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There's no doubt that data is gold to every enterprise. But analyzing mountains of it to divine actionable insight is becoming more challenging by the day. This is where innovators like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/amplitude-announces-new-testing-and-analytics-tools-for-making-smarter-product-decisions-at-scale/">Amplitude</a> – a leading digital analytics platform – are proving essential to unlocking data-driven decisions.Now, Amplitude has announced another breakthrough with the launch of Snowflake-native Amplitude, a Snowflake Native App that utilizes Snowpark Container Services – currently available in a private preview. Snowflake-native Amplitude allows joint customers to access self-serve behavioral insights directly within their Snowflake instance.The news was announced at Snowflake Summit 2023, the cloud data warehouse provider's annual user conference. Amplitude is one of a select group of partners developing Snowflake Native Apps that utilize Snowpark Container Services, and the new capability builds upon Amplitude and Snowflake’s partnership and data-sharing integration. This application marks Amplitude’s first warehouse-native offering. Warehouse-native Amplitude will help more organizations uncover the behavioral insights they need to make better product decisions without leaving their data platform of choice.Amplitude also announced several new capabilities, including AI-assisted data governance and automated instrumentation and reporting, to help teams access clearer insights faster. <h2>Unlocking the power of the enterprise data cloud</h2>Based on IDC data, only 32% of the data within an enterprise is being used. Additionally, with the deprecation of third-party cookies, marketers are looking to their data teams to drive more value from their first-party data stored in their data warehouse. Snowflake-native Amplitude unlocks the ROI of data in the data cloud. Joint customers can now mine additional value from their data by empowering their entire organization with access to self-serve insights from Amplitude — all without leaving their Snowflake instance. Snowflake-native Amplitude also simplifies data governance by using existing Snowflake security and access controls and eliminating the need to store or duplicate data in multiple places.“Today, siloed data makes it difficult for teams to get the insights they need to drive their business forward,” said Justin Bauer, Chief Product Officer at Amplitude. “We want to make it easier for teams to seamlessly and securely integrate customer and product insights with their Snowflake data. Now every Snowflake customer can unlock the benefits of self-service analytics to better understand each step in the customer journey so they can drive active user growth, increase retention, and improve monetization.”<h2>New features including AI and partner integrations</h2>Snowflake announced the launch of Snowpark Container Services to expand the scope of Snowpark. This was designed to help organizations run third-party software and full-stack applications – all within their account. By accessing and running commercial software and apps directly in Snowflake, customers can seamlessly enhance the value of their data using cutting-edge tools without moving or compromising security.“We continue to invest in our expansive partner ecosystem, accelerating how users build in the Data Cloud by reimagining what they can run within Snowflake, without tradeoffs,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrischild/">Chris Child</a>, Senior Director of Product Management, Snowflake. “With the launch of Snowpark Container Services, we’re making this a reality. Amplitude’s proven track record of helping teams measure and understand customer behavior to improve customer experiences combined with the ease of use, scalability, and unified governance of the Snowflake Data Cloud will help us deliver more value for our joint customers.”This news comes alongside Amplitude’s announcement of several new capabilities to help technical and non-technical teams gain self-serve access to trusted data and clearer insights. With user experience improvements and automated insights, it’s never been easier to get started with Amplitude. New capabilities and integrations include:<ul><li>Automated instrumentation &amp; reporting: Instantly track user activity and baseline metrics like daily active users, average session length, and geolocation with Amplitude’s enhanced SDK so teams can start reporting on day one.</li><li>Industry-specific reporting templates: Customers can quickly discover product insights tailored to their business with new reporting templates that include industry-specific key metrics.</li><li>AI-assisted data governance: Maintain and continually improve data quality with automation and intelligent suggestions.</li><li>Expanded partner integrations: Quickly and easily send data to other parts of your stack with new and expanded integrations with Braze, Hubspot, Intercom, Marketo, and more.</li></ul>“As the amount of customer data within data platforms continues to grow, self-serve access to insights is a must-have,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmwallace/">David Wallace</a>, research director of customer data and analytics at IDC. “Snowflake-native Amplitude will allow teams to quickly and easily access more of their customer data while maintaining the security and governance benefits within their Snowflake instance.”As previously noted, Snowflake-native Amplitude is available in preview, and users can sign up for an Early Access Program.<h2>Q&amp;A with Justin Bauer</h2>Following the announcement, we had a chance to connect further with Justin Bauer, Chief Product Officer at Amplitude, to ask a few questions about the new service.  <hr />CMS Critic: How big of a deal are the AI capabilities mentioned in the announcement? AI-related features are leading most of the news cycle, and we're curious about how strategic the innovation is, and how it might provide a competitive edge for Amplitude.Justin Bauer: Amplitude has been early to the AI/ML Game. We have one of the most unique and comprehensive datasets on product and customer behavior, which allows us to develop powerful models that will impact how companies develop digital products. We already incorporate a number of ML capabilities to help our customers identify issues early, predict behaviors and personalize campaigns.With new advancements in Generative AI, we're looking to help our customers maintain &amp; improve their data quality more easily, generate analysis faster, and even summarize recommendations from their insights. Our new data governance capabilities are just an early example of that. We are also piloting a new feature in beta that uses conversational AI to dramatically shorten the time it takes for Amplitude users to answer questions. They can simply type “How many active users per day?” or “How many users are new versus returning?” into the analysis search bar and generate suggested analyses that help users analyze, explore, and learn.This is still early days, but we think AI has the potential to accelerate growth in the digital analytics category.<hr />CMS Critic: When will the new service be GA?Justin Bauer: Snowflake-native Amplitude will be GA in Q1 2024, but all of Amplitude's other new features are being rolled out this week. <hr />CMS Critic: Is there a cost advantage or economic optimization that might be a selling point?Justin Bauer: Snowflake-native Amplitude has some big cost benefits for organizations because there’s no need for you to export data to Amplitude or build new data pipelines. We run SQL queries directly on the data in an organization's warehouse and provide insights right from their source of truth. Maintaining and managing all of this data directly in Snowflake drives down costs for our joint customers. This process also eliminates the need to move data between systems, so teams can minimize data drift, which is what we call the divergence of two data sets over time. If data drift isn't prevented, it can create big data quality problems down the line. Another benefit is that we're making it easier for teams to manage data access controls, security, privacy, and governance directly in their warehouse. This means they can lift and shift over to Snowflake more easily, while keeping existing security and privacy controls intact.<hr />CMS Critic: Are the integrations one-click or require additional setup?Justin Bauer: We can't claim one-click, but how about 3-5? We do everything we can to make these integrations easy to get set up. And they're all configuration based, meaning you click instead of code to get them up and running.<hr /><h2>About Amplitude</h2>Amplitude is a leading digital analytics platform that helps companies unlock the power of their products. Almost 2,200 customers, including Atlassian, Jersey Mike’s, NBCUniversal, Shopify, and Under Armour, rely on Amplitude to gain self-service visibility into the entire customer journey. Amplitude guides companies every step of the way as they capture data they can trust, uncover clear insights about customer behavior, and take faster action. When teams understand how people are using their products, they can deliver better product experiences that drive growth. Amplitude is the best-in-class analytics solution for product, data, and marketing teams, ranked #1 in multiple categories in G2’s 2023 Summer Report.

