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Agentic AI for Agencies in 2026

bmckeiver

<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/critics/justincook">Justin Cook</a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/critics/dan-drapeau"> </a>is President of Internet Marketing &amp; Development at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.9thco.com/">9thCO</a> and a CMS Critic contributor. <hr /> Since the rise in popularity of ChatGPT and other AI search tools, marketers have watched in horror as KPIs drown in red. Organic traffic continues to decline as users begin to “trust” AI search, oftentimes not even leaving the chat experience to explore a cited brand’s website. This behavior is likely to compound as people increasingly offload tedious research, and therefore marketing teams need to adapt and understand what’s needed in order to “show up” in chat, establishing visibility (a.k.a. “share of voice”). This goes far beyond keyword research and throwing schema markup on your site.A critical piece of understanding is the underlying mental model. When using AI chat to ask questions, if the LLM (predominantly static) doesn’t have the data, then a retrieval layer brings in fresher data via relevant “chunked” search queries in order to synthesize an accurate response. Therefore, the goal is not to “optimize for LLMs,” but rather to understand the mechanics of how LLMs leverage retrieval mechanisms and provide the optimal website markup, performance, accessibility, and data structures to qualify for retrieval. And like it or not, the CMS that powers your website behind the scenes can have a direct impact, depending on rendering, markup, and technical SEO capabilities.<h3 id="a-proposed-paradigm-of-retrievability:-eaca">A Proposed Paradigm of Retrievability: EACA</h3>EACA stands for Eligibility, Authority, Compressibility, and Association. These four areas generally encompass factors that influence discoverability. We won’t touch on Authority in this article, as that’s less about technical infrastructure and more about how you're building your brand.  <h4 id="1.-eligibility">1. Eligibility</h4>When you are engaged in a chat experience, some of the perceived “magic” is that you’re in a natural flow of conversation. Therefore, responses are critically time-bound. If you ask a question and have to wait 15 seconds for the response, you would not continue the conversation. So essentially, Eligibility is the determination of whether a page can be crawled, rendered, and indexed. There are standard CMS considerations such as robots.txt configuration, server-side generation/rendering, caching, and revalidation. What this means practically is that you could be ranking #1 in SERPs for many keywords, yet less likely to be indexed, retrieved, or cited by retrieval mechanisms if your CMS employs lazy-loading, infinite scrolling, JavaScript-based rendering, or weak template-to-content ratios.Properly implemented headless CMS solutions can improve Eligibility by decoupling the frontend, where it is stored statically and served from a global edge network. <h4 id="2.-compressibility">2. Compressibility</h4>Compressibility is about assessing the smallest unit of data and content that something can be reduced to while still remaining accurate. This ensures that content is easy to summarize and embed, without losing precision.Interestingly, one of the most straightforward means to ensure Compressibility is to ensure the highest possible standard of web accessibility on your site. How so? Accessible semantic markup creates a clear content hierarchy for AI retrieval mechanisms, making content easier to chunk and summarize and thereby less ambiguous during compression.Again, your choice of CMS has a material impact on your ability to achieve full web accessibility. The following are common limitations:<ul><li>Theming “engine” architecture</li><li>CMS-specific markup</li><li>Editor tooling constraints</li><li>Plugin ecosystem and rendering methodologies </li><li>Page builder behaviors and data models (or lack thereof)</li></ul>Another major factor for Compressibility (particularly for retailers) is surfacing data points as high-signal, atomic facts. So auditing your data governance from the source to how it’s published through your CMS and marked up on the frontend can have a major impact.Ideally, any selected CMS should provide complete control over the front-end implementation and remove any possible theming constraints. <h4 id="3.-association">3. Association</h4>It’s important that an LLM can properly interpret the appropriate conversations within which your brand and content are relevant. The notion of Association means clearly establishing the concepts, entities, and problems your brand/page/content belongs “with.” Association is established via entity co-occurrence, explicit language, and tight topical clusters, which are not CMS-dependent. However, something that helps further by reducing ambiguity and introducing machine-readable relationships is schema markup. Ensure that your CMS allows you to maximize the use of appropriate schema markup in articles, case studies, etc. But it’s also critical to ensure that the schema markup that is surfaced on the frontend is valid. <h3 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h3>AI search-referred users can be highly qualified and engaged, and more likely to convert. It’s true that digital transformation projects are serious undertakings, but it’s worth the effort to ensure that your CMS can support the technical fundamentals and data structures that feed retrieval mechanisms – and surface your content! <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:34.15%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/logo_jday_hor.png" /><h4 id="joomladay-usa-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.jdayusa.com/">JoomlaDay USA 2026</a></h4>April 29 - May 2, 2026 – Delray Beach, FloridaBe part of the Joomla community in one of the most iconic cities in the world! JoomlaDay USA 2026 is coming to Delray Beach, and you can join us for a dynamic event packed with insights, workshops, and networking opportunities. Learn from top Joomla experts and developers offering valuable insights and real-world solutions. Participate in interactive workshops and sessions and enhance your skills in Joomla management, development, design, and more. And connect with fellow Joomla enthusiasts, developers, and professionals from across the world.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.jdayusa.com/"> Book your seats today.</a> <img style="width:30.06%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/cms-summit-26-logo.jpg" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-summit-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit26">CMS Summit 26</a></h4>May 12-13, 2026 – Frankfurt, GermanyThe best conferences create space for honest, experience-based conversations. Not sales pitches. Not hype. Just thoughtful exchanges between people who spend their days designing, building, running, and evolving digital experiences. CMS Summit brings together people who share real stories from their work and platforms and who are interested in learning from each other on how to make things better. Over two days in Frankfurt, you can expect practitioner-led talks grounded in experience, conversations about trade-offs, constraints, and decisions, and time to compare notes with peers facing similar challenges. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit26/tickets">so book your seats today.</a> <img style="width:30.13%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/12/image-1765546475634.png" /><h4 id="umbraco-codegarden-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://codegarden.umbraco.com/">Umbraco Codegarden 2026</a></h4>June 10–11, 2026 – Copenhagen, DKJoin us in Copenhagen (or online) for the biggest Umbraco conference in the world – two full days of learning, genuine conversations, and the kind of inspiration that brings business leaders, developers, and digital creators together. Codegarden 2026 is packed with both business and tech content, from deep-dive workshops and advanced sessions to real-world case studies and strategy talks. You’ll leave with ideas, strategies, and knowledge you can put into practice immediately. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://codegarden.umbraco.com/">Book your tickets today.</a> <img style="width:36.69%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/open-source-cms-26.jpg" /><h4 id="open-source-cms-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26">Open Source CMS 26</a></h4>October 20–21, 2026 – Utrecht, NetherlandsJoin us for the first annual edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to making open source CMS better. This event is already being called the “missing gathering place” for the open source CMS community – an international conference with confirmed participants from Europe and North America. Be part of a friendly mix of digital leaders from notable open source CMS projects, agencies, even a few industry analysts who get together to learn, network, and talk about what really matters when it comes to creating better open source CMS projects right now and for the foreseeable future. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26/tickets">Book your tickets today.</a>

Does your CMS Impact Your Brand’s Visibility in AI Search?

justincook

<hr /> If you don’t have a membership card in your wallet or purse, you probably have a letter in your mailbox from an organization or association you belong to.  Example: I've supported the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.sierraclub.org/">Sierra Club</a> for years. I'm still fighting off the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.aarp.org/">AARP</a>, but I sense it coming. I’ve heard they offer some pretty great discounts.There are thousands of these bodies across the globe, composed of millions of people from all walks of life. This includes trade and professional associations, labor organizations, social enterprises – the list goes on.As such, these communities of interest are big. So big, in fact, that there’s an organization dedicated to supporting, connecting, and providing the category “glue” for membership-based entities. It’s called <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://memberwise.org.uk/">MemberWise</a>, an independent network for international membership and association professionals. It’s free to become a member of MemberWise (making the whole thing a little meta), and it currently represents over 8,000 individuals working from more than 2,500 UK membership organizations and associations. This includes the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing, and the IET. From a mission perspective, MemberWise enriches its community with access to best-practice guidance, expert knowledge, resources (like webinars), and networking events designed to help professionals improve member engagement, retention, and growth. It also features a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://memberwise.org.uk/how-to-become-a-memberwise-recognised-supplier/">Recognized Supplier Directory</a> with over 170 technology and service providers.Every few years, the MemberWise Network conducts its <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://memberwise.org.uk/dx/">Digital Excellence Research Project,</a> a survey-based initiative that offers relevant perspectives on the digital tools, activities, and strategies being employed within the membership and association sector. The research, which is independently written by the network and contains statistically significant findings, is published in its Digital Excellence Report – delivering a clear view of new and emerging trends that can help drive organizational goals. The facts and figures are often used to bolster business cases and increase internal support when facilitating operational or strategic changes. <img style="width:70.51%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/02/image-1772055247658.jpeg" alt="A close-up of a logo

AI-generated content may be incorrect." />Source: MemberWise website <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://memberwise.org.uk/dx/">The 2026 edition was just released</a>, and it reveals some interesting data points about content management systems for membership bodies and associations. For robust entities, having a secure, scalable, and reliable CMS is vital to powering communication and engagement through various channels – specifically an association’s website.For the fifth consecutive year, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.umbraco.com/">Umbraco</a> was cited as the number one web content management system platform cited by medium and large membership organizations for developing websites and digital experiences, specifically to support their efforts in retaining and attracting new members and growing revenue. That last piece is critical, and the 2026 report doubles down on the compelling need for the sector to engage, retain, and grow memberships. It also highlights the challenge of rising costs and the mandate to counter it, so membership bodies can continue delivering services both online and offline. <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:43.7%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/02/image-1772055247861.png" alt="A person with short hair wearing a blue shirt

AI-generated content may be incorrect." /></figure>Jacob Howell. Source: LinkedIn “We’re delighted to see that the majority of medium and large membership organizations continue to choose the Umbraco CMS platform to support their member acquisition, engagement, and revenue growth,” said <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/howelljacob/">Jacob Howell,</a> Umbraco’s UK Partner Manager.According to the report’s author and MemberWise Network Founder and Chair <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/memberwise/">Richard Gott,</a> growth is now a requirement for all membership bodies – and it’s increasingly dependent on delivering engaging and value-driven digital journeys and experiences. <img style="width:43.21%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/02/image-1772055247878.png" alt="A close-up of a person smiling

