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What to know:<ul><li>TinyMCE has introduced AI capabilities to its rich text editor</li><li>Powered by OpenAI, the new feature is available and easy to activate</li><li>The solution provides pre-written prompts to help users create content</li><li>CMS platforms that use TinyMCE can offer AI in their editors and plugins</li></ul><hr /> You might not know it, but many CMS platforms have been “tinyfied.”I don’t mean “minified,” as in made smaller – or “gentrified,” though some apps out there could use a bit of that.No, “tinyfied” is how <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tiny.cloud/">TinyMCE</a> refers to content management systems that utilize its rich text editor. It’s a fun moniker for a tool that’s essential to every CMS, enabling users to create formatted content using simple WYSIWYGs.The role of the text editor in a CMS can’t be overstated. In addition to adding raw content, they can be used to create lists, tables, and other elements. The functionality of an editor can also be extended via plugins and customizations based on a platform’s needs.Many CMSes have adopted TinyMCE as their default editor, while others have implemented it into various modules and plugins. Which platforms, you ask? According to the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tiny.cloud/docs-3x/extras/TinyMCE3x@Software_using_TinyMCE/#:~:text=Many%20CMSs%20have%20been%20'tinyfied,it%20in%20a%20module%2Fplugin.&amp;text=ARNIA%20CMS%20.,is%20part%20of%20the%20CMS.">company’s documentation</a>, the list includes <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/hyland-acquires-alfresco-focuses-on-cloud-and-global-expansion-of-enterprise-cms/">Alfresco</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/dotcms-adds-additional-static-publishing-features-and-new-four-eyes-workflow-approval-in-latest-version-release-dotcms-4-3/">dotCMS</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/umbraco-cms-acquired-by-software-investor-monterro-interview-with-ceo-kim-sneum-madsen/">Umbraco</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/wp-engine-releases-worlds-first-study-of-the-wordpress-economy-cites-awe-inspiring-numbers/">WordPress</a>, and other notable brands (like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-monthly-recap-shopify-invests-in-sanity-dotcms-updates-content-authoring-experience-wp-engine-acquires-plugins-and-more/">Shopify</a>) – all relying on TinyMCE to shape content editing.Now, TinyMCE is introducing <a target="_blank" href="https://openai.com/">OpenAI’s</a> powerful GPT models to its text editor. The new solution comes with pre-written prompts and writing tools and provides a familiar, intuitive UI that works within existing designs and structures.I recently spoke with TinyMCE’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/fredrikdanielsson/">Fredrik Danielsson</a>, Principal Product Manager, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisebentley/">Elise Bentley</a>, VP of Marketing, about the company’s new AI Assistant. They shared how the novel features will benefit users while helping CMS platforms accelerate their AI roadmap.<h2>Adding AI to an API-first portfolio of solutions</h2>Over the last few months, I’ve spoken to numerous CMSes about their emerging AI strategies.As I’ve noted in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/a-closer-look-at-contentstacks-ai-features-with-christine-masters-senior-product-manager/">previous articles</a>, some have charged full speed ahead, adding <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/kontent-ai-pioneers-native-ai-in-headless-cms-interview-with-vojtech-boril/">native solutions</a> to their workflows. Others are waiting it out, trying to divine the hope from the hype.While not a CMS itself, TinyMCE is a key part of the content ecosystem. Despite being a new entrant to the AI game, its AI Assistant fits squarely with the company’s ambitious API-first strategy and its goal of powering CMS users with more advanced functionality.“TinyMCE has focused on the content creation space for almost 20 years,” said Elise. “When you think about CMS users, it’s actually the rich text editor that they’re connecting with. We’re creating a seamless experience by bringing AI into a workflow they already know.”According to Elise, there are currently over 350 million downloads of TinyMCE a year – and that includes a very broad spectrum of CMS, DAM, workflow collaboration, email tools, and more. While all of these applications co-exist in the DX stack, Elise noted that understanding the CMS user was fundamental to building the right kind of AI strategy.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/tinymce-editor-1024x663.png" alt="TinyMCE rich text editor" />“Content creators are ultimately using [TinyMCE], so what are the top things they’re creating? For a CMS, it was blogs and website copy – so whatever we delivered, we needed to make sure it worked great for those use cases.”TinyMCE’s impressive footprint has certainly bolstered its market position. In March of this year, the company was purchased by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tiny.cloud/blog/tiugo-portfolio-with-tinymce/">Tiugo Technologies</a>, a PSG portfolio company offering a family of innovative, API-first developer platforms – which includes <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/tiugo-technologies-enhances-its-portfolio-of-developer-platforms-with-buttercms/">ButterCMS</a>.While many technologies in a wide range of industries have rushed to market with AI solutions, some have been met with delays or even less-than-stellar outcomes. I asked Elise how Tiny has focused on quality while ensuring timely delivery to the market.“We have a big emphasis on quality here, and we don’t release things to market unless we believe they are market-ready,” she affirmed. “AI Assistant has gone through robust QA processes, and it’s stable. We have a lot of users signed up, and we’re actively gathering feedback.”<h2>Making AI more useful with ready-made prompts</h2>Along with his mantle of product manager, Fredrik has also been the internal AI champion for TinyMCE’s new functionality. I asked him what fueled his interest – and why it mattered.“We think this is a really important innovation in rich text editing,” he said. “It’s opened up so many opportunities in human-computer interaction and how we can use this technology for all sorts of things. It’s similar to when the iPhone came out, and we suddenly had the internet and computers in our pockets. AI is almost a must, and we have to be doing this.”It’s true that AI has captured the zeitgeist of the moment, spurring CMS platforms to introduce AI features at a breakneck pace. But the hype cycle can be tenuous, and user experience can sometimes be a victim in the race to innovate.<hr /><h4 style="text-align:center">"It’s not just about connecting with AI – it's about unlocking the power of AI and helping you to learn how to use it for content creation purposes, so you’re not on your own."</h4><hr />Tiny aimed to avoid that trap by putting the user first. As Elise explained, the company had been exploring AI for over a year, and the decision to act only surfaced when customers started asking how to add it to their applications. Thoughtful research helped reveal where the TinyMCE’s capabilities could align with the promise of AI.“When we went out to explore AI, we did the demand studies,” she punctuated. “What people are actually struggling with is how to interact with AI. That’s where our solution is much more advanced. We provide the pre-written prompts and the assistance. It’s not just about connecting with AI – it's about unlocking the power of AI and helping you to learn how to use it for content creation purposes, so you’re not on your own.”Fredrik further codified this, describing TinyMCE’s ready-made prompts as a sort of “discovery feature” that helps inspire end users by giving them a starting point while providing convenient actions such as rewriting, fixing grammar, and creating alternative variants.<h2>Adding AI where content creators need it</h2>For CMS platforms using TinyMCE, the clear benefit is the easy, frictionless addition of AI to the text editing experience.Designed as a core part of the content creation workflow – as opposed to a bolt-on component – the solution’s UI works out of the box without adding any extra AI development burdens. What’s more, it can be up and running in a couple of hours with just a few steps.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/tinymce-steps-1-1024x217.jpg" alt="TinyMCE AI Assistant steps " />As Fredrik outlined, the AI Assistant is an extension of TinyMCE, so you simply activate it within the plugin and connect to OpenAI via your <a target="_blank" href="https://platform.openai.com/account/api-keys">OpenAI API key</a>. The AI Assistant provides a configurable, intuitive interface for OpenAI prompts, while your API key sends and receives prompts and responses from OpenAI.When you’re ready for production, you can set up a server-side proxy for secure communication with OpenAI. And presto… you’re off to the races.“The fantastic thing about TinyMCE and how we operate is that we provide APIs and actually allow you to customize the prompts if you want to put in the engineering effort,” said Elise. “You can customize it around your own use case.”While other CMS platforms are home-growing their capabilities, TinyMCE is effectively shortcutting the complexity and laser-targeting AI at precisely the right places. Along with the essentials for improving grammar and writing, users can target the AI Assistant to summarize, explain, or simplify language with an easy-to-use picker. There's also the ability to generate content from custom prompts and insert it instantly into your post.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/tinymce-screenshots-1024x540.jpg" alt="TinyMCE product screenshots" />“We’re providing the UI and prompt engineering so you can quickly get started, instead of spending months trying to figure out how to do it yourself,” said Fredrik, summing up one of the core benefits. “With OpenAI and TinyMCE, it’s the speed.”<h2>What does TinyMCE's AI Assistant cost?</h2>When it comes to new features, the million-dollar question is always the price.According to Elise, the AI Assistant is an additional $29 per month – which is nominal, considering the advanced resources the company is dedicating to the technology. I asked how users are responding to this price point and the value position. “Everyone that has signed up is accepting of the cost, and it’s appealing for both startups and enterprises,” she said. “Part of our research was to examine price and how we sustain engineering on such a revolutionary new feature set.”Because TinyMCE’s AI Assistant requires you to create and connect your own OpenAI API key, platforms are also responsible for <a target="_blank" href="https://openai.com/pricing">any direct costs from OpenAI</a> associated with its usage.<h2>Wrestling with security, data privacy and copyright issues</h2>One of the biggest challenges with tapping large language models like ChatGPT is data privacy. And rightly so: since its introduction, OpenAI has spurred multiple security concerns, including a <a target="_blank" href="https://securityintelligence.com/articles/chatgpt-confirms-data-breach/">data breach</a> that exposed active user data to would-be hackers.OpenAI has made great strides in firming up its protection. Additionally, CMS platforms that have introduced GPT connectors have gone to great lengths to wall off enterprise data from the GPT learning pipelines, so a company’s data doesn’t become part of the LLM’s general training lakes.I asked Fredrik and Elise how TinyMCE was handling the data privacy concerns with its new AI, and how questions around content copyright might impact their strategy.“This is a huge, huge question,” Fredrik said. “We’re talking about privacy and copyright on the internet. We deal with a lot of enterprises, so naturally, we get that question. In the vast majority of use cases, it’s about building trust with vendors [and letting them know] we take care of your data.”Elise expanded on this, adding that TinyMCE is actively monitoring and looking at ways to create more secure and private solutions with ChatGPT.<h2>Expanding the horizon of AI for platforms and users</h2>In the quest to provide meaningful AI to more content creators, TinyMCE has certainly introduced a unique offering at the text editing layer – and done so in a familiar and accessible manner.I asked Fredrik where he sees the greatest opportunity for TinyMCE’s AI to transform the content experience.“This is completely new for us, and it’s fun,” he mused. “We’re innovating and exploring and starting fresh. As with all these things, there are no conventions right now. But it should be simple, intuitive, and designed for everyone – not just power users. I want everyone to be able to harness the power of our AI.”While the new AI features are already GA, TinyMCE is just getting started. According to Elise, they plan to support more than just ChatGPT in the future and continue a healthy pace of innovation based on customer needs.“As more people come on board, we want the feedback loops to make an even better, more robust product,” she said. “But right now, we’re very happy about this new feature.”Being happy about your product? There’s nothing tiny about that.You can experience that happiness yourself by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tiny.cloud/tinymce/features/ai-integration/">adding the new AI Assistant</a> to your existing TinyMCE account with an exclusive 14-day free trial.