Amplitude Announces Snowflake-native Amplitude App: Q&A with Justin Bauer, Chief Product Officer

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

MACH Alliance Announces 2023 MACH Impact Awards Finalists

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Over the last two years, we've covered a lot of insights published by the <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3749828-1&amp;h=1474142029&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.machalliance.org%2F&amp;a=MACH+Alliance" target="_blank">MACH Alliance</a> as it continues to chart the course for composable.
While the Alliance represents a group of independent tech companies advocating for open, best-of-breed technology ecosystems, it has also become a trusted source for data and trends impacting the trajectory of MACH (Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS, Headless). This is driven by a cabal of thought leaders and industry experts tracking the movement of everything from <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/">headless CMS</a> to the emergence of <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/is-the-birth-of-dxc-the-death-of-dxp-a-conversation-with-darren-guarnaccia-president-at-uniform/">DXC</a>.
This week, the MACH Alliance published the results of its third-annual <a href="https://machalliance.org/assets/pdf/mach-global-research%202023.pdf" target="_blank">Enterprise MACHified research</a> conducted by independent firm <a href="https://melresearch.co.uk/" target="_blank">MEL Research</a> in December and January. The charter was clear: gain a deeper understanding of how MACH investments have accelerated over the past 12 months and how these investments impact organizations as they face the headwinds of a challenging economy – or even the specter of a global recession.  
The study surveyed 500 tech leaders from Australia, France, Germany, the U.K., and the U.S. The research indicates an urgency to innovate in a rapidly changing business environment – with MACH as a key mechanism for responding to economic volatility.
<h2>MACH-advanced companies move faster</h2>
According to the research, four in five decision-makers state that economic volatility has impacted their organizational attitudes toward MACH. This has been a key driver behind a major shift in planning and technology investments, with 85 percent of organizations increasing their MACH infrastructure in the past 12 months.
These companies cite multiple benefits to MACH, including the ability to respond to market changes faster, build and implement new functionality quicker, and reduce costs. The study also reveals that they’re more likely to say their infrastructure is keeping up with customer demands and that they’re ahead of their competition than those with lower MACH adoption rates.
<h2>The US is catching up with Europe</h2>
Regarding MACH adoption, there has been an established disparity between the European and United States markets – but that appears to be shifting as the US gains ground. 
According to the research, a lack of board or leadership support is more likely to be a barrier to MACH adoption in the US than in the overall sample (32% versus 27%). This could signal that MACH faces a perception challenge in the US among non-IT professionals, indicating the need for education and awareness to highlight its value and benefits.
At the same time, US organizations that believe they are significantly ahead of their competition are more likely to have increased the proportion of MACH within their infrastructure (47 percent) than those who haven’t (26 percent).
While the survey shows a decline in the proportion of budgets that are being spent on technology upgrades since 2022 in the UK and Germany (from 39 percent to 32 percent in the UK, and from 36 percent to 31 percent in Germany), this has increased in the US (from 37 percent to 41 percent).
Companies in the US also report the largest proportion of legacy tech. On average, 41 percent of IT ecosystems are still considered legacy, establishing a clear need for tools enabling them to improve and upgrade infrastructures at greater speed.
<h2>Time and money spent on upgrades is an expensive ongoing problem</h2>
In the economic vein, the new research uncovered that not much has changed from a year ago regarding the time and money spent on upgrade projects.
Upgrading is a burden that organizations are struggling to solve, and over a quarter are running over 20 projects each year. One in five spend over half of their IT budget on upgrades, and the same number say upgrades take up over half of their IT teams’ time.
In 2021, respondents said 40 percent of their teams’ time was spent delivering front-office upgrades, indicating that the impact of operating with outdated tech is snowballing.
<a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-01-18-gartner-forecasts-worldwide-it-spending-to-grow-2-percent-in-2023" target="_blank">Gartner has forecast that</a> global enterprises will spend about $856 billion on software in 2023. If a quarter of that was spent on upgrades, it would represent more than $200 billion that could be spent on innovation and improvement of digital experiences. 
<h2>Investment is increasingly moving from front-end to back-end</h2>
The research also found front-end solutions are still receiving the most focus for investment. However, this is changing year over year. While 54 percent prioritized front-end investment in the 2022 report, just 39 percent stated this in 2023.
“The data tells us that too many companies are stuck keeping the upgrade wheel turning," said <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen/">Casper Rasmussen</a>, MACH Alliance President. "If you add the cost of time and business stands still, the absolute cost is much higher. At the same time, fewer companies see themselves as agile early adopters, and fewer also see themselves as being ahead of the competition compared to our research a year ago."
In countries interviewed in the 2022 and 2023 reports, the proportion that believe their front-office infrastructure is ahead of the competition has fallen from 75 percent to 68 percent. Organizations with 25,000 or more employees also have the lowest adoption of MACH in their front-end infrastructure – and take a more long-term view on making MACH investments.
“The pace of transformation is relentless, but the cost of not innovating is much higher," said Rasmussen. "While transitioning to MACH is no small undertaking, continuing the status quo is an ongoing, big undertaking, especially for larger organizations, which needs addressing. We’re not going to wipe legacy out of the picture overnight. However, those moving toward MACH are better equipped to mitigate future obstacles.”
<h2>What’s ahead and methodology </h2>
The report was executed by independent market research leader MEL Research. Respondent titles included CIO, CTO, Vice President, Senior Vice President, and Senior Manager. All represent organizations with at least 5,000 employees and have a revenue of at least $500 million annually.
You can <a href="https://machalliance.org/assets/pdf/mach-global-research%202023.pdf" target="_blank">download the full report</a> and review a detailed <a href="https://machalliance.org/assets/pdf/2023-annual-research-infographic.pdf" target="_blank">infographic</a> that covers the findings.
You can also schedule a meeting with MACH Alliance leadership at <a href="https://shoptalk.com/" target="_blank">ShopTalk 2023</a> in Las Vegas to learn more about the research. The Alliance will be hosting several days of networking, educational sessions, podcasting, and more at the <a href="https://machalliance.org/machevents/mach-haus-las-vegas" target="_blank">MACH HAUS</a> located in the Delano Hotel, adjacent to Mandalay Bay where ShopTalk will take place.
Email press team member Megan Lampros to arrange a meeting: <a href="mailto:megan.lampros@machalliance.org">megan.lampros@machalliance.org</a>.
<h2>About the MACH Alliance</h2>
The MACH Alliance is a [501(c)(6)] non-profit organization, governed by an independent board and does not endorse specific vendors, members or otherwise. The Alliance was formed in June 2020 to help enterprise organizations navigate the complex modern technology landscape. It aims to guide and show the business advantage of open tech ecosystems that are Microservices based, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS and Headless. All MACH Alliance members meet certification principles that are published on the website.
The MACH Alliance welcomes technology companies and individual industry experts who share the same vision for the future. Learn more at <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3749828-1&amp;h=349526954&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fcts.businesswire.com%2Fct%2FCT%3Fid%3Dsmartlink%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fmachalliance.org%252F%26esheet%3D52478831%26newsitemid%3D20210818005487%26lan%3Den-US%26anchor%3Dmachalliance.org%26index%3D5%26md5%3Ddb9d7bdff8c8646152c1923d3ff4adc2&amp;a=%C2%A0machalliance.org" target="_blank">machalliance.org</a>, read here about <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3749828-1&amp;h=1674984232&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fcts.businesswire.com%2Fct%2FCT%3Fid%3Dsmartlink%26url%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fmachalliance.org%252Fblogdetail%252Fbltfc0a3afbca44303e%26esheet%3D52478831%26newsitemid%3D20210818005487%26lan%3Den-US%26anchor%3DMACH%2Bcertification%26index%3D6%26md5%3Dba1c5d6e1bf42963a3a8bb59771d09da&amp;a=%C2%A0MACH+certification" target="_blank">MACH certification</a> and follow us on <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3749828-1&amp;h=3336969077&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fcts.businesswire.com%2Fct%2FCT%3Fid%3Dsmartlink%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.twitter.com%252Fmachalliance%26esheet%3D52478831%26newsitemid%3D20210818005487%26lan%3Den-US%26anchor%3DTwitter%26index%3D7%26md5%3Ddfeea3f8422d14d51b860d90329a6837&amp;a=%C2%A0Twitter" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/machalliance/" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>.