AI-generated content may be incorrect." />Richard Gott. Source: LinkedIn “This is why the report focuses on the performance of websites, digital publications, apps, and the technologies that membership organizations and their digital agencies are selecting to create those experiences,” he said. “Over the past five years, we have observed membership organizations and associations adopting more sophisticated content management systems to optimize – and increasingly personalize – online member journeys, engagement, experiences, and purchases.”<h3 id="key-findings">Key findings</h3>The 2026 MemberWise Digital Excellence Report was based on survey responses from 480 individuals across the UK membership and association sector. Segments were defined around subscription revenue, from small to medium to large. The figures are available in the report.There were some notable findings in this year’s research. For example, new member acquisition, engagement, and growth continue to be key priorities for membership organizations, along with increasing revenue from non-subscription activities such as conferences and continuous professional development.Additionally, the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://memberwise.org.uk/influence100/">largest 100 membership bodies in the UK</a> are now spending almost $340 million (£250 million) per year on digital technologies and web-based solutions – a massive investment that gives this market vertical real buying power. As stated, Umbraco is the CMS most commonly used by medium and large membership bodies. But here’s the kicker: more organizations than ever stated that they are satisfied with their CMS (+18%) and are now spending between 2% and 5% of total annual budgets on related technologies.Other layers of the stack are feeling the lift. For example, association management systems and focused industry CRMs are continuing to see increased website integration (+5%), and the path to integration is accelerating. Additionally, a greater number of membership bodies are measuring engagement via website and member portal activity, suggesting that analytics and insights are becoming a central imperative.59% of respondents also said that they’re using their CMS to personalize digital experiences for online members. In tandem, more organizations are personalizing content based on qualifying data such as areas of interest or geographic location. Finally, AI is becoming a more visible mandate. According to the research, adoption of AI-powered website functionality has increased by 21% over the past two years, suggesting that more associations are trusting AI in their digital workflows and operations – and that trend is likely to grow.<h3 id="umbraco’s-agency-partners-activate-growth-and-success">Umbraco’s agency partners activate growth and success</h3>One of the key pillars of Umbraco’s success is its hard-earned, highly-engaged community of more than 250,000 developers and users – buoyed by its well-established global partner network of digital agencies. These diverse shops offer both vertical and horizontal specializations, and several have implemented solutions for membership organizations and associations. According to Jacob Howell, Umbraco’s performance in the 2026 Digital Excellence Report is a testament to the company’s digital agency partners, including <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.cantarus.com/">Cantarus</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.wearewattle.com/clients/clients/">Wattle</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.teambluelight.com/case-studies/?page=1">Bluelight</a>, and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.msqdx.co.uk/en/about">MSQ DX</a>.As he said, these teams have turned ambitious digital strategies into exceptional digital experiences, powered by Umbraco. “We’re proud to provide them with an open-source platform that gives them flexibility to integrate additional technologies, whenever required, while offering an intuitive interface for content editors at membership organizations.” <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:83.5%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/02/screenshot-2026-02-25-at-4.png" /></figure>Source: Cantarus website's membership section Cantarus, Umbraco’s first transatlantic Platinum partner, has been an official part of the MemberWise Network for over a decade. The agency often shares thought leadership, success stories, and best practices for building websites and digital solutions that help organizations to engage and retain members. Boasting more than seventy membership organizations as clients, Cantarus is considered a market leader in the sector, having built websites and digital experiences for The Royal College of Physicians, British Computer Society, and The Law Society of England and Wales.“We’ve been heavily invested in the membership sector for over a decade, and it’s now our most important individual sector,” said Cantarus CEO <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/leeadams/">Lee Adams.</a> “When you’re responsible for the performance, stability, and security of a membership organization’s site, it’s important to have full confidence in the technologies selected to build it.” <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:42.83%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/02/image-1772055247926.png" alt="A person in a suit

AI-generated content may be incorrect." /></figure>Lee Adams. Source: LinkedIn Adams went on to explain how Umbraco allows digital agencies like Cantarus to build websites and digital experiences that are tailored to the immediate requirements of membership organizations – with the flexibility and scalability to extend the platform as they grow. In essence, it’s future-proofing for a shifting landscape.“Because Umbraco is a powerful open source platform, we can tap into that creative ecosystem to offer clients a lower-cost implementation with no risk of vendor lock-in,” he continued, “and without limiting their technology options as members’ digital preferences evolve.”Complementing the report is MemberWise’s signature event, the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/digitalexcellence2026/posts/?feedView=all">2026 Digital Excellence Conference &amp; Exhibition</a>, which exclusively focuses on the membership and association sector.<h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>As “The Friendly CMS,” it’s no surprise that Umbraco is a go-to CMS for organizations that focus on building and engaging with vibrant communities. At a granular level, this is a testament to Umbraco’s flexibility, reliability, and ease of use – as well as its end-to-end features for enabling rich functionality across modern digital experiences. Memberships and associations might seem like a niche market, but it’s a much larger segment than you might have realized. Clearly, Umbraco has endeavored to unpack the member journey and elevate the experience in a way that’s endearing to both its partner agencies and end customers – allowing them to build greater retention and loyalty while powering marketing strategies to attract new members.My recommendation: If you’re a membership or association, take a look at this MemberWise research and use it as a point of validation. While this is a regionally specific study, the data regarding content management and digital experiences is extensible. There are many CMSes that could potentially meet diverse requirements, but Umbraco and its partners have invested deeply in the goals and outcomes for this segment, and continue to push forward in areas like AI and personalization. As an open source platform, Umbraco also brings its own community to the table as a resource for innovation and democratized thinking. In this way, it reflects the mission and values of open communities. When you book your demo, ask for adjacent examples of CMS modules and workflows being utilized by similar associations as your own. This also includes transactional features, such as commerce for membership dues, etc. If you’re based in the UK and EU, Umbraco is already meeting data privacy and other compliance requirements, and has a strong sustainability strategy – so it checks many of the big boxes. It would be wise to put them on your shortlist. <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:34.15%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/logo_jday_hor.png" /><h4 id="joomladay-usa-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.jdayusa.com/">JoomlaDay USA 2026</a></h4>April 29 - May 2, 2026 – Delray Beach, FloridaBe part of the Joomla community in one of the most iconic cities in the world! JoomlaDay USA 2026 is coming to Delray Beach, and you can join us for a dynamic event packed with insights, workshops, and networking opportunities. Learn from top Joomla experts and developers offering valuable insights and real-world solutions. Participate in interactive workshops and sessions and enhance your skills in Joomla management, development, design, and more. And connect with fellow Joomla enthusiasts, developers, and professionals from across the world.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.jdayusa.com/"> Book your seats today.</a> <img style="width:30.06%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/cms-summit-26-logo.jpg" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-summit-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit26">CMS Summit 26</a></h4>May 12-13, 2026 – Frankfurt, GermanyThe best conferences create space for honest, experience-based conversations. Not sales pitches. Not hype. Just thoughtful exchanges between people who spend their days designing, building, running, and evolving digital experiences. CMS Summit brings together people who share real stories from their work and platforms and who are interested in learning from each other on how to make things better. Over two days in Frankfurt, you can expect practitioner-led talks grounded in experience, conversations about trade-offs, constraints, and decisions, and time to compare notes with peers facing similar challenges. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit26/tickets">so book your seats today.</a> <img style="width:30.13%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/12/image-1765546475634.png" /><h4 id="umbraco-codegarden-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://codegarden.umbraco.com/">Umbraco Codegarden 2026</a></h4>June 10–11, 2026 – Copenhagen, DKJoin us in Copenhagen (or online) for the biggest Umbraco conference in the world – two full days of learning, genuine conversations, and the kind of inspiration that brings business leaders, developers, and digital creators together. Codegarden 2026 is packed with both business and tech content, from deep-dive workshops and advanced sessions to real-world case studies and strategy talks. You’ll leave with ideas, strategies, and knowledge you can put into practice immediately. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://codegarden.umbraco.com/">Book your tickets today.</a> <img style="width:36.69%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/open-source-cms-26.jpg" /><h4 id="open-source-cms-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26">Open Source CMS 26</a></h4>October 20–21, 2026 – Utrecht, NetherlandsJoin us for the first annual edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to making open source CMS better. This event is already being called the “missing gathering place” for the open source CMS community – an international conference with confirmed participants from Europe and North America. Be part of a friendly mix of digital leaders from notable open source CMS projects, agencies, even a few industry analysts who get together to learn, network, and talk about what really matters when it comes to creating better open source CMS projects right now and for the foreseeable future. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26/tickets">Book your tickets today.</a>

Wise Choice: New Survey from MemberWise Puts Umbraco CMS on Top for Membership Organizations

