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Opinion Article

Not All Heroes Wear Capes. Here's Why CMS Is Your 'Unsung Hero' in 2025

janus-boye

<hr /><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/critics/mark">Mark Demeny</a> is a leading CMS expert, a tech analyst with the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/mach-alliance-launches-new-mach-ai-exchange-to-help-enterprises-streamline-ai-adoption">MACH Alliance,</a> and a CMS Critic contributor. It’s been a few months since the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/6101227">Gartner DXP Magic Quadrant for 2025</a> was released, and there has already been some very well-researched commentary and discussion from vendors. So, rather than repeating the excellent work of others, I want to highlight a few of the core concepts and where the DXP market is headed.First, each and every time a major DXP MQ (or Forrester Wave) is released, it kicks off the discussion about what a DXP actually is (and if it deserves to be a category at all). <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonybyrne1/">In fact, over seven years ago, Tony Byrne</a> of Real Story Group wrote in 2017 that “<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.realstorygroup.com/Blog/there-no-such-thing-dxp">There is no such thing as a DXP</a>,” and the discussion remains the same since.Even at the time, it was well understood that many of the core features of digital experience delivery often came from many vendors integrated into a cohesive experience, and that a DXP wasn’t something that you buy, it’s something that you build. The implication is that even if you buy from a single vendor, there is still a great deal of work and technology choices that go into an implementation.Each and every time a new DXP report comes out, analyst firms have to contend with this truth, and often do so in different ways. With regards to this reality and some of the subsequent vendor selections, Gartner has made two interesting choices – by both flattening and widening the vendor selection.When I talk about “flattening” the vendor selection, this relates to broad categories. Last year, I wrote an <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/thoughts-on-the-forrester-dxp-wave-2023-dont-judge-an-analyst-report-by-its-infographic">article for CMS Critic on the Forrester DXP Wave,</a> where I broke down vendors into a few broad classifications and talked about “anchor” applications. That categorization is useful here as well:<ul><li>“Platform DXPs” (vendors going after this market as a core priority)</li><li>Headless SaaS vendors</li><li>Larger vendors with some DXP functionality but no larger DXP product strategy </li><li>Niche around an industry or use case</li></ul>In contrast to Forrester, Gartner has focused entirely on the first two categories and eliminated the majority of vendors from the latter two. As a result, larger vendors with “DXP adjacent” functionality, but no “DXP vision,” such as <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.sap.com/index.html">SAP</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.oracle.com/">Oracle</a>, and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/salesforce">Salesforce</a>, are not included in Gartner's report.  <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:57.7%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/05/image.png" /></figure>The 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms (DXP). Source: Gartner. Similarly, any vendor which I classified as “niche capability” such as <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/arcxp">Arc XP</a> (media publishing) or commerce enablers (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/amplience">Amplience</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/bloomreach">Bloomreach</a>) has either been excluded or considered a platform DXP (such as <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/liferay-176339360844">Liferay</a> or <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/magnolia">Magnolia</a>).At the same time as Gartner was reducing the vendor footprint in one direction, it “widened” to include others by increasing the number of Headless SaaS vendors included in the report. Previously, DXP typically meant that you had to include all of the functions around digital experience delivery. Gartner lists 22(!!!) criteria, but these are very broadly grouped as:<ul><li>Content management (CMS) - including repository functions such as permissions, etc.</li><li>Customer Data and Analytics (CDP)</li><li>Experience delivery (including personalization/testing) </li></ul>This focus on meeting all criteria in some way typically favored suite vendors such as <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/sitecore">Sitecore</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/adobe-experience-manager">Adobe</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/optimizely">Optimizely</a>, etc. which include all those core elements, and excluded headless vendors which would usually only have core Content Management functions.However, by including vendors such as <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/contentful">Contentful</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/builderio">Builder.io</a>, and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/uniform">Uniform</a>, which may be missing a core pillar entirely, Gartner is clearly scoring on the ability to be built into a DXP and integrated with other vendors easily.<h3 id="a-focus-on-composability">A focus on composability</h3>Underpinning both sets of vendor groups is the idea of composability. Indeed, Gartner claims in the report that “by 2026, at least 70% of organizations will be mandated to acquire composable DXP technology, as opposed to monolithic DXP suites, compared to 50% in 2023.”Like the term headless, composable also has a very broad definition that vendors can stretch and bend to meet their goals. In my mind, it can be summarized as the idea that different core functions (i.e. the groupings listed above) in a DXP or any tech stack can easily be integrated with or swapped for other vendors. Where headless often means the API-driven delivery of content or data, composable extends to the management of data and the application itself.