an industry authority and one of the sharpest, most passionate voices on the subject of Digital Policy. She walked me through the proposed standards and the elegant role of metadata in delivering this essential layer of transparency.   <h3>An alliance built for trust</h3>A bit of history for context: The Data &amp; Trust Alliance was formed in 2020 by two heavy hitters: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-chenault/">Ken Chenault</a>, General Catalyst chairman and managing director, and former American Express chairman and CEO; and <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_J._Palmisano">Sam Palmisano</a>, former CEO of IBM. In addition to helming some of the world’s largest brands, these pioneering luminaries have served on numerous boards – including Airbnb, NCAA, Berkshire Hathaway – and continue to be influential figures across industries. As Kristina recalled, both Chenault and Palmisano observed that the next era of business won’t be dependent on data and AI, but on trustworthy data and AI. To help guide the responsible use of data and intelligent systems, they formed the Data &amp; Trust Alliance – which resides within the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.thecge.net/">Center for Global Enterprise</a> (CGE), a New York-based non-profit.The Alliance is built on a core belief that every enterprise in every industry is (or will soon be) a data enterprise, and must be responsible stewards of their data, algorithms, and AI. To support this mission, the organization doesn’t lobby or advocate on public policy issues; instead, it maintains a fierce commitment to developing tools and sharing practices to enhance learning. “Unlike other coalitions that publish a lot of guiding principles, the Data &amp; Trust alliance is all about actually creating tools, which member companies can adopt,” she said. “In the coalition are folks like American Express, Deloitte, Nike, Starbucks, AARP – the list goes on. These organizations get together around a table and ask, what are the biggest challenges we're facing right now? And then let's actually create a solution and adopt it.”According to Kristina, there have been several initiatives that the Alliance has taken on since its inception. This includes a data assessment resource for mergers and acquisitions, and a toolkit for preventing or detecting bias in HR hiring practices when using AI. The latter predates <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nyc.gov/site/dca/about/automated-employment-decision-tools.page">NYC’s Automated Employment Decision Tool law</a> – the first of its kind in the country, and a potential indicator of future legislation (the bill has also <a target="_blank" href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/08/04/1030513/podcast-beating-the-ai-hiring-machines/">garnered criticism</a> from a range of entities).<h3>The Data Provenance Standards initiative </h3>According to the Data &amp; Trust Alliance, having clear data provenance – understanding the origin, lineage, and rights associated with data – is vital to establishing trust around the insights and decisions coming from data-enabled systems. This includes AI applications. As it stands, data scientists <a target="_blank" href="https://www.anaconda.com/resources/whitepapers/state-of-data-science-report-2022">spend</a> nearly 40% of their time on data preparation and cleansing tasks, which is a huge drag on productivity. Further, 61% of CEOs <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/en-us/c-suite-study/ceo">cite</a> the lack of clarity into data lineage and provenance as the central risks preventing the adoption of AI across their businesses.All these factors led to the development of the Data Provenance Standards, which were co-created by 19 Data &amp; Trust Alliance member organizations, along with multiple third-party industry partners and ecosystem experts. The organization took a “for industry, by industry” approach when developing the proposed standards, identifying provenance pain points from 25 use cases across its diverse members. The resulting set focuses on the eight most essential, valuable, and feasible standards for small and large enterprises to implement – irrespective of industry.“The interesting thing about these data provenance standards is they’re built on top of AI use cases,” Kristina shared. “But in reality, they apply to any data, including traditional data. It's the first set of standards really targeted at trustworthiness.”Unlike other principles and industry guidelines that are voluntary in compliance, the Data &amp; Trust Alliance’s provenance standards were designed to be actionable specifically for data governance practitioners. When implemented, they will provide transparency into the origin of the datasets used for both traditional data applications and a rapidly growing number of AI applications – which will ultimately enhance AI value and trustworthiness. <h3>It’s all in the metadata</h3>The word policy might give you the shivers, but that’s where the Data Provenance Standards provide an elegant solution: metadata.“First of all, it's not policy,” Kristina explained. “They are a set of standards, and it's rich metadata that goes along with that. They extend the concept of metadata into a set of trustworthy considerations. At the root of all eight standards, there's a provenance metadata unique ID, and that unique label tracks the history and origin for each data set.”As she further pointed out, the standards apply at the dataset level – not at the element row or table level – acting as an overall “fingerprint” for divining the lineage of the dataset. The eight proposed Data Provenance Standards surface metadata and associated values for: <ol><li>Lineage: Provides the provenance metadata unique ID, along with a blockchain ledger ID or other identifier. </li><li>Source: Contains information about the user, organization, software systems, and even IP address of the originator. </li><li>Legal Rights: Includes details about attribution, copyrights and trademarks, and any laws or regulations that are applicable. </li><li>Privacy and Protection: Covers any protected data classifications or if any privacy-enhancing techniques were applied.</li><li>Generation Date: Codes the year, date, month, and timestamp for the data. </li><li>Data Type: Delineates if the data is structured or unstructured.</li><li>Generation Method: Provides info on how the data was created, via web crawling, data mining, or other methods. </li><li>Intended Use and Restrictions: Details how the data should be used and by what audiences. </li></ol>To see example values, you can download the <a target="_blank" href="https://dataandtrustalliance.org/Data-Provenance-Standards-Information-pack.pdf">Standards information pack</a> from the Data &amp; Trust Alliance website. <h3>Helping enterprises make informed choices about data </h3>Providing information about the origin and rights associated with datasets gives enterprises more confidence in the data they source and use. This can have significant benefits, like improving operational efficiency, regulatory compliance, collaboration, and value generation.“If you think about the biggest challenge that corporations or any entity face today, everybody will tell you it’s data quality,” Kristina injected. “We were originally asked to develop a set of standards around data quality, but quality is very subjective. With our Data Provenance Standards, what we can all agree on is where data originated, and the attributes that it actually has.”To illustrate the impact of the Data Provenance Standards, Kristina narrates <a target="_blank" href="https://www.loom.com/share/d94d162418b3485890efdf8b330164ee?sid=9a21dae1-ea68-4ee7-b22b-9fa93f908511">a short video</a> that outlines a hypothetical use case in the healthcare industry. The story focuses on a researcher at a fictitious company that is using predictive AI modeling to study Hepatitis C in young women. The researcher acquires data regularly from third-party sources and needs to ensure that the dataset is reliable. Using the Data Provenance metadata, the researcher is able to inform her decision-making based on a number of key variables. By examining the lineage standard, she sees that the current dataset is derived from multiple sources. The generation date also indicates how fresh the data is and how much cleaning might be involved. With the intended use and restrictions, the researcher is also able to identify blockers for sharing the data with specific entities, such as the federal government. It's a fantastic video and use case. I’ll let you watch it to hear the researcher’s verdict, but the point is clear: armed with this metadata, enterprises can rely on essential information and attributes to make a decision with greater confidence – and ultimately improve outcomes. <h3>Why it matters for DX applications</h3>It’s easy to see how the proposed Data Provenance Standards will impact the digital experience ecosystem. First and foremost: DX applications rely on data. The list is long, but for starters, think about acquiring outside datasets to power digital advertising and marketing initiatives.“It will be interesting for third-party data procurement purposes,” said Kristina. “But I think in due course, it’s going to start to impact adtech and martech. It can't help but impact it.”AI is also being woven across every layer of the digital stack, so enhancing transparency will be key to trust at every level – particularly in a decoupled, API-first world that taps lots of data sources. This includes CMS and DXP platforms that are becoming training grounds for AI and connecting with a myriad of external services driven by data.  The new standards are still in a “proposed” mode as the Data &amp; Trust Alliance continues to gather feedback from the market. You can participate in the process by <a target="_blank" href="https://dataandtrustalliance.org/our-initiatives/data-provenance-standards">reviewing the standards</a> and providing input on the metadata and values <a target="_blank" href="https://us14.list-manage.com/survey?u=f2c4b0ec47814ddee58d70038&amp;id=fb47ee5e98&amp;attribution=false">via an online survey</a>.  As a resident Digital Policy rockstar, Kristina seems bullish on the potential impact – namely because the Data &amp; Trust Alliance represents leading global brands that are committed to ensuring this vital transparency.“The reason why this matters is because around the table are the largest procurement entities for data in the world,” Kristina said emphatically. “So if they start to adopt these standards and apply them to their data in the form of metadata, what you actually have is a huge ecosystem play.”That ecosystem won't stop the AI floodgates from opening further, but it might help keep things afloat.   <hr /><figure class="image"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/11/cms-kickoff-2024-banner.jpg" /></figure><h3>See Kristina Podnar at CMS Kickoff 2024 - January 16-17</h3>CMS Critic is a proud conference partner at this second annual edition of the prestigious international Boye &amp; Co conference, dedicated to the global CMS community. This event will bring together top-notch speakers, Boye &amp; Company's renowned learning format, and engaging social events.Tired of impersonal and overwhelming gatherings? Picture this event as a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move forward in 2024. Along with Kristina Podnar, hear from leading voices across the industry on a wide range of topics, including:<ul><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/speakers/andrew-kumar">Andrew Kumar</a>, GVP at Uniform</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/speakers/becky-brown">Becky Brown</a>, Content Strategy Lead at Johnson &amp; Johnson</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/speakers/marli-mesibov">Marli Mesibov</a>, Content Strategy at Verily</li></ul><h4> </h4><img style="width:39.13%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/11/don-cesar-hotel.jpg" /><h4>The Don CeSar: a world-class venue</h4>Is there a better location for a winter kickoff than Florida's beautiful, sugary sand beaches? CMS Kickoff 2024 will be held at the iconic Don CeSar, just steps from the Gulf of Mexico. Dubbed the “Pink Palace,” this majestic hotel and resort provides a stunning backdrop to the conference, along with access to the local food and culture of St. Petersburg Beach. <h4>Get your tickets today</h4>CMS Kickoff offers an intimate, highly focused experience. Space is limited, and only a few seats remain. Don't miss this exclusive opportunity!<a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff24/tickets">Purchase tickets now &gt;</a>