matt-garrepy

<hr /> For anyone in the website business, building something beautiful is literally the top of the mountain. You know what I mean. There’s nothing more satisfying than designing, coding, and pushing a project into production – then seeing a bump in traffic, an increase in performance, and a wave of adoration across social media. But adding an award to your mantle? That just takes it to the next level. For <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/kentico">Kentico</a>, celebrating these efforts is a big point of pride, especially for a platform that powers over 90,000 websites across the globe. For almost a decade, the DXP has highlighted the very best work of its partners and clients with its coveted “Site of the Year” Awards – and they just released the winners of its 2025 edition.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/kentico-announces-winners-of-2023-site-of-the-year-awards">I’ve covered this program</a> previously, and I’m always impressed by the quality, complexity, and bold ambition of the finalists. 2025’s crop once again demonstrates the daring and prowess of organizations and their partners to push the boundaries and redefine modern digital experiences built on <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.kentico.com/CMSModules/Newsletters/CMSPages/Redirect.ashx?linkguid=11b4f14a-807d-4840-bfa8-e529c85898b7&amp;email=matt%40cmscritic.com&amp;hash=be0d1d8f19e0858f5111492f222eca952b1f9d98aaaeebe1c4c04b9dec830ced">Xperience by Kentico</a> – the multichannel content management, marketing, and digital commerce solution packaged in one cohesive platform.This year’s class showed up with some stunning, full-scale UX redesigns that deliver visual awe and impact. But there were feats of engineering as well, with a myriad of use cases featuring AI-powered marketing transformations and complex workload migrations.  Kentico’s “Site of the Year” program is categorized by industry, spanning wide cohorts like B2B as well as verticals in financial services, commerce, education, hospitality, healthcare, government, and NGOs. 2025's submissions came from across the planet, including North America, EMEA, and APAC – illustrating the flexibility and extensibility of Xperience by Kentico.In addition to these examples of partner and customer-driven excellence, 2025 was a big year of milestones for Kentico. With global demand growing for it signature platform, the company’s continued investment in AI was crystallized by <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.kentico.com/platform/aira">the launch of AIRA</a> (Artificial Intelligence Recommendations &amp; Assistance), a native AI agent that unpacks and understands content and customer data to help streamline the creation, optimization, and time to deploy for digital experiences. Building on its AIRA momentum, Kentico is once again aiming to transform expectations in 2026. The company recently introduced its <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/introducing-the-agentic-marketing-suite-kentico-extends-its-ai-strategy-to-power-marketing-teams">Agentic Marketing Suite,</a> extending its AI strategy to power teams with specialized agents, each designed to execute marketing and content tasks that unlock operational efficiencies in team workflows. <h3 id="honoring-creativity-and-innovation">Honoring creativity and innovation</h3>Let’s talk about websites – because they’re still the center of gravity. More than ever, the world’s leading brands rely on unique, high-performing digital experiences across multiple channels, hoping to dazzle visitors and convert interest into action. Even amidst the shifts in traffic and the rise of AI-powered answer engines, smart consumers still value a business’s website as a central source of truth. At the same time, websites are essential to arming the new frontier of GEO and AEO by delivering a foundation of well-structured content.Kentico’s “Site of the Year” honors its clients and partners by focusing a spotlight on their remarkable work – websites and digital solutions that achieve the highest levels of creativity, innovation, content strategy, and technological implementation.A bit of level-setting on the rules: Only projects that first earned Kentico’s “Site of the Month” banner were eligible to compete, making these finalists a true “best of the best” compendium. Winners were selected by an internal Kentico judging committee based on overall excellence and measurable impact.  You can explore more about this <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.kentico.com/CMSModules/Newsletters/CMSPages/Redirect.ashx?linkguid=18b8acaa-24af-4f10-976e-74ebe1bf15e4&amp;email=matt%40cmscritic.com&amp;hash=be0d1d8f19e0858f5111492f222eca952b1f9d98aaaeebe1c4c04b9dec830ced">year’s winners and honorable mentions</a> on Kentico’s website, where they drill into the details. For each category winner, they provide a well-rounded rationale that showcases the innovative thinking, stellar design, and AI-enhanced solutions that put them in the top spot.If you’re interested, you can also vote in Kentico’s <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kenticosoftware_communitychoice-soty-digitalexperience-activity-7429873612603596800-ltb5/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAABkGfZEBzxXaDBwgLBqINaYG9q1JUbfxMW8">Community Choice Awards</a> through March 6th. This crowdsourced portion of the program is handled entirely on LinkedIn.Without further ado…<h3 id="2025-‘site-of-the-year’-winners-and-honorable-mentions----">2025 ‘Site of the Year’ Winners and Honorable Mentions    </h3>Man, this was a dynamite grouping of sites – and all deserving of kudos. For me, there were certainly some standouts. In the B2B category, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.kentico.com/CMSModules/Newsletters/CMSPages/Redirect.ashx?linkguid=2352b3f4-ad18-4695-b4cf-9fea119232c4&amp;email=matt%40cmscritic.com&amp;hash=be0d1d8f19e0858f5111492f222eca952b1f9d98aaaeebe1c4c04b9dec830ced">LeShuttle Freight’s</a> elegant, high-performance, multilingual experience was top-notch. In addition to simple, intuitive navigation, it has a tricked-out, real-time service update that provides critical visibility for time-sensitive logistics. The mobile experience is also lightweight, prioritizing the right elements in the UX. Implemented by <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.crafted.co.uk/services/digital-products/kentico">Crafted</a>, a long-standing U.K.-based Kentico partner, LeShuttle is a solid design that streamlines the customer journey for logistics partners, drivers, and customers – so they can keep truckin'.<figure class="image"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/02/image-1771964387975.png" alt="" /></figure>Source: LeShuttle Freight website In the Entertainment, Hospitality, and Tourism category, I was also keen on the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://bobw.co/">Bob W. site</a>, which made me want to book my next trip to Amsterdam today. The gestalt was right up my alley, offering a clean, minimal design with clear pathways to explore short-stay apartments in a variety of locales. Agency partner <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.idhlagency.com/">IDHL</a> did yeoman’s work on developing the “Bob” identity and persona, delivering a charming and inviting vibe to the experience. Along with some killer frontend features like smart filtering and a little backend magic with reusable content, Bob W. personifies what great UX is – and I love how it all supports a corporate commitment to sustainability and a stay that’s 100% offset. It’s hospitality that's more hospitable to the earth.  <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:90.66%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/02/image-1771964386776.png" alt="" /></figure>Source: Bob W. website To say that <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.kentico.com/CMSModules/Newsletters/CMSPages/Redirect.ashx?linkguid=d26dfe6c-b389-43aa-a623-daa701b4b192&amp;email=matt%40cmscritic.com&amp;hash=be0d1d8f19e0858f5111492f222eca952b1f9d98aaaeebe1c4c04b9dec830ced">Oppenheimer</a> made a “bold” move to Kentico would be an understatement. As the winner in the Financial Services category, the wealth management leader successfully migrated from CrownPeak in only five months, with the goal of optimizing their content ops via single-source content management across multiple digital channels.Implemented by Kentico partner <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://sagepath-reply.com/">Sagepath Reply</a>, Oppenheimer’s slick design captures the essence of a trusted financial partner while simplifying navigation to key topics like capital markets. They also introduced new AI-driven tools focused on marketing and content optimization. It feels powerful yet approachable – and evokes confidence and stability at every turn. For a financial institution, this was a winning investment.<figure class="image"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/02/image-1771964386955.png" alt="A close-up of a website

AI-generated content may be incorrect." /></figure>Source: Oppenheimer website <h3 id="winners-by-category">Winners By Category</h3> <h4 id="b2b">B2B</h4><ul><li>Winner: LeShuttle Freight (Implemented by Crafted)</li><li>Honorable Mentions: ZAG Interactive (ZAG Interactive), Westport (ALYKA Pty Ltd) </li></ul> <h4 id="commerce">Commerce</h4><ul><li>Winner: Translink (MSQ DX)</li><li>Honorable Mentions: Rhythm Japan (Interesting Solutions), Elkov Elektro (Bluesoft) </li></ul> <h4 id="consumer-goods-and-services">Consumer Goods and Services</h4><ul><li>Winner: MND Energie (Bluesoft)</li><li>Honorable Mentions: Best Best &amp; Krieger LLP (BlueModus), Contact Energy (AKQA) </li></ul> <h4 id="education-&amp;-careers-">Education &amp; Careers </h4><ul><li>Winner: ROC van Amsterdam &amp; Flevoland (TrueLime)</li><li>Honorable Mentions: Join Blakes (E-Cubed Media Synthesis Inc), The Gordon Institute of TAFE (DDSN Interactive) </li></ul> <h4 id="entertainment,-hospitality-&amp;-tourism">Entertainment, Hospitality &amp; Tourism</h4><ul><li>Winner: Bob W. (IDHL)</li><li>Honorable Mentions: Aurora Expeditions (Devotion), LA Opera (iMedia) </li></ul> <h4 id="financial-services">Financial Services</h4><ul><li>Winner: Oppenheimer (Sagepath Reply)</li><li>Honorable Mentions: Atomic Credit Union (ZAG Interactive), United Federal Credit Union (SilverTech) </li></ul> <h4 id="government-&amp;-municipal">Government &amp; Municipal</h4><ul><li>Winner: Cleveland Metroparks (Americaneagle.com)</li><li>Honorable Mentions: Réseau de transport de Longueuil (Inorbital, Inc.), Great Parks (Synoptek) </li></ul> <h4 id="healthcare">Healthcare</h4><ul><li>Winner: LivaNova (BlueModus)</li><li>Honorable Mentions: Integris Group (BizStream), Hatch Private Maternity (Zeroseven) </li></ul> <h4 id="manufacturing">Manufacturing</h4><ul><li>Winner: Pierret (Delaware Consulting SCRL)</li><li>Honorable Mentions: Nichicon (EETech Group), Renson (Blastic) </li></ul> <h4 id="ngo-&amp;-associations">NGO &amp; Associations</h4><ul><li>Winner: American Society of Landscape Architects (BlueModus)</li><li>Honorable Mentions: National Association of Independent Schools (ByteMinds), Eat Pecans (Rise, a Quad Agency) </li></ul><h3 id="setting-new-standards-for-excellence">Setting new standards for excellence</h3>Each year, I’m asked to judge awards programs, so I’m accustomed to seeing amazing work. What I love about these competitions is that I’m always surprised, intrigued, and often floored by the creativity. If you’re embarking on a brand or digital transformation quest, finding the right agency partner is critical to success. But harnessing the right CMS or DXP at the foundation is equally as important – and awards programs like Kentico’s “Site of the Year” are a great place to window shop the possibilities. This 2025 crop is a testament to the full potential of Xperience by Kentico. It’s not just about breathtaking UX, it’s also about leveraging a future-ready digital ecosystem to power multi-channel experiences across devices, languages, locations, and more. From hybrid headless implementations to secure member portals and complex third-party integrations, organizations are using the platform to unify content, marketing, and commerce into a single solution. As Kentico continues to invest in a steady stream of innovation, its partners and clients will be the first beneficiaries to access new features. Case in point: Kentico’s new Agentic Marketing Suite is ushering in a new era of intelligent orchestration, helping marketers automate decisions, personalize journeys, and optimize campaigns at scale. Digital experiences are no longer static. They continue to evolve – and so do our expectations. Even as websites morph into agentic experiences that serve both humans and bots, only people can be inspired by a brand's imagination and storytelling.Kentico’s “Site of the Year” reminds us that websites still have this power and potential. That's why they still rock – and the most beautiful, magical, and innovative sites can really bring down the house.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.kentico.com/discover/kentico-awards-winners/site-of-the-year-2025">Read more about the winners here.</a> <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:34.15%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/logo_jday_hor.png" /><h4 id="joomladay-usa-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.jdayusa.com/">JoomlaDay USA 2026</a></h4>April 29 - May 2, 2026 – Delray Beach, FloridaBe part of the Joomla community in one of the most iconic cities in the world! JoomlaDay USA 2026 is coming to Delray Beach, and you can join us for a dynamic event packed with insights, workshops, and networking opportunities. Learn from top Joomla experts and developers offering valuable insights and real-world solutions. Participate in interactive workshops and sessions and enhance your skills in Joomla management, development, design, and more. And connect with fellow Joomla enthusiasts, developers, and professionals from across the world.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.jdayusa.com/"> Book your seats today.</a> <img style="width:30.06%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/cms-summit-26-logo.jpg" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-summit-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit26">CMS Summit 26</a></h4>May 12-13, 2026 – Frankfurt, GermanyThe best conferences create space for honest, experience-based conversations. Not sales pitches. Not hype. Just thoughtful exchanges between people who spend their days designing, building, running, and evolving digital experiences. CMS Summit brings together people who share real stories from their work and platforms and who are interested in learning from each other on how to make things better. Over two days in Frankfurt, you can expect practitioner-led talks grounded in experience, conversations about trade-offs, constraints, and decisions, and time to compare notes with peers facing similar challenges. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit26/tickets">so book your seats today.</a> <img style="width:30.13%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/12/image-1765546475634.png" /><h4 id="umbraco-codegarden-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://codegarden.umbraco.com/">Umbraco Codegarden 2026</a></h4>June 10–11, 2026 – Copenhagen, DKJoin us in Copenhagen (or online) for the biggest Umbraco conference in the world – two full days of learning, genuine conversations, and the kind of inspiration that brings business leaders, developers, and digital creators together. Codegarden 2026 is packed with both business and tech content, from deep-dive workshops and advanced sessions to real-world case studies and strategy talks. You’ll leave with ideas, strategies, and knowledge you can put into practice immediately. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://codegarden.umbraco.com/">Book your tickets today.</a> <img style="width:36.69%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/open-source-cms-26.jpg" /><h4 id="open-source-cms-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26">Open Source CMS 26</a></h4>October 20–21, 2026 – Utrecht, NetherlandsJoin us for the first annual edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to making open source CMS better. This event is already being called the “missing gathering place” for the open source CMS community – an international conference with confirmed participants from Europe and North America. Be part of a friendly mix of digital leaders from notable open source CMS projects, agencies, even a few industry analysts who get together to learn, network, and talk about what really matters when it comes to creating better open source CMS projects right now and for the foreseeable future. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26/tickets">Book your tickets today.</a>