MACH Alliance Releases Survey from Global IT Leaders Analyzing Impact from MACH Investments

Hotjar - Spot what confuses

Spot what confuses your users with Hotjar & AI

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For many software application vendors, the cloud ecosystem has been a bit like baseball: no matter how you're planning to play, you're often forced to pick a team and stick with your bench.
But in the world of containers, the promise of a multi-cloud strategy is creating a new market of free agency – and letting organizations choose the infrastructure that best meets their needs.
While few CMS platforms can claim to be truly "cloud-first," most are providing hosting and infrastructure services that leverage one of the major public clouds. Because of the complexity and variability in service architectures, most vendors have picked either <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/" target="_blank">Amazon Web Services (AWS)</a> or <a href="https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/" target="_blank">Microsoft Azure</a> as their "home team."
But <a href="https://www.contentstack.com/?utm_medium=press-link&amp;utm_source=prnewswire.com&amp;utm_campaign=contentstack-on-microsoft-azure-only-multi-cloud-saas-cms" target="_blank">Contentstack</a> believes you shouldn't have to compromise on which cloud you launch in. Last week, the headless CMS provider announced that it will now offer its platform on Microsoft Azure – right alongside AWS. This makes Contentstack the first multi-cloud SaaS CMS on the market, giving customers the freedom to run their omnichannel content operations on the cloud of their choice. 
Here's the real power play: whether a customer spins up on Azure or AWS, they'll receive the same functionality, pricing, and packaging structure. This gives buyers greater predictability around costs while eliminating any price-based or functional preference for a specific cloud to run their Contentstack workload. 
<h2>Expanding the value of headless CMS with Microsoft Azure</h2>
From the beginning, AWS has owned the lion's share of the cloud market. But Microsoft Azure has been steadily gaining ground – and is now the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2021/02/08/10-charts-that-will-change-your-perspective-of-microsoft-azures-growth/?sh=261f89773087" target="_blank">second-largest provider</a> of cloud infrastructure services. According to Contentstack's press release, 85% of the Fortune 100 and 63% of enterprises overall are running applications on Azure.
Until now, no agile CMS has offered Azure as an option for its customers. While many organizations are managing multi-cloud strategies, one of the most compelling reasons for offering an alternative to AWS is the "Amazon Effect" and its dominance in digital commerce. Many online retailers and e-commerce brands have deeply-held competitive concerns with Amazon – and as a result, Azure has become the preferred choice for running their cloud workloads.
“Azure is continuing to grow market share as a leading cloud provider and businesses are increasingly looking for CMS solutions that run on the platform,” said Nishant Patel, chief technology officer for Contentstack. “Contentstack already has the highest flexibility of cloud infrastructure options on AWS, offering public, dedicated, and private Cloud options in both North American and European instances."
Contentstack also says that a lack of cloud choice has limited many organizations from realizing the benefits of a <a href="https://machalliance.org/" target="_blank">MACH</a> (Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/">Headless</a>) architecture. With the addition of Azure, those companies will now have access to a MACH approach, allowing them to choose the cloud provider that best suits their business needs.
"Now with added support for Azure public cloud in North America, we are meeting the high demand from retailers and consumer brands who ask for an alternative to Amazon, and large enterprises with strategic connections to Microsoft who want to replace their old-school CMS with an agile option," said Patel. "Any company looking for a future-fit CMS that allows you to run on Azure or AWS should consider Contentstack.”
<h2>Evolving CMS with SaaS and "cloud-agnostic" solutions</h2>
Unlike many monolithic CMS platforms, Contentstack is a SaaS offering that enables users to run in a cloud-agnostic manner. The company says this validates their internal architecture as being highly sophisticated and modern. 
Being cloud-agnostic also means that customers are "inoculated" against vendor lock-in, allowing them to mitigate the risk of costly replatforming. This composable nature aligns perfectly with the core values of the <a href="https://machalliance.org/" target="_blank">MACH Alliance</a>, of which Contentstack is a founding member. Contentstack’s platform is built on API-first principles that are developer-friendly and support a variety of content and delivery models. 
From a technical perspective, Contentstack’s Azure offering falls under ISO27001 certification and the company is working to achieve SOC2 Type II certification by mid-2022.
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<h2>Q&amp;A with Nishant Patel, CTO of Contentstack</h2>
CMS Critic had an opportunity to connect with Nishant Patel, CTO of Contentstack. He shared some of his views on the CMS market, the value of being headless, and what his company is excited about.
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CMS Critic (CC): How are customers able to deploy in Azure? Is this similar to an AWS Marketplace listing?
Nishant Patel (NP): There is no deployment needed. AWS and Azure is a multi-tenant cloud so when customers sign up with us they select the cloud provider and the account is auto-provisioned.
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CMS Critic (CC): You mention that there are no differences in price or functionality from AWS to Azure. Can you speak to any DevOps advantages that Azure might offer for running Contentstack? What services stand out?
Nishant Patel (NP): We have made all our micro-services cloud-agnostic by writing adapters for AWS and Azure. We were able to find comparable services on Azure so migration wasn’t much of a challenge. Azure has Kubernetes as well so our containers are ported very easily from AWS to Azure.
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CMS Critic (CC): Are there plans to expand to any other specific public, private, or autonomous cloud providers?
Nishant Patel (NP): We will consider setting up Contentstack on Azure in the Europe data center as well, similar to how we have two regions currently for AWS (Europe and North America). We are not considering any other cloud provider at the moment.
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CMS Critic (CC): AWS has joined the MACH Alliance as an Enabler. How do you see Microsoft supporting the tenants of MACH now and in the future?
Nishant Patel (NP): Azure is fully capable of hosting SaaS services so I am sure there are a few vendors already in the MACH that probably are fully deployed on Azure. If a MACH vendor is selling into retail companies then they probably will get requests to deploy on non-AWS cloud. Microsoft would be a good alternative solution here.
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<h3>About Contentstack</h3>
Contentstack – the pioneering Agile Content Management System (CMS) – empowers marketers and developers to collaborate around content like never before. Together, they can orchestrate superior customer journeys and deliver dynamic digital experiences across channels, audiences, brands and regions. Companies such as Chase, Express, Holiday Inn, Icelandair, Mattel, McDonald’s, Mitsubishi, Riot Games, Sephora and Shell trust Contentstack to power their most critical content experiences. Famous for its Care Without Compromise™, Contentstack has the industry’s highest customer satisfaction. As a founder of the <a href="https://machalliance.org/" target="_blank">MACH Alliance</a>, Contentstack advocates for open and composable technology that is Microservices-based, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS, and Headless. Learn more at <a href="https://www.contentstack.com/?utm_medium=press-link&amp;utm_source=prnewswire.com&amp;utm_campaign=contentstack-on-microsoft-azure-only-multi-cloud-saas-cms" target="_blank">http://www.contentstack.com</a>.
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Contentstack Offers Microsoft Azure, Becomes Only Multi-Cloud SaaS CMS: Q&A with CTO Nishant Patel

