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<hr /> When I spoke to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathias-biilmann-christensen-a5a3805/">Mathias Billman</a> recently, the word sanity popped up more than once during our conversation. It wasn’t an off-color reference to the chaos of our modern digital ecosystem, but the evocation of a content management tool that frequently rides alongside <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/netlify">Netlify</a> – a leading web development platform he co-founded. Of course, this is logical. <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/sanity">Sanity</a> (I'm referring to the application) offers a number of integrations and connectors for Netlify. But more importantly, Billman is an angel investor in the platform, a clear indicator that he sees Sanity as a transformative resource for composable stacks – where its novel vision as a Content Operating System is proving its value.To its credit, Sanity has carved out a unique position for itself, focusing on content as structured data and cultivating a tacit developer-centricity. It has also earned its place as a trusted solution for big global players like Figma, Puma, AT&amp;T, and Burger King, further validating its impact as enterprises strive for faster, more composable ways to power their digital experiences at scale. The run-up has been solid for Sanity. In 2021, the company <a target="_blank" href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/24/sanity-raises-39m-for-its-use-anywhere-approach-to-content-repositories/">closed on a $39 million Series B</a> that heralded its vision for extensible content repositories (and also brought its total raise to nearly $52 million). A year later, they were forging strategic partnerships with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sanity.io/blog/shopify-invests-in-sanity-connecting-commerce-with-content">the likes of Shopify</a>, nurturing its value across commerce channels. Competition has certainly swelled over the last two years, but Sanity has remained steadfast around its central mission while evolving its messaging. As Sanity proclaims, content is the competitive differentiator for brands, and its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sanity.io/">Sanity Content Operating System</a> is purpose-built to deliver on that proposition. The platform’s composition of composable APIs with a customizable workspace – along with its Content Lake storage and distribution – provides an elegant model that its peers don't offer (at least not in the same construct). Given the success of its longtail vision and the christening of its Content Operating System, the company is doubling down on the next phase of its evolution. Last week, Sanity announced that it has onboarded the complete team behind <a target="_blank" href="http://begin.com">Begin.com</a> – a company specializing in deploying full-stack web apps to <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/aws">AWS</a>. If you’re not familiar, Begin was also responsible for creating popular open source frameworks like Architect (<a target="_blank" href="https://github.com/architect">go check it out on Github</a>).Buying Begin’s mindshare is a strategic move, one that reinforces Sanity’s mission to better enable developers and digital leaders. It also deepens its goal of helping customers rethink how they use content and technology to drive growth, particularly at a time when tech budgets are being heavily scrutized around the value quotient. Begin’s CEO, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianleroux/">Brian Leroux</a>, seemed bullish about his company’s synthesis with Sanity, and noted in the company’s press release that he sees “a lot of untapped potential in how content can be used.”Sanity's Content Lake, introduced in 2018, disrupted the content management landscape by providing a central hub for integration across channels and platforms. This ignited some early gains for the platform’s offerings, particularly as composability shifted into high gear. Despite the realization of content automation for many of its customers, the full potential of automation has remained, as Leroux pointed out, relatively untapped. With the addition of Begin, Sanity hopes to accelerate its innovation and attain new levels of performance. The Begin team brings deep experience in developing powerful compute and automation capabilities – attributes that will be critical to reducing manual workloads and streamlining content processes. I had a chance to talk with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/magnushillestad">Magnus Hillestad</a>, co-founder and CEO of Sanity, about his plans for Begin. It's worth noting that Hillestad is an ex-finance and private equity guy turned tech start-up leader, thus bringing more of the traditional commercial optics to the founder's role. This is a distinct advantage for the company, one that undoubtedly contributed to its successful capital raising. Aside from the foundational benefits of force multiplying Sanity’s innovation resources, it’s clear that a central impact for customers is greater resiliency and agility in the face of widespread technological change."The Begin team joining us marks a transformative moment for Sanity and for what our customers can expect going forward," he said. “By combining their expertise in compute and modern app deployments with our vision for an automated, resilient content operating system, we're redefining what's possible in content management. This powerful synergy will unlock unprecedented levels of efficiency and innovation for our customers, propelling industries like e-commerce, media and technology into a new era of content operations.”<h3 id="where-to-begin?-with-an-automation-end-game">Where to Begin? With an automation end game</h3>Sanity has been challenging the status quo of content management since coming online in 2018. Sanity’s core philosophy – reflected in its Content Operating System platform – flips the standard CMS narrative by treating content as data, and by connecting and automating systems beyond its central hub. This shift in perception also allows teams to treat content as a more strategic asset for their business.From a developer perspective, the addition of Begin’s resources will provide a number of benefits. This includes the addition of powerful compute resources, giving users the ability to scale extensible content distribution systems with embedded automation.Begin’s heritage as an AWS development house was certainly a key part of the acquisition appeal. By absorbing a cohort of expertise with proven success deploying web apps to the world’s leading cloud, Sanity hoped to imbue its features with next-level scalability – all while mitigating the headaches associated with deploying apps on Sanity.  “The Begin Team's experience building within a 'cloud hyperscaler' environment provides substantial value to our customers through the development of powerful compute capabilities,” he said, “which simplifies the way they build complex content automations. The goal is to enable our customers to easily deploy content operations applications directly on the Sanity Content Operating System, abstracting away much of the complexity.” Hillestad went on to explain that many of Sanity’s customers are setting up content operations applications in their own cloud environments. Given this vector, he believes Sanity can provide a better developer experience by offering an abstracted compute layer, giving customers the option to leverage Sanity for their automation and content ops needs while still allowing direct cloud integrations where needed. “Ultimately, by leveraging the Begin team's capabilities, we aim to empower the same developers who have become superstars at building content workflows in Sanity Studio to also excel at deploying content operations and automation on our platform,” he said. Another stated focus for the Begin team will be the delivery of content infrastructure as code. This will manifest in more powerful tools that help users develop, deploy, and manage advanced content pipelines with greater ease and efficacy.  <h3 id="what-about-content-marketers?">What about content marketers?</h3>As previously noted, Sanity has carved out a reputation for being “developer-friendly.” That might translate to “requires code” for the gaggle of CMS users hungry for less cumbersome, more drag-and-drop-oriented solutions with composable propensities. Many of the now “legacy” headless CMS tools are endeavoring to differentiate their value through visual editing tools. Sanity is already addressing this side of content ops ledger with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sanity.io/studio">Sanity Studio</a>, which enables a host of visual features like customizable components and block content editing, as well as collaboration and workspace capabilities. On the automation front, it even sports things like intelligent image cropping and scaling. <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:72.78%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/sanity-collaboration-screenshot.jpg" alt="" /></figure>A mockup of collaboration features in Sanity Studio At the same time, the company maintains a clear pipeline back to the developers with Sanity Studio, allowing users to connect a production-ready content backend to an application. Studio’s customization framework allows for the development of unique content forms, workflows, validation, workspaces, and more – all built using modern web dev patterns that make the journey easier and more efficient. <hr /><h4 style="text-align:center">"The real win is in enabling tighter collaboration between developers and the rest of the content organization to deliver better digital experiences.”</h4><hr /> I wanted to know how Sanity’s investment in Begin would translate into greater value for the broader content operations model – vis-à-vis the marketers and editors driving the content itself. The amplification of compute resources and cloud dimensions are more the domain of DevOps; aside from impacting speed and productivity for editors, what other gains might be on the horizon?As Hillestad pointed out, the acquisition of Begin will take Sanity’s developer offerings to the next level, but the organizational benefits will be very tangible for non-developers as well. “While it's true that Sanity has always put a strong emphasis on being developer-friendly, the benefits of this approach extend far beyond the developer experience,” Hillestad said. “We believe that the most advanced organizations empower their skilled engineers to enable efficient, scalable content operations that drive impactful storytelling.”How will they deliver on this? By enabling content operations within the same system, thus reducing context switching between tools. As Hillestad explained, content strategists and product managers will have an easier path to integrating all related content and data directly into their single source of truth – enabling that richer storytelling potential. “So while speed and productivity gains are certainly part of the equation, the real win is in enabling tighter collaboration between developers and the rest of the content organization to deliver better digital experiences.”<h3 id="what-about-ai?">What about AI?</h3>While the acquisition of Begin is a big deal for Sanity, there’s been significant AI investment from all corners of the CMS landscape. Given its ambitions to evolve the Content Operating System to new levels of performance, I asked Hillestad how is AI playing into his plans – and if Begin’s proximity to <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/aws">AWS</a> and its <a target="_blank" href="https://aws.amazon.com/bedrock/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwvpy5BhDTARIsAHSilyn-dmseaMQpjDac_WRX0C1ov1es3fdfHFLRdjXEB0OHW_Z7dLGkATIaAjRmEALw_wcB&amp;trk=0eaabb80-ee46-4e73-94ae-368ffb759b62&amp;sc_channel=ps&amp;ef_id=Cj0KCQjwvpy5BhDTARIsAHSilyn-dmseaMQpjDac_WRX0C1ov1es3fdfHFLRdjXEB0OHW_Z7dLGkATIaAjRmEALw_wcB:G:s&amp;s_kwcid=AL!4422!3!692006004682!e!!g!!aws%20bedrock!21048268554!159639952735">Amazon Bedrock</a> or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.anthropic.com/">Anthropic</a> services might be an advantage.  “AI is indeed a significant part of our plans going forward, and the Begin team will play a key role in making AI capabilities more accessible to developers on our platform,” he said. “Sanity already offers several AI-powered tools for our users, leveraging services like <a target="_blank" href="https://openai.com/">OpenAI</a>, Anthropic, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pinecone.io/">Pinecone</a>. With the addition of the Begin team, we will make it even easier for developers to build their own custom AI functions and workflows on top of our platform.” As Sanity further develops its AI offerings, Hillestad forecast that it plans to support a wide range of AI services and large language models to give its customers maximum flexibility. “The Begin team's expertise in building developer abstractions will be invaluable as we work to make these powerful AI capabilities more approachable and integrated into the Sanity ecosystem.”<h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>In a marketplace of increasingly commoditized headless offerings, Sanity continues to establish differentiated value with its niche position as a Content Operating System. As it onboards the experience and resources of Begin, it is further investing in a growth angle that will enhance automation, scalability, and performance – perhaps in profound ways. Still, Sanity’s greatest strength could be its main detractor. Developer reliance is part of the resistance for marketing organizations when adopting new tools, and decisions are being driven by composable technologies that now offer a complete range of features that enable editor independence. This is where a developer-centric perception can be a limiting factor. That said, Sanity is effectively bridging the gap. Sanity Studio is the best example of its unification potential, and already provides robust capabilities that stand apart from a UX perspective. While Begin’s cloud and compute resources will inject more integrative fabric into the platform, it would be smart to see equal attention paid to further enhancing the editor experience.Partnering with Netlify and other development platforms is also a key benefit in Sanity’s favor. By expanding its connector libraries and reducing the barriers to entry, it can accelerate content velocity for users and brands as part of a go-to composable stack. Relying on these channels will be key to enhancing visibility and preference. Of course, choice is the biggest challenge for every player on the CMS chessboard. But Sanity has managed to build a solid foundation of differentiation, one that could serve it well as it looks to grow. Adding these new resources is a great way to begin its next chapter.  <hr /> <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-2025"><a href=" https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25">CMS Kickoff 2025</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaJoin us next January in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for the third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">so secure your tickets today.</a>