<h3 id="why-is-composability-important?">Why is composability important?</h3>Let us be clear up front: A composable approach often adds work. If you have a fairly small use case and a single vendor tool can meet all of those, you should seriously consider that as your approach. There is a reason why <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/wordpress">WordPress</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/shopify">Shopify</a> are popular.But the opposite is true for many scenarios. Sometimes, the ability to extend/customize is a requirement. I think this is a critical concept that is often hard to communicate, but the best example I have heard is this: If a boat gets you 80% to your destination, how are you covering the last 20%? Do you have vendor-provided agile tools (like a motor dinghy) or are you expected to swim yourself (in which case, you had better be a strong swimmer!)However, a composable approach becomes more sensible - and in some cases, the obvious choice when you have one of three needs:<h4 id="1.-differentiated-customer-experience">1. Differentiated customer experience</h4>If your use case requires new channels and front-end approaches - and these change regularly - then a composable approach will help improve them continuously. If you have used any travel-related applications lately - including hotel/airline, public transport, etc., you can see that these often add functionality around physical access via tap methods, new tracking for wayfinding, baggage, etc.These functions were not conceived when the original underlying core functions around content, customer data, etc. were first introduced, so a composable approach makes it easy to build or acquire these capabilities to be joined into a cohesive customer experience.<h4 id="2.-vendor-independence">2. Vendor independence</h4>Quite simply, the more you can avoid vendor lock-in, the better. Despite some of the larger vendors offering capabilities in all scoring criteria, it’s likely that one of these adjacent functions, such as commerce, search, or customer data, may not meet your needs fully relative to a leader in the space. While it may be convenient to procure the functions you need from a single vendor, if one of the applications is not performing to the level you need, being able to easily change core functions quickly is critical. <h4 id="3.-sustainability-and-other-engineering-considerations">3. Sustainability and other engineering considerations</h4>Sustainability simply relates to the ability of an engineering team to maintain a high level of performance over time. This means reducing larger “big bang” projects to a more consistent level of continual improvement.Similarly, it is very common to work with content or commerce applications that are older and “deeper” in the organization. The ability to work with these via an API-centric approach is often key – the ability to ingest and transform content and data easily is critical in these cases.One of the common philosophical differences between composable applications and others is that they often do not “assume” that it is the source of all truth, or even the starting point for content creation or experience delivery. Therefore, they tend to be more suited to situations where they play an equal role in a larger content supply chain.<h3 id="conclusion-">Conclusion </h3>The Gartner DXP MQ for 2025 has done a decent job dealing with the ephemeral notion of what a DXP actually is – and (as always) the report itself goes into far more detail than a simple 2x2 matrix can cover. Perhaps in the future, a clearer distinction between functions of content/data interoperability across vendors or tools will be ranked differently than the functions of cohesive user experience, since that is usually one of the key choices one has to make up front.Indeed, there are some vendors that are composable in the sense that they have acquired many companies to assemble a DXP, but their key execution difference is that they lack a cohesive user experience across those tools.Given that Gartner is focused on larger enterprises, the need for composability in enterprise applications is critical, so it makes sense that they are focusing here. <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:30.46%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/cms-summit-25.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-summit-25"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">CMS Summit 25</a></h4>May 13-14, 2025 – Frankfurt, GermanyDon't miss the first European edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community! CMS Summit 25 will bring together top-notch speakers, our renowned learning format, and engaging social events. Hear from leading practitioners like Deutsche Bahn, Dr. Oetker, and more – and join customers, agencies, and CMS vendors as we discuss current trends and what's ahead for the content and digital experience fields. Connect and network at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference focused on CMS. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">so book your seats today.</a> <img style="width:31.83%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/01/cms-connect-2025-logo.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-connect-25"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">CMS Connect 25</a></h4>August 5-6, 2025 – Montreal, CanadaWe are delighted to present the second annual summer edition of our signature global conference dedicated to the content management community! CMS Connect will be held again in beautiful Montreal, Canada, and feature a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. Join vendors, agencies, and customers from across our industry as we engage and collaborate around the future of content management – and hear from the top thought leaders at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference exclusively focused on CMS. Space is limited for this event, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">so book your seats today.</a>