Websites Still Rock: Kentico’s 2025 ‘Site of the Year’ Winners Push the Boundaries of Digital Experience 

<h4 id="-"> </h4><h4 id="highlights">Highlights</h4>You’ll learn about how AI transforms enterprise CMS platforms.<ul><li>Automation: AI CMS streamlines tagging, metadata, and content workflows</li><li>Insights: Predictive analytics guide content planning and performance optimization</li><li>Personalization: Real-time insights enable the creation of tailored experiences</li><li>Compliance: Guardrails ensure governance and security at scale</li></ul>Adopt an <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.contentstack.com/blog/all-about-headless/content-management-artificial-intelligence-content-ops?utm_campaign=&amp;utm_medium=paid-affiliate&amp;utm_source=cms-critic&amp;utm_content=smarter-content-management-with-an-ai-cms">AI CMS</a> to drive efficiency, insights, and smarter engagement across your enterprise.<hr /> Content management today is not what it was in the 90s or early 2000s. The modern customer values personalized interactions. They are also more tech-savvy, privacy-aware and expect seamless experiences across all channels.Traditional CMS platforms lack the speed, agility and flexibility required to deliver these demands. That makes them redundant for the needs of modern B2B customers. This is why an AI CMS, usually <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.contentstack.com/resources/report/complete-headless-cms-guide?utm_campaign=&amp;utm_medium=paid-affiliate&amp;utm_source=cms-critic&amp;utm_content=smarter-content-management-with-an-ai-cms">headless</a>, is becoming more popular.An AI-powered CMS enables <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.contentstack.com/blog/personalization/how-can-personalization-enhance-your-brand?utm_campaign=&amp;utm_medium=paid-affiliate&amp;utm_source=cms-critic&amp;utm_content=smarter-content-management-with-an-ai-cms">real-time personalization</a>, automates repetitive tasks, and powers predictive analytics. It integrates AI into content workflows, enabling faster content publishing while improving accuracy and user experience. This shift is changing how large organizations think about content management.<h3 id="what-makes-a-cms-intelligent?">What makes a CMS intelligent?</h3>An intelligent CMS is a content management system that learns from data and adapts content based on behavior and context. It also offers automation — you can create, optimize and publish hyper-personalized content at scale. With traditional CMS platforms, you are bogged down with manual inputs, built-in templates and predefined workflows. An AI CMS does not have these limitations. They are built on headless and API-first principles, making them flexible to handle modern content needs. Its key features:<ul><li>Machine learning for predictive analytics</li><li>Automated tagging and categorization via AI</li><li>AI-powered search and discovery</li><li>AI-assisted authoring workflows and predictive content performance insights</li></ul> <hr /> Overcome traditional CMS issues with Contentstack Are you tired of slow development times and rising costs due to legacy monolithic suites? Contentstack offers a modern, component-based solution designed for the needs of today's enterprises. Discover agility and improved ROI. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.contentstack.com/request-demo?utm_campaign=&amp;utm_medium=paid-affiliate&amp;utm_source=cms-critic&amp;utm_content=smarter-content-management-with-an-ai-cms">Request a demo</a> to learn more. <hr /><h3 id="benefits-of-ai-powered-cms-for-large-enterprises">Benefits of AI-powered CMS for large enterprises</h3>An AI CMS offers speed and flexibility. When a<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.contentstack.com/blog/all-about-headless/cms-change-management-best-practices-for-seamless-enterprise-implementation"> </a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.contentstack.com/blog/all-about-headless/cms-change-management-best-practices-for-seamless-enterprise-implementation?utm_campaign=&amp;utm_medium=paid-affiliate&amp;utm_source=cms-critic&amp;utm_content=smarter-content-management-with-an-ai-cms">modern CMS is implemented with proper change management</a> practices to support its adoption, it also supports better governance, data-driven optimization, and automation. Here are other benefits.<ul><li>Faster content creation and delivery: AI authors’ workflows, ensuring faster editing. It applies the brand’s guidelines, eliminating human errors. Also, its automated tagging, categorization, and metadata generation feature ensures you can publish faster.</li><li>Smarter personalization at scale: An AI CMS tracks data in real-time and adjusts content for relevant audience segments. Delivering on-brand content ensures you can convert more and engage your audience better.</li><li>More efficient search and content discovery: Search and discovery feature powered by conversational AI enables editors and marketers find content quickly, even in large, complex repositories.</li><li>Data-driven optimization: An AI CMS also supports predictive content performance insights, enabling teams to be proactive.</li><li>Improved compliance and governance: An AI-powered CMS can flag missing disclosures, ensure accessibility standards, and apply consistent terminology.</li></ul><h3 id="how-ai-is-transforming-content-management-within-enterprise-cms">How AI is transforming content management within enterprise CMS</h3>AI integration into content workflows goes beyond using generative AI to create content. It can be applied in other areas, such as SEO, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.contentstack.com/resources/report/enterprise-ai-search-playbook?utm_campaign=&amp;utm_medium=paid-affiliate&amp;utm_source=cms-critic&amp;utm_content=smarter-content-management-with-an-ai-cms">AIO/GEO</a>, personalization, and predictive analytics. Here are some of those ways. <h4 id="content-intelligence-for-planning">Content intelligence for planning</h4>AI scans competitor content, search queries, and your own content library. That allows you to identify gaps and opportunities in your content strategy and that of your competitors. Based on that insight, AI can also suggest high-performing topics, and align new content with buyer journeys, so content production supports pipeline and sales goals. <h4 id="ai-assisted-content-creation-and-editing">AI-assisted content creation and editing</h4>With generative AI, you can generate content drafts, outlines and briefs. The AI is trained on your company’s audience persona, style guide and brand voice — hence, it can enforce the right tone of voice and style across your content. <h4 id="automated-content-tagging-and-classification">Automated content tagging and classification</h4>AI-powered DAMs integrated in an intelligent CMS can scan your assets and suggest tags. It can further map those assets into your enterprise taxonomy, ensuring your assets fit into a structured content model. By doing so, marketers can easily search and reuse content. <h4 id="personalization-at-scale">Personalization at Scale</h4>It is no secret that enterprise customers prioritize brands that deliver tailored, one-to-one experiences. You can integrate a real-time CDP to track customer data and create profiles. Then, use an AI-powered CMS to analyze the data and recommend the most relevant content. That way, you can tailor experiences to different accounts, industries or decision-makers. <h4 id="seo-and-aio-optimization-support">SEO and AIO optimization support</h4>AI can analyze search intent and suggest relevant keywords, topics and FAQs. It can be used to find internal linking opportunities, write meta titles and create schema markup. In essence, it becomes your SEO/AIO co-pilot, enabling you to find opportunities, match content to audience persona and optimize existing content. <h4 id="knowledge-assistant-for-internal-teams">Knowledge assistant for internal teams</h4>Internal teams can also deploy AI-powered search and Q&amp;A over enterprise content libraries. That way, teams within the organizations, such as sales and product teams, can quickly find answers backed by approved sources. <h4 id="governance-and-compliance-guardrails">Governance and compliance guardrails</h4>AI can be deployed to manage policy and style enforcement, as well as regulatory compliance checks. AI guardrails act like a compliance officer inside your CMS. By doing so, it prevents risky or off-brand content from being published. It also ensures that assets are safe, accurate and ready for regulation.<h3 id="governance,-security,-and-compliance-in-an-ai-cms">Governance, security, and compliance in an AI CMS</h3>AI CMS platforms automate governance and security processes. However, team leaders still need to set approval workflows that AI should follow. They must apply built-in permissions to allow access to specific authorized users who can check and approve AI outputs.The CMS offers intelligent security that can flag suspicious usage and trigger reminders for compliance audits. Still, content teams must keep to data privacy and safety regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA. They must also verify AI-generated metadata and tags to ensure compliance requirements are met and use audit logs to track changes made by AI features.<figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:83.96%"><img src="https://images.contentstack.io/v3/assets/blt7359e2a55efae483/blt49eb52225d026692/68a9891e5075c355e79fb708/image.png" alt="AI CMS features compared to a traditional CMS" /></figure><h3 id="ai-integrations-that-transform-content-workflows">AI integrations that transform content workflows</h3>An intelligent CMS supports AI integration, and that goes beyond automation. It makes your workflows smarter, so you can produce and publish content with more consistency and speed. Here are specific AI integrations that enable that.<ul><li>Automated AI tagging and categorization</li><li>AI-powered search and discovery</li><li>Automated metadata generation</li><li>Automated A/B testing for content variants  </li></ul>These features enable enterprises to reduce repetitive work and focus teams on high-impact, creative and strategic tasks. <hr /> Fast-track digital experiences with Contentstack Need to create digital experiences quickly? Contentstack's content and editorial engine enables you to reach new markets and create digital experiences faster. Manage content with ease and speed. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.contentstack.com/try-for-free?utm_campaign=&amp;utm_medium=paid-affiliate&amp;utm_source=cms-critic&amp;utm_content=smarter-content-management-with-an-ai-cms">Start your free trial today</a>. <hr /><h3 id="comparing-ai-cms-options">Comparing AI CMS options</h3>Most CMS platforms now embed some sort of AI integration or service. However, that, on its own, does not necessarily make such CMSes intelligent or AI-driven in the actual sense. Here are some of the top AI CMS you will find today.<ul><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.contentstack.com/?utm_campaign=&amp;utm_medium=paid-affiliate&amp;utm_source=cms-critic&amp;utm_content=smarter-content-management-with-an-ai-cms">Contentstack</a>: Contentstack’s AI CMS supports intelligent content workflows and scalable personalization. It is API-first and headless, offering native AI integration, making it ideal for omnichannel delivery.</li><li>Arvow: Arvow uses AI to automate the content creation and publishing process. It offers AI-driven features like content syndication, Google indexing, and SEO-optimized writing. It supports high-quality content at scale targeted at B2B companies.</li><li>Strapi: Strapi is an open-source headless CMS that supports the integration of AI tools and services for seamless content management, optimization, and delivery.</li><li>Adobe Experience Manager: This enterprise CMS uses AI to personalize content, automate workflows, and support data-driven insights. It supports content creation using its built-in generative AI.</li></ul>While other AI-powered CMS platforms offer great features and support AI integration, Contentstack comes with AI baked in. It offers native AI integrations that require less customization, making it easier to roll out across large enterprises.<h3 id="case-study">Case study</h3> <img style="width:36.22%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/02/image-1771247859224.png" /><h4 id="golfbreaks">Golfbreaks</h4>Golfbreaks struggled with managing content across multiple international markets. This prompted them to sign up for Contentstack's <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.contentstack.com/academy/content/ai-accelerator?utm_campaign=&amp;utm_medium=paid-affiliate&amp;utm_source=cms-critic&amp;utm_content=smarter-content-management-with-an-ai-cms">AI Accelerator</a>. The training exposed them to the benefits of the AI assistant, brand kit and automation tool. The solutions automated translation workflows, content optimization, and personalization rules. Today, they can launch on-brand content and campaigns faster than ever.Golfbreaks Digital Product Owner Jack Simkins said, "With Contentstack’s help, our AI use case has been expanded into a much more powerful tool that’s helping us to save time and move faster."<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.contentstack.com/resources/case-study/golfbreaks-leverages-contentstacks-ai-accelerator-for-78-faster-time-to-market?utm_campaign=&amp;utm_medium=paid-affiliate&amp;utm_source=cms-critic&amp;utm_content=smarter-content-management-with-an-ai-cms">Learn more about Golfbreaks' success</a> with Contentstack’s AI.<h2 id="faq-section">FAQ section</h2> <h4 id="what-is-the-difference-between-a-headless-cms-and-an-ai-cms?">What is the difference between a headless CMS and an AI CMS?</h4>A headless CMS is a type of CMS where the architecture separates content from its presentation. So, you have a backend that you can connect to any front-end framework via APIs. An AI CMS is a CMS with built-in AI integration to automate and enhance content creation, personalization, and management. <h4 id="is-an-ai-cms-secure-for-enterprise-use?">Is an AI CMS secure for enterprise use?</h4>An AI CMS is considered secure if it features enterprise-grade security, role-based permissions, audit logging, and compliance capabilities. The security of an intelligent CMS also depends on how AI integrations are configured and whether they comply with privacy laws. <h4 id="what-skills-do-teams-need-to-work-with-an-ai-cms?">What skills do teams need to work with an AI CMS?</h4>Content teams should understand content strategy, governance rules, and how to review AI outputs for accuracy and compliance. Technical teams may need to understand AI prompts, workflow automation, and how to manage AI integrations.<h3 id="learn-more">Learn more</h3>AI CMS platforms are redefining enterprise content management. They automate repetitive work, improve personalization and support data-driven decision-making. However, most CMS platforms only support AI integration — they are not truly AI-powered in the real sense.This is where Contentstack stands out. With native AI integrations, you get an intelligent CMS right out of the box. You do not need extra configurations or endless integrations with third-party AI solutions. If you are serious about leveraging AI for smarter content management, then Contentstack offers the best solution in the market today. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.contentstack.com/request-demo?utm_campaign=&amp;utm_medium=paid-affiliate&amp;utm_source=cms-critic&amp;utm_content=smarter-content-management-with-an-ai-cms">Talk to us</a> today to get started.