Can you trust your AI data? New standards emerge to help ensure transparency

matt-garrepy

<hr /> A bit of translation trivia: the word “Canto” means “singing” in Spanish. Perhaps, then, it’s apropos that the company called <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/canto">Canto</a> – a leading <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-digital-asset-management-dam-system">digital asset management</a> software platform – is crooning a sweet tune about its latest innovation. Is it Swift-worthy? Sure sounds that way.The song they’re spinning is the new <a target="_blank" href="https://www.canto.com/product/canto-pim">Canto PIM</a>, a comprehensive solution that combines its industry-standard DAM with product information management capabilities.According to the company, Canto PIM has been purpose-built to overcome the burdens and blockers many brands face when managing, distributing, iterating, optimizing, and securing their digital assets and product data across an expansive ecosystem of channels, campaigns, and use cases.I’ve been expecting this news given that Canto acquired industry rival <a target="_blank" href="https://www.imagerelay.com/">Image Relay</a> in mid-September. The Vermont-based SaaS company had been blazing trails around its combined modeling of digital asset management and product information management, making it an attractive target in what is becoming a densely competitive race between pure-play DAMs and DXP ecosystem solutions.The revelation of Canto PIM certainly came faster than anticipated, likely a reflection of the pressure to drive differentiation and capture market share before the 2025 product announcement cycle. At the time, I predicted that the combo could be a game changer as Canto executes its vision to revolutionize the way businesses mine value from their digital content. This isn't Canto's first dance with M&amp;A. Just last year, the company <a target="_blank" href="https://www.canto.com/press-releases/canto-merlinone/">acquired another competitor, MerlinOne,</a> making way for some fairly impressive AI capabilities that are continuing to juice its feature set. Here’s a revealing stat: 85% of marketers say that their <a target="_blank" href="https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/consultancy/deloitte-uk-future-of-experience-time-to-market.pdf">content demands have doubled</a> in just the past two years. As you can imagine, siloed approaches to digital asset and product information management can’t keep up with this exponential growth – particularly as brands struggle to compete in a crowded, time-compressed market.“Within every industry, businesses are under unprecedented pressure to create and deliver more content than ever before,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellum/">Wain Kellum</a>, Canto's CEO. “Canto PIM empowers organizations to reimagine their content and product information operations for the digital-first era, breaking down legacy roadblocks to deliver exceptional customer, partner, and employee experiences at scale.”Canto has been in the DAM game for three decades, so it understands this space with a deeper intimacy than most of its modern peers. The expanded ecosystem of choice is certainly providing more competition, but it’s also driving legacy platforms to rethink their strategies and invest in expanding their capabilities – like bridging the gap between digital asset and product information data. <h3 id="putting-pim-in-the-dam-engine">Putting PIM in the DAM engine</h3><a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewhall1979/">Andrew Hall</a>, Canto's VP of Global Demand Generation, recently shared some key DAM trends that the company is focusing on in 2025. In the video below, he talks about the benefits of streamlining workflows, scaling content lifecycles, and integrating a wider bench of tools to provide brands with greater efficiency.  <figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr0ZCUDHa1Y"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Sr0ZCUDHa1Y" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure> Reinforcing those transformative trends, Canto PIM builds on the company’s industry-leading legacy as a DAM innovator. The platform serves as a single source of truth for all product data and digital content, whether it’s product-specific or deployed for broader brand marketing and sales initiatives. By unifying traditionally fragmented capabilities, the solution enables organizations to streamline workflows across the entire content and product information lifecycle – from initial planning and creation to distribution and analysis. The platform enables brands to unify product data and assets by centralizing everything in a single repository and using AI search and intuitive tools to streamline workflows and maximize efficiency.Canto PIM also synchronizes omnichannel experiences by syncing product data and assets across e-commerce, social media, and partner content, ensuring a more cohesive and consistent brand experience for customers. It also streamlines product launches with its native scalability, providing a system that can handle unlimited products, versions, and attributes with zero friction – and without sacrificing performance. <figure class="image image-style-align-center"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/12/canto-screen.jpg" alt="" /></figure>Canto PIM provides fields for rich product metadata, as well as AI-powered search. Source: Canto website When it comes to tracking performance, Canto PIM is equipped with advanced analytics that deliver actionable insights. You can easily measure asset performance and ROI, so you can develop intelligent multichannel and omnichannel strategies.A big benefit of modern DAMs is the ability to protect brand assets. Canto PIM carries forward that same commitment from Canto’s digital asset management system for safeguarding brand assets and product IP. It delivers on this promise by providing SOC-2-certified, enterprise-grade security, as well as granular permissions and compliance measures for managing users and access. You can take a more <a target="_blank" href="https://www.canto.com/product/canto-pim/">in-depth product tour</a> on Canto's website.<h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>DAM, it’s getting loud in here. It’s true. As the digital asset management space packs in more players, it’s going to take a really sharp voice to sing over the crowd. This includes the chorus of digital experience platforms that offer integrated solutions as part of their ecosystem – an advantage on some levels, but less geared towards composable stacks, which are becoming more of a preference among large enterprise brands. As one of the most proven legacy brands in the market, Canto has consistently delivered on its DAM differentiators. Powered by the Image Relay acquisition, it now has an even stronger offering that meaningfully combines the capabilities of DAM and PIM. And that’s the lyrical hook: the marriage of these categories needs to yield real fruit for users.AI is certainly a force multiplier, and DAMs are applications where AI and machine learning enable high-utility outcomes. With the addition of more advanced AI features – specifically around search – Canto is delivering on its vision for truly unifying disjointed content assets and product information and making it actionable. With the increased volume around DAM and PIM solutions, evaluating these products can be more challenging – particularly with enterprise DXPs offering some compelling solutions. Many independent platforms are focusing on their composable posture as part of their value proposition. Based on your goals, it's essential to assess how a DAM's architecture is best suited for your stack and how AI and other features will enable your teams to manage data from a wide range of sources. In many composable use cases, having a layer of orchestration is becoming attractive for marketing teams and business leaders who are executing omnichannel strategies. At the end of the day, the song we’re all dying to hear is how a DAM and PIM “twofer” will enable marketing, creative, and product teams to be faster, leaner, more agile – and ultimately more efficient. As <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/abeiagi/">Alan Beiagi</a>, Canto’s Chief Product and Technology Officer, reflected, it’s all about giving customers a place that finally brings everything together. “By breaking down the barriers between DAM and PIM technologies and workflows, we’re giving our customers the all-in-one agility and efficiency they need to thrive in their marketplace,” he said. It doesn’t take a Swiftie to see that Canto might have a hit on its hands.  <hr /><h4 style="text-align:center" id="looking-for-guidance-on-canto?--talk-to-us.-">Looking for guidance on Canto?  <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/contact">Talk to us. </a></h4><hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-2025"><a href=" https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25">CMS Kickoff 2025</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaMeet Dominik Pinter, CEO of Kentico, at our third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global CMS event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">so secure your tickets today.</a> <img style="width:30.46%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/cms-summit-25.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-summit-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">CMS Summit 25</a></h4>May 13-14, 2025 – Frankfurt, GermanyDon't miss the first European edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community! CMS Summit 25 will bring together top-notch speakers, our renowned learning format, and engaging social events. Hear from leading practitioners like Deutsche Bahn, Dr. Oetker, and more – and join customers, agencies, and CMS vendors as we discuss current trends and what's ahead for the content and digital experience fields. Connect and network at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference focused on CMS. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">so book your seats today.</a>

Canto PIM Unites DAM and Product Information Management, Streamlining Asset and Data Workflows