Sanity Acquires Begin Team, Aims to Accelerate the Evolution of its Content Operating System 

matt-garrepy

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

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

<hr /> The mantle of “CMO” is a bit of an albatross. Much like the ancient mariner, anyone fuddling in this C-level role might find the journey replete with danger.  To be sure, it’s an important job, shouldering the massive responsibility of driving revenue and swimming in the deep end of a vast data pool. It also has the distinct reputation of being the C-level position with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.marketingweek.com/cmo-tenure-falls/">the shortest tenure</a>.There are numerous reasons for this, one of which is burnout. It’s not for the faint of heart, as Chief Marketing Officers are often saddled with breathtaking responsibilities and expectations – the kind where sleep might be an elusive dream. While the CMO was once considered a less important position in the pantheon of corporate leadership, it has certainly earned an essential role. <a href="it’s%20not%20for%20the%20faint%20of%20heart,%20often%20saddled%20with%20breathtaking%20responsibilities%20where%20sleep%20might%20often%20be%20a%20luxury.">According to one study</a>, significantly more CEOs are ranking their marketing departments as “best in class,” a perception driven by CMOs who deliver on business imperatives. As enterprise leaders rely more on visibility powered by analytics and data, CMOs are also taking on a new role as Chief Data Officers. This is thrusting their value into the stratosphere – and their pay packages to boot. The hiring or transition of any C-level leader is a bonafide big deal. But there’s a strong signal being sent when a CMO is enrolled, particularly one with a high-caliber skillset and proven pedigree. It’s a throat-clearing moment that prepares the market for visible change, particularly around how a brand positions itself in an increasingly dense field of competition.  That’s what Storyblok’s hiring of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/markwheeler/">Mark Wheeler</a> represented this week: a full-speed-ahead, no-holds-barred investment in growing its market share. If the CMS’s <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/storyblok-is-writing-its-next-chapter-with-an-80m-series-c-heres-why-it-matters">recent $80 million Series C</a> represents a beachhead for planning its strategy, Mark is the general arriving on the scene to take the castle. Can he do it? Ah, only time will tell. There are certainly major headwinds: cooling economic conditions, tighter IT budgets, and upstream and downstream competitors that continue to befuddle buyers with a confusing morass of messages. Oh… and that pesky U.S. presidential election. Talk about instability. Still, if Mark’s history is any indicator, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominikangerer/">CEO Dominik Angerer</a> should have plenty to look forward to. In my recent discussion with Dominik, we talked at length about Storyblok’s next chapter, which includes ambitious plans to grow its U.S. market footprint. This was underscored by a shift towards a “modern content management system” as a positioning foundation. By doubling down on this clarity, the company could have a key advantage in staking its market differentiation – something a CMO will need to harness, and only a seasoned and successful one can unleash with the right strategies to cut through the noise. Given Mark’s history, proximity to the CMS industry, and immersion in the category of content, he might be the right person for the job. “Having experienced leaders who can help us navigate the opportunities and challenges of our next phase of growth is critical to our success,” Dominik said. “Mark knows the CMS industry inside out and has already been on the part of the journey we’re about to embark on. His experience will help us properly educate the market on the transformative impact Storyblok has throughout the entire content lifecycle.”<h3 id="leaning-on-proven-success-at-adobe-and-sitecore">Leaning on proven success at Adobe and Sitecore</h3>It seems that (almost) all roads lead in or out of <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/sitecore">Sitecore</a>. That speaks to the platform’s longevity and omnipresence, and its undeniable impact on the shape and course of the CMS industry at large.A big part of Mark’s origin story was forged at Sitecore, beginning as VP of Marketing and establishing a reputation as a leading B2B tech marketer in Europe. He later assumed dominion over EMEA and APAC, ultimately running the worldwide field and partner marketing out of London and San Francisco.This encompassed four years, all at a time of significant change across the CMS landscape. Prior to his Sitecore heritage, Mark also ran EMEA marketing at <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_EMC">EMC (Dell),</a> accelerating growth across mid-market, enterprise, government, and via the service provider community with the EMC portfolio of products. Before that, Mark spent seven years at the goliath that is <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/adobe-experience-manager">Adobe</a> in a marketing director role. During his tenure, he achieved some innovative outcomes like establishing an in-house demand gen team and leading a channel transformation strategy that significantly impacted sales bookings.Most recently, Mark was VP of Marketing at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nutanix.com/">Nutanix</a>, a cloud infrastructure software provider. That was followed by his first CMO stint at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.leanix.net/">LeanIX</a>, which was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.leanix.net/en/company/press/leanix-is-now-part-of-sap">acquired by SAP</a> during his tenure. That led to a transitional CMO role under the SAP banner, and ultimately to a break before taking the CMO job at Storyblok.Without question, Mark has a stellar resume – one that would make any tech company anxious to lock down this talent. It’s worth noting that he has also been recognized as a <a target="_blank" href="https://hottopics.ht/awards/cmo-100">Global B2B CMO 100</a> Award Winner in 2021, 2023, and 2024. Add this to his long tenures at both Adobe and Sitecore, and he is well-positioned to drive the marketing and business objectives at Storyblok.<h3 id="the-continued-struggle-to-serve-both-developers-and-marketers">The continued struggle to serve both developers and marketers</h3>Go ahead. Do a drive-by of every major DXP or CMS website, and you’ll see this line somewhere: “Finally, a platform that unites both developers and marketers…”It’s one thing to say it, and quite another to deliver on it. And in an era where <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-content-management-system-cms">headless CMS</a> platforms are still working to mend the fences with content editors and marketing professionals, a lot of these statements still feel hollow. And it’s not for a lack of trying: many platforms are making headway on appealing to marketing folk with a bit of “visual editing fairy dust," and the results are beginning to speak for themselves. If only it was a simple as solving a technology problem. As Mark noted in the company’s press release, the CMS industry has come a long way, baby – but that struggle between devs and marketers is still palpable. Collaborating from concept to completion remains elusive in many systems and organizations (it’s not all on the tech), and Mark has a clear line of sight on where the breaks can be bridged and futureproofed for things like AI. “The market requires solutions that dismantle silos, optimize workflows, and accelerate the content lifecycle, making it more adaptable and ready for the era of generative AI,” he said. “Storyblok is uniquely positioned to capitalize on this by offering a platform that empowers businesses to create, manage, and deliver content at unprecedented speed and scale. By focusing on these advantages, we can drive substantial revenue growth and market share.”It won’t be easy. We’ve been struggling with this for many years, and while other challenges like interoperability have been trimmed with APIs, the human challenges of working together on experiences seem like the ever-present last mile to success. This seems to be a core focus for Mark as he takes the reins. “I'm ready to amplify these strengths by demonstrating how Storyblok empowers teams to achieve extraordinary things,” he further noted. “By truly understanding the challenges faced by content creators and developers, we can position Storyblok as the go-to platform for building exceptional digital experiences.”<h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>As I mentioned a few paragraphs back, the hiring of a CMO is a bellwether moment. It’s a sea change that can prime the engines for a company’s brand, and I think we can expect to see some clear signals right out of the gate.This is a pivotal moment for Storyblok. When I saw their demo competition at the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/">Boye &amp; Company CMS Kickoff</a> in 2023, I was blown away by the quality of the product UI and its intuitive simplicity – something they have continued to build on. It has also remained tacitly composable in its posture, allowing for more expansive growth within MACH-architected stacks (the company has been a MACH Alliance member since 2021).Despite everything it’s doing right – including a staggering Series C windfall led by U.S. investors – Storyblok’s greatest challenge might be around choice. With significant competition across the market, including DXPs that are now selling their product in a more composable fashion, the CMS needs to double down on what makes it unique. Some of that is wrapped up in AI and automation, as well as novel new features like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.storyblok.com/docs/guide/in-depth/ideation-room">its Ideation Room.</a> For my money, it's what they've always done well: understanding the customer and expressing that through their product experience. It's a big reason why Dominik Angerer claims he's never lost a customer to churn. Focusing on these attributes is where marketing can be a force multiplier. The other red flag is the persistent and lingering confusion on the headless battlefield. While it all feels less like a “race to the middle” and more like a widespread evolution (heck, we even have a “Universal CMS” entering the fray), I think it’s smart that Storyblok is reinforcing its core sediment as a modern content management system. The market desperately needs sage guidance, and cutting back on the over-engineered experiences and marketing lexicon is the best way to see the forest through the trees and deliver some much-needed clarity to buyers.As Mark Wheeler takes the wheel (sorry, it had to be done), driving that clarity will make all the difference.  <hr /> <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-2025"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">CMS Kickoff 2025</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaJoin us next January in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for the third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, so secure your tickets today.