The intelligent CMS: Smarter content management with an AI CMS

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A Tale of Two Phils: Exploring Umbraco’s Open Source Vision for AI, MCP, and the Agentic Future of CMS

Delivering hyper-personalized B2B content with a modern CMS

Power your CMS on AWS

Manage your websites & apps in the most trusted cloud.

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<hr /> When I first saw <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominik-xperience-pinter/">Dominik Pinter</a> at the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff26">Boye &amp; Company CMS Kickoff 26</a> in St. Petersburg two weeks ago, he was running on the pier under cool but balmy skies.This wasn't at all out of character. We've covered some miles together at previous conferences. He’s a man on the move, constantly looking ahead and chasing what’s on the horizon. Endurance is an asset in tech. Just try keeping up with him.That said, you can’t get very far as a distance runner if you’re not grounded in the present. And in many ways, that’s what defines his leadership at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.kentico.com/">Kentico</a>: a clear focus on the future grounded in world-class support for customers and partners in the here and now.That’s a good formula for winning a race – even if you’re facing serious headwinds. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/kentico-achieves-big-milestones-in-2025-citing-ai-innovation-and-xperience-by-kentico-as-key-drivers">In a recent article,</a> the Kentico CEO echoed the challenges that many CMS and DXP vendors faced in 2025, but quickly noted that it was a “transformative year” that saw over <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.kentico.com/CMSModules/Newsletters/CMSPages/Redirect.ashx?linkguid=0192112e-93c7-4bd7-b015-f29c33f4fadd&amp;email=matt%40cmscritic.com&amp;hash=be0d1d8f19e0858f5111492f222eca952b1f9d98aaaeebe1c4c04b9dec830ced">100 new digital projects</a> launched on its stellar <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.kentico.com/platform">Xperience by Kentico</a> platform. The evolution to its new multichannel content management, marketing, and digital commerce solution has been a long one, but it’s paying off in new opportunities and growth. <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:36.54%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/12/image-1765977570953.png" /></figure>Kentico CEO Dominik Pinter. Source: Kentico website Along with its investment in the AI horizon – crystallized by <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.kentico.com/platform/aira">AIRA</a>, Kentico’s native AI agent that streamlines the creation, optimization, and time to deploy for digital experiences – Dominik and his company are embarking on the next chapter in its 20-plus-year history. One that focuses on empowering brands, builders, and marketers in entirely new ways.That excitement level was amplified today as the company announced a major leap forward in its AI ambitions: the launch of its <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.kentico.com/platform/agentic-marketing-suite">AIRA Agentic Marketing Suite.</a> As the name implies, it’s powered by specialized agents built to execute defined marketing and content tasks, reinforcing Kentico’s vision that AI should be operational, transparent, and embedded directly into how teams work. “Marketers have no shortage of ideas,” Dominik said. “What they need is the bandwidth to bring them to life. With the Agentic Marketing Suite, we’re giving teams a way to scale their expertise, cut through complexity, and deliver results faster.”Kentico’s AIRA Agentic Marketing Suite is a reflection of the evolution that marketers are experiencing: higher velocity. More noise. Too many tools. It gives marketing teams more space, allowing them to move from planning to live experiences without the very real drag of delays or cumbersome tools. And because it’s built directly into Xperience by Kentico, it has the essential AI-powered workflows to support a full lifecycle of activities – from planning, content creation, testing, and optimization – all in one place.The goal: turn marketing ideas into measurable results faster. <h3 id="leveraging-aira-as-the-foundation-of-an-ai-powered-marketing-suite">Leveraging AIRA as the foundation of an AI-powered marketing suite</h3>As mentioned, AIRA (Artificial Intelligence Recommendations &amp; Assistance) is at the heart of Kentico’s AI strategy, providing marketers with easily accessible tools that cut down on repetitive work and simplify daily tasks. At its core, Kentico’s Agentic Marketing Suite is an evolution of AIRA, transforming it from the role of a digital assistant and into an orchestrated system of specialized AI agents that support the full marketing lifecycle, from strategy and content creation to optimization and campaign execution. What really shines with AIRA is that it’s easy to use and always within arm’s reach. As a digital companion, it works across your Kentico DXP, automating content on the go and providing task-specific guidance through an in-product conversational chat interface and intuitive in-context icons.  <figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://youtu.be/qxKEIGpJh2c"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qxKEIGpJh2c" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure> ARIA offers <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.kentico.com/discover/blog/new-in-aira">a wide range of features,</a> from automatic translation and content tagging to campaign ideation, customer journey insights, instant product guidance, and more. It’s everything you expect from an AI copilot in your platform, and it’s secure and scalable on <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/microsoft-azure">Microsoft Azure.</a> All of these capabilities have enriched AIRA as the foundation for Kentico’s Agentic Marketing Suite, serving as an automation engine for marketers. <h3 id="what’s-in-the-agentic-marketing-suite?">What’s in the Agentic Marketing Suite?</h3>Kentico is framing its new platform as marketing’s “virtual team,” enabling users to create, test, and optimize without switching tools. It helps you turn your ideas into action, simply by telling it what you want to do with natural language.In the Agentic Marketing Suite, AI “teammates” support your strategy, content creation, and optimization tasks. These agents function as dedicated virtual collaborators, designed to assist with specific tasks. You can add teammates as your needs evolve, from content applications to <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generative_engine_optimization">Generative Engine Optimization (GEO),</a> sidestepping the need to hire specialists for every specialized role. And you get real outputs you can take to the bank – not just partial snippets that require additional heavy lifting.  <figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://youtu.be/HIUKAIFv_08"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HIUKAIFv_08" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure> Among the first available in the Suite is the Content Strategist, which helps shape and refine content strategies through intelligent analysis and recommendations. Additional agents will be introduced as part of Kentico’s ongoing release, expanding support into areas such as campaign management, market analysis, and workflow optimization. Each addition will focus on improving speed, precision, and impact for marketing teams. The central benefit is clear: marketers can now accelerate their path from idea to execution. With automation as part of the technical DNA, the Suite can help mitigate the arduous back-and-forth between various marketing functions like SEO and UX. It’s also designed to work seamlessly with your content and business context – something Kentico’s VP of Product <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbie-tucek/">Debbie Tucek</a> has emphasized as a key tenet for making AI work for organizations. Embedded in Xperience by Kentico, the Agentic Marketing Suite is also imbued with many of the foundational competencies you would expect from a hardened system of authority – things like clear roles and permissions, and built-in safeguards that maintain reliable and performant automations ar scale. <h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>More than ever, marketers are in a high-pressure vice grip to perform. Plagued by tool fatigue, cognitive overload, and a growing anxiety around the pace of change with AI, they need reliable solutions to help them feel more in control while achieving measurable outcomes. Translation: they need real solutions, not hype.Kentico continues to prove itself as a go-to technology and dedicated partner for building, supporting, and managing enterprise workloads across a bevy of use cases. The platform has endeared itself to a growing number of partners, proving to be incredibly extensible – and committed to an ambitious innovation arc with its transition to Xperience by Kentico.Now, with its AI evolution in full thrust and its AIRA assistant driving positive user feedback, the introduction of an Agentic Marketing Suite holds real promise. I like the clear focus on agents personified as “teammates” that can accomplish high-utility tasks, and having a system of authority that helps facilitate the complete marketing lifecycle is key. With brands and teams struggling to keep up with change, having a strong, natively-integrated solution is becoming a more attractive play.Kentico has also been nurturing a strong global partnership channel, so agencies could provide another dimension of community resource and validation when it comes to harnessing these capabilities as part of a more holistic implementation. We'll be connecting with some of them as well. My recommendation: This is a fresh announcement, and we'll be doing a deeper dive into the features, capabilities, and licensing options. Stay tuned. But as a marketing suite, it looks sweet – and it's certainly a promising track for Kentico as it looks to expand its value in a tight market where the ROI surrounding AI and software investments is under the microscope. With a proven track record and a vetted entity in AIRA, they have all the right pieces to make this a solid offering and provide a stronger market alternative to upstream competitors. Marketers should bring a scrutinizing eye to any demo, but concentrate on the use cases for agent tasks and how they align with your specific needs. My guess is that Kentico’s elegant approach to UX could make adoption even easier.  <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:34.15%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/logo_jday_hor.png" /><h4 id="joomladay-usa-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.jdayusa.com/">JoomlaDay USA 2026</a></h4>April 29 - May 2, 2026 – Delray Beach, FloridaBe part of the Joomla community in one of the most iconic cities in the world! JoomlaDay USA 2026 is coming to Delray Beach, and you can join us for a dynamic event packed with insights, workshops, and networking opportunities. Learn from top Joomla experts and developers offering valuable insights and real-world solutions. Participate in interactive workshops and sessions and enhance your skills in Joomla management, development, design, and more. And connect with fellow Joomla enthusiasts, developers, and professionals from across the world.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.jdayusa.com/"> Book your seats today.</a> <img style="width:30.06%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/cms-summit-26-logo.jpg" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-summit-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit26">CMS Summit 26</a></h4>May 12-13, 2026 – Frankfurt, GermanyThe best conferences create space for honest, experience-based conversations. Not sales pitches. Not hype. Just thoughtful exchanges between people who spend their days designing, building, running, and evolving digital experiences. CMS Summit brings together people who share real stories from their work and platforms and who are interested in learning from each other on how to make things better. Over two days in Frankfurt, you can expect practitioner-led talks grounded in experience, conversations about trade-offs, constraints, and decisions, and time to compare notes with peers facing similar challenges. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit26/tickets">so book your seats today.</a> <img style="width:30.13%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/12/image-1765546475634.png" /><h4 id="umbraco-codegarden-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://codegarden.umbraco.com/">Umbraco Codegarden 2026</a></h4>June 10–11, 2026 – Copenhagen, DKJoin us in Copenhagen (or online) for the biggest Umbraco conference in the world – two full days of learning, genuine conversations, and the kind of inspiration that brings business leaders, developers, and digital creators together. Codegarden 2026 is packed with both business and tech content, from deep-dive workshops and advanced sessions to real-world case studies and strategy talks. You’ll leave with ideas, strategies, and knowledge you can put into practice immediately. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://codegarden.umbraco.com/">Book your tickets today.</a> <img style="width:36.69%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/open-source-cms-26.jpg" /><h4 id="open-source-cms-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26">Open Source CMS 26</a></h4>October 20–21, 2026 – Utrecht, NetherlandsJoin us for the first annual edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to making open source CMS better. This event is already being called the “missing gathering place” for the open source CMS community – an international conference with confirmed participants from Europe and North America. Be part of a friendly mix of digital leaders from notable open source CMS projects, agencies, even a few industry analysts who get together to learn, network, and talk about what really matters when it comes to creating better open source CMS projects right now and for the foreseeable future. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26/tickets">Book your tickets today.</a>