A late 2024 field trip: 2 days at the Kentico Connection conference

janus-boye

<hr /> Seems like we’ve been talking a lot about DAMs these days. Why? Because there’s so much DAM stuff to deal with.It’s true. Many large enterprises have thousands – even millions – of digital assets spread across a myriad of systems and databases. At the same time, marketing teams are under increasing pressure to work faster while maintaining control and governance.Over the last two years, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-digital-asset-management-dam-system">digital asset management systems</a> have been stepping up to meet this challenge, enhancing their product capabilities with an abundance of AI capabilities. This evolution in functionality, driven largely by AI, is impacting productivity for teams and driving greater value for brands. In that same stretch, I've seen numerous demos from pure-play DAM platforms and DXPs with dedicated DAM features, many of which were on display at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.henrystewartconferences.com/events/dam-new-york-2024">DAM New York 2024</a> just a few weeks ago. While there are many horizontal plays within the DAM market landscape, there are certainly niche products that understand the unique needs and challenges of the markets they serve, providing a more immersive UX that’s discretely geared toward those requirements. These tend to be pure-play solutions with a penchant for integration. Such is the case with <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/cloudinary">Cloudinary</a>, an image and video platform that enables some of the world’s most engaging brands to deliver transformative visual experiences at an enterprise scale. With more than two million users and 10,000 customers (including Adidas, Etsy, Fiverr, Rivian, and more), Cloudinary helps organizations manage huge asset volumes, improve collaboration, save thousands of hours on repetitive tasks, and increase conversions.During DAM New York, Cloudinary announced some new and interesting capabilities to <a target="_blank" href="https://cloudinary.com/blog/the-intelligent-dam">Cloudinary Assets</a>, the company’s intelligent, API-first digital asset management platform. These innovative features are designed to streamline every stage of the asset lifecycle, including customizable creative review and approval workflows, portals for controlling asset sharing, and intuitive AI solutions that automate manual tasks. If you're not familiar with Assets, here's a quick video overview: <figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM3UmmT_oB0"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iM3UmmT_oB0" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure> As an ecosystem, Cloudinary Assets complements the company's other nifty resources. This includes a programmable media feature for automating video and image lifecycles and a <a target="_blank" href="https://cloudinary.com/video_api">robust video API</a> that allows developers to programmatically access and manipulate video content on the web with uploading, storage, encoding, and delivery optimizations.Cloudinary has long embraced the promise of composable architectures, which has guided its innovation path and strategy (more on that in a minute). As such, its new features are purpose-built to deliver greater flexibility for customers within their martech stacks – one of the many reasons why it was recently named a <a target="_blank" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Flp.cloudinary.com%2Farp.lp.idc_marketscape.html%3Futm_campaign%3D4007-%26utm_medium%3Dpress_releases%26utm_source%3Dbusinesswire%23form_section&amp;esheet=54140182&amp;newsitemid=20241022561325&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=Leader+in+the+IDC+MarketScape%3A+Worldwide+Intelligent+Digital+Asset+Management&amp;index=3&amp;md5=843ea3470f82578e4adb9f69ff135925">Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Intelligent Digital Asset Management</a>“Today’s visual economy demands that brands harness the full power of their images and videos to engage and connect with consumers, and these modern experiences require a modern DAM,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-daynes-1456173a/">Rob Daynes</a>, Managing Director of Digital Asset Management at Cloudinary. “When powerful martech tools work together in harmony, the professionals that rely on them can too. This raises the bar for the kinds of experiences they can build to truly distinguish themselves in their market.”Will these new features pay off for Cloudinary customers? According to the company, they will – big time. They project that a brand's launch cycles could accelerate profoundly, dropping from weeks or days to minutes. Asset costs could be reduced by up to 60%. And here's the clincher: users could save up to 75% of their time toiling in asset management, driving a significant ROI through enhanced productivity. These are some sweet value props. Can Assets deliver the goods?I'm sure Cloudinary would say (resoundingly): “You bet your assets.” But let’s dig in a little deeper. <h3 id="an-api-first-dam-for-composable-architectures">An API-first DAM for composable architectures</h3>Recently, Cloudinary commissioned an <a target="_blank" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudinary.com%2Fproducts%2Fdigital_asset_management%2Fsurvey%3Futm_campaign%3D4007-%26utm_medium%3Dpress_releases%26utm_source%3Dbusinesswire&amp;esheet=54140182&amp;newsitemid=20241022561325&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=independent+DAM+survey&amp;index=11&amp;md5=0092398e234b7db65818807e845a90ae">independent DAM survey</a>, revealing that 86% of respondents consider a highly integratable DAM to be extremely or very important. That makes sense based on all the dynamics I’ve already outlined.“Highly integratable” is a kind of synonym for composable, which is indeed reflected in Cloudinary’s grounding API-first posture. This architectural approach has long been the company’s guiding light, and is codified by its early membership in the <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/new-logo-new-leaders-mach-alliance-announces-key-appointments-and-brand-refresh">MACH Alliance</a>. The platform offers a robust ecosystem of more than 300 partners, integrations, and plug-ins with many of the marketing ecosystem’s most popular tools.Cloudinary sees its DAM as a “single source of truth” for all visual assets, consolidating the often disparate visual asset technologies managed across teams in one highly connected and intelligent platform. With its rich focus on the image and video asset category, its composable capabilities give it an edge when fitting into a diverse martech stack with distributed data.<h3 id="powerful-and-practical-ai-capabilities">Powerful and practical AI capabilities</h3>There are several places where AI is augmenting Cloudinary’s DAM features to improve efficiency while delivering greater control and confidence for marketing teams. First, Cloudinary’s embedded AI automates the creative review and approval workflows by enabling auto-tagging and visual search for simpler asset classification and discovery. Its AI-powered content moderation and credentialing – with <a target="_blank" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudinary.com%2Fblog%2Fc2pa-standard-implementation%3Futm_campaign%3D4007-%26utm_medium%3Dpress_releases%26utm_source%3Dbusinesswire&amp;esheet=54140182&amp;newsitemid=20241022561325&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=C2PA+compliance&amp;index=10&amp;md5=1895ae4da0c24b994d0060e4969a27a1">C2PA compliance</a> – helps ensure brand compliance and customer confidence in every asset, even as library volumes increase and <a target="_blank" href="https://cloudinary.com/documentation/user_generated_content">user-generated content</a> (UGC) and AI content proliferate.Its DAM also has a deep bench of practical AI capabilities that accelerate time to market for visual storytellers. These include automating manual tasks at scale, such as cropping, resizing, and delivering assets in the ideal file format and quality.With Cloudinary’s cutting-edge generative AI capabilities – available within its visual workspace, Studio – any DAM user can create unlimited on-brand customizations of a single asset or collection of assets for any use case. Accurate previews eliminate publishing risk and ensure that assets transformed by generative AI automation (such as background removal and fill, object removal and replacement, product recoloring, or image quality enhancement) will look flawless once delivered to the consumer.<h3 id="what-are-the-new-features-in-assets?">What are the new features in Assets?</h3>Here’s a quick rundown, starting with robust <a target="_blank" href="https://cloudinary.com/products/digital_asset_management/moderate-review">creative review and approval</a> capabilities. Marketing teams will benefit from a more centralized and collaborative workflow automation solution, allowing them to customize and match their own review and approval processes for images, videos, PDFs, and other content and file types – and even include both internal and external stakeholders. It also sports enterprise-grade security and auditing, so brands in highly regulated industries can maintain strict governance.  <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:65.02%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/cloudinary-metadata-screenshot.png" alt="" /></figure>Managing metadata and adding AI-generated captioning are powerful tools in Cloudinary Assets Content moderation is critical for marketing teams, particularly as assets grow exponentially. As such, Cloudinary has juiced its platform with <a target="_blank" href="https://cloudinary.com/solutions/user-generated-content">AI-powered moderation tools</a>, helping brands meet compliance by automating things like credentialing and compliance checks. Teams can also maintain higher standards while coping with the challenging realities of UGC and other assets entering the ecosystem.Powered by Cloudinary’s proprietary MediaFlows solution, the enhanced <a target="_blank" href="https://cloudinary.com/products/digital_asset_management/asset-workflow-templates">asset workflow automation</a> is a no-code solution that sets up actions when uploading assets – or times actions to occur by specific criteria such as expiration date, changes to metadata, and other details. Asset workflow automation can also be customized with more complex workflows and integrations by upgrading to the full suite of MediaFlows capabilities.  <img style="width:46.3%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/cloudinary-asset-worfklow-screen.png" alt="" />Asset workflow automation offers granular control of specific asset actions and details On the frontend, there’s also something called <a target="_blank" href="https://cloudinary.com/products/digital_asset_management/portals">Cloudinary Portals</a>, which makes it easy to securely curate and share assets with everyone on your team or specified stakeholders. Portals enables business users to create fully branded digital experiences across media sharing, brand guideline portals, press portals, partner and sales enablement centers, and more.On the video side, there are some cool GenAI video editing features. These advancements are intended to support the <a target="_blank" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudinary.com%2Fsolutions%2Fvideo%2Fsurvey%3Futm_campaign%3D4007-%26utm_medium%3Dpress_releases%26utm_source%3Dbusinesswire&amp;esheet=54140182&amp;newsitemid=20241022561325&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=80%25+of+brands+that+plan+to+expand+their+use+of+video&amp;index=12&amp;md5=098c47b4c8e32efbf3635f928c3fdd05">80% of brands planning to expand their use of video</a>. This includes incredibly handy tools for generating smart previews, transcriptions, captioning, and auto-translations – so brands can reach everyone on any device with more accessible experiences. Cloudinary also supports multiple video file formats, including short-form, long-form, e-commerce, information and how-to, and other applications. <h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>“DAM done differently.” That’s how Cloudinary visualizes its platform promise. It’s catchy, and it certainly reflects the company's culture of innovation.AI is the name of the game when it comes to the DAM roadmap and horizon. As the competitive field continues to expand, pure-play providers, DXPs, and PaaS solutions will continue to leverage high-utility AI features to provide differentiated value to customers. Most of that value will be derived from enhancements in speed, productivity, and governance. But platforms like Cloudinary might have an advantage relative to their decade-long focus on digital imagery and video, and its persistent posture of composability. Being API-first is a key determiner for buyers and evaluators looking for MACH-centric solutions that fit the bill within composable stacks, and Cloudinary has long been a champion of composability.Still, the DAM market is getting thicker. <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/slam-dam-dunk-canto-acquires-image-relay-plans-to-align-dam-and-pim-features">With Canto’s acquisition of Image Relay</a>, there’s a motion towards consolidating power at the pure-play enterprise level. Meanwhile, DXPs and Content Marketing Platforms (CMPs) like <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/acquia">Acquia</a> continue to roll out more high-utility AI-driven features like native video editing – making it less cumbersome for brands to simply add and access these features. Downstream, PaaS players like <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/directus">Directus</a> are offering built-in choice with their own integrated DAM, just as other legacy CMS platforms continue to improve their own capabilities. The good news: demand is growing, and innovation will pay off for marketing teams and brands.If you’re evaluating platforms, consider your goals relative to composability. Cloudinary's API-first posture puts them squarely in that league, but they're also enhancing the key features that really add up in a good DAM: asset lifecycle management, customizable workflows, roles-based permissions, and of course, AI and machine learning capabilities. In terms of trust, it's hard to find a more best-of-breed, pure-play DAM provider than Cloudinary. They clearly understand the value of image and video assets at the enterprise level, and they're striving to lead the way with emerging technologies in the DAM field. Bottom line: It’s a safe bet for covering your assets.  <hr /><h4 style="text-align:center" id="looking-for-guidance-on-cloudinary?--talk-to-us.-">Looking for guidance on Cloudinary?  <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/contact">Talk to us. </a></h4><hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-2025"><a href=" https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25">CMS Kickoff 2025</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaJoin us next January in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for the third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">so secure your tickets today.</a> <img style="width:30.46%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/cms-summit-25.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-summit-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">CMS Summit 25</a></h4>May 13-14, 2025 – Frankfurt, GermanyDon't miss the first European edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community! CMS Summit 25 will bring together top-notch speakers, our renowned learning format, and engaging social events. Hear from leading practitioners like Deutsche Bahn, Dr. Oetker, and more – and join customers, agencies, and CMS vendors as we discuss current trends and what's ahead for the content and digital experience fields. Connect and network at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference focused on CMS. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">so book your seats today.</a>