Storyblok just hired a CMO with Adobe and Sitecore pedigree. Here’s what it signals for the future

<hr /> In today’s competitive business environment, delivering dynamic experiences across multiple digital channels is becoming increasingly important. In the past, a traditional monolithic CMS was the go-to solution for managing website content in bulk, offering a comprehensive approach with integrated frontend and backend functionalities.However, as the importance of web channels for media distribution grew, developers within larger enterprises recognized the limitations of monolithic solutions in managing complex, structured content or delivering unique frontend capabilities. This led to the rise of custom, internal CMS solutions. Performance and extensive customization were possible but at huge engineering costs and time pressure to plan, develop, and uphold these systems.Since 2007, the rise in smart devices has welcomed a new era of content consumption across diverse channels. The move significantly burdened both monolithic CMS technology and content teams.The need for a multi-channel content strategy and a modern tech stack made the limitations of traditional CMS more apparent. Even today,<a target="_blank" href="https://hygraph.com/resources/future-of-content"> 8 in 10 tech leaders</a> think their current CMS holds them back with inefficient developer or editorial experiences.<h3 id="elevating-tech-teams-with-cms-modernization">Elevating tech teams with CMS modernization</h3>The heavy burden developers face with maintaining custom CMS platforms not only leads to burnout – <a target="_blank" href="https://blog.jetbrains.com/team/2023/11/20/the-state-of-developer-ecosystem-2023/">experienced by nearly 73% of developers</a> at some point in their careers – but also acts as a significant restriction. Consequently, organizations are increasingly looking to modernize their CMS to alleviate these pressures.An in-house CMS requires ongoing maintenance, like keeping an orchestra in tune and ensuring all musicians play harmoniously. It’s also less scalable as it’s often built by a small group of people, so they are the only ones who can access and make changes to the system. Subsequently, it’s hard to manage as the project scales, and the small group of developers who built the solution will be stuck maintaining the code base. Modern headless CMS platforms can greatly enhance the capabilities and efficiency of tech teams, freeing them from the constraints of maintenance around custom platforms and empowering them to focus on driving innovation. There are many other benefits to consider, too: <h4 id="1.-increased-developer-velocity">1. Increased developer velocity</h4>Accumulated technical debt from maintaining custom middleware can reduce developer velocity, slow release cycles, and hinder an organization's ability to maintain a continuous release schedule. <h4 id="2.-improved-app-performance">2. Improved app performance</h4>Performance is a key indicator of your project's success. It's also closely connected to your business since you lose revenue when your performance is poor. A CMS failure can be detected by business metrics such as lost revenues, which are influenced by poor performance indicators such as slow page load speed and low core web vitals. <h4 id="3.-stay-current-with-the-latest-tech">3. Stay current with the latest tech</h4>The technology landscape is ever-evolving. Naturally, some of the latest technologies work better than outdated ones. The advantage of a headless CMS is that you can choose any technology you like and easily switch the front end without changing your CMS. <h4 id="4.-future-proof-technology-strategy">4. Future-proof technology strategy</h4>A tech leader should choose IT vendors that can adapt quickly to an unknown future. A headless architecture with content federation puts data in one place so teams can scale the digital experience. Developers get all the flexibility of headless without having to build, host, secure, and ensure the performance of custom middleware.   <h4 id="5.-talent-acquisition">5. Talent acquisition</h4>Legacy systems are hard to understand, making developers less productive and less attractive when recruiting new team members. It’s much easier to handle things in-house if everything needed to work with the CMS can be easily found in any tech stack. <h4 id="6.-heightened-security">6. Heightened security</h4>Unlike a traditional CMS, a modern headless CMS decouples the backend content repository layer from the frontend presentation layer. This separation allows for greater security because the content management layer is isolated and can be protected independently.<h3 id="why-headless-is-the-way-forward">Why headless is the way forward</h3>Adopting a headless CMS with content federation can offer flexibility, scalability, and streamlined content distribution across multiple channels. Furthermore, by separating the frontend and backend, this approach lays the foundation for organizations to meet their technical and content requirements swiftly, allowing technology teams to develop with any technology for any platform.At a time when content is king, your CMS needs to be a gateway to digital transformation rather than a barrier. <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-conferences">Upcoming conferences</h3> <img style="width:29.67%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-connect-2024-logo.png" alt="CMS Connect 24 logo" /><h4 id="cms-connect-24---sold-out"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect24">CMS Connect 24</a> - SOLD OUT</h4>August 6-7, 2024 – Montreal, CanadaWe are delighted to present our first annual summer edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community. Join us this August in Montreal, Canada, for a vendor-neutral conference focused on CMS. Tired of impersonal and overwhelming gatherings? Picture this event as a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">CMS Kickoff 25</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaJoin us next January in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for the third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, so secure your tickets today.