Introducing the Agentic Marketing Suite: Kentico Extends its AI Strategy to Power Marketing Teams

<hr /> Security will always be a critical pillar for modern software, particularly as more threats permeate the perimeter. But security is more than just a technology consideration, and requires the fortification of best practices and policies to complete the picture. As an open source content management system with multiple products in its ecosystem, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/umbraco">Umbraco</a> continues to invest in bolstering its own security posture – and just announced that it has achieved the globally recognized <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.iso.org/standard/27001">ISO/IEC 27001:2022</a> certification.According to Umbraco CEO <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/the-right-person-to-lead-umbraco-appoints-mats-persson-as-ceo-reflecting-growth-ahead">Mats Persson</a>, this certification reflects the CMS’s growth and adoption by larger, multinational enterprises and organizations operating in highly regulated industries. It also enhances an already strong foundation of security-focused benchmarks that the company has attained.  <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:36.25%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/image-1769732833624.png" /></figure>Umbraco CEO Mats Persson “We already implement robust information security processes to comply with the NIS2 Directive and EU Cyber Resilience Act,” Persson said. “ISO 27001 certification provides our global partners and customers with the reassurance that Umbraco follows international best practices governing the way that our products process, store, and protect sensitive data.”<h3 id="setting-a-higher-bar-for-security">Setting a higher bar for security</h3>ISO – the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.iso.org/standard/27001">International Organization for Standardization</a> – maintains a rigorous process for achieving ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation. It’s well-regarded as the world's best-known standard for information security management systems (ISMS), and defines the core requirements it must meet.The ISO/IEC 27001 standard provides companies of any size – from all sectors of activity – with guidance for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving an information security management system.ISO 27001 provides a proven framework for several key requirements, starting with identifying and managing security risks and ensuring consistent and documented security practices are in place. Recipients of the certification must also support accountability and transparency across their teams, and continuously review and update their security systems and practices as their products and organizations evolve.Meeting ISO/IEC 27001 means Umbraco has instituted a system to manage risks related to the security of data that is owned or handled by the company, and that its system respects all the best practices and principles outlined in this standard.<h3 id="enhancing-security-to-support-the-partner-ecosystem">Enhancing security to support the partner ecosystem</h3>The ISO/IEC 27001 certification applies specifically to Umbraco’s product organization and follows an extensive audit of its people, processes, and technologies by an independent security specialist. It validates the company's fierce commitment to maintaining the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive data within its products.While the accreditation is a technical achievement, the investment in the process was also part of Umbraco’s ongoing support for its digital agency partners, which are increasingly winning deals with global enterprises – particularly brands and organizations with large workloads handling sensitive data. This includes complex websites and e-commerce sites.“Gaining the ISO 27001 certification shows that independent auditors have scrutinized the processes used to develop, operate, and maintain Umbraco products, and confirmed that the company reviews and manages security risks on an ongoing basis,” Persson added. “This is a milestone on a continuous security journey.”<h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>Umbraco is already demonstrating its ambitions for global growth, and this ISO certification is further evidence of its drive towards the enterprise layer. Having already complied with the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=NIS2+Directive&amp;rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS763US764&amp;oq=NIS2+direct&amp;gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqDAgAEAAYQxiABBiKBTIMCAAQABhDGIAEGIoFMgYIARBFGDkyBwgCEAAYgAQyBwgDEAAYgAQyBwgEEAAYgAQyBwgFEAAYgAQyBwgGEAAYgAQyBwgHEAAYgAQyDAgIEAAYQxiABBiKBTIHCAkQABiABNIBCDMyMTFqMGo3qAIAsAIA&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiYhOmJg7KSAxV-1fACHXraPBYQgK4QegYIAQgAEAM">NIS2 Directive</a> (the comprehensive, EU-wide cybersecurity legislation that strengthens security for critical infrastructure and digital services) as well as the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/cyber-resilience-act">EU Cyber Resilience Act,</a> Umbraco is well-positioned to sell into regulated industries with the most important product of all: trust. <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:34.15%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/logo_jday_hor.png" /><h4 id="joomladay-usa-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.jdayusa.com/">JoomlaDay USA 2026</a></h4>April 29 - May 2, 2026 – Delray Beach, FloridaBe part of the Joomla community in one of the most iconic cities in the world! JoomlaDay USA 2026 is coming to Delray Beach, and you can join us for a dynamic event packed with insights, workshops, and networking opportunities. Learn from top Joomla experts and developers offering valuable insights and real-world solutions. Participate in interactive workshops and sessions and enhance your skills in Joomla management, development, design, and more. And connect with fellow Joomla enthusiasts, developers, and professionals from across the world.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.jdayusa.com/"> Book your seats today.</a> <img style="width:30.06%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/cms-summit-26-logo.jpg" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-summit-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit26">CMS Summit 26</a></h4>May 12-13, 2026 – Frankfurt, GermanyThe best conferences create space for honest, experience-based conversations. Not sales pitches. Not hype. Just thoughtful exchanges between people who spend their days designing, building, running, and evolving digital experiences. CMS Summit brings together people who share real stories from their work and platforms and who are interested in learning from each other on how to make things better. Over two days in Frankfurt, you can expect practitioner-led talks grounded in experience, conversations about trade-offs, constraints, and decisions, and time to compare notes with peers facing similar challenges. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit26/tickets">so book your seats today.</a> <img style="width:30.13%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/12/image-1765546475634.png" /><h4 id="umbraco-codegarden-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://codegarden.umbraco.com/">Umbraco Codegarden 2026</a></h4>June 10–11, 2026 – Copenhagen, DKJoin us in Copenhagen (or online) for the biggest Umbraco conference in the world – two full days of learning, genuine conversations, and the kind of inspiration that brings business leaders, developers, and digital creators together. Codegarden 2026 is packed with both business and tech content, from deep-dive workshops and advanced sessions to real-world case studies and strategy talks. You’ll leave with ideas, strategies, and knowledge you can put into practice immediately. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://codegarden.umbraco.com/">Book your tickets today.</a> <img style="width:36.69%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/open-source-cms-26.jpg" /><h4 id="open-source-cms-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26">Open Source CMS 26</a></h4>October 20–21, 2026 – Utrecht, NetherlandsJoin us for the first annual edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to making open source CMS better. This event is already being called the “missing gathering place” for the open source CMS community – an international conference with confirmed participants from Europe and North America. Be part of a friendly mix of digital leaders from notable open source CMS projects, agencies, even a few industry analysts who get together to learn, network, and talk about what really matters when it comes to creating better open source CMS projects right now and for the foreseeable future. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26/tickets">Book your tickets today.</a>

Umbraco Lands ISO 27001 Certification, Bolstering Its Security Posture

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Hard? Hardly. Drupal CMS 2.0 evolves open source content management with AI, visual building – and simplicity