TinyMCE Brings Advanced AI to CMS Text Editing: Interview with Fredrik Danielsson & Elise Bentley

matt-garrepy

The financial services domain is experiencing a remarkable transformation, prompted by disruptive newcomers and the rise of Open Finance. These modern players, predominantly digital-only banking entities, are not merely passively accepting the tide of digital transition, but are actively molding it, setting a groundwork for an increasingly open, inclusive, and technologically oriented financial environment.
What distinguishes these modifications is their core emphasis on "access." Technological breakthroughs in the fintech sector, in conjunction with Open Finance principles, are slowly but surely unraveling the intricacies of the financial sphere, making it more approachable, safe, and user-friendly for all. This tilt towards a tech-centric strategy is notably accentuated in the North American region, where the demand for digital experiences from consumers is heightened.
Adding another layer to these developments are environmental, social, and governance (ESG) matters, along with the "Great Resignation." As customers demonstrate increasing interest in ESG, providers of financial services are forced to adapt by formulating distinctive fund solutions that address these issues. Concurrently, though it appears to be ending, the "Great Resignation" has amplified the necessity for financial establishments to refine their digital capabilities and organizational cultures in order to attract and retain premier professionals.
Within this dynamic environment, traditional profit-driven structures are being substituted by a customer-centric methodology. Modern-day providers of financial services are discovering that by prioritizing customer value, financial gains follow naturally. To maintain their competitive edge, these institutions are incessantly harmonizing the digitalization of their offerings with the pressing need to enhance security, accessibility, and customization.
<h2>Personalization and Adding a Human Touch</h2>
According to <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/banking-matters/consumer-trends-in-digital-payments">McKinsey’s 2022 Digital Payments Consumer Survey,</a> nine out of 10 Americans now use some form of digital payments. Additionally, the percentage of respondents who use two or more forms of digital payments has increased from 51% in 2021 to 62% in 2022. This growing segment of consumers using digital payments and increasing competition in the digital payment industry means companies need to work hard to appeal to customers and gain their business.
Although digitization is clearly transforming the industry, it is important to note that many still prefer human interaction when making high-value financial decisions. By incorporating human interaction into digital experiences through methods such as omnichannel content delivery and conversational AI, organizations can make interactions more engaging and personalized to consumers.
Technologies such as data analytics, mobile development, artificial intelligence, and APIs can be used by financial institutions to deliver value to customers while still maintaining a human touch. Conversational AI tools like chatbots let financial institutions offer 24/7 support. Chatbots can handle routine inquiries and transactions and hand off more complex queries to virtual assistants. Meanwhile, the vast amounts of customer data available regarding behavior and preferences can be used to offer tailored recommendations and promotions.
To tie it all together, financial institutions should offer a consistent and seamless experience across channels that incorporates the right mix of digital interaction and human touch. Companies establish familiarity with their customers and build trust when online content is consistent, easily delivered across all digital assets and applications, and managed all in one place.
<h2>Delivering Great Content through CMS</h2>
Ultimately, what makes a great digital financial experience possible is timely and relevant digital content. The most important thing to customers is that they are kept informed of their financial situation. Institutions can connect with their customers by providing content that updates, educates, and motivates them.
Delivering such tailored content requires customer insights, data intelligence, and content management processes to be streamlined through reliable, future-proofed technology. At the center of all this is a Content Management System (CMS), which is a platform used to manage digital content and deliver personalized experiences. Financial services providers can build and manage their digital channels, such as websites and mobile apps, in a centralized manner using a CMS.
In addition to simplifying content creation and management, a CMS can also ensure consistency across digital channels. Details like specific offerings, rates, and locations change frequently. A CMS can be used to publish changes across multiple sites more quickly and efficiently.
A CMS also enables integration with other systems, such as marketing automation platforms and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Integration creates the opportunity to offer personalized experiences based on the account portfolios and branch locations of customers.
Lastly, a CMS enables digital channels to be optimized for different devices and methods of consumption. Using a CMS, financial service providers can develop responsive websites and mobile applications for different devices and screen sizes, which is essential for customers to access financial services anywhere, anytime, and on any device.
<h2>Maximizing your CMS</h2>
As the financial services industry continues to change rapidly and more consumers adopt digital payment systems, IT and marketing needs to prioritize humanizing digital experiences. Customer preference for digital interaction puts the onus on businesses to find new and innovative ways to incorporate human elements into digital experiences. Conversational AI and omnichannel experiences all help businesses connect with customers without putting strain on human team members. With a connected digital experience platform, financial services providers can deliver personalized experiences through managed digital content.
To maximize the value of a CMS, IT leaders should investigate the built-in security, auditing, and compliance capabilities of each platform. Other key factors are advanced workflow automation capabilities and support for secure data transfer. A CMS platform that accounts for all of this will make sure IT leaders can deliver engaging digital experiences in a more efficient and valuable way.
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<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/critics/jay-sanderson/">Jay Sanderson</a> is Senior Product Marketing Manager, Digital Experience, at Progress and a CMS Critic contributor.