 Roadmap to Digital Experience Success: Six Ways to Future-Proof Your CMS While Elevating Your Tech Teams

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Contentstack Fires Up Brand-Relevant, AI-Powered Personalization at ContentCon 2024

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Kontent.ai Aims to Lead a 'New Era of Content Management,' Relaunches Brand and Website

<hr /> When I spoke to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/patelnishant/">Nishant Patel</a> last week, he was floating on cloud nine.You might assume it’s because the company he co-founded, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/contentstack">Contentstack</a>, just announced the addition of <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/google-cloud-platform">Google Cloud Platform</a> to its offerings. This puts the headless CMS-turned-composable-DXP in the unique position of providing deployments across all three of the major cloud providers.For those of us who work extensively in the cloud, we know it's a complex morass – and managing service architectures for diverse infrastructures like <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/aws">AWS</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/microsoft-azure">Azure</a>, and GCP can present quite an entanglement. We’ll get into more of the “why,” but suffice to say that choice is driving much of the calculus.No, Nishant’s lighter-than-air status was less banal and more sophistiquée in nature: he took my call whilst strolling the streets of Paris, absorbing the springtime air. I asked if he could spot the Eiffel Tower from his vantage point.“I can't see over the buildings, but it's beautiful here,” he remarked. “It's awesome. Just an amazing day.” C’est la vie.There seems to be a persistent positive vibe going around at Contentstack these days, whether it’s along the Champs-Élysées or elsewhere. The company continues its charge beyond headless as a full-featured ecosystem for powering omnichannel experiences. This includes the <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/contentstack-launch-aims-to-simplify-front-end-hosting-interview-with-dean-haddock-senior-product-manager">addition of Launch</a>, a front-end hosting solution, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentstack.com/automation-hub">Automation Hub</a> for composing stacks, and a <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/a-closer-look-at-contentstacks-ai-features-with-christine-masters-senior-product-manager">bevy of AI capabilities</a> that offer more than the usual pre-fixe menu of generative content features. This evolution towards a more complete vision beyond CMS also garnered the attention of analysts, catapulting the company onto <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/forrester-dxp-wave-2023-vendor-commentary">Forrester’s 2023 Wave Report</a> for DXPs as a Strong Performer – outpacing a number of traditional players and chief rival <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/contentful">Contentful</a>. As CTO, Nishant is focused on more than just Contentstack’s capabilities. He’s also concerned with how enterprises can deploy it, particularly on their cloud of choice. When we connected in March of 2022, the company had <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/contentstack-offers-microsoft-azure-becomes-only-multi-cloud-saas-cms-qa-with-cto-nishant-patel">just added Azure</a> to the mix, making it the only multi-cloud SaaS play in the CMS category. The new partnership with Google Cloud presents a strategic opportunity to expand the addressable market for composable digital experiences, providing enterprises with even more options for how they create, manage, and deliver their products. This includes making its composable DXP accessible via the <a target="_blank" href="https://cloud.google.com/marketplace">Google Cloud Marketplace</a>, which offers production-ready apps, services, and solutions for quickly deploying on GCP."We're excited about how this new partnership will elevate digital experiences for both Contentstack and Google Cloud customers," Nishant said. “Brands will get even more flexibility, scalability, and security in their content and digital strategies. They can also take direct advantage of Google Cloud's AI models.”That last part about the AI models is key. In our discussion, Nishant got real about the challenges that Google has faced in deploying its ill-fated <a target="_blank" href="https://apnews.com/article/google-artificial-intelligence-bard-gmail-youtube-maps-1229638b82d19afb5226c913821fa1ad">Bard</a>. But as you’ll read, he juxtaposes that with some real-world perspective on picking up the fumble. He captured that sentiment in a recent <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7184189745797681154/">LinkedIn post</a>, and in my opinion, it tells you everything you need to know about why he’s successful:“Failure is not the enemy of progress – it’s complacency.”<h3 id="expanding-the-value-of-the-cloud-">Expanding the value of the cloud </h3>While there are numerous pros to the cloud, Contentstack’s new partnership with Google offers three unique benefits for users. The first is support for <a target="_blank" href="https://cloud.google.com/gcp">Google Cloud Hosting</a>, which enables Contentstack customers to tap into a comprehensive cloud solution platform that is both secure and scalable for hosting their Contentstack data and applications. Another is access to the <a target="_blank" href="https://cloud.google.com/partners">Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program</a>, where Contentstack has achieved Google Cloud Partner status for the “Build” engagement model. They joined this program to support and enrich customers with the latest innovative digital transformation capabilities – and to speed time to value through seamless integrations with Google.Finally, as I’ve already mentioned, there’s the all-important listing on the <a target="_blank" href="https://cloud.google.com/marketplace">Google Cloud Marketplace</a>, which simplifies the experience for Google Cloud customers to discover and procure Contentstack as part of their existing Google Cloud account and billing invoice.According to Nishant, a big part of the move to add GCP was about listening to the voice of the customer and following their lead. That meant going to where they find and purchase cloud services and SaaS software and joining those marketplaces across all major cloud providers.“A big percentage of SaaS buying will happen in the [cloud] marketplaces in the next two to three years,” he said. “Azure, AWS, and GCP all have this quota relief for sales folks if their customers buy through their marketplace. So, for the SaaS provider, this optionality makes the buying process a lot simpler. And for the customer, whatever cloud they've chosen, it just makes it a lot easier in terms of managing vendors.”There are compelling reasons for investing in a multi-cloud strategy. Sure, hosting might seem like a commodity, but of the Big Three cloud providers, some are just better at specific functions than others. Companies that are all-in with certain cloud providers are often driven by efficiency, and perhaps a modicum of loyalty. If they already have workloads running on Azure, it’s much easier to consolidate everything in one place and even optimize overall performance with greater control. Another consideration: they might only have DevOps teams that are skilled or have experience with a specific infrastructure. And then there’s “brand optics.” While AWS was the first big cloud for Contentstack, the albatross of Amazon.com still creates tacit friction for retailers who aren’t fans of Bezos Effect. When that resistance is a challenge, having alternative options means not having to compromise. “We just wanted to be the CMS of choice,” Nishant clarified. “And if you're committed to GCP, no worries, you can buy us from the [Google Cloud] Marketplace and deploy completely on GCP. And same thing for Azure and AWS."<h3 id="challenging-the-‘brand-relevancy-crisis’">Challenging the ‘Brand Relevancy Crisis’</h3>In my recent connection with Contentstack’s new CMO, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gurdeepd/">Gurdeep Dhillon</a>, we touched on the rising phenomenon of what he calls a “Brand Relevancy Crisis.” You can <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/contentstack-just-hired-an-ex-adobe-exec-as-cmo-heres-why-it-matters">read more about it here</a>, but the crux is that we’re battling a swell of saturation across channels, which is being compounded by increased noise and fragmentation, the deprecation of third-party data, and the exponential growth of AI-generated content. While not a marketer himself, Nishant conjured the same “Brand Relevancy Crisis” moniker when reinforcing the need for choice in a complex cloud landscape. In doing so, he doubled down on the advantages that GCP presents despite <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/is-google-adding-the-letters-crm-to-its-alphabet-soup-ask-hubspot">trailing AWS and Azure</a> with a mere 10% of the overall cloud marketplace – and how that could be an advantage for Contentstack to stand out.