Cloudinary Assets Brings New AI-Powered Features to its API-First ‘Intelligent DAM’ 

CoreMedia’s New KIO AI Promises the ‘Biggest Leap’ in CMS Productivity in Decades

<hr /> In the pantheon of DAM solutions, AI has been an undeniable game changer. Along with enhancing search and impacting overall productivity, it’s also proving valuable from a generative content perspective. The latest example of AI innovation in the “DAMsphere” is from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.acquia.com/">Acquia</a>, which has been steadily infusing artificial intelligence into its platform, with a keen focus on its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.acquia.com/products/acquia-dam">Acquia DAM</a> solution.At <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/from-accessibility-to-ai-and-beyond-five-key-takeaways-from-acquia-engage-boston">last year’s Engage conference</a> in Boston, I saw first-hand how AI was force-multiplying the potential for Acquia DAM and taking its core Widen capabilities – <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/acquia-widens-its-dxp-stack-with-widen-acquires-dam-and-pim-capabilities">which it purchased in 2021</a> – to the next level. Since then, there have been continual improvements, reinforcing Acquia’s best-of-breed posture in a competitive market of DAM and PIM products. This includes other DXPs and even headless CMS or PaaS platforms with built-in offerings. Acquia’s new AI enhancements, announced just last month, are focused on video and images – and they're pretty slick. By all accounts, they should boost the productivity of creatives and marketers while enabling them to extract greater value from their digital content. Here’s a quick breakdown (there's even some video to watch):<h3 id="acquia-video-creator">Acquia Video Creator</h3>Video is already a full-time resident in the house of the DAMs, particularly as brands increase their reliance on interactive and immersive content. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wyzowl.com/video-marketing-statistics/">Nearly 90% of consumers</a> say that they want more video, and social platforms like TikTok and Instagram have become the go-to channels for reaching new customers.Additionally, <a target="_blank" href="https://offers.hubspot.com/consumer-trends?hubs_signup-url=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-video-consumption-is-changing&amp;hubs_signup-cta=Consumer%20Trends%20Report&amp;hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-video-consumption-is-changing&amp;hubs_post-cta=Consumer%20Trends%20Report&amp;_gl=1*iyn9mk*_gcl_au*MTAyMzg3NDcxOC4xNzMwOTA3MTk4*_ga*MTUzNjQ3OTAzNi4xNjg1OTEyNTQ3*_ga_LXTM6CQ0XK*MTczMDkwNzE5OC4yLjAuMTczMDkwNzE5OC42MC4wLjA.&amp;_ga=2.165247679.1431422928.1730907198-1536479036.1685912547">almost 40% of buyers</a> have cited a preference for product discovery through short-form video. Consequently, brands are ramping up their production, publication, and management resources to serve up video-centric content and campaigns at scale – and looking for platforms that provide greater automation. With the new <a target="_blank" href="https://www.acquia.com/products/acquia-dam/video-creator">Acquia Video Creator</a>, marketers have a dynamite tool for meeting these demands. Powered by AI, the Video Creator allows users to easily produce professional-quality, brand-compliant videos via a simple drag-and-drop interface. Videos are composed of existing content in a company's digital asset library, and users can access features like customizable templates and a vast cache of graphics, animations, and video clips. Here's a quick overview of the features: <figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://youtu.be/aq7v00IH64E"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aq7v00IH64E" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure> It’s worth reinforcing that this isn’t just a video editor. It is, indeed, a creator, giving professional video editors a canvas for generating templates with customizable zones for things like product promos. The UX is fairly robust, delivering a complete video interface with scene layers and timelines. The functionality evokes the familiarity of <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/adobe-experience-manager">Adobe After Effects</a>, or even some elements of <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/webflow">Webflow</a> relative to the granular styling capabilities – but without feeling too overwhelming. Bottom line: it’s enough tooling to assemble a solid experience.   <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:83.01%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/acquia-video-creator.png" alt="" /></figure>Composing a video with customizable zones in the Acquia Video Creator From here, marketing team members (or almost anyone for that matter) can use the simple drag-and-drop editor to add content, transitions, and animations – as well as audio tracks or music from your library or other integrated sources. You can also pop in a transcript with ease.  <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:82.81%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/acquia-video-creator-templates-screen.png" alt="" /></figure>Selecting templates in the Acquia Video Creator One of the big benefits is the presence of “guardrails” to help keep content on brand. We’ve seen this in other CMS and DXP platforms with restricted learning pipelines or knowledge bases that train only on a company’s content or licensed IP. This AI governance helps democratize video creation across an organization while ensuring that large, distributed teams stay on brand.The other key value is acceleration. In minutes, you can create entirely new projects, edit existing videos, and use the Video Creator’s AI features to generate scripts, voiceovers, subtitles, and even translations. There are also collaboration tools for internal sharing and review, so organizations can rapidly create, approve, and deliver videos across websites, e-commerce channels, social media, events, and more.Acquia Video Creator is powered by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.moovly.com/">Moovly</a>, and is currently available as an add-on module to both the Acquia DAM and PIM solutions.<h3 id="ai-video-transcription-and-automated-color-filtering">AI Video Transcription and Automated Color Filtering</h3>Along with the Video Creator, Acquia also introduced a new AI Video Transcription feature directly within its DAM, making it easier to manage, find, and share video and image assets. This is a super-handy resource and one that should complement every DAM. It enables users to add an AI-generated video transcript that is stored on the video’s asset digest page, eliminating the need to send videos to a separate transcription service (this can be a real hassle factor). What’s cool is that the transcripts are all time-stamped and available via general and advanced searches within the DAM. They can also be downloaded – another perk that can prove to be invaluable when utilizing transcripts in multiple places.Acquia’s new Automated Color Filtering is also a new AI-powered boon to productivity. It removes human error that can arise in manual tagging by using AI to analyze an image's color profile. It then provides filtering and search of specific HEX (hexadecimal) color values without any administrator work required.<h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>When it comes to harnessing AI in CMS, DXP, and other digital experience tools, the value quotient has been all over the spectrum. I’ve watched AI features blossom from the end of 2022 as vendors scrambled to remain in parity, and there have been hits and misses. In my opinion, DAMs have been a shining example of where AI has paid dividends and brought order to the data chaos. They synthesize AI's tangible benefits, applying them to high-utility services like search and filtering. They also enable automation that delivers a more scalable and uniform experience for marketers. Within the landscape of platform choices, Acquia has been pushing the innovation edge – and making Acquia DAM a jewel in its expanding digital crown. It offers an elegant, team-oriented solution that elevates collaboration. Their streamlined approach and drag-and-drop interfaces also enable marketers to be more responsive, productive, and prolific while staying on brand.Video is a key part of the content ecosystem, and Acquia’s new features are enhancing both creation and access in profound ways. AI has been essential to the amplification, but the DXP has clearly put its ear to the ground and listened to both customers and community – particularly at the enterprise level. This is where the growth of Content Marketing Platforms (CMPs) is accelerating, which assembles the assets and digital tools for managing large-scale integrated campaigns. It’s worth noting that Acquia participated in <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/optimizely-leads-gartners-2024-mq-for-content-marketing-platforms-as-more-dxps-join-the-game">Gartner’s 2024 Magic Quadrant for CMPs</a>, presenting as a Challenger. Of course, there's also the net benefit of having the Acquia <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/drupal">Drupal</a> community as part of the testing and feedback loop. As with previous AI ventures within the Acquia DXP, much of the early gains came from Drupal community engagement and nascent plugins for ChatGPT that accelerated the marketable innovation. As <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/buytaert/">Dries Buytaert</a> shared during our Keynote at the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">CMS Connect Conference</a> last August, Drupal and Acquia were at the forefront of AI in the CMS realm, well before the generative explosion.According to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakeathey/">Jake Athey</a>, Vice President of Go-To-Market and Sales for Acquia DAM &amp; PIM, this is just the beginning of the innovation cycle.“AI creates new opportunities for creatives, content authors, and marketers to drive efficiency and create immersive digital experiences that drive greater customer engagement,” he said. “Our latest innovations accelerate campaign delivery by empowering teams to create content more easily, organize assets more accurately, and find relevant assets more quickly. They are just the start of a steady stream of forthcoming innovations that distinguish Acquia DAM for its ability to consistently increase business value.”<hr /><h4 style="text-align:center" id="looking-for-guidance-on-acquia-or-acquia-dam?--talk-to-us.-">Looking for guidance on Acquia or Acquia DAM?  <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/contact">Talk to us. </a></h4><hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-2025"><a href=" https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25">CMS Kickoff 2025</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaJoin us next January in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for the third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">so secure your tickets today.</a>