The Benefits of Personalization and CMS to Improve Digital Financial Experiences

jay-sanderson

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

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

cms-critic-staff

The Hero’s Journey to Composable: A Conversation with Uniform’s Mark Demeny

We live in a content economy. There <a href="https://linktr.ee/creator-report/static/Linktree-CreatorReport-2022-02f3aa05a27be6fecb3537b13d5ec9de.pdf" target="_blank">are an estimated</a> 200 million creators on the internet, and upwards of four billion social media users. If organizations want to tap into this burgeoning economy – set <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/02/08/2380564/0/en/Global-Digital-Content-Creation-Market-Growth-at-CAGR-of-9-5-by-2022-2027-Research-Report-by-Absolute-Reports.html" target="_blank">to be worth</a> over $24bn in the next four years – they must expand their capabilities beyond serving customers basic text and images.
Consumers want connected digital experiences that draw from multiple content sources. However, many organizations risk being held back by their current CMS, as customization and integration challenges slow the creation of new or complex digital services at scale.
The result? Innovation happens at the pace that back-end architects and developers want, not the speed the business demands. If organizations are to unlock full value from content, an alternative approach is needed. Enter – content federation.
<h2>The evolution of the CMS</h2>
The CMS as we know it has evolved before. Two decades ago, things were much simpler. Organizations wanted merely to post text and images to a single website. Providers like <a href="https://www.drupal.org/" target="_blank">Drupal</a>, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/adobe-experience-manager-evolves-franklin-launches-next-gen-composability-feature/">AEM</a>, and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/wp-engine-releases-worlds-first-study-of-the-wordpress-economy-cites-awe-inspiring-numbers/">WordPress</a> emerged to provide CMS platforms to meet this demand. They continue to have a huge market share today.
An explosion in the volume and variety of devices and content raised new questions about how businesses could deliver this content to channels beyond the browser. It was no longer a case of managing a one-to-one relationship between CMS admin portal and website, but rather a one-to-many relationship between CMS and smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, voice assistants, and more.
What emerged was the headless CMS: enabling platform-independent content distribution via APIs. It’s a model that has stood the test of time. And it continues to be a highly popular approach as organizations embrace composable architectures that enable developers to be more agile in creating new applications and services from reusable components.
From a CMS perspective, many organizations have needed to build and manage custom software to connect multiple content sources to their headless CMS. These could be anything from legacy CMSs, SaaS tools, and e-commerce components like <a href="https://blog.hubspot.com/website/digital-asset-management" target="_blank">Digital Asset Management Systems </a>(DAMs), to Product Inventory Management Systems (PIMs) and public/private APIs that link third-party data sources. As demand for connected experiences grows, IT teams must build and maintain more of these custom middleware connections, risking amassing technical debt in the process.
Ultimately, custom building everything is an innovation bottleneck. It’s not only expensive but time-consuming and really difficult to do well.
<h2>Unlocking the power of composability</h2>
Having transitioned from a one-to-one to a one-to-many approach, organizations now need technology to support a many-to-many architecture without adding cost and complexity. They not only need to serve content to multiple devices but also to serve content that lives within their software stack.
This is where federated content platforms offer an opportunity to evolve the market once more, just as it changed when headless CMS disrupted the space 10 years ago. The premise is simple: organizations can federate multiple content sources into a single universal API so developers that build connected digital services only have to develop with one API to serve content from very diversified back-end systems. This also removes the need to centralize dynamically changing data into a content hub and eliminates the risk of inconsistent and outdated data, as the federated API acts as the single source of truth. From a development perspective, this approach also accelerates innovation by enabling product teams to compose services significantly faster than existing methods.
<h2>The future’s federated</h2>
In a content-first world, the question for today’s businesses is whether they want to persist with the status quo, characterized by excessive innovation bottlenecks, costs, and mounting technical debt. Or, by combining composability with a federated content approach, organizations can choose to future-proof their CMS investments and significantly reduce their integration costs.
Content federation is the next major leap forward in CMS development. The improved integration of content and data will enable the creation of new digital services and business models in the content economy, so organizations can ill afford to stand still.
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<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/critics/michael-lukaszczyk/">Michael Lukaszczyk</a> is CEO and Co-Founder of <a href="http://www.hygraph.com">Hygraph</a> and a CMS Critic contributor.

Why Content Federation Represents the Next Evolution of the CMS

michael-lukaszczyk

This week, <a href="https://agilitycms.com/" target="_blank">Agility</a> – a headless content management system and premium Content Platform – announced the launch of its highly anticipated App Marketplace. The new ecosystem offers Agility customers a variety of no-code applications designed to simplify and enhance products in areas like analytics, personalization, search CRM/marketing automation, translation, and more.
According to the company's website, the new App Marketplace will revolutionize how customers access and utilize essential tools, providing a competitive edge in today's fast-paced digital landscape. Agility currently has ten apps available in the roll-out, with plans to grow the selection to 50 by the end of 2023.
"We are excited to unveil the Agility App Marketplace, a game-changer for our customers," said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jina-zohori/" target="_blank">Jina Zohori</a>, Head of Customer Experience at Agility. "This launch represents a significant milestone in our commitment to empowering businesses with the tools they need to succeed."
<h2>A marketplace of no-code apps and integrations</h2>
In its new App Marketplace, Agility customers can easily select and add new apps to their CMS – without the time commitment or developer resources typically required to integrate those products.
"Our focus on APIs and SDKs, combined with these no-code apps, ensures a seamless integration experience for our customers," explained <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelvarty/" target="_blank">Joel Varty</a>, CTO of Agility. "Marketers and digital leaders can now enhance their workflows and achieve remarkable results without the need for technical expertise."
With no coding and a diverse range of products planned for 2023, Agility users will have more plug-and-play functionality to look forward to in the coming months, along with the proven capabilities of its headless CMS solutions. 
<h2>Focusing on the customer to deliver a better headless CMS</h2>
As a content platform and headless CMS, Agility remains solely focused on the customer experience, and they believe this user-centric approach sets them apart from other headless solutions.
"Our commitment to offering unique solutions makes the expansion of our marketplace in 2023 an exciting opportunity for our customers," emphasized Jina Zohori. "We are determined to empower businesses with the essential tools they require to excel in their respective industries."
<h2>About Agility</h2>
Agility is a leading provider of Headless CMS solutions, offering businesses an ultimate content management system that is personalized, scalable, and future-proof. With its API-first approach and flexible architecture, Agility enables brands to effortlessly create and distribute captivating content across various channels. Their commitment to delivering personalized white-glove service and addressing unique challenges makes them the top choice for enterprise-level businesses in need of composable solutions. Experience the transformation of your content management strategy and the achievement of your business goals with Agility: Your Voice, Your Way.