“You know, I think the Google Cloud folks have done really well with up-and-coming brands and even tech companies,” he shared. “They're very much focused on Silicon Valley. So we're hopeful we can tap into the latest and greatest brands as well as legacy brands that have committed to GCP.”As he noted, it’s weird thinking of Google as the “underdog,” but in the cloud world, that’s their current lot – and in some ways, it’s creating more of a culture that’s conducive to working with tech brands that are mid-market and building momentum. “Their technology is great, and it feels like they want to work with vendors like us,” Nishant surmised. “So we're excited to have them as a good partner. And then, of course, some of the e-commerce partners we work with, they've been on GCP for a long time. And you know, we can do some joint selling and stuff like that together. So that's also pretty exciting.”<h3 id="more-possibilities-for-ai">More possibilities for AI</h3>Like its competitive cloud brethren, GCP has its own discrete AI initiatives. In fact, Google proper was early to the game with its bumbling Bard chatbot (adroitly <a target="_blank" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/what-can-google-ai-chatbot-bard-now-gemini-do">rebranded to Gemini</a>), right around the time that Microsoft was touting its partnership with <a target="_blank" href="https://openai.com/">OpenAI</a>.AWS waited, launching late in 2023 with its Bedrock LLM and lining up with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.anthropic.com/">Anthropic</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://stability.ai/">Stability.ai </a>to make up ground. We’re already in a sort of “AI Cold War,” with startups struggling to reach revenue and major models fighting to prove their performance in an increasingly skeptical landscape. It’s all had a chilling effect on investors, and they’re scrutinizing which technologies are delivering the AI goods. It's worth consulting <a target="_blank" href="https://www.gartner.com/en/articles/what-s-new-in-artificial-intelligence-from-the-2023-gartner-hype-cycle">Gartner's AI Hype Cycle</a> to reaffirm where we might be on the arc (although I can't be sure if their diagram is hallucinating). In its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/composable-dxp-leader-contentstack-announces-new-partnership-with-google-cloud-302111266.html">press release</a> announcing the Google Cloud partnership, Contentstack indicated that customers would be able to take direct advantage of Google’s Cloud AI models. I asked Nishant what that meant for users – and why GCP presented an AI advantage over other clouds.“I think it's a very good question,” he said. “Obviously, with AI, there were a lot of different changes along the way, but we jumped on it. I think our first release was last January with the AI Assistant. I want to say we were first in the market, at least in the CMS world. But the way we architected it, we didn't just pick one service to ‘catch up.’ Our AI assistant and all the stuff we're doing with AI is more about optionality and giving our customers the ability to configure whatever LLM they want to bring to the table.” There are lots of choices out there for models, but hosting and training still present significant challenges for brands looking to tap the potential of AI. Google’s multimodal flexibility is a key benefit, and one of the reasons why Nishant is bullish on GCP. It’s also aligned with Contentstack’s pursuit of greater scalability and automation. “I think Google is an exciting one,” he continued. “They kind of fumbled in the beginning, but they keep iterating and making it better. We were one of the first ones to work with them to enable our customers with an option. On the content side, we built a full-on integration platform alongside Contentstack where you could automate and create content on the fly, get it approved, and launch it live. So you could create some really powerful workflows. And of course, Google's Gemini will be awesome for that.”<h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>Cloud infrastructure is a lot like plumbing. It’s obscured, living mostly behind walls and under cabinets. At times, you get your hands dirty dealing with a clog or a busted joint. One might say it’s ennuyeux – but at the same time, it’s absolutely vital to the modern software delivery experience.As someone who’s worked closely with AWS since 2016 (I’ve even given a few Tech Talks on subjects like serverless), I can say first-hand that the cloud ain't easy. It’s a minefield of madness, with problems always lurking in shadowy corners. Given the complexity involved with managing DevOps, authoring AWS Marketplace AMIs and CloudFormation templates, and defining licensing parameters, managing the considerations of one cloud is hard enough. But all three? Is it worth it?The answer is: yes. If you can dedicate the resources and support all the requirements. And there are many. To that end, it seems like Contentstack is committed to covering its bases and maximizing flexibility across the clouds.To Nishant’s point, more of the future sales motion will be focused on all three of the big cloud marketplaces, where SaaS procurement will continue to grow. By showing up universally, Contentstack is increasing its discoverability and preference. By further aligning with partners in each ecosystem, they can potentially offer more solution selling (which we’re already seeing in places like the AWS Competency programs).The cloud can be a decision-maker for customers. For brands that already have an established footprint with GCP and require a headless CMS or composable DXP, their first stop will likely be the Google Cloud Marketplace. Being available at the moment of need and deployable in an existing account greases the wheels and accelerates the buying journey. But rounding out the trifecta is just part of the competitive crucible for Contentstack. By making itself available across all three of the big cloud players, they’re sending a clear message that choice matters, and they’re committed to delivering on that. Finally, from an AI perspective, Contentstack has already been blazing trails. This just adds more fuel to the fire. Forget Google's initial faux pas – bringing Gemini to the fold could enhance a wide range of capabilities when integrated with tools like Contentstack, improving the search experience for customers as they engage with a brand’s digital experience. For Nishant, the value of investing in new technologies is clearly reinforced by his deep roots in headless and composability. There’s an ethos guiding the company’s innovation roadmap, and it has everything to do with the customer.“It'll be interesting to see where all this stuff goes,” he said. “I think from a Contentstack perspective, we just want to make sure we provide the kind of tooling and the right choice for our customers to go in whatever direction they want. We shouldn't block them from trying out new technologies, using our services, or even using someone else's services. You should be able to compose the experience you need, right? That's how we think about composability, and it's the whole difference with our company.”If I was standing below the Eiffel Tower, I might be inclined to say:C’est bon. <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-conferences">Upcoming conferences</h3> <img style="width:29.67%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-connect-2024-logo.png" alt="CMS Connect 24 logo" /><h4 id="cms-connect-24"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect24">CMS Connect 24</a></h4>August 6-7, 2024 – Montreal, CanadaWe are delighted to present our first annual summer edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community. Join us this August in Montreal, Canada, for a vendor-neutral conference focused on CMS. Tired of impersonal and overwhelming gatherings? Picture this event as a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">CMS Kickoff 25</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaJoin us next January in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for the third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, so secure your tickets today.