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News travels fast – and in this case, at MACH speed.
Yesterday, the rapidly-growing MACH Alliance <a href="https://machalliance.org/newsroom/aws-joins-mach-alliance" target="_blank">announced the addition of AWS</a> to its roster of Enabler members, joining <a href="https://www.mongodb.com/" target="_blank">MongoDB</a> and <a href="https://www.netlify.com/" target="_blank">Netlify</a> at an exclusive level of visibility. This is a huge point of validation for the movement as the world's largest Cloud infrastructure provider throws its weight behind the foundational principles of MACH.
As the banner in their press release observes, "Great MACH often runs on AWS," and it certainly seems to be the case for many MACH Alliance members tapping services from the Cloud behemoth.
"Since the launch of AWS in 2006, we have espoused the importance of employing a modern architecture for retailers that facilitates rapid change and innovation," said David Dorf, Global Head of Retail Industry Solutions at AWS. "This includes the use of microservices, APIs, and a built-for-the-cloud design. Having been at the very forefront of this movement, we at AWS are proud to join the MACH Alliance to advocate for MACH as an industry standard to deliver the best digital experiences for makers and users."
In December, the MACH Alliance expanded its charter to include the Enabler membership status: a new class of ecosystem partners that are sometimes used by MACH organizations to deliver a service or technology but are not a direct MACH solution provider. To that end, they are "enabling" MACH through their services, which is a key distinction – but also an evolution of the collaborative's fierce governance around certifying members to their cabal.
"Especially in today's volatile commercial environment, businesses must arm themselves to be agile, resilient, and future-proof," said Sonja Keerl, President at MACH Alliance. "Having a flexible, digital backbone plays a critical role in all of those things, as it helps companies adapt to meet ever-changing consumer demands and deliver superior buying experiences. It's a tremendous win to have AWS on board to help champion the MACH principle and its myriad benefits for businesses of all shapes and sizes."
<h2>The monoliths versus the MACHs</h2>
Forrester's <a href="https://www.forrester.com/blogs/buy-an-integrated-platform-not-a-box-of-rocks/" target="_blank">Joe Cicman</a> fired a shot heard 'round the world when he described the <a href="https://machalliance.org/" target="_blank">MACH Alliance</a> as "the bouncers controlling the velvet rope at the entrance of the Coolest Tech in Town Club."
Sounds like a hip place to be, unless you're caught in a dance-off between the Jets and the Sharks... AKA the monoliths and the MACHs.
While the debate over the MACH Alliance's certification policies continues to be vigorous – particularly from monolithic enterprise players that don't fit their stringent criteria – there's no question that it has captured the market's attention, growing to over 40 members. These companies have all met the agile requirements of the not-for-profit's mantra: Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native, and Headless (the "MACH" acronym).
According to their website, A MACH architecture gives companies a deeper level of agility so they can deliver new features to customers faster than ever. While this architectural approach started with <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/commercetools-acquires-frontastic-adds-composable-frontend-capabilities-to-headless-commerce/">commercetools</a> and their omnichannel approach to e-Commerce stores, it is now fundamentally changing the way enterprise software is developed and used across virtually every industry – not just commerce.
The "velvet rope" allusion could not be more apropos when describing the certification of MACH Alliance members. According to a <a href="https://machalliance.org/insights/why-only-companies-can-be-mach-certified-and-not-products" target="_blank">blog post</a> by Sonja Keerl from last October, one of the rules that helps the Alliance board determine certification is that vendors don't carry and promote legacy products along with their modern API-first and Cloud-native SaaS products. This steadfast rule keeps organizations from "MACH washing" their portfolios to achieve a level of readiness – but does not support their organization's mission or focus on the MACH philosophy.
In the same blog post, Keerl said that the MACH Alliance holds itself accountable for providing clarity to buyers, ending confusion, and guaranteeing the "future-proofness" of tech stacks. It's a bold claim, but a powerful one that seems to be resonating across the software landscape.
<h2>The composable revolution cometh</h2>
While the monolith/MACH dance-off continues, <a href="https://www.elasticpath.com/" target="_blank">Elastic Path</a> has responded to the fierce tenants of MACH, suggesting in an opinionated blog post that MACH technologies introduce additional complexity that can be challenging for organizations to manage.
Instead, the company spearheaded its own platform called the <a href="https://www.elasticpath.com/composable-commerce" target="_blank">Composable Commerce Movement</a>, an industry-wide initiative comprised of leading digital commerce technology and solution providers including Algolia, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/what-contentfuls-175m-investment-round-means-for-the-future-of-cms/">Contentful</a>, Amplience, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/bloomreach-acquires-exponea-secures-150m-investment-to-power-e-commerce-saas-expansion/">Bloomreach</a>, PayPal, and others – all with the goal of reducing the risk and complexity of using MACH-based technologies to deliver business outcomes for enterprise brands.
In addition to their industry collective, Elastic Path has also created a <a href="https://www.elasticpath.com/hub" target="_blank">Composable Commerce Hub</a> – an open exchange of composable commerce solutions. This includes a set of pre-composed solutions for B2B, B2C, and omnichannel commerce experiences. The hub also features accelerators for payment plugins, CMS and PIM integrations, and more.
<h2>What does the addition of AWS mean for the MACH Alliance?</h2>
<a href="https://aws.amazon.com/?nc2=h_lg&amp;aws-products-featured.sort-by=item.additionalFields.featuredRank&amp;aws-products-featured.sort-order=asc&amp;aws-products-analytics.sort-by=item.additionalFields.productNameLowercase&amp;aws-products-analytics.sort-order=asc&amp;aws-products-cost-mgmt.sort-by=item.additionalFields.productNameLowercase&amp;aws-products-cost-mgmt.sort-order=asc&amp;aws-products-compute.sort-by=item.additionalFields.productNameLowercase&amp;aws-products-compute.sort-order=asc&amp;aws-products-containers.sort-by=item.additionalFields.productNameLowercase&amp;aws-products-containers.sort-order=asc&amp;aws-products-databases.sort-by=item.additionalFields.productNameLowercase&amp;aws-products-databases.sort-order=asc&amp;aws-products-fe-mobile.sort-by=item.additionalFields.productNameLowercase&amp;aws-products-fe-mobile.sort-order=asc&amp;aws-products-iot.sort-by=item.additionalFields.productNameLowercase&amp;aws-products-iot.sort-order=asc&amp;aws-products-ml.sort-by=item.additionalFields.productNameLowercase&amp;aws-products-ml.sort-order=asc&amp;aws-products-network.sort-by=item.additionalFields.productNameLowercase&amp;aws-products-network.sort-order=asc&amp;aws-products-security.sort-by=item.additionalFields.productNameLowercase&amp;aws-products-security.sort-order=asc&amp;aws-products-storage.sort-by=item.additionalFields.productNameLowercase&amp;aws-products-storage.sort-order=asc" target="_blank">AWS</a> is a goliath. The mere mention of its name brings serious swagger to any brand's position – and this will pay dividends for the MACH Alliance.
While every member in the collective may not be directly tapping AWS services, there are few organizations that aren't leveraging some facet of Amazon's cloud architecture. This underscores the moniker of "enabler" when it comes to their level of commitment. It also drives greater awareness around the role of Cloud-native in the MACH delivery and how AWS supports that vision for vendors and customers.
MACH is serving a critical role in the market, shaping the voice for a free and open future in enterprise technology. Having AWS align with its principles will have a lasting impact on the organization's perception and growth.
The real test ahead: how current members remain true and steadfast to the core requirements – and avoid plunging into a more monolithic posture based on future acquisitions.
<h2>About the MACH Alliance</h2>
The MACH Alliance is a [501(c)(6)] non-profit organization, governed by an independent board and does not endorse specific vendors, members, or otherwise. The Alliance was formed in June 2020 to help enterprise organizations navigate the complex modern technology landscape. It aims to guide and show the business advantage of open tech ecosystems that are Microservices based, API-first, Cloud-native, and Headless. All MACH Alliance members meet certification principles that are published on the website.
The MACH Alliance welcomes technology companies and individual industry experts who share the same vision for the future. Learn more at <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3414374-1&amp;h=965007050&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fcts.businesswire.com%2Fct%2FCT%3Fid%3Dsmartlink%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fmachalliance.org%252F%26esheet%3D52478831%26newsitemid%3D20210818005487%26lan%3Den-US%26anchor%3Dmachalliance.org%26index%3D5%26md5%3Ddb9d7bdff8c8646152c1923d3ff4adc2&amp;a=machalliance.org" target="_blank">machalliance.org</a>, read here about <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3414374-1&amp;h=2369115186&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fcts.businesswire.com%2Fct%2FCT%3Fid%3Dsmartlink%26url%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fmachalliance.org%252Fblogdetail%252Fbltfc0a3afbca44303e%26esheet%3D52478831%26newsitemid%3D20210818005487%26lan%3Den-US%26anchor%3DMACH%2Bcertification%26index%3D6%26md5%3Dba1c5d6e1bf42963a3a8bb59771d09da&amp;a=MACH+certification" target="_blank">MACH certification</a>, and follow us on <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3414374-1&amp;h=2025488620&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fcts.businesswire.com%2Fct%2FCT%3Fid%3Dsmartlink%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.twitter.com%252Fmachalliance%26esheet%3D52478831%26newsitemid%3D20210818005487%26lan%3Den-US%26anchor%3DTwitter%26index%3D7%26md5%3Ddfeea3f8422d14d51b860d90329a6837&amp;a=Twitter" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3414374-1&amp;h=1575511374&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fcts.businesswire.com%2Fct%2FCT%3Fid%3Dsmartlink%26url%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.linkedin.com%252Fcompany%252Fmachalliance%26esheet%3D52478831%26newsitemid%3D20210818005487%26lan%3Den-US%26anchor%3DLinkedIn%26index%3D8%26md5%3Da1db2958e174d041221c1705e694b6f0&amp;a=LinkedIn" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>.
<h2>About AWS</h2>
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform, offering over 200 fully-featured services from data centers globally. Millions of customers – including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies – are using AWS to lower costs, become more agile, and innovate faster.