Agility Launches New App Marketplace Offering No-Code Integrations

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

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

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

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

Uniform Launches Component Starter Kit with Latest Product Release

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When I first hopped on Zoom with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/deannaballew/" target="_blank">Deanna Ballew</a>, Senior Vice President of Product at <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/acquia-upgrades-open-dxp-capabilities-to-expand-composable-enterprise-features/">Acquia</a>, we bantered casually about her home near Madison, Wisconsin – and the dark beauty of Midwestern thunderstorms.
At the time, we were both being treated to unstable spring weather, mine of the Southeastern U.S. variety but equally temperamental. It was an apropos reflection of what’s happening in the technology market as fears of recession and the specter of AI loom menacingly across the horizon.
But there's opportunity in that tornadic frenzy. As composable strategies continue to rain across the legacy landscape, DXPs have been repositioning their offerings in a bid to be more, well… composable in an increasingly omnichannel world. Heck, last year, Salesforce unveiled a new service called <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/salesforce-headless-commerce-composable-storefront/" target="_blank">Composable Storefront</a> – a fully headless commerce solution that features an ecosystem of integrations.
Does this make Salesforce a “composable” platform? Maybe. Maybe not. But it’s a bit of a misnomer, really, when you consider that all DXPs were essentially composed to begin with.
Such is the case with Acquia. Over the years, it has expanded beyond its <a href="https://www.drupal.org/" target="_blank">Drupal</a>-powered CMS to comprise an ecosystem of integrated technologies, including cloud services, CDP, a marketing studio, and other goodies. By all accounts, the company fits the monolithic bill.
But as co-founder and CTO <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/buytaert/" target="_blank">Dries Buytaert</a> described in his <a href="https://www.acquia.com/blog/composable-digital-experience-manifesto" target="_blank">Composable DXP Manifesto</a>, Acquia has been evangelizing modular architectures that align with Drupal’s concept of the <a href="https://dri.es/the-assembled-web" target="_blank">Assembled Web</a> for over a decade. In that sense, they’re not newcomers to the composable game. In fact, in 2021, the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/acquia-upgrades-open-dxp-capabilities-to-expand-composable-enterprise-features/">company expanded</a> its open capabilities by introducing a set of composable enterprise features.
Still, Acquia seems focused on the sum of its DXP parts to help customers grow. Most recently, it purchased <a href="https://www.widen.com/plans?utm_term=widen%20dam&amp;utm_campaign=US+-+Brand+-+New&amp;utm_source=adwords&amp;utm_medium=ppc&amp;hsa_acc=4148602931&amp;hsa_cam=19965617942&amp;hsa_grp=151430066111&amp;hsa_ad=656770360925&amp;hsa_src=g&amp;hsa_tgt=aud-2053871145734:kwd-23382924646&amp;hsa_kw=widen%20dam&amp;hsa_mt=e&amp;hsa_net=adwords&amp;hsa_ver=3&amp;gad=1&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw04yjBhApEiwAJcvNoRz0NfJzgGc3qeATnNzF5WrjQs4GtIXBa8j5R7dCSXE3d_haybCWyhoCIi4QAvD_BwE" target="_blank">Widen</a>, a digital asset management (DAM) solution that is proving to be a key activator in its completeness of vision (it’s worth noting that the service can be procured separately). Deanna, who came along for the ride from Widen as its Chief Innovation Officer, is now working across the Acquia portfolio on the company’s vision and M&amp;A strategy.
Given all this, where does Acquia fit on the composable spectrum? Lately, I’ve been listening to many voices across the industry use this term in different ways, and I wanted to hear from a platform with a long-established leadership role in the DXP topology – and one striving to be more modular than monolithic. 
Deanna and I were also joined by <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaretschroeder94/" target="_blank">Maggie Schroeder</a>, Acquia’s Director of Product Marketing. We talked at length about composable, the hyperbolic explosion of AI, and the importance of their “Acquian” community as accelerators of innovation and success.
<h2>Finding growth as a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader </h2>
For those who don't consult the analyst reports, Acquia held firm to its Leader position in the 2023 <a href="https://www.acquia.com/blog/acquia-named-leader-2023-gartner-magic-quadrant-digital-experience-platforms" target="_blank">Gartner Magic Quadrant for DXPs</a>, trailing only behind <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/optimizely-partners-with-google-cloud-to-take-experimentation-to-the-next-level/">Optimizely</a> and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/adobe-experience-cloud-adds-new-headless-cms-capabilities-updates-to-commerce-integration/">Adobe</a>. The triad has persistently battled it out over several cycles in a bid to dominate the space, although Adobe – a much larger competitor – continues to wear the crown. 
So how did Acquia join this exclusive league of leaders? It's been a long road, and community and innovation played a big part. But it doesn't hurt that the company was <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/24/vista-equity-partners-buys-acquia-for-1b/" target="_blank">purchased by Vista Equity Partners</a> in 2019 for $1 billion, boosting its quest to build market presence. 
While these rivals all deliver industry-leading foundational technologies (CMS, CX, CDP, analytics, personalization, customer journey management, and more), Gartner highlighted Acquia’s synergy between its product innovations and acquisitions, as well as its uncommon support for intranet and employee portal applications. There was also a footnote about Acquia’s <a href="https://www.acquia.com/products/acquia-site-factory" target="_blank">Site Factory</a> toolset, which eases the burden of scaling deployments.
Analyst observations aside, I asked Deanna what was putting the wind in Acquia’s sails (or sales, n'est-ce pas?) in 2023.
“One of the core pieces to why we’re winning is that we continue to thrive and focus on content and data,” she said. “The foundation and flexibility of Drupal as our CMS delivers us over 46,000 modules, and by combining our CMS with Acquia Cloud, we can now give our customers the ultimate balance of enterprise security, stability, and scalability. And that's kind of the sweet spot where they can start small and grow, or they can start big and really scale up. So that's where we've grown.”
Deanna also underscored the impact of the Widen acquisition, and how pairing an award-winning DAM with Acquia’s ML-powered CDP – formerly <a href="https://www.acquia.com/newsroom/press-releases/acquia-acquire-agilone-deliver-powerful-customer-experiences" target="_blank">AgilOne</a> – is at the heart of the company’s composable promise to provide an open set of solutions that play well with other technologies.
“I think that's really key to what we're seeing with composability,” she explained. “You can't do everything with a single vendor. It has to work within our customers’ current systems and technologies when they need it and scale and grow as it goes.”
Maggie also touched on Acquia’s commitment to helping customers make technology work for them, suggesting it all comes back to the ease of use the company is building into its products.
“We’re providing low code capabilities for marketers, but also really advanced tools for our developers who we know are at the core of creating experiences – so those who are less technical and those who are very technical can work together to create experiences that are outcome-driven.”
<h2>What’s the best roadmap? Open source, of course</h2>
As a well-established open source vendor, Acquia’s community has been a wellspring for continuous innovation. I asked Maggie how the heritage of Drupal is impacting the company’s plans for the future.
“Drupal is at our core, and it’s part of the beginnings of Acquia,” she said. “We've really stayed true to that, throughout the duration of Acquia’s existence.”
But enhancing that legacy has been a key focus, and Maggie noted a series of very strategic acquisitions and innovations that have complemented the open source engine. For example, the <a href="https://www.acquia.com/newsroom/press-releases/acquia-acquires-cohesion#:~:text=BOSTON%20and%20BRIGHTON%2C%20England%20%E2%80%93%20September,low%2Dcode%20Drupal%20website%20builder." target="_blank">purchase of Cohesion</a> in 2019 and its subsequent transformation to Site Studio has made Drupal more accessible to low-code business users – what Dries calls an “ambitious site builder.” As Deanna echoed, the goal has been making things easier for users across the collective community.
“We put a lot of emphasis into content and really making that experience as seamless as possible. And then of course, giving our customers that foundation helps them get even closer to leveraging data and more complex use cases as well.”