<hr /> When I spoke to <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/coremedia">CoreMedia</a> CEO <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/soerenstamer/">Sören Stamer</a> back in December, we were waxing philosophically about the year ahead. He went deep into topics like data and digital sovereignty, a persistent theme at our recent <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff26">Boye &amp; Company CMS Kickoff</a> conference in St. Petersburg, Florida. Along with the anticipated (and explosive) growth of AI – where Sören sees big potential for agentic commerce and AI-powered interfaces – he also talked about the next wave of personalization and its impact on experiences.“Personalization isn’t new,” he told me. “What’s new is its velocity. Hyper-personalization means connecting intent, data, and content in real time, and anticipating needs before they’re expressed.” Personalization has certainly been one of the more elusive features for digital experience tools. Or, at least, doing it right – both sustainably and at scale. As Sören said, we’ve been talking about platform-centric and third-party personalization tools for the last two decades, but AI and new experience models are finally raising the bar. To realize the promise, CoreMedia has been busy innovating – and today, it launched a major evolution of its CMS that embeds personalization and real-time experimentation directly into the content workflow. This comes at a time when enterprises are swimming in oceans of customer data but struggling to transform it into relevant experiences for consumers. Simultaneously, users are opting for personalized experiences that are clear, transparent, and capable of solving real problems. It’s at this intersection that CoreMedia powers the potential of personalization by reducing or even eliminating the friction between insight and action.With its new native features, CoreMedia will give teams the ability to create, test, and optimize personalized content variants inside its industry-leading CMS. Armed with this added flexibility and insight, brands can now respond to customer intent in the moments that matter most – and turn relevance into measurable growth.“Enterprises don’t have a data problem – they have an action problem,” Sören explained. “Customer intent shows up in real time and needs to be acted upon instantly. When marketing teams are forced to work with disconnected tools and manual processes, they often miss the chance. By making personalization and experimentation native to the CMS, CoreMedia enables teams to respond in the moment intent appears. That’s where experiences are won or lost, and where relevance turns into revenue.”CoreMedia has been actively innovating at the edge of AI for quite some time. Case in point: its <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.coremedia.com/coremedia-kio">CoreMedia KIO</a> assistant brings expansive tooling for content and journey experience orchestration. As part of its integrated ecosystem, it adds a bleeding-edge dimension of functionality to help craft CX in new ways – including a conversational interface that transforms user engagement.Along with its strides to make progressive, GEO-ready capabilities part of its elemental playbook, CoreMedia continues to offer foundational CMS features that rank strongly with global retailers that are hyper-focused on delivering world-class experiences. This includes the likes of The North Face, Vans, and Timberland from VF Corporation – as well as B2B stalwarts like Emerson and Sonepar.As Sören told me, one of the big bets CoreMedia is making is that the customer experience of the future will be unified. Clearly, personalization and experimentation will be vital to delivering on that holistic vision.Here’s a bit more detail on how CoreMedia’s evolutionary new capabilities work. <h3 id="bringing-native-personalization-to-the-content-workflow">Bringing native personalization to the content workflow</h3>Often, personalization has been a mixed domain of technologies, cobbled together to deliver a complete solution. But with CoreMedia’s native approach, personalization is no longer a downstream task handled in external tools. Now, content teams can create, manage, and optimize personalized variants directly inside CoreMedia’s CMS, harnessing the same familiar workspace they utilize for content production. CoreMedia already offers an elegant UX, and users will find the addition of audience insights, targeting rules, and variant controls all within arm’s reach. This promises to help teams move seamlessly – and in real time – from creation to activation. <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:68.62%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/image-1769540029544.png" alt="Image" /></figure> Personalized content variants are created, tested, and optimized in real time directly within the CMS. Source: CoreMedia One of the biggest benefits is the speed and efficacy. Using the CMS, teams can produce tailored versions of any text block, banner, promotion, or other content asset. In seconds, they can deliver focused messages to the right audience at the right moment – all without duplicating content or managing different versions.There’s also a composable and extensible framework supporting the engine. Segments can be created directly in CoreMedia or synced from CRM, CDP, and other systems, ensuring teams work with the most complete customer profiles. CoreMedia’s targeting also supports real-time signals, including lifecycle stage, browsing behavior, or location. Personalization and performance data can be exported to stay consistent across business intelligence tools, data platforms, and the wider enterprise tech stack of tools and services. <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:83.14%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/image-1769540029597.png" alt="Image" /></figure>Segmentation and personalization are integrated directly into the content workflow. Source: CoreMedia For users and teams, having everything in one intuitive platform can ease the personalization challenges while accelerating time to market. Your content variants and targeting rules are all managed in a single, uniform workplace. This eliminates the potential for fragmentation across tools and simplifies the creation, launch, and optimization of personalized experiences at a global scale.<h3 id="a/b-testing-and-real-time-experimentation-–-right-where-content-decisioning-lives">A/B testing and real-time experimentation – right where content decisioning lives</h3>Without question, A/B testing has become a critical asset for marketers. There's a bevy of third-party tools for facilitating test paradigms, but having a solution close to your content workflows is a key advantage. That’s why CoreMedia has embedded A/B testing directly into its CMS, allowing teams to validate ideas and optimize experiences as part of their standard cadence of content production. Instead of exporting content to external testing utilities and waiting for reports, editors can compare variants, monitor performance, and act on results in real time – without ever having to leave the CMS. <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:82.21%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/image-1769540029604.png" alt="Image" /></figure>Test ideas, measure impact, and decide faster with CoreMedia’s A/B testing. Source: CoreMedia One of the clear advantages of CoreMedia’s A/B testing is having side-by-side comparisons of variant performance. With quick go-to insights, you can determine which content resonates with customers and make quick, evidence-backed decisions.Live experiment data also shows you how users interact with each variant, enabling fast adjustments when a challenger outperforms the original. There’s also continuous optimization in context, so editors can refine content directly inside the CMS. This leads to a smoother production flow and consistent momentum in experience optimization.<h3 id="semantic-search-delivers-control-and-scalability-to-content-operations-">Semantic Search delivers control and scalability to content operations </h3>We’ve already mentioned CoreMedia’s investment in AI edge innovation, and search has been a key area of focus. And rightly so: as AI accelerates content creation and personalization, enterprises are grappling with the relevance, reuse, and governance associated with rapidly expanding content libraries. Personalization is promising. But without precision, control, and clarity, it can quickly devolve into a slow and inconsistent morass. That’s where CoreMedia’s Semantic Search comes in. Leveraging a natural language interface, it helps teams find, assess, and reuse content efficiently – even as volume and complexity increase.<figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:80.56%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/image-1769540029638.png" alt="Image" /></figure>Natural-language search enables teams to quickly find, assess, and reuse content directly in the CMS. Source: CoreMedia For users, this is a godsend. Imagine conducting searches using everyday phrases like “winter campaign images” – all without relying on just exact keywords. This makes discovery faster, more intuitive, and more contextual than traditional search.CoreMedia’s Semantic Search also brings a layer of calm to handle your content chaos. When prompted, it automatically surfaces similar or redundant assets, reducing clutter and reinforcing brand consistency. There’s also fierce governance surrounding discoverability, enabling teams to reuse assets, avoid duplication, and maintain structured libraries as content volumes expand.<h3 id="the-verdict">The verdict</h3>The CMS and DXP landscape is both wide and deep, but there’s a growing convergence around features – particularly those imbued with AI or agentic systems. This, in turn, is creating confusion, particularly when it comes to assessing AI features within the broader corpus of capabilities. The fact that CoreMedia is enriching its CMS with onboard personalization, experimentation, and search is building on its strong heritage of foundational features, and it's addressing the real challenges teams face with the exponential growth of content assets.While composable stacks offer an array of third-party tools for things like A/B testing, brands need to move faster than ever – and having a performant, purposefully integrated solution provides a clear advantage for enterprises that are looking to accelerate. This is another check in CoreMedia’s column as a single, accountable, and trusted source that addresses critical requirements like governance and compliance. You’re not just buying enterprise software – you’re buying trust. In my opinion, a modern CMS should offer native testing and experimentation features to leverage content provenance and link marketers closer to actionable insights. To facilitate real-time journey orchestration, speed and efficacy are paramount. As such, CoreMedia is listening to the needs of marketers by providing built-in personalization and semantic search as onboard feature sets that accelerate time to vision. At the same time, offering a composable, hybrid headless posture allows a brand to onboard adjacent integrations that expand the core feature set.My recommendation: CoreMedia already has a strong commerce focus, but this added tooling should present a welcome win for users across a myriad of industries and use cases. If you’re considering a move, CoreMedia’s CMS is a solid platform, but pay close attention to how your various data sources will be handled relative to fueling your personalization. Also, as an integrated DXP, I would consider the scope of your roadmap to see if there’s additional alignment within the ecosystem.If you’re interested in seeing more, the company is offering a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.gqh-2BaxUzlo7XKIuSly0rC39ko2jEDIdJwxcolsDUNbznLFOa0iFUDItIE1EpE2CXIq1KKbIBA7b5SjV14h7GXA-3D-3DOgKO_LYRc62DeCgOg3NLqF-2FA1Nkc-2BB6iSCezTSr7cATVeIt7vbFxqkjj807TkbpGOsHdtP-2FHWYQ8hHG-2Bh0tJIgFVOZO69Re4Ks6syHse342AC9Gvw37kkXSVzTxWGuOeP3fGPq9EXOufW3jPOsSyNAntDgg5r76UG3z9WQ-2B4SeSP2Y8kH6B5Y36WENHz3zspHNwEaDRWiwk-2BO-2BTG1zhj7Gg2FzC7esWi6WuPWJcHfaxfp9-2BXuGLX-2FJVXfSBulQ-2B6jzs4qYy5l-2FNB-2FEN3ANt3TS1abOfO5-2F1nSYji-2B1uzrhzImhavcXNVxQhJVtjg05uNJ58INknrgYXWvk6RmDjmgdYsnJQ-3D-3D">“What’s New” Webinar</a> on January 28th. You can also request a free <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.gqh-2BaxUzlo7XKIuSly0rC39ko2jEDIdJwxcolsDUNbyskU8mw7dKQbCEOpEH5cJkd2DOv6VNuJe-2F1PSX1rYFlg-3D-3Dk5q-_LYRc62DeCgOg3NLqF-2FA1Nkc-2BB6iSCezTSr7cATVeIt7vbFxqkjj807TkbpGOsHdtP-2FHWYQ8hHG-2Bh0tJIgFVOZO69Re4Ks6syHse342AC9Gvw37kkXSVzTxWGuOeP3fGPq9EXOufW3jPOsSyNAntDgg5r76UG3z9WQ-2B4SeSP2Y8kH6B5Y36WENHz3zspHNwEaDRWiwk-2BO-2BTG1zhj7Gg2FzGmk97Kfhpo6s0O7iiDxES-2FnT64AeDLfLwh2LujHv8-2FF7mqpKpNdkb7luHlyXyxnQI9y3U9u34vRTWlFMl-2F7EAHhN6m1ZXhr3rxHa4ZBUPix0RS8yDqvq3Wu-2FvzC-2BTOzvA-3D-3D">demo</a>. <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:34.15%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/logo_jday_hor.png" /><h4 id="joomladay-usa-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.jdayusa.com/">JoomlaDay USA 2026</a></h4>April 29 - May 2, 2026 – Delray Beach, FloridaBe part of the Joomla community in one of the most iconic cities in the world! JoomlaDay USA 2026 is coming to Delray Beach, and you can join us for a dynamic event packed with insights, workshops, and networking opportunities. Learn from top Joomla experts and developers offering valuable insights and real-world solutions. Participate in interactive workshops and sessions and enhance your skills in Joomla management, development, design, and more. And connect with fellow Joomla enthusiasts, developers, and professionals from across the world.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.jdayusa.com/"> Book your seats today.</a> <img style="width:30.06%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/cms-summit-26-logo.jpg" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-summit-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit26">CMS Summit 26</a></h4>May 12-13, 2026 – Frankfurt, GermanyThe best conferences create space for honest, experience-based conversations. Not sales pitches. Not hype. Just thoughtful exchanges between people who spend their days designing, building, running, and evolving digital experiences. CMS Summit brings together people who share real stories from their work and platforms and who are interested in learning from each other on how to make things better. Over two days in Frankfurt, you can expect practitioner-led talks grounded in experience, conversations about trade-offs, constraints, and decisions, and time to compare notes with peers facing similar challenges. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit26/tickets">so book your seats today.</a> <img style="width:30.13%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/12/image-1765546475634.png" /><h4 id="umbraco-codegarden-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://codegarden.umbraco.com/">Umbraco Codegarden 2026</a></h4>June 10–11, 2026 – Copenhagen, DKJoin us in Copenhagen (or online) for the biggest Umbraco conference in the world – two full days of learning, genuine conversations, and the kind of inspiration that brings business leaders, developers, and digital creators together. Codegarden 2026 is packed with both business and tech content, from deep-dive workshops and advanced sessions to real-world case studies and strategy talks. You’ll leave with ideas, strategies, and knowledge you can put into practice immediately. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://codegarden.umbraco.com/">Book your tickets today.</a> <img style="width:36.69%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/open-source-cms-26.jpg" /><h4 id="open-source-cms-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26">Open Source CMS 26</a></h4>October 20–21, 2026 – Utrecht, NetherlandsJoin us for the first annual edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to making open source CMS better. This event is already being called the “missing gathering place” for the open source CMS community – an international conference with confirmed participants from Europe and North America. Be part of a friendly mix of digital leaders from notable open source CMS projects, agencies, even a few industry analysts who get together to learn, network, and talk about what really matters when it comes to creating better open source CMS projects right now and for the foreseeable future. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26/tickets">Book your tickets today.</a>