AWS Joins MACH Alliance as Enabler Member, Reflects Growth of Cloud-Native Solutions

Just before Christmas, <a href="https://www.optimizely.com/" target="_blank">Optimizely</a> – a leading digital experience platform (DXP) provider – delivered a gift that we're still unwrapping: an integrated version of its <a href="https://www.optimizely.com/products/commerce/b2b/" target="_blank">B2B Commerce Cloud</a> and <a href="https://www.optimizely.com/products/content/" target="_blank">Content Cloud</a> products.
OK... so maybe the other schwag under your tree had a bit more pizzazz. But this tidy pairing brings some real power to brands, particularly those looking to reach audiences with sophisticated content strategies and digital experiences. The new integration also has to potential to help large marketing teams collaborate more effectively around their content – providing a more complete ecosystem of services.
According to Optimizely, the integration leverages its B2B Commerce Cloud as a <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/" target="_blank">headless commerce</a> API, making B2B data and capabilities available in Content Cloud. The coupling enables users to access B2B-specific features in the Commerce Cloud while using Content Cloud CMS to manage all the pages, templates, content, and assets of their website. Content Cloud also lets marketers build and manage multiple sites while leveraging shared data for customers, products, and orders in B2B Commerce Cloud.
Another key feature of the integrated solution is a combined out-of-the-box search engine, allowing users to search products in the B2B Commerce catalog as well as the Content Cloud – and return combined results. Users can also manage their product catalog in B2B Commerce and have them available in Content Cloud.
“Optimizely Content Cloud has a long history of providing marketers with extensive tools for content publication and creation of exceptional digital experiences,” said Justin Anovick, Chief Product Officer of Optimizely. “With the integration of B2B Commerce Cloud, businesses can extend these tools to B2B customers, enabling the delivery of optimal digital experiences across audiences.”
<h2>Powering buying experiences with B2B Commerce Cloud</h2>
To be clear, Optimizely's B2B Commerce Cloud and Content Cloud have been stand-outs in their own right. The former has carved a decent niche as a one-stop commerce solution, decreasing the complexity of a brand's online commerce stack by collectively managing catalogs, quotes, orders, product configurations, and more – all with one holistic view. It also boasts personalization capabilities, leveraging data-driven recommendations to power custom digital commerce experiences.
Optimizely has focused its B2B Commerce Cloud on manufacturers and distributors, helping them configure custom solutions that meet their specific brand requirements. Additionally, the solution has made the connections with an organization's ERP, PIM, and other backend systems more efficient, allowing them to scale their growth across their stack. Those connections are key, and so is maintaining the security of a brand's data; to that end, Optimizely has achieved ISO certifications in its pursuit of assuring the highest standards of data security with B2B Commerce Cloud.
<h2>Create once, publish everywhere with Content Cloud CMS</h2>
On the other side of the integration equation is Optimizely's Content Cloud, a shadow of the former Episerver (which, as you know, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/episerver-to-acquire-optimizely-the-worlds-leading-experience-optimization-platform/">purchased Optimizely in 2020</a> and consolidated under its banner). Content Cloud has been enabling marketing teams to leverage an industry-leading content management system to distribute content across channels with a coupled, headless, or hybrid CMS model – or via Optimizely's global network.
Content Cloud boasts a wide berth of rich features including personalized media management, drag-and-drop layouts and authoring, custom workflows, and more. The system also enables users to create and target personalized content and commerce experiences based on dynamic audience segments. The personalization features come out of the box at a rules-based level but can be upgraded through their <a href="https://www.optimizely.com/optimization-glossary/hyper-personalization/" target="_blank">AI-powered 1:1 personalization</a> with <a href="https://www.optimizely.com/products/intelligence/recommendations/" target="_blank">Content Recommendations.</a>
<h2>Providing sample resources and implementation support</h2>
One thing Optimizely consistently does well is listen to customers. This has been most evident following the large-scale acquisitions of Episerver and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/optimizely-acquires-customer-data-platform-zaius/">Zaius</a>, where users needed both training and vision to build confidence around the company's roadmap. This is just one contributing factor to the company's leadership positions on <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/key-takeaways-from-gartners-2021-magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms/">Gartner's 2021 Magic Quadrant for DXPs</a>, as well as the <a href="https://www.optimizely.com/company/press/optimizely-named-a-leader-in-agile-content-management-systems/" target="_blank">Forrester Wave for Agile Content Management Systems</a>.
To help customers get the most from this new integration, Optimizely is releasing a B2B-specific sample site packed with Content Cloud templates and blocks – giving users a pipeline of resources to accelerate their builds. In its press release, the company said that the sample site will answer the "time-to-market metric" variables that many B2B customers weigh when selecting technology vendors. Once again, evidence that Optimizely is listening to the voice of the customer and thinking ahead.
Additionally, Optimizely has named <a href="https://www.nishtech.com/">Nishtech</a> – a full-service digital experience and e-commerce consultancy – as a preferred implementation partner to support the B2B Commerce Cloud/Content Cloud integration. Nishtech is an Optimizely Platinum Partner that has first-hand experience with the new integration and can be contracted to guide customers and their agencies through setting up and utilizing the new integration.
<h2>About Optimizely</h2>
<a href="http://www.optimizely.com/">Optimizely</a> is on a mission to help people unlock their digital potential. With their leading digital experience platform (DXP), they equip teams with the tools and insights they need to create and optimize in new and novel ways. Now, companies can operate with data-driven confidence to create hyper-personalized experiences. Building sophisticated solutions has never been simpler. Optimizely’s 900+ partners and 1100+ employees in offices around the globe are proud to help more than 9,000 brands, including Toyota, Santander, eBay, KLM, and Mazda, enrich their customer lifetime value, increase revenue and grow their brands.