Contentstack ‘Reigns’ on Cloud Choice with Addition of Google Cloud Platform

Strapi Casts for Growth in the Headless Sea: A Conversation with CEO Pierre Burgy

<hr /> Sailing might not seem fast. A yawl or a sloop can’t hold a candle to a speedboat with twin outboard engines or a raging hydrofoil. But if you’ve ever seen the America’s Cup or a competitive regatta, you can’t deny that a supped-up catamaran – with the right crew – can move at dizzying speeds.   When I spoke to <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/critics/michael-lukaszczyk">Michael Lukaszczyk</a> last week about the launch of the <a target="_blank" href="https://hygraph.com/blog/hygraph-studio-beta">new Hygraph Studio beta</a>, the topic of sailing came up. It’s a subject I know something about: my father is a certified Coast Guard captain, and I grew up chipping barnacles off hulls in New England summers. Sure, I was a grunt on a mooring line, cleaning the head and emptying the ballast. But I learned other skills as well, like how to tie knots and tighten jibs in my dad’s salty shadow. One important lesson still sticks with me, and it’s never been more relevant to technology than now: The wind is always changing – and you won’t get anywhere if you fight it.  As a headless CMS in a highly competitive field, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/hygraph">Hygraph</a> has been reading the wind and tacking in the right places. With this week’s release of Hygraph Studio, the company is listening to its users and doubling down on improving performance on a multitude of levels. The beta, which went live yesterday, is expected to be a first taste of the new experience, with a general release coming later this year. But it’s more than a new paint job on a fiberglass finish. “Hygraph Studio is a complete re-architecture and upgrade of our user interface optimized for maximum global performance,” Michael said. “We've been putting a lot of effort into making the whole thing as fast as possible globally, regardless of where you are on the planet or where your content is stored.”OK, so is it really faster? If you’re comparing Hygraph Classic to Hygraph Studio, you might just think there are a couple of outboard engines strapped to it. But like sailing, it’s more about the precision tuning that’s translating into higher performance. This comes down to a combination of UX enhancements, a new content asset management engine, and more. I got the nautical read from Michael about the Hygraph Studio release and what’s in store following the launch of the beta. We also discussed the UI improvements and the benefits of having a core asset management solution and how this is impacting performance on the open water. At the end of the day, it’s all about delivering higher content velocity, a recurring theme that has come up in our previous discussions. These upgrades aren’t just about a re-architecture that delivers speed, but the additional features and functionality that make it all a smoother ride.<h3 id="pulling-up-anchors-to-achieve-global-performance--">Pulling up anchors to achieve global performance  </h3>Like any beta, there are anticipated fixes and a roadmap for releases to come. But even with this first glimpse, there’s confidence at Hygraph that the acceleration will be felt in a profound way. For Michael, this is essential to the content management experience and all of its users. “Things being very snappy is really an important ingredient for content velocity, and it should not get in the way,” he remarked. “In content management, that's a little bit of our philosophy. Every second that's in the way of you actually making a change or an update is a waste.”Playing into the equation for speed are new global performance aspirations for Hygraph Studio. Up until now, Hygraph users have relied on API calls to the management database in Frankfurt, Germany – regardless of where their Hygraph project might be stored. Now, with the introduction of a new multi-regional deployment management service, proximity is no longer a drag. According to Hygraph’s data, the regional solution not only delivers faster load times, but also a 10x reduced latency for management operations globally. Michael said this is a big improvement for global customers, providing a more distributed solution that delivers maximum geographic performance for Hygraph’s growing customer base. “Australia is actually a very strong market and we're opening up new opportunities and more performance there,” he said. “We have quite an active user base in Japan, and they also now enjoy this new global performance.”<h3 id="smoother-sailing-with-an-improved-content-api">Smoother sailing with an improved content API</h3>With Hygraph’s content API, there’s also another big release under the hood that delivers much finer granularity on cache invalidation. As Michael noted, Hygraph’s customers already have strong API performance at the CDN level – but he sees even more improvement on the way.“Our customers have a cache hit ratio of roughly 90%,” he explained. “So 90% of their API calls hit a CDN, and they get the response of the headless API data. And that’s with document-level caching – which is much more fine-grained. We hope to get to the level of 95%.”It may sound like an incremental step from 90% to 95%, but as Michael noted, if you have millions or billions of API calls, there's a huge performance gain for the end customer.Clearly, there’s been a lot of infrastructure work under the hood (or tightening of the sails). But there’s also been a smart expansion of global resources that align with the company’s goals for growth, particularly in nascent or rapidly growing markets. <h3 id="enhancing-the-instruments:-delivering-better-ui/ux-">Enhancing the instruments: delivering better UI/UX </h3>Another key part of the Hygraph Studio beta and forthcoming GA are enhancements to the user interface. These will unfold in the weeks that follow the initial launch, but Michael indicated that there are many – some large, some small – and all designed with the user in mind.  <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:78.38%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/03/new-intuitive-schema-view.png" alt="" /></figure> “There are macro UX improvements, but also micro UX improvements,” he said. “[For example] there's a new Command Menu, where you can hit Command+K to completely navigate throughout the application, and developers love this. In developer tooling, there's a new Field Outline in the content form, so when you're editing content in the form, you get a whole navigation outline.”And these are just a few of the upgrades you can expect from Hygraph Studio, which are tacitly designed to help users work faster and more efficiently. I had a chance to review some of the highlights firsthand, which include enhancements to content forms for faster, smoother navigation and modeling with nested components. There are also revised content tables for content-rich data.From an aesthetic perspective, there are also a few UI “facelifts” that improve on an already clean, minimalistic template. This includes upgrades to the Schema view that enhance the addition of models and fields. But the changes go beyond good looks and are keenly designed to reduce the number of clicks – accelerating each step of the modeling process.  Another notable addition: lazy loading of components, which delivers a faster load time when opening a content entry or nested components. It’s a simple thing, but one that can shave seconds of frustration when maneuvering through choppy waters.   <h3 id="improving-the-editorial-experience-and-adding-live-preview-">Improving the editorial experience and adding live preview </h3>I asked Michael what really drove the direction of the UI/UX enhancements, and what level of user will see the most benefits. Obviously, there are developers and editors on the ship, all trying to sail in a coordinated way – and historically, Hygraph has been more focused on the developer side of the crew.