Core Value: CoreMedia Adds Native Personalization and Experimentation to its CMS

<hr /> Over the years, I’ve built websites a-plenty using no-code builders, from stand-alone products to plug-ins for open source platforms. I’ve experimented with everything from <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/elementor">Elementor</a> to <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/squarespace">Squarespace</a> to <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/webflow">Webflow</a>, and had a mix of results up and down the scale. The devil, it seems, is always in the details.I remember seeing the first entries in what we’ll call the “modern” era of AI-powered tools that promise a “prompt and a dream” to a working site. In my early trials, I ran into the limitations of what was possible – but improvements have certainly been made over the last year.The current crop of vibe coding tools is now fairly robust. Watching laypeople conjure apps using <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://base44.com/">Base44</a> for example, is kinda magical. But it’s also a bit misleading. As I’ve <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/joyconf-stories-netlifys-matt-biilmann-on-the-power-of-the-storyblok-partnership">discussed with Matt Biilmann</a> of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/netlify">Netlify</a>, you wouldn’t run these prototypes across the finish line without a competent developer's eye, but they’re giving laypeople a solid starting point. Websites are a different bailiwick. While some projects might only require a static page, most need a backend to manage the concerns. In other words, you need a CMS to complete the equation. That’s where <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/strapi-casts-for-growth-in-the-headless-sea-a-conversation-with-ceo-pierre-burgy">Pierre Burgy</a> saw an opportunity to do it better with a new platform called <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://fimo.ai/">Fimo.ai</a> – which officially launched today.As Pierre explained, existing vibe coding tools are great for building apps, but websites have their own set of unique requirements. As the founder and CEO of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/strapi">Strapi</a> – the most popular open source headless CMS – he’s spent the last decade focused on a better backend experience. Strapi has amassed thousands of GitHub stars and contributors, and millions of downloads, winning the hearts of users across the globe. <figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKN3fbDE_Sg"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qKN3fbDE_Sg" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure> With this in mind, Fimo.ai positions itself as an AI-native CMS that focuses on the really important aspects of managing a website – things like translating and updating content with ease, accessing reusable assets, optimizing SEO/GEO, running A/B tests and personalizing pages, scheduling releases, and more. Already a fixture on <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.producthunt.com/products/fimo-2">Product Hunt,</a> Fimo.ai is a snap to get started with. I created an account using my GitHub creds and was playing around with a sample project in seconds. The UX is sleek, elegant, and incredibly easy to navigate. It all feels fluid. Even a novice will find it comfortable to get around.<h3 id="fimo.ai-is-rich-with-features">Fimo.ai is rich with features</h3>Fimo.ai has a bold roadmap, but it’s rolling out with a complete set of features that will allow you to build with intention and take your project live. For the purposes of my very first demo sample, I replicated an existing site and prompted a blog to be added. As billed, the process was quick – although the complexity of your task will likely impact your wait time. Still, it’s all like waving a magic wand to cast your project into existence.  <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:84.06%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/image-1769004638929.png" alt="A screenshot of a computer

AI-generated content may be incorrect." /></figure> Once inside, I was able to peruse the various entities with little to no friction. Everything is logically within reach, so you can navigate anywhere in seconds. If I wanted to, I could invite users to work with me – and there’s also a sense of presence, so you can see what your team is doing in real-time. Prompting changes is a slam-dunk. Once my site was fully generated, I was able to start conversationally styling the mechanics. You can adjust content, elements, and even classes across the site. Like any AI generator, feeding it richer, more detailed prompts can improve your outcomes. <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:82.98%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/image-1769004638907.png" alt="A screenshot of a video chat

AI-generated content may be incorrect." /></figure> The live preview allows you to access any element to tweak styles and properties, and the built-in CMS lets you manage the content all in one place. As far as assets are concerned, there’s a media library for keeping everything organized and accessible.  <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:82.64%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/image-1769004639006.png" alt="A screenshot of a computer

AI-generated content may be incorrect." /></figure> One thing I really like is the ease of toggling into code. There’s a split-view that really makes it comfortable to assess and modify components, and you have access to dependencies and resources at all times. After I added a blog, I was able to seamlessly access all of the entries and make edits on the fly. The whole experience was very easy to customize and update, and there’s plenty of runway for building this out as part of a robust content strategy – with the underlying structure and fundamentals to support your SEO and GEO goals.  <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:81.81%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/image-1769004639029.png" alt="A screenshot of a computer

AI-generated content may be incorrect." /></figure> Of course, you’re probably asking, “what if I screw up?” Like any good CMS or system of authority, there’s a content history you can access, allowing you to roll back to previous versions as needed. On that note: I intentionally created an error in my build (removing a wrapper div for an image), and Fimo not only detected it, but offered to fix it. Seven seconds later, I was back to a proper build and preview – and ready to rock and roll. <h3 id="hosting">Hosting</h3>Fimo.ai doesn’t require a lot of fancy DevOps footwork to bring your site to life. You can go live globally in one click with its secure, built-in hosting. Just click the button in the upper right and it builds and deploys the current preview state. Fimo takes care of everything. If you have a team, the obvious benefit is the ability to collaborate freely in the preview mode without affecting any visitors to your live production site. In other words, you have a staging environment with a one-click pathway to production.Every project is published by default under a free fimo.site subdomain. But you do have the option under a premium plan to <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://docs.fimo.ai/publish/custom-domains">add your own custom domain</a>, which provides a fully branded experience. On the roadmap, you’ll soon be able to connect your Fimo.ai project to your GitHub account, so your code and history live in a repo. This will augment the benefits of controlling your version history, collaborating with other team members, syncing with changes, and managing granular code-based considerations like setting up CI/CD pipelines to manage the flow.<h3 id="documentation">Documentation</h3>Based on the quality of the documentation, it’s evident that seasoned content and development people were behind this project. From end to end, the guidance is clear, concise, and well-structured. There’s also a cache of learning resources on vibe coding, prompt engineering, and even how to optimize the use of your AI credits in Fimo.I particularly like how they’ve simplified many of the instructional posts with a quadrant of benefits, making the explanations much more accessible to laypeople without any coding or technical background. There’s also the presence of meetups, community, and even a referral program for earning credits – giving it all a grassroots vibe that could grow organically. <h3 id="pricing">Pricing</h3>As I just mentioned, Fimo is an AI website builder, so it’s devouring credits with every prompt. Being judicious and strategic about how you use those prompts is key – and I’m impressed at how proactive they are with advocating for solid prompt engineering. At launch, Fimo.ai is offering two simple options. The first is a Free plan that offers up to 3 projects and 2,500 monthly credits. That’s enough to trick out a basic site and experiment with the possibilities. The only downside with the Free tier is the presence of the Fimo platform badge, which makes the case for upgrading. Fimo’s Premium plan is just $25 a month and provides a lot more power. Along with 25,000 monthly credits, you get unlimited projects, 30 days of version history, and the removal of the platform badge. It’s pretty robust considering what you get.<h3 id="the-verdict">The verdict</h3>The market is awash with AI builders, so there’s plenty of choice if you’re looking for the “easier lane” for launching a project. But having a solid CMS baked into the recipe is a key differentiator, and something that’s only been available in certain platform offerings. I’ve long been a fan of Strapi, and their collective knowledge and experience have clearly been injected into Fimo. That gives it a content management framework and structural mindset that other builders might be lacking. As someone who also wants access to code – and potentially to a Git-powered solution – Fimo is also tracking in the right direction with its current features and broader roadmap. It really appeals to a wide range of users up and down the technical spectrum.There’s also a spirit of startup magic in this tool. I love how they tapped Product Hunt as a channel for marshalling grassroots momentum while inviting seasoned builders from the Strapi side into the mix. It feels fresh, even if it's entering a noisy segment of the building experience ecosystem.My recommendation: It's early days (um, day one, actually), so running a workload is still something I need to assess. With websites, there's a lot to explore in the way of forms, A/B testing, and other factors – as well as the ability to connect with other systems as part of an integrated, composable play. But based on what I've already seen, you should create a free account and give Fimo a spin. When I compare it to other enterprise-grade builders, it's achieving a simpler, more intuitive flow that most users will find satisfying. Be sure to check out the sample projects in the gallery to see just how far uses are pushing it. You might feel a little FOMO, but that should light a fire under you to create some beautiful sites of your own. <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:30.06%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/cms-summit-26-logo.jpg" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-summit-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit26">CMS Summit 26</a></h4>May 12-13, 2026 – Frankfurt, GermanyThe best conferences create space for honest, experience-based conversations. Not sales pitches. Not hype. Just thoughtful exchanges between people who spend their days designing, building, running, and evolving digital experiences. CMS Summit brings together people who share real stories from their work and platforms and who are interested in learning from each other on how to make things better. Over two days in Frankfurt, you can expect practitioner-led talks grounded in experience, conversations about trade-offs, constraints, and decisions, and time to compare notes with peers facing similar challenges. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit26/tickets">so book your seats today.</a> <img style="width:30.13%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/12/image-1765546475634.png" /><h4 id="umbraco-codegarden-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://codegarden.umbraco.com/">Umbraco Codegarden 2026</a></h4>June 10–11, 2026 – Copenhagen, DKJoin us in Copenhagen (or online) for the biggest Umbraco conference in the world – two full days of learning, genuine conversations, and the kind of inspiration that brings business leaders, developers, and digital creators together. Codegarden 2026 is packed with both business and tech content, from deep-dive workshops and advanced sessions to real-world case studies and strategy talks. You’ll leave with ideas, strategies, and knowledge you can put into practice immediately. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://codegarden.umbraco.com/">Book your tickets today.</a> <img style="width:40.76%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/open-source-cms-26.jpg" /><h4 id="open-source-cms-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26">Open Source CMS 26</a></h4>October 20–21, 2026 – Utrecht, NetherlandsJoin us for the first annual edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to making open source CMS better. This event is already being called the “missing gathering place” for the open source CMS community – an international conference with confirmed participants from Europe and North America. Be part of a friendly mix of digital leaders from notable open source CMS projects, agencies, even a few industry analysts who get together to learn, network, and talk about what really matters when it comes to creating better open source CMS projects right now and for the foreseeable future. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26/tickets">Book your tickets today.</a>

Vibe-coding FOMO? Fimo.ai offers easy website building with AI-native CMS capabilities

Griddo DXP Powers University Websites and Digital Experiences with a PhD in Performance

CMS Summit 26

Find out at CMS Summit 26, May 12 - 13 in Frankfurt, Germany

What's ahead for CMS in the agentic era?

Explore a wide range of informative articles on CMS, insights, and industry updates. Stay informed and ahead of the curve with our diverse collection of news and posts covering the latest trends and developments in the industry