Optimizely Integrates B2B Commerce Cloud and Content Cloud, Combines Headless Commerce with CMS

Optimizely logo against a black background

Just as we're recovering from a Thanksgiving turkey coma, the cloud is served with all the trimmings at the annual <a href="https://reinvent.awsevents.com/" target="_blank">AWS re:Invent</a> conference in Las Vegas.
If you haven't attended their annual "winter wonderland" of new services, it's an early Christmas delivery of new technologies from the reigning cloud leader. This includes everything from new AI and IoT services to satellite "<a href="https://aws.amazon.com/ground-station/" target="_blank">ground station-as-a-service</a>" capabilities (which can presumably track Santa as he traverses the globe).
While much of the fare at re:Invent is the domain of developers and DevOps professionals, the <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace" target="_blank">AWS Marketplace</a> has grown to include a much deeper bench of digital experience players – specifically in their new <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/campaigns/dcx/" target="_blank">DCX (digital customer experience) category</a>. This collection of marketing and advertising technologies includes a stack of content, ad tech, CRM, customer 360, and other platform providers that fill a business app void that AWS has struggled to fill. Now, it seems that lump of coal is producing a few diamonds.
At re:Invent, content management and digital experience platforms aren't typically the focus of attention. But the first day featured an innovative new offering with just a handful of launch partners – and among them was <a href="https://www.solodev.com/" target="_blank">Solodev</a>, an enterprise CMS and cloud app platform built for AWS. The company announced that customers can now procure <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/prodview-s7tpcn3m7fuf6?ref_=srh_res_product_title" target="_blank">Solodev CMS for Kubernetes</a> – its popular enterprise content management system – in the AWS Marketplace as part of Amazon's new "Containers Anywhere" program. 
According to Solodev, the new contract pricing provides customers with greater choice over their infrastructure options, allowing them to quickly and easily subscribe to Solodev’s CMS software and deploy in their own AWS account or in a pre-existing on-premises Kubernetes cluster. This helps reduce the cost and friction associated with purchasing a cloud-first enterprise content management system regardless of the infrastructure – whether it’s a Kubernetes cluster on AWS or a pre-existing infrastructure such as HP or VMware. 
By providing a more seamless buying experience in AWS Marketplace, Solodev now offers an easier way to add their CMS almost anywhere – giving marketing teams rich tools for building websites, apps, and API-driven solutions for running omnichannel content operations at enterprise scale.
<h2>Containers continue to drive digital transformation</h2>
As both commercial and public sector organizations invest in digital transformation, the cloud represents a significant opportunity for enhancing security, scalability, and redundancy while modernizing legacy systems. However, due to regulatory governance and other persistent requirements, some software must remain on-premises to meet compliance.
Containers have presented a new channel for making software more transportable to different environments, starting with local and moving to production in clusters. But developers and organizations need more – and with cloud providers like AWS, this has been a challenge with on-prem customers who want the ease of purchasing software in the AWS Marketplace while spinning up container images wherever they want.
Now, administrators can procure Solodev CMS for Kubernetes – a fully-containerized solution that customers can deploy to Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS), Amazon EKS Anywhere, or any Kubernetes cluster – and manage their subscription through AWS Marketplace in the environment of their choice.
For a CMS player, Solodev has been pioneering a lot of innovation in both containers and serverless. Recently, the company <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/solodev-selected-as-cloud-consulting-partner-of-the-2022-special-olympics-usa-games/" target="_blank">announced the deployment of a completely serverless infrastructure</a> built on AWS for the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games, which will power a fan engagement app that serves thousands of concurrent users next June. Solodev's container solution leverages <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/fargate/" target="_blank">Amazon Fargate</a> and other services to enable a stateless app to run on multiple containers without virtual instances – reducing the overall costs while enabling unprecedented scalability.
<h2>Managing software licenses in the cloud at scale</h2>
According to Solodev, the new contract pricing in the AWS Marketplace is facilitated by its Solodev License Manager for AWS. This is a new product that's powered by the <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/license-manager/" target="_blank">AWS License Manager</a> and helps customers gain control over their cloud app license management – which helps reduce costs and provide governance over usage.  
Solodev CMS for Kubernetes will also deliver more predictable monthly pricing. Users can procure either cloud or on-premises options per node, with contract pricing in four tiers: monthly, annual, 24-month, or 36-month terms. This marks a significant shift in AWS utilization pricing for container products, which have only been available in hourly or annual options. The new pricing model gives administrators greater visibility around their budgeting and planning, aligning with more traditional models for procuring enterprise software.
“The new contract pricing in AWS Marketplace makes self-service enterprise CMS a reality,” said Shawn Moore, Chief Technology Officer at Solodev. “Offering Solodev CMS in-cloud or on-prem puts the power back in the hands of our customers, giving them a CMS that works anywhere and is built on container technology that’s designed to scale. We’re excited to add this incredible service to our AWS Marketplace listings, where enterprise and public sector organizations can procure everything on their own terms and build amazing websites, applications, and digital experiences.”
<h2>From content to crypto</h2>
Solodev’s new product joins a host of options available in the AWS Marketplace, including their <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/seller-profile?id=8e11c912-6253-41b8-b065-bf32bd27911b" target="_blank">Solodev CMS Lite, Professional, and Enterprise Editions</a>. All three are available with free trials and can be spun up in an AWS account in minutes via AWS Cloudformation. 
The evolution of Solodev as a pure CMS platform to a "cloud app ecosystem" has been more pronounced as of late. The company still appearsto be focused on supporting its core content management system and enabling users to build digital experiences with a <a href="https://www.magnolia-cms.com/blog/what-is-a-headless-cms.html" target="_blank">headless hybrid</a> set of features. However, the evolution continues with the launch of its new <a href="https://www.solodev.com/marketplace" target="_blank">Solodev Marketplace</a> in 2021 – an e-Commerce-like shopping experience that features a deep bench of cloud and digital marketing services that can be procured and connected in one place.
The new Solodev Marketplace also features <a href="https://www.solodev.com/news/solodev-now-offers-managed-blockchain-for-cardano-and-ethereum-for-building-high-utility-blockchain-and-crypto-apps-in-the-cloud.stml" target="_blank">blockchain and crypto services for Cardano and Ethereum</a>, two new additions that appear to signal their push into utility-based apps for smart contracts and custom cryptocurrencies. 
Solodev's launch in the AWS Marketplace for Containers Anywhere was announced at AWS re:Invent, and represents the company’s continued innovation in both product development and cloud infrastructure. As an AWS Advanced Technology Partner, Solodev has previously announced launch partnerships at re:Invent for the AWS Marketplace for Containers, as well as the <a href="https://www.solodev.com/news/solodev-achieves-aws-public-safety-disaster-response-competency-status.stml" target="_blank">AWS Public Safety and Disaster Response Competency</a>.
For more details, <a href="mailto:matt@solodev.com" target="_blank">contact Solodev today</a>.  
<h2>About Solodev</h2>
Solodev is an enterprise CMS and digital ecosystem for building custom cloud apps, from content to crypto. With Solodev, developers and organizations can launch amazing customer experiences, power omnichannel strategies, build and deploy blockchain apps, and collaborate on digital transformation. Solodev also provides DevOps, training, managed services, and 24/7 human support to help users succeed on their cloud journey. Solodev products – including CMS, Kubernetes, and Personalize – can be purchased on-demand in AWS Marketplace, through State and Federal contract vehicles, or online at <a href="http://www.solodev.com">www.solodev.com</a>