Acquia Introduces New AI-Powered Video and Image Features for Acquia DAM

Sitecore Rocks and Rolls in Music City: The Top 5 Tracks from Symposium 2024

<hr /> AI is still raging like a fever – even if the temperature isn’t spiking quite as high as a year ago. Don't get me wrong: the market's still being greeted with a healthy dose of daily innovation. We're even seeing up-and-comers like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.artificialintelligence-news.com/news/cerebras-vs-nvidia-inference-tool-promises-higher-performance/">Cerebras challenging the Goliath Nvidia</a>. And while opportunities persist, some of the future potential is also clouded by the murky waters of an evolving regulatory landscape. Europe has been the most audacious on the policy front with the shaping of its signature <a target="_blank" href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/20230601STO93804/eu-ai-act-first-regulation-on-artificial-intelligence">EU AI Act</a>. But just last week, California Governor Gavin Newsome announced <a target="_blank" href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/09/29/governor-newsom-announces-new-initiatives-to-advance-safe-and-responsible-ai-protect-californians/">a spate of new initiatives</a> to advance safe and responsible AI – which will likely give way to similar manifestations in other states. This makes it all a moving target.Despite the legislative barriers, one can’t refute the impact that Generative AI has had on almost every application in the technology ecosystem. In our corner of the CMS and DXP verses, content creators have benefitted from enhanced productivity and efficiency with the introduction of in-app tools and workflows powered <a target="_blank" href="https://openai.com/">primarily by OpenAI</a>.But it’s not just the foundational tools. The entire spectrum of plugins, extensions, and even dev environments have integrated some measure of GenAI into their offerings. Even elemental WYSIWYG editors <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/tinymce-brings-advanced-ai-to-cms-text-editing-interview-with-fredrik-danielsson-elise-bentley">like TinyMCE</a> – used by several CMSes – have woven GenAI capabilities into their offerings.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.netlify.com/">Netlify</a> – the modern web development platform – has also joined the automation chorus, announcing the addition of an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netlify.com/blog/introducing-ai-assisted-publishing">AI-Assisted Publishing</a> feature for marketers and content creators that simplifies the tedious task of managing adjustments to headless or even traditional CMSes.  Part of the solution rests with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netlify.com/platform/create/">Netlify’s Visual Editor</a>, which further codifies the expansion of these tools for composable architectures. I’ve written extensively about the rampant <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/optimizely-introduces-new-saas-cms-with-visual-builder-for-marketers">rise of visual editors and builders</a> in previous articles, and Netlify sites are another example of where users are able to work with structured content in an easy-to-use visual context.Along with the new AI capabilities, the company also introduced <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netlify.com/blog/launching-async-workloads">Netlify Async Workloads</a> for streamlining a host of processes, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netlify.com/blog/introducing-netlify-extensions">Netlify Extensions</a> – which makes customizing workflows and personalizing the interfaces within the Netlify app even easier. The cohort of new capabilities reflects the market’s continued drift towards more composable web architectures, giving developers greater choice and control.The enhancements were all unveiled during the keynote address at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netlify.com/compose/">Netlify Compose 2024</a> in San Francisco by the platform’s CEO and co-founder, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathias-biilmann-christensen-a5a3805/">Mathias Biilmann Christensen.</a> The Compose conference also gives Netlify’s ecosystem of partners the opportunity to showcase innovation. Example: players like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7247676894051999744/">Jamsocket launched its new partner extension</a>, offering a ready-made connection for <a target="_blank" href="https://jamsocket.com/y-sweet">Jamsocket and Y-Sweet</a> services for the Netlify ecosystem.<h3 id="turning-unstructured-content-into-ready-to-publish-pages">Turning unstructured content into ready-to-publish pages</h3>Netlify’s AI-Assisted Publishing addresses the continued pressure on content teams to provide high-quality, high-volume content at breakneck speed. Now, armed with Netlify’s AI-powered capabilities, marketers and creatives can move quickly and seamlessly from ideas to publishable content.Netlify’s use case is simple: content creators often start outside a CMS, using tools like <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/google-cloud-platform">Google Docs</a> or <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/notion">Notion</a>. Converting their creative work into something “suitable” for web publication is still a tedious task, requiring hands-on adjustment of their headless CMS or even legacy, template-based CMS to meet their requirements. AI-Assisted Publishing automates the rigors of moving content from its outside source to a site, transforming unstructured elements into something that works for a production page. It automates the conversion of (for example) your Google Doc for a blog post into web pages – retaining the formatting and links and maintaining corporate brand guidelines and components to keep things cohesive.  <figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://youtu.be/YndziNqJaKw?si=8P0n0bjXzWovKGYW"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YndziNqJaKw" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure> AI-Assisted Publishing effectively mitigates the complexities of managing multiple tools. It transposes content into a polished, web-ready first draft that can be edited and published without the hassle of supporting yet another CMS integration – and instead relies on Netlify’s Visual Editor to shape experiences with structured content. At its core, Visual Editor is designed for composable architectures and is compatible with any site framework and API-enabled content source. Netlify’s Visual Editor provides some decent flexibility. Users can choose a template designed to work with a <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-content-management-system-cms">headless CMS</a> like <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/contentful">Contentful</a> or <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/sanity">Sanity</a>, or even without one – instead relying on Git to manage content versions (sometimes referred to as a Git CMS).AI-Assisted Publishing is ideal for things like blog posts, company announcements, product updates, and other use cases. It effectively reduces the time from ideation to publication, allowing teams to focus on strategic goals rather than tedious and repetitive tasks, which are common across content ops that rely on Google Docs or Notion as a source. <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:88.26%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/10/netlify-image-1.jpg" alt="" /></figure>Netlify's AI-Assisted Publishing offers personalization with custom audience personas Along the same lines, AI-Assisted Publishing is a great way to develop and manage critical marketing touchpoints like landing pages, streamling page creation with pre-designed components that are on-brand. It also provides some slick personalization capabilities that go beyond the typical A/B testing paradigms, allowing users to tailor content for multiple audiences and personas from a single source. Just select a target audience from the built-in picker or configure a specific audience persona, and you're off to the races. AI-Assisted Publishing is currently available in a private beta, but you can <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netlify.com/ai-assisted-publishing-private-beta/">sign up for it here</a>.<h3 id="sustaining-business-operations-with-durable-workloads">Sustaining business operations with durable workloads</h3>As mentioned, Netlify also introduced a few other surprises at its Compose conference, including the new <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netlify.com/blog/launching-async-workloads">Async Workloads</a> service. This nifty innovation empowers developers to construct durable, event-driven workflows seamlessly on any Netlify site.Why does durability matter? Quite simply: stuff breaks. APIs go down. Systems time out and yes, people screw up. Durable workloads enable businesses with more confidence around continuity, offering unparalleled reliability without the hassle of managing additional infrastructure, such as queues, workers, or state management.Async Workloads brings durability to serverless runtimes on Netlify, providing greater resiliency to business operations. Developers can write functions in the same manner as other serverless functions to initiate processes. Netlify takes care of the scaling, retries, future scheduling, and the other morass that can tie things up – ensuring your workloads run seamlessly. As systems get more complex, reliability becomes a precious commodity. Async Workloads helps mitigate this by letting developers build workloads and focus on critical tasks while the underlying system orchestrates everything with durability as a cornerstone. That bridges the reliability gap – and delivers value from end to end. <h3 id="create-more-powerful-customized-workflows">Create more powerful customized workflows</h3>Like a marketplace for added functionality, the new crop of Netlify Extensions allows users to choose from a growing library of ready-made integrations and specialized features that extend the value of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netlify.com/platform/">Netlify platform</a>. It also provides developers and partners with a sandbox to build their own extensions using Netlify’s SDK.What’s great about the Netlify Extensions is how seamless they are. With a single click, you can integrate with popular tools like <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/digitalocean">DigitalOcean</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://supabase.com/">Supabase</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://launchdarkly.com/">LaunchDarkly</a>, or Contentful. You can also leverage new platform features such as Async Workloads, Skew Protection, or Edge-Side Includes.You can explore all the available extensions in Netlify’s in-app Extensions Directory. Once installed, all your sites can take advantage of a given extension’s capabilities – and if it includes a connector, it’s ready to configure through <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netlify.com/platform/connect/">Netlify Connect</a>, allowing you to integrate with your data sources with ease.  <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:84.19%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/10/netlify-image-2.jpg" alt="" /></figure>Netlify Extensions offers a library of integrations and connectors Another cool feature: the Extension UI also enables developers to build on top of the Netlify platform to create immersive experiences for users and teams. The SDK also allows users to build extensions for a host of other applications, including an OAuth component that streamlines authentication.<h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>A frequent topic at the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/groups/cms-experts">Boye &amp; Company CMS Experts Group</a> meetings is where and how content is created. It’s true that many CMS platforms have conquered the mystical barrier of providing a delightful editing experience. But not all content is created equally, nor does it start life in the same place. Many of us still begin outside the CMS, using more foundational authoring tools to write press releases or blog posts before moving into an environment that allows formatting and publishing as a web page. As such, Netlify is further bridging the gap between ideation and publication. By eliminating the tedious task of moving from Google Docs or Notion to a finished page – and applying GenAI to further streamline the process – it’s doubling down on its value to developers and marketers. On top of that, the addition of intuitive personalization capabilities is further upping the ante on its extensibility. We’ve talked a lot about visual editors over the last few months, and having a dynamic tool in its development environment is extending Netlify’s value in multiple directions for both developers and content creators. Add in its Async Workloads and Extensions, and the platform is demonstrating the real scope of its innovation as it looks to build more meaningful partnerships in a competitive and composable landscape. To that end, Netlify is further broadening its extensibility by integrating with more traditional DXPs <a target="_blank" href="https://www.optimizely.com/apps/netlify/">like Optimizely</a>, providing a pathway to run its SaaS CMS on Netlify. It codifies how composable architectures are becoming more widely adopted and accelerated by best-of-breed platforms – enabling the transformation to a more strategic and modular stack. Netlify's philosophical foundation of composable MACH principles is what earned it an inaugural role as a <a target="_blank" href="https://machalliance.org/newsroom/mach-alliance-announces-mongodb-and-netlify-as-first-members-of-new-enabler-category">MACH Alliance Enabler</a> in 2021.It's worth reminding that Netlify was an early advocate of separating frontend design from backend business processes. Its vision of uniting components of the modern decoupled web and accelerating the development of scalable websites and apps has proven effective, helping them raise significant funding to power the growth of its Jamstack ecosystem. Today, that translates into nearly limitless choices for designing rich web apps and customer experiences – and these new features represent the next wave of innovation along that vision. <hr /> <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-2025"><a href=" https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25">CMS Kickoff 2025</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaJoin us next January in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for the third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">so secure your tickets today.</a>