Some Thoughts on the Gartner Digital Experience Platforms (DXP) Magic Quadrant for 2025

mark

<a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/critics/tom-cranstoun">Tom Cranstoun</a>, “The AEM Guy,” is the principal consultant at Digital Domain Technologies Limited and a CMS Critic contributor. <hr /> I have a confession to make: Recently, <a target="_blank" href="https://medium.com/data-science-in-your-pocket/dont-use-deepseek-v3-895be7b853b0">I read an article</a> about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.deepseek.com/">DeepSeek's</a> "scary" terms of service and immediately shared it with my colleagues. I was enjoying my coffee and browsing Medium when I came across this alarming headline, warning against using <a target="_blank" href="https://www.deepseek.com/">DeepSeek-v3</a>. The assertions were based on the "fine print" in the terms and conditions.“Have you seen this?” I implored. “DeepSeek's terms are TERRIFYING!”Everyone knows DeepSeek, the latest darling in the AI war. The Chinese startup has created quite a stir, offering open source models that are competitive with OpenAI. DeepSeek is also cheaper to use, raising questions about the billions being invested in data centers by leading tech companies. It wasn't until someone said, "Have you actually read their terms of service?" that I felt a twinge of embarrassment. No, I hadn't. I had only read a convincing headline and a well-written Medium article, then helped amplify it without checking the source material. Oops. I trusted, but didn't verify – and became part of the problem, spreading misinformation through the viral grapevine of tech gossip. Having fumbled in my homework, I was determined to thoroughly review DeepSeek's terms and see for myself what made them so scary.As an AI practitioner and avid researcher, I have a personal stake in this. I use DeepSeek because it's significantly more affordable than <a target="_blank" href="https://www.anthropic.com/">Anthropic</a>, a competing model that's been around for some time and is considered one of the best. Anthropic has also received quite a bit of investment <a target="_blank" href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-anthropic-ai-investment">from AWS</a> ($4 billion to be exact).How much less expensive is DeepSeek? Here's an example: I spent $500 on Anthropic in December but only $20 on Deepseek in January. You can see why this is so disruptive.Several hours and four lengthy legal documents later, I had an enlightening realization: Things aren't always what they seem on the internet (shocking, I know!)Let's break down what I found with a handy comparison:  <figure class="image image-style-align-center"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/02/tom-diagram.jpg" alt="" /></figure><h2 id="the-reality-check">The Reality Check</h2>The Medium article painted DeepSeek's terms as uniquely threatening, but here's the thing – when you actually read all these terms side by side, they're remarkably similar. It's like they're all following the same cookbook but adding their own special sauce.<h2 id="the-plot-twist">The Plot Twist</h2>What's really interesting is that DeepSeek, the supposed “villain” in our story, actually has some of the most permissive terms. They explicitly allow you to use their outputs for training other models (through distillation) – something others either prohibit or stay quiet about.<h2 id="the-lessons-learned">The Lessons Learned</h2><ol><li>Headlines can be deceiving: That scary-sounding article? Sure, it got engagement. But it missed the bigger picture, and I helped spread it without checking.</li><li>Context is everything: What sounds alarming in isolation ("You're responsible for outputs!") turns out to be standard practice across the industry. If I'd known this context earlier, I wouldn't have said what I said.</li><li>Read the “boring stuff” too: Yes, terms of service are about as exciting as watching paint dry, but they tell the real story. So don't skip anything.</li></ol><h2 id="the-happy-ending">The Happy Ending</h2>Here's the warming part: These AI companies are actually pretty straightforward about what they're doing. They're not trying to trick you; they're just trying to run their businesses while protecting themselves legally. Standard stuff, really.Sure, the terms are complex (hello, lawyer-speak!), but they're generally upfront about:<ul><li>What rights you have to the outputs</li><li>How they can use your data</li><li>What you can and can't do with their services</li></ul><h2 id="the-trust-but-verify-takeaway">The Trust-But-Verify Takeaway</h2>In this warp-speed era of AI, we're all moving faster than we should. For CMS vendors, that's been evident in the widespread adoption of generative AI across their content management features and workflows. In the wake of my dramatic “mishap,” this feels like an opportune moment to pause and reflect on the topic of trust, and how vital it is to our customers – and ourselves. Can you trust these AI services? Generally speaking, yes. Should you verify claims about them? Absolutely! When you do, you'll often find that reality is less dramatic and more reasonable than social media would have you believe.Remember folks, trust is great, but verification is better. And sometimes, when you verify, you find out things are actually better than the scary headlines suggest. Now isn't that a nice plot twist?P.S. Always read the terms of service. Or at least find someone who has read them and isn't trying to scare you with clickbait. And please, don't be like me, spreading tech gossip before verifying it. Just saying… 😉Want to use AI services confidently? Do your homework, understand the terms, and don't let scary headlines (or well-meaning but uninformed colleagues like me) drive your decisions. These platforms are generally trustworthy – but always, always verify.After all, in the words of a wise person (probably): "Trust is good, verification is better, and actually reading the terms of service makes you a rare superhero in the age of clickbait." <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:30.46%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/cms-summit-25.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-summit-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">CMS Summit 25</a></h4>May 13-14, 2025 – Frankfurt, GermanyDon't miss the first European edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community! CMS Summit 25 will bring together top-notch speakers, our renowned learning format, and engaging social events. Hear from leading practitioners like Deutsche Bahn, Dr. Oetker, and more – and join customers, agencies, and CMS vendors as we discuss current trends and what's ahead for the content and digital experience fields. Connect and network at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference focused on CMS. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">so book your seats today.</a> <img style="width:31.83%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/01/cms-connect-2025-logo.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-connect-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">CMS Connect 25</a></h4>August 5-6, 2025 – Montreal, CanadaWe are delighted to present the second annual summer edition of our signature global conference dedicated to the content management community! CMS Connect will be held again in beautiful Montreal, Canada, and feature a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. Join vendors, agencies, and customers from across our industry as we engage and collaborate around the future of content management – and hear from the top thought leaders at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference exclusively focused on CMS. Space is limited for this event, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">so book your seats today.</a>