“So one key motivation for Hygraph Studio was improving the editorial experience significantly, because we come from a very developer-centric founder team and DNA,” he said. “We [have] always lived and breathed on the API side of things, but we’re now getting better with content creators. This has been a little bit of a weak spot from coming from such a developer-centric understanding of things, but of course, in content management, you always have those two parties. And we want to make both happy, so we're putting more and more resources into the editorial experience.”From that perspective, one of the most notable changes in the UI is with the content form, where you have an entirely new Field Outline for navigating content entries. As Michael described, it’s like using Figma or Adobe Photoshop, where you have your image layers assembled on the side. In Hygraph Studio, you can now see meta information gathered in a similar way along the left side of the editorial interface. <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:85.58%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/03/hygraph-field-outline.jpg" alt="" /></figure>In the headless regatta, the race for the cup is getting tighter than ever. But Hygraph continues to differentiate around its focus on data, product development, and federated content. Still, user expectations are necessitating certain features – particularly when it comes to the visual layer. We’ve seen the growth of composable solutions and digital experience composition as a panacea for this missing link, but many platforms are now building their own tools. During our discussion, Michael revealed that live preview is on the near-term roadmap (although not part of the Hygraph Studio GA). However, he was quick to point out why an opinionated page builder is not the answer they’ve been after. “The one big feature on the horizon that is wished by many is the live preview,” he said. “It's a side-by-side editing [experience] where on the left you have a headless CMS interface, on the right you see the result directly. It's not a what you see is what you get editing experience. A good live preview provides a very quick feedback loop of what you're doing in the CMS and how your end results look. We don't have an opinionated page builder that’s reliant on elements that are dependent on the system, because we want to support product development for brands like Peloton or Netflix – and you don’t need pages in those use cases.”It makes perfect sense and might be exactly the right compromise for Hygraph’s target audience. As a composable platform, the new live preview feature could also complement third-party page builders that are powered by Hygraph, further elevating the value for the user.<h3 id="putting-more-wind-in-the-sails-with-core-asset-management-">Putting more wind in the sails with core asset management </h3>If the other features in Hygraph Studio are spinnakers and genoas (these are types of sails for all ye landlubbers), then the hoisting of the new Hygraph Asset Management system might be the main sail. I asked Michael why it was an important move to build a home-grown solution and how it might impact the performance and reliability for users. “We ripped out the existing asset management [system] which was provided by a third party partner, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.filestack.com/">Filestack</a>, and built an in-house implementation of asset management,” he explained, “which, in some cases, leads to performance improvements of 10x managing and operating assets. But it’s also [beneficial] when you clone projects or work within production, staging, or development environments.”On this subject of environments, Michael gave a simple and relatable example for CMS users: let’s say you want to implement a new feature and create content definitions with new schema, but you don't want to break your production environment in the process. In this case, you would use environments like “draft” or “staging” – similar to GitHub branches – to replicate, build, and develop within. Now, cloning such environments is much faster thanks to a core asset manager. “Before, we had to re-upload all the assets from one environment to the other using our third-party solution. So if you had a lot of assets – gigabytes or even terabytes – it could take minutes or even hours to build the environment. Now, it takes only seconds, because we have the asset management engine under the hood in our own realm. So it's more like ‘copy-paste’ within the system.”<h3 id="what’s-the-next-port-of-call-on-the-headless-seas?">What’s the next port-of-call on the headless seas?</h3>I think that’s weighing on the mind of every CMS “captain” who’s plotting a course for 2024. The winds they are a-changin’ – and for headless CMS vendors, there’s been a <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/the-dxp-kerfuffle-finding-the-big-chords-in-the-2024-gartner-magic-quadrant">clear shift towards a more DXP-like composition</a>, one where resources like asset management are becoming a part of the core (so sayeth some of the analysts). This is challenging the perception of what a “DXP” is in a composable landscape, particularly as traditional DXP vendors are offering headless and decoupled solutions as well.That’s why listening to the wind has never been more important, and Hygraph is clearly doing that by listening to its customers. While the introduction of core asset management is key to a more complete vision, the addition of live preview will further expand its value while remaining steadfast in its focus on data-driven product development applications. This clarity around its competitive differentiation is key. “For CMS vendors like the Storybloks out there, it cannot get visual enough,” he explained. “This is really catering to very static use cases that are building the experience that end users see, but this is very limited in the use cases that you can model. There's a big market for that, but a lot of competition because you can pay a lot for an enterprise headless CMS with a page builder or you go very low end on the pricing and use a Webflow or Wix – and that CMS is perfectly fine for those use cases.”One other way Hygraph is tacking with wind is by amplifying the focus on the editorial experience. As Michael noted, the company has been primarily developer-centric; this has been a perceived weak spot in its holistic strategy. Hygraph Studio aims to improve this with its myriad of UX enhancements and forthcoming capabilities. A good move, and one that demonstrates a strong commitment to the customer experience.For the buyer, it’s also getting harder to know where to drop anchor amid the shifting conditions. This is where knowledge and awareness are essential, particularly around specific use cases where headless CMS delivers a great value proposition.As Michael noted, “We're on the mission to educate the architects out there on the journey to building something big.”Aye, captain.  <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-conferences">Upcoming conferences</h3> <img style="width:29.67%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-connect-2024-logo.png" alt="CMS Connect 24 logo" /><h4 id="cms-connect-24"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect24">CMS Connect 24</a></h4>August 6-7, 2024 – Montreal, CanadaWe are delighted to present our first annual summer edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community. Join us this August in Montreal, Canada, for a vendor-neutral conference focused on CMS. Tired of impersonal and overwhelming gatherings? Picture this event as a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">CMS Kickoff 25</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaJoin us next January in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for the third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, so secure your tickets today.

Hygraph Studio Sets Sail with Increased Content Velocity and New Asset Management Capabilities

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