Netlify Unveils AI-Assisted Publishing and Other Enhancements at Netlify Compose 2024 Conference

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<hr /> They say seeing is believing. And what I’ve seen in 2024 has made this “The Year of Visual Builders and Editors.”Hold your applause. I think the marketers in the room are fainting. But it's true. Going back a bit, we’ve seen the slow and steady march of tools that stitch together the missing visual threads for headless CMSes. The pace has picked up over the last 12 months. I won't debate the vicissitudes of “racing to the middle.” It's been conjured quite enough, thank you. Suffice it to say that headless platforms would inevitably introduce their own visual solutions to balance out the benefits. And why not? It allows them to deliver a more complete and connected experience that's closer to the source. In other words, it’s a good thing. Behind it, of course, is the unintended consequence of rapid innovation. It’s sad that our gushing, omnichannel exuberance for all things decoupled left “the marketing folk” in the dark. They were, after all, kind of essential to the whole content thing.But hey, that’s the beauty of modern technology, right? Even if you rush like Reid Hoffman, it’s never too late to update your product.I’ll hand it to <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/contentstack">Contentstack</a> for pushing the boulder uphill earlier in the journey. They’re always striving to lead, and the company’s drive to position itself as a “Composable DXP” was a progressive move – one that reflects a deep focus on translating the voice of its customers. I think it’s paying off in dividends, providing a decisive edge as they introduce more features that up the ante for modern enterprises. Now, the company is further mending the marketing fences with the launch of native drag-and-drop visual capabilities in its composable CMS environment. Contentstack’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentstack.com/platforms/visual-building">new Visual Builder</a> is an experience-crafting toolset, combining the benefits of its industry-leading headless CMS with a powerful slate of visual capabilities. Purpose-built for marketers, Visual Builder accelerates workflows, enabling creators to actually see their work – both present and future – in a headless environment. The announcement was made today at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentstack.com/contentcon-europe">ContentCon Europe in London</a>, which featured speakers from noteworthy brands like Paula's Choice, LADbible, Miele, and more.To be sure, other platforms across the headless and DXP spectrum are introducing an array of in-app builders and editors. As I said, this year has seen a flurried buzz of announcements surrounding this manner of tooling, which has recently reached a fevered pitch. But Contentstack’s visual tools are just the tip of its proverbial iceberg. Along with its <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-content-management-system-cms">headless CMS</a> features, its new Visual Builder is augmented by brand-aware generative AI, personalization, and automation features that truly unlock the value for marketers. "I love that we're overcoming an obstacle for our customers,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nehasampat/">Neha Sampat</a>, founder and CEO of Contentstack. “But what I love even more is how this capability combines with personalization, automation, and GenAI to be true to our North Star: The world's best digital experiences run on Contentstack.”The new visual tools also promise a better authoring experience for users, giving them unmatched clarity around content creation while simplifying and accelerating each step of the process. Marketers stand to gain greater control and flexibility, armed with the ability to see, edit, and manage content with greater ease and accuracy. “We're not focused on one-and-done capabilities,” Sampat explained. “Instead, we work relentlessly toward complete solutions that allow brands – and the marketers and developers within them – to rise above the noise."<h3 id="natively-visualizing-the-possibilities">Natively visualizing the possibilities</h3>As more organizations embrace headless CMS and roll towards composable, the need for business users to visualize their work has increased. The emphasis on backend experience creation has been mired in a swell of complicated planning and trial-and-error processes, all of which impacted the marketer mindset around headless. Contentstack's new Visual Builder aims to solve this problem, offering a complete set of tools for users to create and see their work in real time across any persona. It’s also keenly focused on delivering flexibility and simplicity through a range of features. Perhaps most notable are the drag-and-drop blocks, enabling users to seamlessly create layouts by adding or rearranging predefined content blocks on a page – all without the need for developer support or resources. This can include things like content cards and other components, providing an on-brand, customizable experience that keeps design and brand elements inside the guardrails. <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:69.76%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/09/contentstack-dragdropblocks.png" alt="" /></figure>Contentstack's drag-and-drop builder featuring card components The new toolset also offers live and in-line editing capabilities, allowing content creators to make quick edits directly to a page with role-aware permissions for control and accuracy. The contextual UI highlights editable areas like headers and text areas, allowing users to swap images, update copy, and make other changes without breaking format. This is something that traditional web CMSes have offered and has been missing from the headless mix.There’s also a trick timeline feature that provides a chronological view of your content, allowing you to compare versions side by side, collaborate around reviews, and improve the publishing workflow. Audience preview is another key benefit. It enables marketers to see content in real time to know exactly how it will appear in different campaigns or targeted activities. When combined with Contentstack’s Personalize capabilities, it allows marketers to see how content will appear based on customer behavior, experiment results, and other details. <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:76.94%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/09/contentstack-audience-segments-2.png" alt="" /></figure>Contentstack's audience preview provides rich controls and personalization capabilities All of the new Visual Builder’s features are deployed on a foundation of strong governance, ensuring that team members have the right level of access and administrators have control over their teams with role-based permissions. <h3 id="powering-experiences-with-ai,-personalization,-and-composability">Powering experiences with AI, personalization, and composability</h3>Today’s announcement at ContentCon London amplifies Contentstack's previous introduction of premium capabilities, all designed to help customers reimagine personalization at scale. This includes the aforementioned <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentstack.com/platforms/personalize">Contentstack Personalize</a>, which infuses a segmentation and testing engine directly into its CMS to address fragmented content production.On the AI front, Contentstack has already been blazing trails across its digital ecosystem. With its exclusive <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentstack.com/docs/content-managers/brand-kit/about-brand-kit">Brand Kit capabilities</a>, the company is solving the conundrum around vanilla AI-generated content by making it brand-aware and hyper-relevant to organizations. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentstack.com/platforms/automate">Contentstack Automate</a> is another piece of the pie, thwarting the challenges of operationalizing and repeating large volumes of personalized content with greater efficiency. And then there’s the force multiplier of composability throughout the system. With Contentstack, marketers can pull content not just from their CMS, but from other sources like a DAM or PIM to power their experiences at scale. This is reinforced by the platform's MACH-centricity, which enables greater flexibility with open and scalable architectures that allow marketers, developers, and organizations to assemble the right stack for their needs and connect data from almost anywhere. Underscoring all of this innovation is Contentstack’s "no fail" promise to customers. This includes its unique <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentstack.com/academy/content/ai-accelerator">AI Accelerator program</a>, designed to guide customers from zero to fully deployed with AI in 45 days or less. Contentstack Academy is also part of the knowledge investment, arming business and technical users with the skills and resources they need to build superior content organizations.<h3 id="why-it-matters-">Why it matters </h3>When I last <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/contentstack-fires-up-brand-relevant-ai-powered-personalization-at-contentcon-2024">spoke with Neha Sampat and Conor Egan</a>, Contentstack’s VP of Product, they were prepping for ContentCon 2024 in Austin. In addition to the local lure of the event’s destination (also the company’s home base), we discussed their collective vision for AI-powered personalization, and how companies are prioritizing it amidst a brand relevancy crisis.Also stymieing that crisis: a lack of control for marketers to be more proactive and reactive. Despite the many developer-centric benefits of a headless CMS, these talented practitioners need the agility and nimble resources of robust visual building tools to realize their ideas and accelerate time-to-market – and ultimately attain the benefits of what Neha calls “Personalization Reimagined.” I’m not trying to demonize the developer here. Quite the opposite. While adding a visual builder to its feature set serves the marketer’s goals, the real gamechanger is the harmonization of capabilities for both developers and marketers alike – enabling them to collaborate around reusable components that set creators free with a visual drag-and-drop feature that is simple, elegant, and incredibly fast to use.  "Now marketers can build and see what they're doing, which will help them achieve the Holy Grail of personalized digital experiences at scale, faster," said Egan. “But this isn't just a story about enabling marketers. The headless world rests on the shoulders of the modern developer and we've assembled the best tools and learning paths to make that happen.”Now, we’re finally seeing in a headless world – and Contentstack is opening our eyes to what’s possible.   <hr /> <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-2025"><a href=" https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25">CMS Kickoff 2025</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaJoin us next January in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for the third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">so secure your tickets today.</a>

Seeing in a Headless World: Contentstack Introduces New Visual Building Capabilities for Marketers