As for that community, it’s quite expansive: <a href="https://www.acquia.com/drupal/why-drupal" target="_blank">according to the company’s website</a>, Acquia boasts more than 800 customers and over a million users worldwide, buoyed by a Drupal footprint that includes one in eight enterprise websites and over 10,000 active community contributors. Oh, and there’s also those 46,000 modules to boot.
While open source brings its own set of challenges from security to stability, it offers key benefits that are attractive in a composable world – like no vendor lock-in. But there’s more to it: this open community is helping Acquia and its customers jump ahead and drive delivery on their own terms.
“They don’t have to wait for our roadmap,” Deanna said. “And that's a really key thing to be able to do what you need to on your own timeline.”
<h2>AI: Acquia Intelligence</h2>
It’s a no-brainer to ask about the new brain driving this hype cycle: <a href="https://chat.openai.com/" target="_blank">ChatGPT</a>. It’s undeniable. In less than six months, countless platforms across the digital experience and martech stack have harnessed <a href="https://www.openai.com/" target="_blank">OpenAI’s</a> generative service to improve content operations and workflows.
While Acquia is already leveraging machine learning and predictive models in its CDP, I asked how this latest permutation of AI is transforming the strategy. Once again, it came back to the community.
“We see that even with all the AI stuff going on right now, our community and customers are doing it themselves,” Deanna said. “They're making it work when they want to do it.”
To that end, the Drupal community has already launched an <a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/openai" target="_blank">OpenAI initiative</a> that aims to provide a suite of modules and an API foundation for ChatGPT, <a href="https://github.com/features/copilot" target="_blank">GitHub CoPilot</a>, and more. This would include a bevy of features for powering generative text, content editing, audio transcribing, text prompts, and more.
“All of our sales engineers are enabled to leverage the Drupal OpenAI module as part of their demo to show ‘the art of the possible’ with ChatGPT,” Maggie explained. “It can create anything from text content, images, content analysis – there’s a lot. And this goes back to having the power of the Drupal community behind us, really helping our customers get ahead of the trends. So while others in the market are waiting for additions or integrations to ChatGPT, the Drupal community was, I'd say, first to market with the ChatGPT integration.”
<h2>A hybrid approach to omnichannel and headless</h2>
During my recent trip to the <a href="https://www.boye-co.com/groups/cms-experts/" target="_blank">Boye &amp; Company</a> CMS Experts summit in New York City, there was an epic debate about headless CMS and the challenges that exist with visualization. While <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/wrestling-with-category-confusion-in-the-dxc-slackdown/">DXC platforms</a> like <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/is-the-birth-of-dxc-the-death-of-dxp-a-conversation-with-darren-guarnaccia-president-at-uniform/">Uniform</a> are providing an answer for pure headless solutions, traditional CMS platforms are espousing the value of their APIs to reinforce the value of a hybrid play. This comes at a time when even WordPress is offering a <a href="https://wpengine.com/resources/headless-cms-and-wordpress/" target="_blank">headless backend</a> to power any kind of frontend framework.
With Acquia’s Drupal CMS falling into the traditional CMS and DXP column, I asked Maggie how omnichannel fits into Acquia’s strategy, and how it stacks up to purely headless contenders.
“First of all, I love that you're saying ‘omnichannel’ and you're not leading with headless, because headless is the technology that makes omnichannel possible,” she said. “However, something I want to acknowledge is that not all experiences we talk about are truly omnichannel, right? Omnichannel implies these experiences are connected and they're consistent across all the channels where you're delivering content. And I think that is where we've really stepped in to provide differentiation.”
As Maggie explained, business users are often seen as a “pain point” for pure-play headless competitors in the market. Acquia’s ability to supply both low code business features – as well as a completely headless experience to frontend developers – gives users the freedom to choose whatever framework they prefer.
“We see a lot of our customers adopting a hybrid approach to omnichannel,” Maggie said. “They’re asking, ‘What is the outcome we're looking to drive with the experience? Is it really going to be content dependent? And is it owned by, say, a marketing team?’”
A great example she cited: marketing campaign pages. A stakeholder probably doesn’t want to be dependent on a developer to update the content, especially if it needs to be changed frequently. This is different from a digital sign, which is highly dependent on a frontend developer to create.
“We want to give freedom to all the different contributors who are working on the same team to deliver experiences. I think those are really the two key differentiating factors for us: enabling the whole team and then also having the ability to provide low code and headless.”
<h2>Partnering on the composable journey </h2>
Dovetailing on the hybrid versus headless discussion, Maggie shared the importance of aligning with a customer’s goals and growing with them over time. Having a more composable approach seems to benefit this on multiple levels, particularly when a large migration or transformation is part of the program. But it also requires the right mindset – which Acquia champions for its users.
“Instead of painting this picture of ‘oh, you have to rip and replace everything,’ we say, ‘let's do this one at a time, let's focus on content first,” or ‘let's focus on your digital assets first,’ or ‘let's focus on product inventory first.’ I think that’s a huge benefit for our new and existing customers.”
From a roadmap perspective, Maggie said the various products and capabilities that Acquia offers can be rolled out over time, making the journey less overwhelming. For example, year one could include CMS, followed by year two with DAM, and year three with CDP and personalization. This is where the benefits of a composable DXP come into play.
Maggie also shared a customer use case for Anheuser-Busch/InBev, which pushed the limits of a composable approach to create new experiences. Working with Acquia, they created decoupled components for a game application, allowing any marketer to add it to new sites. The entire experience is low code and completely composable.
I asked Maggie where these high-touch professional services fit in the business model, and if Acquia plans to invest more in that level of relationship.
“I think being consultative is kind of end-to-end for Acquians,” she said, conjuring the mantle reserved for its team and community members. “Our sales team is very well versed in having those conversations. We try to go in as more of a trusted advisor.”
<h2>Consulting the crystal ball for 2023</h2>
In today’s macroeconomics, there’s no telling if we’re at the precipice of a global recession or knee-deep in a soft landing. While the pandemic resulted in a buying spree for Acquia and its contemporaries, the last 12 months have seen a softening in IT budgets and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2023/01/30/the-real-reasons-for-big-tech-layoffs-at-google-microsoft-meta-and-amazon/?sh=1218f5612b67" target="_blank">layoffs</a> from the likes of Google, Meta, and Amazon. 
So does Acquia see 2023 through rose-colored glasses? I asked Deanna to weigh in.
“In the environment we’re in with the recession – are we in it or are we not – we’re really leaning into our existing customers to ensure they have great CX,” she said. “We’re seeing an increased focus on the customer journey, on CDPs. Focusing on customer retention and customer upsell has been a key trend.”
“I think we’re in a really great position because we’re empowering teams,” Maggie added. “I think the question that everyone is asking themselves is, ‘how do we do more with the same?’ Or maybe even ‘more with even less’ budget or team resources. We’ve really maximized what their team can do instead of bogging them down with maintenance and other types of menial tasks. They can get straight to the value and the mission they set forth.”
As we rounded the corner to the end of our conversation, I asked what’s on the horizon – and what gets this team excited about the prospects ahead. Deanna jumped in, and once again focused on the importance of community.
“I think about 40 percent of our customers now have a TAM – technical advisor manager – to help them grow in year one, year two, year three, and advise them along the way,” she said enthusiastically. “But I’m most excited about launching a broader Acquia community. Not only do we help them, but our customers help each other, giving [each other] ideas and advice to help them grow along the way. That’s really exciting for me.”
Exciting indeed. And even if 2023 turns into a Midwestern thunderstorm, Acquia seems well positioned to ride it out.