Solodev CMS for Kubernetes Now Available with Contract Pricing in AWS Marketplace for Containers Anywhere

Image of AWS reinvent logo and Solodev logo against a black background

Scandinavia has long been regarded as a cradle of CMS innovation. And while that cradle has been rocked by the rise of Western competitors, the Nordic legion of web content management systems still holds a strong position in the minds – and hearts – of their users.
Heart. That might be one of the most tangible differentiators for <a href="https://umbraco.com/" target="_blank">Umbraco</a>, a Danish platform that was originally coined “The Friendly CMS” <a href="https://umbraco.com/about-us/values/why-the-friendly-cms/" target="_blank">by one of its community members</a> back in 2006.
As this now-legendary designer was credited with observing: Everything about Umbraco is friendly. The UX, the community, and the pricing.
Turns out this tagline has stood the test of time – just like Umbraco itself.
In a global marketplace where CMS providers are struggling to establish or re-establish their identity (be it headless, DXP, or some bolt-on Frankenstein of neo-monolithic proportions), Umbraco is staying true to its core. It’s doubling down on its community, making complex technologies easier to use, and reminding us that open source is really about people – not just platforms.
For all these reasons (and presumably more), <a href="https://www.monterro.com/" target="_blank">Monterro</a> – the Swedish software growth investor that prides itself on turning Nordic software companies into global players – <a href="https://umbraco.com/blog/swedish-software-growth-investor-monterro-acquires-a-majority-stake-in-umbraco/" target="_blank">has just purchased a majority stake in the Danish vendor</a>.
We had a chance to discuss this news with Umbraco’s CEO and self-proclaimed “Chief Friend Maker,” <a href="https://twitter.com/kimsneummadsen?lang=en" target="_blank">Kim Sneum Madsen</a>, who has been with the outfit since 2016. While acclaimed founder Niels Hartvig will be parting company, Madsen will continue to man the reigns as Monterro’s operational and financial backing comes online.
In our exclusive interview, we discussed where the company has been, what’s ahead – and how open source is “not a hippie thing anymore.”
<h2>Expanding best-of-breed digital experiences</h2>
Umbraco has come a long way since its founding in 2005, and like the rest of the market, the company has adapted to significant change. But according to Madsen, what hasn’t changed is their persistent focus on making things simpler.
While describing Umbraco’s history, Madsen said there have been three key elements to their success: software, community, and company. The first decade of their growth was focused on making great software and aligning with Hartvig’s vision of open source. The second was focused on nurturing an active community that loved their product – and built on it in a big way. At last count, Umbraco boasts over 220,000 developers and users worldwide, which is an astounding amount of adoption by any measure.
With the software and community pieces firing on all cylinders, the company is now focused on the company, which is where Madsen comes in. While his mission over the last five years has revolved around “customer happiness,” his job as CEO will require a balancing of the elements to achieve scale in a competitive, mature, and increasingly commoditized market.
“We believe we’re in a very strong position with the balance of the elements,” said Madsen, speaking of the software, community, and company components. “We’ve reinvented the way our community works, we have a mature model for engaging community teams around the globe, and we can give them something to build on.”
To reach the next level, Umbraco has invested in expanding its product set. Along with its flagship open-source Umbraco CMS, they now feature <a href="https://umbraco.com/products/umbraco-heartcore/" target="_blank">Umbraco Heartcore</a>, a headless offering; <a href="https://umbraco.com/products/umbraco-cloud/" target="_blank">Umbraco Cloud</a>, a fully-hosted ecosystem that boasts simplicity as one of its core attributes; and <a href="https://umbraco.com/products/umbraco-uno/" target="_blank">Umbraco Uno</a>, a one-stop platform for non-technical marketers and creative agencies.
Along with its vast community of members, including a large partner network that offers customized solutions that integrate with Umbraco, the company now counts more than 700,000 websites worldwide – the majority in Europe and the U.S. – running live on its solutions. Along the way, the company has scored some impressive customers, including JP Morgan, Rubbermaid, Scholl, the NFL, and other market leaders.
<h2>Monterro brings extensive CMS experience to Umbraco </h2>
On the Monterro side of the ledger, the stars couldn’t be more aligned – and Madsen is thrilled with the outcome. He said the private equity partner stood out because of their financial structure, but also because members of their operational staff served in key roles at other CMS platforms, including Episerver.
“With extensive CMS experience and a true belief in open-source software, Monterro is a perfect match as we strive to meet the increasing demand for best-of-breed DXP solutions that make complex technologies easy to use,” Madsen said.
As part of its mission to turn Nordic software companies into global market leaders, Monterro has completed 17 investments and 17 add-on investments since 2012. These include operational experience from successfully developing and running companies such as Pointsec, Orc Software, and CMS vendor Episerver, now <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/episerver-rebrands-as-optimizely-following-acquisition/" target="_blank">Optimizely</a>.
“With Monterro’s valuable guidance and capital,” Madsen remarked, “we will continue to work closely with our active open-source community to bring the Umbraco family of user-friendly, flexible, and robust CMS platforms to an even greater portfolio of companies in even more countries.”
While the structure of Umbraco’s ownership has changed, Madsen affirmed that the company’s direction will remain the same. “Our ambition is to use this position and invest money back into the continued growth of all the elements that constitute Umbraco," he said. "We will continue to focus on creating world-class software that produces outstanding value for users and customers.”
<h2>Market consolidation and confronting the data challenge</h2>
One area we discussed was the breakneck consolidation echoing across the CMS market and the drive to shore up the data layer – <a href="https://www.gartner.com/reviews/market/digital-experience-platforms" target="_blank">a key requirement for Gartner</a> in their assessment of modern digital experience platforms.
Earlier this year, we saw several DXP players purchase customer data platforms (CDPs) to address the “missing data link” in their vision of completeness. This includes <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/optimizely-acquires-customer-data-platform-zaius/" target="_blank">Optimizely’s purchase of Zaius</a> this past March.
Madsen said that data is important, and while Umbraco would love to claim itself as the “single source” for data, what’s important is the aggregation of all relevant data – particularly as it relates to GDPR and other compliance requirements. He said customers must be in control, and with CMS as the backbone of a digital business, this should be made simpler in the process.
<h2>The growth of Enterprise and the role of Microsoft</h2>
“As Umbraco has matured over the last five years, we’re seeing increased demand from Enterprise customers,” said Madsen. At the same time, he said they’re seeing more customers wanting to move campaign sites closer to marketers – which is where Umbraco Uno comes in. As an out-of-the-box solution, it’s providing shorter delivery times for a wider range of clients, from enterprise to full-service digital agencies to design shops.
We also discussed the legacy role of <a href="https://dotnet.microsoft.com/" target="_blank">Microsoft</a> and their history of .NET – which Madsen said continues to be a differentiator given Microsoft’s footprint in key geographies.
<h2>The rise of headless CMS</h2>
In our discussion of Umbraco Heartcore – their headless offering – Madsen reflected that it’s still very new as a stand-alone product. Like other traditional CMS platforms, their API nature has enabled connections and integrations before headless exploded in demand. He maintains that users want the freedom to build and connect as they see fit.
While the jury may be out on whether headless is a lasting trend, Madsen supports the need for agencies to have greater freedom over the frontend and focus on omnichannel. However, he underscored the need for the CMS to be structured around the workflow for users, so it remains easy for editors to do their job.
“We’ve always been focused on the content editor,” he punctuated. “It has to be easy, or they won’t bother.”
<h2>Mining growth from a strong open source community</h2>
What’s abundantly clear is that Umbraco’s fiercely loyal community has been a keystone to their success. Madsen knows this well given his history and proximity to partners during his tenure at Umbraco.
“Users and partners are intertwined, as developers often work for an agency,” he said. “Every developer working on Umbraco makes a living on our software.” This underscores the value of their open source community to their future growth.
Focusing on partners has had an intrinsic “one to many” effect on multiplying Umbraco’s business. Madsen describes their community as the implementers, which has allowed Umbraco to focus on perfecting their software.
We asked Madsen if there’s one thing he would want the market to know about Umbraco, and he again came back to the value of being open source – and the contributions of their community.
“Open source is not a hippie thing anymore,” he noted. “It has a far better development cycle. Developers can raise an issue and get an answer quickly from other developers. It is the true ‘outside in’ approach, not us inventing in a lab and taking something to market. This is all based on real-life experiences that our developers have.”
That sounds like a friendly CMS experience to us – and a true differentiator for an investor like Monterro.
Peace, love, and integration.
<h2>About Umbraco</h2>
Danish Umbraco was founded in 2005 with the vision of making the complex simpler. The company offers a user-friendly best-of-breed platform for content management (CMS) based on open-source technology. With more than 700,000 installations, Umbraco is one of the most deployed Web Content Management Systems on the Microsoft stack. Its success lies in the open-source model, a unique community of more than 220,000 developers and users, and a well-established partner network of digital agencies. Umbraco has 100 employees and is headquartered in Odense, Denmark, with a branch office in Charlotte, North Carolina. For more information, visit <a href="https://umbraco.com/" target="_blank">www.umbraco.com</a>