<hr /> If there’s a bright spot in content operations, it’s speed. And with the latest version of <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/brightspot">Brightspot’s</a> content management platform, the company is promising some serious acceleration for users. Announced last week, Brightspot's new CMS update includes expansive tech stack integrations and new AI features that aim to speed up creation time by prioritizing content workflows. According to Brightspot, this is its most innovative launch to date, transforming the way organizations can create content – and, perhaps more importantly, how content creation impacts organizations. The new version circumvents the daily grind of achieving quality and efficiency, replacing ineffective processes with intuitive workflows, integrated tech stacks, and at-the-ready information to empower faster creation. The result: less friction and a more natural workflow.<h3 id="complete-control-to-create-content-experiences">Complete control to create content experiences</h3>Brightspot’s <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-content-management-system-cms">content management system</a> is designed to serve the needs of both non-technical users and developers alike, enabling individuals and teams to create and scale digital experiences with minimal effort. Its modular content system and comprehensive authoring tools allow for more seamless workflows – and the ability to create and publish content in minutes.While many content management systems still rely on extensive development, Brightspot is bucking the trend, offering complete control to create content experiences and easing the burden of organizing, managing, and supporting specific workflow needs.With its expanding suite of capabilities, the platform is able to help users boost the quality of their content while reducing the time it takes to make it. “Our customers today face demand for high-quality content, but production timelines simply haven't kept pace. That's why we've taken our content management platform through a significant evolution,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/raleighmcclayton/">Raleigh McClayton</a>, CEO of Brightspot. “These latest innovations empower teams with intuitive features and accelerate their ability to produce exceptional content, giving valuable time back to companies.”A big part of that evolution is Brightspot’s AI-powered creation and insights, which are enriching productivity gains. Additionally, the platform boasts integrations with over 7,000 of the most common business applications, improving the extensibility, efficiency, and efficacy of content teams.“The next version enables even more Enterprise-grade flexibility, customizability, security, compatibility and performance – now with AI enhancements that drive greater efficiency,” McClayton explained. “It's a game-changer in enhancing both efficiency and value, allowing our customers to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving market."<h3 id="enhancing-ai-capabilities-and-breaking-down-tech-silos">Enhancing AI capabilities and breaking down tech silos</h3>There are a few “bright spots” in the new version that promise to accelerate productivity and deliver greater value for Brightspot’s customers.The first is smarter, faster, and safer content creation with AI. Brightspot’s artificial intelligence features mitigate challenges with search and tedious content generation with greater automation, allowing customers to quickly and safely create content with advanced governance tools and customizable permissions. Content-level AI tracking and analytics help reinforce the control aspect of utilizing AI features. Brightspot also supports the creation of custom AI solutions, allowing developers to extend the platform’s AI capabilities based on their specific needs.Brightspot has also made strides in breaking down silos between teams and tech. From automatic task creation in Asana to ticket generation in Jira, whenever an action is triggered in the CMS, Brightspot provides connected workflows across the most widely used business apps to create an orchestrated mechanism – and get work done. This applies to both technical and non-technical users, allowing them to increase compatibility across their respective tech stacks.A big part of the productivity promise is the continued reinforcement of an intuitive work environment. Brightspot has endeavored to build and account for every type of user, designing its solutions with simplicity at the core. The platform features an easy-to-navigate interface that simplifies the process of creating and executing workflows, and a clear emphasis on accessibility for non-technical users to manage and automate tasks.Brightspot’s flexible framework is all about extensibility. That means users can build bespoke functions that have no dependency on a customer's development or coding capabilities. A great example is how users can integrate AI or connect their tech stacks in unique ways that reflect their organizational processes, allowing them to achieve productivity across functions.<a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/brightspot">Click here</a> to learn more about Brightspot. <hr /> <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-2025"><a href=" https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25">CMS Kickoff 2025</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaJoin us next January in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for the third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">so secure your tickets today.</a>

Brightspot Shines with New Version of CMS, Doubling Productivity with Expanded Integrations and AI Features 

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<hr /> Skip the intro and directly access my <a target="_blank" href="https://bit.ly/Responsible-AI-Guidelines-For-Content-Teams">downloadable Responsible AI Principle worksheet</a> for your team now.<h3 id="an-introduction-to-responsible-ai-for-digital-marketing-teams">An Introduction to Responsible AI for Digital Marketing Teams</h3>In today's digital age, artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly become a cornerstone of marketing strategies and tactics, driving innovation and efficiency across various tasks that marketers must complete. However, as AI technology becomes increasingly integrated into digital marketing teams, the need for ethical guidelines and responsible usage is also becoming increasingly crucial.I’m just going to say it: As powerful as AI is, in my opinion, content creation and digital teams are rushing headstrong into using tools like <a target="_blank" href="https://chat.openai.com/">ChatGPT</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://copilot.microsoft.com/">Copilot</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://gemini.google.com/">Gemini</a> without considering how to use them responsibly. I think there is a need to have a prudent approach and set of guidelines in place to ensure these tools are integrated correctly into their content operations. Does your digital marketing team have an AI Policy in use? Mine didn’t. In fact, I’d wager that most teams haven’t even prioritized having such a policy. I believe it’s time to start thinking about implementing one. Below is some context and background that may help. I’ve also listed some of the main factors you should consider when developing guidelines for your team's responsible use of AI.<h3 id="the-rise-of-ai-in-digital-marketing">The Rise of AI in Digital Marketing</h3>AI has revolutionized the marketing landscape, offering tools that can write content, translate from one language to another, automate content delivery, and optimize campaign performance. These advancements have enabled digital marketing teams to achieve high levels of efficiency, leading to more effective writing and improved ROI. CMS platforms and tools such as <a target="_blank" href="http://kontent.ai">Kontent.ai</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sitecore.com/">Sitecore</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kentico.com">Kentico</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/">Contentful</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.optimizely.com/">Optimizely</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.storyblok.com/">Storyblok</a>, etc., are all rushing as fast as possible to add more value with AI-enabled features in their products. I’ve seen it firsthand in many of them. All of these platforms want to be seen as the market leader in the space through AI innovation.In fact, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.futurepedia.io/ai-tools/marketing">Futurepedia</a>, a tool that tracks new AI tools as they come on the market, has over 211 AI tools listed in the Digital Marketing category.  <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:83.28%"><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXftvTU4IabsW3KwL1ga2eWKlnhaDjSgAxG64tQEQ8O_vHarNdLMXPU70heYHuek2Loa9bVU5ln_WmC8Da2JE_QKs8avuqLGXZ6I8l1tmTE_rb0GS-8OhSoqZRQPubq6c1S2cUvye4yoQJMEY3uM996fRQLd?key=CLw_KJ6KxDiqOvRg30VM1w" /></figure> Heck, by the time I publish this article, there will probably be 212 or more listed. The pace of change and innovation is impressive. However, with great power comes great responsibility. The reliance on AI-driven tools necessitates a framework that ensures these technologies are used correctly, both from a vendor perspective and a digital team perspective.How do we place some governance on all this change? The answer is to be prudent in the approach to AI by leveraging Responsible AI as a core theme.<h3 id="what-is-responsible-ai?">What Is Responsible AI?</h3>Responsible AI refers to the development and use of artificial intelligence in ways that prioritize ethical, fair, and safe outcomes. Major tech companies like Google, Meta, IBM, and Microsoft emphasize that organizations should follow a set of key principles when leveraging AI. The principles listed below are the most common ones I see. They combine to be a set of guiding principles when using AI.<h3 id="six-key-principles-when-leveraging-ai">Six Key Principles When Leveraging AI</h3><ol><li>Fairness: AI systems should treat all people fairly.</li><li>Reliability and safety: AI systems should perform reliably and safely.</li><li>Privacy and security: AI systems should be secure and respect privacy.</li><li>Inclusiveness: AI systems should empower everyone and engage people.</li><li>Transparency: AI systems should be understandable.</li><li>Accountability: People should be accountable for AI systems.</li></ol>I actually completely agree with the way that Microsoft and others have laid this out. All of those large tech giants have complex resource sites or large PDFs that spell out even more detail around the idea of Responsible AI. The challenge is that these resources are extensive. As an example, the <a target="_blank" href="https://ai.meta.com/static-resource/responsible-use-guide/">Meta Responsible AI guide</a> is over 25 pages. Motivating myself to read all of that or browse multiple pages on the Microsoft Responsible AI site is hard enough. I can’t see my team or my client’s team going through all of that information. That’s why I really like focusing on the main six principles above.I believe that having a responsible approach to using or producing any AI tool in an organization is critical. It is also something that is needed in digital marketing/content teams as well. That’s why I started down this path. I wanted to put a policy in place at my own agency, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bizstream.com">BizStream</a>. <h3 id="why-an-ai-policy-is-essential">Why an AI Policy is Essential</h3>Adopting AI in digital marketing isn't just about leveraging new technologies for improved outcomes; it's also about acknowledging and mitigating the potential risks associated with AI's autonomy and influence. Issues such as data privacy, bias, and the chances of hallucinations (errors by a generative AI tool) pose significant challenges. Without a comprehensive AI policy, organizations risk breaching ethical standards, violating customer trust, and potentially facing legal consequences.In fact, to me, the clearest example of where generative AI can go wrong is the published information around <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2024/02/18/air-canada-airline-chatbot-ruling/">Air Canada’s chatbot failure</a>. An earlier ruling this year ended in favor of the end customer, and now Air Canada is on the hook for AI that was not used responsibly.An AI policy serves as a guiding beacon for digital marketing teams, ensuring that every AI-driven initiative is aligned with ethical principles and corporate values. It helps establish clear boundaries and standards for AI usage and addresses concerns like fairness, transparency, and accountability.<h3 id="the-role-of-principles-in-ai-deployment">The Role of Principles in AI Deployment</h3>Drawing inspiration from established frameworks like Microsoft’s six principles for responsible AI—fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability—digital marketing teams can develop a robust policy that governs AI use. These principles are not just theoretical ideals; they can be necessities that shape how AI tools are selected, deployed, and managed within a team.As digital marketing continues to evolve with AI advancements, having a well-defined, responsible AI policy should reduce friction with AI usage. It can ensure that while organizations pursue technological innovation, they remain steadfast in their commitment to ethical practices, full transparency, and working within societal norms.<h3 id="my-responsible-ai-principles-worksheet">My Responsible AI Principles Worksheet</h3>Bringing us back to my situation specifically, as 2024 has progressed, I witnessed more and more AI tools being used by my team. On the one hand, this was great because we were seeing the benefits firsthand of faster content creation on our website, email, and social media channels. On the other hand, I was getting a little concerned about two things. First, as more tools were added to our digital marketing stack, my SaaS tool spend was climbing quickly, and second, I questioned if all of these tools being used safely and responsibly.In an effort to ensure my own team at BizStream is adequately trained on the benefits and risks associated with using AI in a marketing context, I created the following tool for us internally. The idea is that I wanted to ensure each of my team members working with these types of tools had a set of guardrails or guiding principles. I used the key Responsible AI principles (Fairness, Reliability, and safety, Privacy, and security, etc. etc.) as the main set of information. From there, I pivoted a table across those principles to include the category or type of activity that we perform in our digital marketing efforts. Then, I added a description to explain further what kind of considerations to take around that type of activity that align to a principle. It started to look like this: <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:88.25%"><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcyan4Kp5V4ui62GBclk3PRP2zf896t_SA2ud9i9Vpo_1v8qPrOQWfOp9xqD3WxN5ckXvPxyMRKoZXo45T-gZ4IY7D5nxcx73So7V4Ke7Bcqg63hunm9UIdd7i0AKnJKRkW2_kd8D0TMDctuawkQD6vaJ0c?key=CLw_KJ6KxDiqOvRg30VM1w" /></figure> After the first draft, my marketing specialist asked me some questions about this, so I added some guiding questions in the last column to help kick-start the brainstorming process. The current incarnation ended up looking like the screenshot below: <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:83.97%"><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfbgC_IIHSM1GTgfHUuYOxyKFikNuvB0mTdJu7oMB-maSSu0PxyYEKSKqJKnAsyS94qwbCMs_0wXMkIwpNfpD7wAei-G3vA7zYCH1yfadhC_eCth-Qa2Eiyk3OZI2MxajJ9EdHKKf2iiOIC-44Dc2pjylVL?key=CLw_KJ6KxDiqOvRg30VM1w" /></figure> You can <a target="_blank" href="https://bit.ly/Responsible-AI-Guidelines-For-Content-Teams">download the editable version of my Responsible AI Principles &amp; Guidelines for Content Teams</a> for free. My goal for this tool is to ensure that Responsible AI practices are considered when selecting third-party vendors, tools, platform features, and subscription services. I also aim for it to add governance to both our adoptions and those of our clients.Additionally, as we onboard new marketing team members or interns, I believe they will come up to speed faster with how we operate as a team. We are working to improve this process, but only time will tell.<h3 id="periodic-reviews-of-your-ai-policy-on-a-schedule">Periodic Reviews of your AI policy on a Schedule</h3>One other note. Don’t be fooled into thinking that an AI policy or single document is a ‘set and forget’ thing. The AI and especially generative AI world is constantly changing, as are the laws and regulations around it. You must treat your AI policy as a living, breathing document. Schedule time to review it regularly, considering the changes that are coming in at a rapid pace.<h3 id="feedback-wanted">Feedback Wanted</h3>As with any new idea, I’d love to gather feedback on it and improve it. If you download the worksheet and have thoughts on it, please let me know via <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianmckeiver/">LinkedIn</a> or email.<h3 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h3>Using AI in digital marketing and content creation comes with many benefits and responsibilities. By following clear guidelines and responsible principles, we can use AI ethically and efficiently. I recommend that all digital marketing teams strive to implement a responsible AI policy. Note: The above information has been written to provide general guidance only. It does not equate to legal advice. Varying legal requirements exist in different locations, and laws and regulations governing AI, privacy, and cybersecurity do not exist in a consistent manner.Note: Generative AI was used to edit this document for grammar and spelling. <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-conferences">Upcoming conferences</h3> <img style="width:29.67%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-connect-2024-logo.png" alt="CMS Connect 24 logo" /><h4 id="cms-connect-24---sold-out"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect24">CMS Connect 24</a> - SOLD OUT</h4>August 6-7, 2024 – Montreal, CanadaWe are delighted to present our first annual summer edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community. Join us this August in Montreal, Canada, for a vendor-neutral conference focused on CMS. Tired of impersonal and overwhelming gatherings? Picture this event as a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">CMS Kickoff 25</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaJoin us next January in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for the third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, so secure your tickets today.