Acquia Taps its Modular, Open Source Legacy to Drive the Composable Future

Acquia logo with inset images of Deanna and Maggie in shapes of the Drupal logo icon - a water droplet.

<a href="https://vercel.com/" target="_blank">Vercel</a>, the cloud platform for frontend developers, has released a new tool called <a href="https://vercel.com/docs/workflow-collaboration/visual-editing" target="_blank">Visual Editing</a> – designed to help frontend developers and marketers create and edit content directly on the Vercel site. These changes can then be synchronized and sent back to a user’s headless CMS without ever opening it.
The feature is being launched with <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sanity-raises-39-million-focuses-growth-on-content-as-data-for-transformative-digital-experiences/">Sanity</a>, and its current version is in a limited private beta for Sanity CMS enterprise users.
<h2>Experience live changes instantly</h2>
Unlike a monolithic digital experience platform where users typically make content changes in a one-size-fits-all WYSIWYG editor, tech stacks with a headless CMS may find it difficult to find and edit content from the decoupled architecture. This is especially true for content-heavy marketing teams without the technical expertise to rely on a headless system.
With Visual Editing, each team can visually see the content they’d like to edit in an easy-to-use and easy-to-connect editor – and watch live edits be imported into the headless CMS. Marketing teams will no longer have to rely on developers to make changes, freeing up resources for both teams.
Activating this new feature is meant to be seamless. From a <a href="https://vercel.com/blog/visual-editing" target="_blank">Vercel blog article</a> announcing the tool, implementing Visual Editing with Sanity's modern CMS does not require any changes to how a site is programmed. CMS providers can simply add an additional argument when calling a CMS API, and visual editing becomes available.
<h2>Focus on user experience</h2>
Vercel has made many strides to enhance the user experience, including <a href="https://vercel.com/docs/concepts/incremental-static-regeneration/overview" target="_blank">Incremental Static Regeneration</a>, which allows users to create or update content without redeploying a site. Another feature called <a href="https://vercel.com/docs/concepts/deployments/preview-deployments" target="_blank">Preview Deployments</a> allows users to preview changes in an app during live deployment without merging changes to a Git project’s production branch. A tool called <a href="https://vercel.com/docs/workflow-collaboration/comments">Comments</a> was added recently to allow teams and invited participants to leave direct feedback.
Each change marks a new level of sophistication in providing users the tools they need to edit content quickly and without the constant starting and stopping often documented by any large content team in charge of deploying multiple sites or massive quantities of content.
<h2>What’s next for Vercel?</h2>
With many recent changes dedicated to improving user experience and actively deployed features that cement that commitment, there appears to be a lot of interesting innovation on the horizon. The announcement of its latest product feature has already delighted customers, marketers, and developers alike, even while still in beta. 
It's worth noting that Vercel is an <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230404006070/en/Vercel-Expands-its-Cloud-Offering-to-AWS-Marketplace-and-Joins-AWS-ISV-Accelerate-Program" target="_blank">AWS partner</a> and a <a href="https://machalliance.org/newsroom/MACH-Alliance-Announces-New-Members-Capgemini-Sitoo-and-Vercel" target="_blank">member</a> of the MACH Alliance, a nonprofit organization committed to expanding MACH (microservices, API-first, cloud-native SaaS, and headless) architecture.
<h2>About Vercel</h2>
Vercel is the cloud platform for frontend developers, providing the speed and reliability innovators need to create at the moment of inspiration. By providing the toolkit frontend teams love, Vercel unlocks developer potential and enables you to go from idea to global application in seconds. Vercel enables customers like Under Armour, Nintendo, The Washington Post, and Zapier to build delightful user experiences on the Web.
<h2>About Sanity</h2>
Sanity is the platform for structured content that lets teams build exceptional digital experiences. By treating content as data, modern organizations use our APIs to build optimal editing workflows and share content between systems to increase digital velocity. Our mission is to be the most versatile system for creating and distributing digital content to any device, application or channel. Dual-headquartered in San Francisco and Oslo, Norway, Sanity is used by thousands of companies including Unilever, Puma, National Geographic, and Condé Nast. Learn more at <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sanity.io%2F&amp;esheet=52763704&amp;newsitemid=20220628005411&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sanity.io&amp;index=8&amp;md5=f5b2de497d993d89c1f5d03eadc1fb60" target="_blank">http://www.sanity.io</a>.