Umbraco CMS Acquired by Software Investor Monterro: Interview with CEO Kim Sneum Madsen

Image of Umbraco logo and CEO Kim Sneum Madsen

cloudinclude is a new and simple CMS being created that brings simplicity to the cloud. It was introduced to us by its developer, Craig Tran.
Here is a video showcasing it's current capabilities:

We decided to take some time to learn a bit more about this platform and how it differentiates itself from similar projects.
Below is the outcome of our chat with lead developer, Craig Tran:
CC: Can you tell us a bit more about your project?
CT: So the general idea behind cloudinclude is to provide web developers/designers an easy way to integrate editable content areas into their existing or new websites. Our aim is to abstract database and server side programming from the end user to make it super simple for someone with just html or javascript knowledge to build content managed websites and at the same time give them 100% flexibility in front end design. We accomplish this by providing the user with a web app interface with one purpose: creating content. Content is added and created with a rich text editor and saved to our database servers and hosted by us in the cloud so that users do not have to set up and configure a MySQL or MSSQL database of their own. So that is one big difference than say WordPress and others that require local server configuration. So if you are a general web designer and are not too comfortable with setting up databases, you don't have to. We also manage all of the database load and scalability.
Once content has been created with us, we provide multiple different ways for the user to access and retrieve their content. The easiest method that we provide the user to retrieve content is via a javascript api library. The library uses JSONP to communicate with our cloud hosted servers to send back content to the user. With the library a designer just makes calls to request content and then can go about doing whatever they please with it on their client side html. So designers are not locked into any design template schemes, they can design their site the way they want to via css and html and cloudinclude is there to serve up content on demand and at their request. So the target here is designers comfortable with javascript coding with no need to possess much server side coding experience. (However, we also currently provide a .NET server side library that allows <a href="http://asp.net/" target="_blank">ASP.NET</a> developers to retrieve content within their .NET applications with support for future server side technologies to come just because we want to cater to more advanced developers as well; php to be next). All content created with cloudinclude will also be accessible via RSS feeds and a REST web service. So we provide the end user with a multitude of ways to access their raw content.
cloudinclude focuses on the content aspect of content management. Unlike some CMS systems, the content you create comes already bundled and integrated into a specific template/layout that you as a designer have to work with to redesign or tweak to get it to look the way you want it to. With cloudinclude you are not locked into any design schema, we just host and serve up the raw content to you and we try to make content as accessible as possible.
CC: What made you decide there was a need for the type of CMS you are bringing to market?
CT: Well my first goal with the product was more out of fulfilling a personal need, at least from my development experience, I haven't been able to work with a CMS that was lightweight enough where all I really wanted was to enable editable areas of content in specific websites I would design for my clients. Most CMS solutions such as say WordPress or Joomla, you have to deal with all the other bells and whistles of the platform that come with it. While I do like those platforms, sometimes it's a bit much.
CC: What about other products such as CushyCMS, etc? They offer the functionality to simply work with pages by making the content editable using embedded tags. What separates your product from theirs?
CT: The main difference between say mine versus CushyCMS is that while that is also lightweight you are still limited in configuring static html pages, at least from what I know with cloudinclude you can still integrate with even server side pages. Lots of product offerings out there like to brand the heck out of their stuff to say hey this is us, but I want to take as backseat of an approach as possible and everything about cloudinclude will always be bare bones and behind the scenes, i would like developers to be able to brand it themselves.
CC: Will your product be commercial or free?
CT: In terms of being free or commercial, I haven't decided yet, just wanted to make a nice utility for people to use.
CC: How far away from an official release are you?
CT: We just opened beta on October 31st. We would like to beta test it for roughly 6 months, so that would put us at about April 2011. But it depends on the initial feedback and what users really would like to push for in terms of features,etc.
CC: Can anyone sign up for the beta? What is the acceptance criteria?
CT: Anyone that is generally interested can sign up for a beta, right now we have set up a request form for people to send us interest and the target audience we are looking for are web designers/graphic designers. We have only sent out invites to designers we currently network with and of course reaching out to people like you who are interested in CMS type technology.
CC: Do you have plans to implement any additional features before public release?
CT: Not at the moment, the core technology is in place, only if there is an overwhelming response from our beta testers to want a specific feature that is not in place will we do that before a public release. I already have a roadmap for what I eventually want to add to it down the road after a public release in terms of new features. The only other minor feature we plan to have before public launch is an additional PHP API library for content access since that is a popular development community. The focus now is on our system for having highly integrable editable content.
CC: Thanks Craig.
Want to learn more or sign up for the beta? Visit <a href="http://cloudinclude.com">cloudinclude.com</a>

Introduction to cloudinclude - a simple CMS for the cloud

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