Responsible AI Principles for Digital Marketing and Content Teams 

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<hr /> <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/amplitude-expands-platform-capabilities-with-session-replay-and-simplified-pricing">Amplitude</a> continues to prove its value as a go-to product analytics platform, especially around its <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/amplitude-introduces-snowflake-native-amplitude-app-with-new-snowpark-container-services">Snowflake</a> applications. To that end, the company just announced the general availability of its <a target="_blank" href="https://amplitude.com/warehouse-native">Snowflake native offering</a>, which allows organizations to leverage Amplitude’s product analytics capabilities without their data ever leaving Snowflake. The result: accelerated and streamlined insights around what customers are doing – allowing teams to build better products and drive growth. The new offering really features the best of both platforms, enabling companies to leverage Amplitude’s product analytics capabilities to understand user journeys across every touchpoint. With centralized data storage, there are fewer security concerns, making the investment more valuable for businesses. Amplitude’s direct connection also means that all queries are run within Snowflake, removing the need to store or copy data to multiple places – which reinforces privacy, security, and compliance best practices.One of the biggest benefits is getting valuable data insights into the hands of more customers for free. As early-stage and enterprise organizations look to adopt warehouse-native analytics, Amplitude is including up to five free seats of Warehouse-native Amplitude in every plan. “We want to provide our customers with the most choice and flexibility to leverage their data their way,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/francoisajenstat/">Francois Ajenstat</a>, chief product officer at Amplitude. “Now, customers can harness the power of Snowflake in Amplitude without their data ever leaving Snowflake. With the best of Amplitude and Snowflake together, teams can now focus on what matters most: creating amazing customer experiences that drive business growth.”The announcement was made at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.snowflake.com/summit/">Snowflake Data Cloud Summit 2024</a>, where Amplitude is an attendee with a booth in tow.<h3 id="bringing-the-power-of-product-analytics-to-snowflake">Bringing the power of product analytics to Snowflake</h3>Amplitude helps businesses capitalize on their investments by centralizing data in Snowflake. By leveraging Amplitude’s direct connection, all queries are run within Snowflake, removing the need to store or copy data to multiple places.The combined power of Amplitude and Snowflake also makes it easier and faster than ever for companies to integrate product and customer insights. With data that's trusted, secure, and always up-to-date, teams can make smarter product decisions while maintaining privacy, security, and compliance requirements. As more companies look to adopt Snowflake native analytics, Amplitude is sweetening the deal by including its new offering for free in every plan. Regardless of an organization's size, every team can get started with up to five seats for free. When it comes to their data, Amplitude is committed to meeting customers wherever they are. With integrations to over 130 data sources, Amplitude provides the most choice and flexibility for leveraging data anywhere in their digital ecosystem. While other solutions on the market force customers to choose between native and non-native connections, Amplitude provides a hybrid option to help businesses optimize data access and performance according to their unique needs.“We want to help every user quickly and easily build in the AI Data Cloud so they can deliver immediate business impact. Our continued investments with Amplitude allow us to do that at a greater scale,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrischild/">Chris Child</a>, VP and head of worldwide sales engineering at Snowflake. “Amplitude is well known for providing self-serve product analytics. With this new application, customers can better understand user behavior and gain critical behavioral insights without their data ever leaving Snowflake.”By building on Snowflake, product and engineering teams can develop, scale, and manage their apps without operational burden, delivering differentiated products to their customers. This also gives organizations access to resources that help them design, market, and operate their applications in the Data Cloud. <h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>We've been following the innovation track between Amplitude and Snowflake, and this realization of native functionality is a critical achievement. The unified approach empowers users to personalize experiences, optimize marketing campaigns, and ultimately drive growth – all with the security and governance you expect from Snowflake. With Snowflake Native Amplitude, teams can similarly bring their financial and enterprise data alongside rich behavioral data to truly correlate digital product engagement with business growth.As Francois Ajenstat suggested in a recent blog, you can have your cake and eat it too.The extent of the native capabilities is certainly evolutionary. If you consider the traditional model for analyzing behavioral and financial data, the entire process has been disjointed, with enterprise data residing in Snowflake and behavioral data in Amplitude. But Snowflake Native Amplitude effectively breaks down these silos, allowing teams to easily combine both data sets within Snowflake to better understand the business impact of user behavior. “Picture a user abandoning their cart,” Ajenstat said. “Previously, you might only see this as a missed sale. But with Snowflake Native Amplitude, you can combine behavioral data with the user's purchase history, demographics, or other information stored in Snowflake.”From a trust perspective, Snowflake Native Amplitude makes security and privacy easy for organizations. This is a big one for enterprises, particularly as data becomes more vulnerable across so many applications. The answer here is that the data itself never leaves the Snowflake Data Cloud, mitigating the risks associated with data movement, drift, and duplication to strengthen your compliance posture. You can also leverage your existing Snowflake security and privacy policies to reinforce data protection and simplify compliance management to all of your specific industry regulations.As product analytics take a more pronounced role for brands and enterprises, having reliable integration across the analytics plane and where it lives is key. Amplitude and Snowflake have now achieved the highest order of alignment with their capabilities, giving the market a critical asset for improving customer insights.   <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-conferences">Upcoming conferences</h3> <img style="width:29.67%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-connect-2024-logo.png" alt="CMS Connect 24 logo" /><h4 id="cms-connect-24"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect24">CMS Connect 24</a></h4>August 6-7, 2024 – Montreal, CanadaWe are delighted to present our first annual summer edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community. Join us this August in Montreal, Canada, for a vendor-neutral conference focused on CMS. Tired of impersonal and overwhelming gatherings? Picture this event as a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">CMS Kickoff 25</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaJoin us next January in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for the third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, so secure your tickets today.

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