Vercel Launches New Visual Editing Feature with Sanity CMS

As a self-diagnosed cinephile, I can’t deny the power of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000131/" target="_blank">John Cusack</a>.
He’s just… well, he’s John Cusack.
Talk about a body of work: in addition to his brief appearance in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088128/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" target="_blank">Sixteen Candles</a>, Cusack would go on to star in comedic hits like <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0146882/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" target="_blank">High Fidelity</a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119229/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" target="_blank">Grosse Point Blank</a>. He later dabbled with Westerns and psychological thrillers and even produced a string of veritable rom-coms.
And, of course, who can forget the modern classic <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1231587/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" target="_blank">Hot Tub Time Machine</a>?
IMDB listings aside, Cusack is perhaps most revered for his role as Lloyd Dobler in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098258/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" target="_blank">Say Anything</a> (the one with the boom box). It’s the last wave of 80s celluloid, set against the backdrop of a proto-grunge Seattle – and it singlehandedly crystallizes the teenage angst of the era.
I recently saw Cusack in person at a local film festival, where he accompanied a screening in a small, intimate theater. After the show, he was interviewed on stage, where he talked about the massive transformation engulfing the film industry – and how today’s tools enable anyone to tell stories with just an iPhone and an idea.
Despite this degree of newfound accessibility, Cusack also expressed frustration with large corporate studios that still own the mindshare in the market. He said they’re too risk averse, banking on “superheroes in tights” over independent films. At the same time, these large studios are producing and distributing epic work on a scale that smaller studios can’t compete with.
Across the CMS market (that’s content management system, not “Cusack Movie Syndication”), there’s a similar plot playing out. In a composable world where newer headless and decoupled technologies are powering choice, larger integrated platforms continue to provide an abundance of benefits. Organizations are making decisions based on a bevy of factors, such as complexity and vendor lock-in, but there seems to be more confusion in the script than ever.
That’s why people – both on the customer and the vendor side – continue to be important to the educational process, particularly as buyers weigh a shift towards the complexity of composable.
I recently caught up with Rich Chivers, CEO of <a href="https://www.zengenti.com/" target="_blank">Zengenti</a> – the company behind <a href="https://www.contensis.com/" target="_blank">Contensis CMS</a> – and we chatted at length about the confusion and challenges that the terminology presents, and why customer experience is still the star of the show. He also gave us a sneak peek at what’s coming from Contensis.
<h2>Coming to terms with the “composable” term</h2>
Since I last spoke with Rich in 2022, composable has taken center stage, particularly from a marketing perspective. While Contensis pitches itself as a platform that is beyond headless and more than hybrid, the company also provides some modicum of hands-on implementation. This gives Rich some unique optics, and I wanted to learn how he viewed the composable explosion through that lens.
“If we go way back to web 2.0 with Ajax, this [composable] stuff was being done – it just wasn’t branded in the same way,” he said. “I think composable is becoming something that people can hang on to. And it's a nice term that describes what we've been trying to get to forever. But for us, it's not really new.”
This reflects what I’ve been hearing from other CMS and DXP platforms up and down the spectrum. In fact, at the <a href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff23/program" target="_blank">2023 Boye &amp; Company CMS Kickoff</a> in January, several established vendors reinforced their use of APIs for over a decade, allowing them to integrate with third-party systems and power headless strategies.
Granted, this was before the Wild West of omnichannel, where CMS was primarily focused on the web. As <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/deane/" target="_blank">Deane Barker</a> of <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/optimizely-partners-with-google-cloud-to-take-experimentation-to-the-next-level/">Optimizely</a> observed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/deane_do-you-really-need-a-headless-cms-activity-7051550183737757696-j-9O?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop" target="_blank">during a recent podcast</a>, if you buy a web CMS today with a good headless API, you can solve more than one problem.
Rich echoed these sentiments. “We don't believe the CMS should be a CRM or an e-commerce platform altogether. It’s actually about getting the [customer] the right tool for the job – and integrating those services in the right way is how you should do things. Fundamentally, we've been delivering that for the last five or ten years.”
As Rich went on to note, composable is a great idea that solidifies what Contensis has been working towards – and in his words, it's fundamentally about APIs.
<h2>Is headless a kind of CMS… or a feature of CMS?</h2>
“It’s a really interesting question.”
After bouncing back and forth around the benefits of APIs and the Contensis position as a hybrid platform, I asked Rich how he felt about the moniker of headless. This was a heated topic of debate at the CMS Kickoff as well, bringing multiple POVs to the podium.
“If you think about what headless means, ultimately, we're saying that a developer can gain access to their content through an API in a meaningful manner – so of course, to answer the question, yes, you could quite happily say any CMS offering a great API can be headless. I don't think it's monolith versus microservice, the same sort of scales that move both ways all the time, becoming the separation between pure content and visualization. There's this constant sort of, ‘we want pure content we can deliver in any way’ versus ‘build a landing page and have it look like this.’ And, you know, we're curating. So going back to the headless question, yes – I think ultimately, it could be described as a feature of a CMS platform.”
But there’s more to it than that. As Rich detailed, Contensis is platformed for its headless capability, but it came from a heritage of head-centric features – and that was fraught with challenges.
“We effectively took what we had as a monolith provider and started again. I think for [any] monolith provider that's been used to delivering web content to a page with their templating system, they almost have to start again, because there's too many concepts wound up otherwise.”
One of the best observations Rich made was about the nature of CMS and what it means in a market of DXPs. It’s not clear – and to some extent, the emergence of visualization tools and other technologies to aid headless are further adding to the morass.
“There's all these sorts of gray areas,” he said. “Literally, where do you sit? Where do you position yourself, right?”
This is why listening to the customer is so essential.
<h2>Tipping towards growth with headless</h2>
Like many of his leadership contemporaries in the CMS market, Rich has a rearview mirror of experience that helps inform his vision. While the idea of a pure headless CMS is still relatively new, he’s been working with APIs for quite some time – and that brings some unique perspective to his outlook. 
I asked him to characterize the use cases that Contensis is seeing in 2023 and where headless fits in. His answer was resoundingly clear, but there was an interesting caveat about market maturity and persistent confusion.
“I'd say 95% of the opportunities we see today have definite requirements that you couldn't deliver without headless CMS from our end,” he said. “However, there’s a lot of misunderstanding out there. We bid for a Canadian university last year, and the tender process was actually cancelled in the end. They wanted an API first platform where they could do this, and they could do this. But then they wanted to drag and drop interfaces to do X, Y, Z. So they want both, but it's impossible to achieve because they're fundamentally different, right? We see a lot of people who come to us that still don't understand what [headless] actually means.”
Because of this knowledge gap, Rich and his team continue to engage with people to help them through the process. This is where a higher-touch, more consultative approach continues to prove valuable – particularly in the public sector, where Contensis serves a number of customers.
“We don't necessarily see us having massive growth in that area, but certainly from a business perspective, we're starting to see much more engagement from organizations who are properly understanding the problems, and then going, ‘yeah, how can we do this?’” he remarked. “But especially in the public sector, that need for handholding is really [essential to] the process. We're selling the idea of headless and the benefits it can bring, and helping them get to that place where they can realize it.”
<h2>Expanding beyond Blocks to Canvas</h2>
Rich and his team ushered in 2023 with a bang, introducing <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/contensis-launches-blocks-new-container-first-website-builder-qa-with-richard-chivers/">its new Blocks platform</a> – a container-first way for developers to package and deliver code while managing releases through a familiar Contensis interface. A “block” is essentially a package of code built as a Docker image that runs on the Contensis cloud infrastructure, allowing site owners to deploy and manage easily. It’s still early days, but he seems bullish about it.
“Blocks is giving us the ability to be to take a full philosophical approach to headless,” he said. “You can use any stack for development you want, but you still have a management layer around it. You have all of the benefits of whatever frontend stack or backends you want to use, and deliver it through this new way of working.”
From a developer’s perspective, Rich said the company is seeing what they’ve been dreaming up for the last few years come to fruition. This includes a new feature called Canvas, an editor they’ve built from the ground up for creating long-form content in a really elegant, connected manner that will enhance the writing and creation experience. It’s slotted for the platform’s next release at the end of May.
“What’s different is it's an object-modeled format, so it's still JSON,” Rich said. “You write a blog in long form, but you can also decorate and attach. As a developer, you can consume this and use the parts you’re interested in, throw away [other] bits, and still use it as a full object model. Sometimes, people just want that slight bit of extra flexibility.”
In terms of the rest of the platform, Rich said we can expect big changes ahead. One big area of focus is the platform’s <a href="https://www.contensis.com/help-and-docs/user-guides/content-modelling/site-view/an-overview-of-the-site-view-interface" target="_blank">Site View</a> interface for powering navigation.
“Think tree navigation per CMS,” he said. “It's very common in the monolithic world, but not very common in headless. We create an API, which people can consume, to deliver all that. But we have some big changes coming around permissions and different bits and pieces, and we've had to do a complete rewrite from the ground up to make that possible because of performance. We’re almost providing this… composable platform within a platform.”
<h2>What’s next for Contensis? </h2>
In addition to its upcoming release and platform enhancements, I asked Rich what’s on the horizon as the composable debate rages on. I wanted to know the key differentiators in a shifting world of technology stacks – and how Contensis is positioned to compete for mindshare in a crowded market.
“I think the one big difference compared to a lot of other vendors is that we actually do get close to the problems,” he said emphatically. “We make sure we can solve those problems in a really elegant way because we’re connected – and we see them. For example, if we’ve got an engaged customer and they have an issue they’re just not sure how to solve, they can pull in one of our product owners or development team members to take a look with their own eyes rather than it just being ten problems they’re trying to solve in a lab. When it comes to delivery, we do deliver for our customers.”
As I mentioned earlier, Contensis and Zengenti bring a sort of “rare bird” quality to their position, allowing their team to support a product while engaging with customers in a meaningful way. This speaks to the company’s culture and the leadership that Rich provides. At the same time, he’s an early-rising, self-professed code fanatic that loves solving problems and making complex things simple – and seeing what customers can create.
“Some of this Blocks stuff we’ve been doing, there are examples where people have done certain things that we just never expected. You look at it and go, 'Wow, we never considered that as a way you could use it or what you could do.'”
As Contensis continues to write its own script for headless and composable, its proven commitment to customer experience will be an important part of the company’s evolution and how it will shape its place in the market. Giving customers the right tools to solve problems is a critical part of its promise, and it sounds like Rich and his team are hyper-focused on this goal.
No one knows what the future looks like, but having insight from the past is what great leaders rely on. Unfortunately, there’s no Hot Tub Time Machine to get you there – you have to experience it, learn from it, and keep expanding the story.

Contensis CMS Writes New Script for Composable and Headless: Interview with CEO Rich Chivers

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

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

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<h5>TL;DR – Recently, there was an epic but friendly debate in the Boye &amp; Company CMS Experts Slack channel about the confusion surrounding DXC as a category. We asked the three main voices in the conversation – Rasmus Skjoldan, Andrew Kumar, and Sana Remekie – to discuss their thoughts on Zoom. Matt McQueeny helped moderate the conversation.</h5>
<hr />
Of the great mysteries that scientists, philosophers, and theologians grapple with, one question is often overlooked:
What, exactly, is professional wrestling?
I’m not referring to school leagues or Olympic competitions – I’m talking about the <a href="https://www.wwe.com/" target="_blank">WWE</a> and its brand of sportstainment. And I don’t mean to be glib or insulting with any comparisons; heck, I’ve been to a live wrestling event many moons ago, and it was kinda fun (particularly the people watching). 
But really, what is it? Is this a legitimate sport replete with feats of athleticism? Or is it truly just performance art following a well-oiled script? If you ask <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulk_Hogan" target="_blank">Hulk Hogan</a>, the iconic figurehead of the modern experience, he might say, "Well, let me tell you something, brother…" and launch into a dissertation about sport versus stage. 
As humans, we’re classically conditioned to put things in boxes so they’re easier to understand. Sometimes, that’s not so simple. This has long been the case in the software industry, where confusion often precedes clarity when new ideas takes the mat – like <a href="https://www.boye-co.com/blog/2023/1/whats-the-real-story-about-digital-experience-composition" target="_blank">Digital Experience Composition (DXC)</a>. 
A short while ago, members of <a href="https://www.boye-co.com/groups/cms-experts" target="_blank">Boye &amp; Company’s CMS Experts</a>, a peer group focused on content management, were treated to a sort of WWE-styled “Smackdown” in the community’s Slack channel. In truth, it was a friendly exchange of ideas, with no bodyslams or half-nelsons to report (those are wrestling moves, BTW).
Still, it was spirited. And for several days, this epic “Slackdown” generated significant interest from across the DXP and DXC spectrum. It all started with a simple, poignant question from <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rasmusskjoldan/" target="_blank">Rasmus Skjoldan</a>, Chief Evangelist at <a href="https://www.magnolia-cms.com/?mgcid=19746730468&amp;utm_campaign=&amp;utm_content=&amp;utm_campaign=brand-protect-jf_us_2023&amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;utm_source=google&amp;utm_content=19746730468&amp;utm_term=magnolia%20cms&amp;gad=1&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw0ZiiBhBKEiwA4PT9z53dpcpsB0M2J-tIRhHdpnwYRHUwbjghkhAGI6_Azq8wWtHBU4ic8xoC4N0QAvD_BwE" target="_blank">Magnolia</a>, a leading DXP:
“I feel like some of the Digital Experience Composition positioning going on isn’t super helpful to customers, to be very blunt about it. What’s genuinely in it for them?”
This drew several DXC defenders to the ring, but the most vocal participants were <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewkumarxyz/" target="_blank">Andrew Kumar</a>, VP of Customer Solutions at <a href="https://uniform.dev/" target="_blank">Uniform</a>, and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sana-remekie/" target="_blank">Sana Remekie</a>, CEO of <a href="https://conscia.ai/" target="_blank">Conscia.ai</a>. It was entertaining to watch these adroit leaders wrestle with a red-hot topic, but it was incredibly informative for the fans in the stands – so much so that I partnered with <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/critics/matthew-mcqueeny/">Matt McQueeny</a> at <a href="https://konabos.com/" target="_blank">Konabos</a> to take the show on the road.
A few days later, we invited Rasmus, Sana, and Andrew to join us for an informal follow-up on Zoom to wrestle down some answers.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/04/dxc_boye_debate_debrief_720.png" alt="Zoom photo of Matt Garrepy, Matt McQueeny, Rasmus Skoldjan, Andrew Kumar, and Sana Remekie" />
<h2>In this corner… DXP</h2>
<a href="https://www.forrester.com/analyst-bio/joe-cicman/BIO14164" target="_blank">Joe Cicman</a>, an analyst at Forrester, has been on a quest to decipher the Digital Experience Platform. As he noted <a href="https://www.forrester.com/blogs/dxp-you-keep-using-that-term-i-dont-think-it-means-what-you-think-it-means/" target="_blank">in a recent blog</a>, DXP is still misunderstood from a compositional perspective. The definition can be nebulous based on whether it’s delivered by a single vendor or assembled by an enterprise – or, in some cases, both.  
I like Joe's observation in the same post: “Every day I asked myself, ‘How is it possible for one vendor to create one product that works across multiple industries and grows in scope as a company’s digital remit grows?’ After talking to the vendors, turns out … it’s not possible.”
That might be the vein Rasmus tapped: confusion is everywhere. While DXC is emerging, DXPs continue to evolve in their own space. As he pondered in Slack, would it not be better to reenergize, modernize, or even reinvent the more established DXP label and category than trying to teach customers about another new acronym?
Add this to the confusion: Magnolia was included in an early DXC report by <a href="https://www.gartner.com/analyst/56850" target="_blank">Mike Lowndes of Gartner</a> as a vendor in this emerging field. So how does this color Magnolia’s positioning?
“When I speak to our composable die-hard customers, they are much more passionate about getting projects done, getting rid of the worst legacy apps, and reaching business goals than they are in the vendor/analyst-centric views on what’s in or out of categories,” Rasmus said. “Magnolia is seen as a DXC by some – which is fine, of course. We definitely cover that space with our own twist. To me, it just feels more like a use case than a real software category.”
That might be true. But vendors and buyers still refer to those MQ reports with biblical reverence.
Gathered in our cozy Zoom room, Matt McQueeny asked Rasmus why he felt compelled to engage with the community around these opinions.
“I'm very focused on looking at all this from the customer's perspective,” he said. “Every time I see a proposal for a category change, I'm just always asking myself, 'okay, who's actually behind this and who's to benefit from it?' Even for DXP, I sometimes have question marks around whether that really helps customers. So I felt that introducing new variations would be a significant sort of – not a disruption – but more confusion. And that's what I’m quite passionately against because I want to keep the focus on what has real value for customers.”
<h2>DXC enters the ring</h2>
TLAs (three-lettered acronyms) might be the bane of our technology existence. When I was consulting at IBM GTS, we were unpacking a catchy new triptych every week from across the cybersecurity theater. Heck, even “IBM” is an acronym... it's a bit like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inception" target="_blank">Inception</a> with TLAs. 
I asked Sana Remekie about her take on this acronym acrimony – and how she perceived Rasmus’ call to quell the challenges by refocusing on the established DXP category.
“There's lots of three-letter acronyms popping up all over the place,” she said. “I think the movement towards composability and having that best-of-breed architecture is real. Customers are asking for a choice in terms of all the packaged and business capabilities that they need to build their overall architecture, and there's agreement across Gartner and Forrester on that. They may call it different things, but everybody’s starting to agree that we should give customers the ability to create and assemble their own solutions.”
So how does this momentum towards composability and DXC impact the more traditional definition of DXP – particularly as an established category? 
“Some folks are saying very clearly that a single DXP – what they call a monolithic DXP – should no longer be a thing at all,” she added. “Customers should be able to create their own DXPs by picking best-of-breed applications from across the ecosystem. With this phenomenon, we're now giving choices to the customer and power to the SIs to make those choices for the customer. Sometimes it's an IT team within the organization making those choices with, hopefully, the business in mind. And sometimes they say, ‘alright, Deloitte, Accenture, Valtech, go make that choice for me – go directly to those vendors and put together a solution that is composable.’ That happens a lot as well.”
<h2>Finding the right place to “poke the DXP bear”</h2>
As the wrestling match commenced, we turned to Andrew Kumar for more insight on what ignited the debate on Slack. He took us on a brief trip in the wayback machine to his days at <a href="https://www.telus.com/en" target="_blank">Telus</a>, where the company assembled what we now call a composable or <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen/">MACH</a> architecture. 
“There weren’t these sexy marketing terms that exist today,” he said. “But in 2016, we [already] had this concept, and we created our own internal site builder on top of Contentful – and that's now part of DXC.”
Andrew also talked about the importance of the different roles and responsibilities that DXC needs to support and the tendency to lump the audience of potential users under a generic “business user” mantle. This might be a limiting descriptor, as the pool could include a wide range of team members from marketing, content ops, merchandisers, UX designers, product managers, or even data analysts.
Clearly, there’s room to improve the positioning and messaging around the DXC terminology – to find the right TLA, so to speak. And this confusion makes sense when we’re still in the early growth phases.
“Adoption and demand are still very, very nascent, but it's starting to get viral,” he said. “Despite being so nascent, it is disrupting and really ‘poking the bear’ on the big players in DXP. It's really shaping and adding maturity to headless and MACH – and these kinds of technical terms are now growing in maturity.”
Poking the bear sounds dangerous, but that’s what market challengers do. TLAs aside, Andrew went on to say that he would not recommend a “rip and replace” from DXP to DXC, but to take incremental steps towards composable.
“There are some bridges in place,” he said. “Uniform has one that can help Sitecore and AEM customers start to make those leaps. But there’s still a place for a DXP.”
<h2>What’s old is new</h2>
By this point in the match, we had wrestled multiple messages from our participants. Without question, DXC is the shiny new object blazing trails. At the same time, DXPs are evolving their posture to remain marketable. Andrew noted, “They’re decoupling and decomposing themselves, playing ball with others and having that multi-manufacturer style where you can build with OEM parts from all over the place.”
Pivoting back to Rasmus in the DXP corner, we inquired about his response to Andrew regarding the long history of APIs connecting different platforms – and how there are even use cases of Contentful feeding into Magnolia.
“I can totally back up that it's not really anything new,” he remarked to Andrew. “Magnolia has been producing a solution that is fundamentally a composable DXP for a very long time, since 2013 or 2014. We've had clients compose platforms out of multiple best-of-breed applications they put together in a joined platform for a long time.”
While Rasmus reinforced his criticism of a new TLA being injected into the ecosystem, he did express his support for how the narrative was being projected.
“If I look at some of the stuff I felt Uniform did super well, it was just a very clean story they came out with,” he said. “I totally love that. And it felt like a really novel spin that they would be the glue between all these different applications and allow the marketer the freedom to assemble, curate, and aggregate all their content and put together experiences based on many different services. I do see really good stuff about DXC. It's just not a category – and I don't think it will become a category.”
OK, so if it’s not destined to be officially blessed, where do we go from here? As Andrew pointed out, the roadmap might rest with user behavior.
“In some enterprises, there could be 60 times more technical folks that don't write code, but they're still making meaningful contributions to digital experiences. That is a huge user base. And that's where the DXC is really going to make its mark, and really going to – and this is probably an unpopular opinion – start to take over the DXP. It's serving so many more users in a more democratic low code, no code interesting way. It's empowering to that user base.”
<h2>A DXC by any other name is a… DXCP? DXO? EDP?</h2>
While pondering the future of a DXC category, Andrew quickly pointed out one basic flaw with the acronym: <a href="https://dxc.com/us/en" target="_blank">DXC Technology</a> is the name of a well-established global agency (which happens to sponsor <a href="https://dxc.com/us/en/manutd" target="_blank">Manchester United</a>). To that end, he feels “DXCP” might be a more suitable mantle – which Uniform has already been using across its communications.
He also talked about the long shadow cast by large competitors and the importance of establishing authority as a new category. “It’s really a challenge for new players to enter [the DXP market]. There's just so much <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/adobe-experience-cloud-adds-new-headless-cms-capabilities-updates-to-commerce-integration/">Adobe</a>, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/optimizely-partners-with-google-cloud-to-take-experimentation-to-the-next-level/">Optimizely</a>, or <a href="https://www.magnolia-cms.com/" target="_blank">Magnolia</a> dominance. They've been around for so long. There’s no space for new entrants without a large insurmountable challenge.”
Sana also shared her perspective on the DXC category conundrum, which echoed my recent conversations with other vendors under the DXC umbrella. While <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/occtoo-dives-deep-to-unify-data-and-kill-integrations-a-conversation-with-ceo-niclas-mollin/">Niclas Mollin at Occtoo</a> is positioning around the Experience Data Platform, Sana is building a beachhead for Conscia as Digital Experience Orchestration.
“Conscia's not a DXC, even though we're playing in the space,” she explained. “There's a lot of confusion, so we said, you know what? We don't want to call ourselves a DXC because that would mean that we're tied too closely to a specific front end. So we’re going to act as the central piece of the composable ecosystem, which connects all the dots from the back end to the front end and is agnostic of both – and we’re able to orchestrate API's and experiences.”
<h2>And the winner is…</h2>
Er… not clear. We’re still wrestling with the answers, and the analysts have yet to canonize anything. But if we can smell what <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwayne_Johnson" target="_blank">The Rock</a> is cookin', we might be in for more confusion as DXC continues to find its footing. 
What’s abundantly clear to us, however, is that DXC is building real momentum, and DXP continues to drive demand. With the advent of AI and other innovations, the DXP market is still predicted to grow to over <a href="https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/digital-experience-platform-market" target="_blank">$30 billion by 2030</a>. While our guests shared strong opinions about DXC's future as a category and the underlying challenges, each seemed committed to demonstrable value over category woes.
At the end of our session, Matt McQueeny noted that we ended up where we always end up: with a clear mandate to focus on the business and the customer. 
The best part of this conversation was each participant's undeniable respect and reverence for one another, despite their competitive position or conflicting ideologies. Collectively, this industry powers millions of websites, apps, and experiences. Yet, the top minds shaping its trajectory represent a tightly-knit community of shared innovation – and we had three of the best participating in this forum.
We'll give Andrew Kumar the final word: “It’s definitely a fun time to be in this space. It can be confusing, but there's a lot of innovation and disruption happening – and it's ultimately for the business and end customer's benefit.”
I can hear Hulk Hogan saying, “Amen, brother…”
<hr />
Big thanks to: 
<ul>
<li>Rasmus Skjoldan. Andrew Kumar, and Sana Remekie for participating</li>
<li>Matt McQueeny for helping to moderate, facilitate, and transcribe this session</li>
<li>Janus Boye for creating a community to host these kinds of debates</li>
</ul>

Wrestling with Category Confusion in the DXC "Slackdown"

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