Trust and Verify: When Internet Drama Meets AI Reality

tom-cranstoun

Reflections on CMS Kickoff 25 from ‘The AEM Guy’

Revisiting 2024 Predictions on the Future of CMS

andrew

<hr /> If you haven't heard, there was some legal news yesterday. Big news.I’m not talking about the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.npr.org/2024/12/10/nx-s1-5224170/infowars-alex-jones-the-onion-bankruptcy-judge">failed bid by satirical media site The Onion</a> to buy Alex Jones’ far-right empire, including the defrocked Infowars website. Yesterday, a bankruptcy judge squashed the deal, ruling that the auction process was unfair. No, I’m speaking of the other statutory quagmire weighing down the CMS world: the ongoing drama betwixt <a target="_blank" href="https://automattic.com/">Automattic</a>, the parent company of <a target="_blank" href="https://wordpress.com/">WordPress.com</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/wp-engine">WP Engine</a> – a third-party WordPress hosting platform.Conjunction injunction, will WordPress function… for WP Engine? Despite the scorched earth ruckus that’s been playing out, it will – at least based on Tuesday’s ruling. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/10/24318350/automattic-restore-wp-engine-access-wordpress/">According to The Verge</a> (which has done yeoman’s work covering this blusterous saga), a California district judge ordered Automattic to cease blocking WP Engine’s access to <a target="_blank" href="https://wordpress.org/">WordPress.org</a>. This includes removing the <a target="_blank" href="https://wordpressenginetracker.com/">“WP Engine Tracker”</a> that Automattic deployed, listing the number of sites that have left the hosting platform since the start of the dispute – which has fallen precipitously since September 21st – and tearing down the now <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/9/24266426/the-latest-volley-in-the-wordpress-beef">infamous checkbox</a> on the WordPress login that asks users to verify they’re not affiliated with WP Engine. <img style="width:79.97%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/12/wordpress-wpengine-tracker.png" alt="" />The WordPress WP Engine Tracker, as of December 11, 2024. Image: CMS Critic Further, Automattic and its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattm/">CEO Matt Mullenweg</a> will have to relinquish their control of WP Engine’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.advancedcustomfields.com/">Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin</a>, a popular WordPress resource that allows developers to create custom content fields for websites. In many ways, this was the hot potato in the proverbial oven, as many WP Engine customers were furious about the uncertainty surrounding its status.<h3 id="just-to-recap-the-backstory">Just to recap the backstory</h3>After the initial action from Automattic, WP Engine <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/3/24261016/wordpress-wp-engine-lawsuit-automattic-matt-mullenweg">filed a lawsuit accusing</a> Automattic and Mullenweg of doing “irreparable harm” to its business, asking the court to intercede and restore WP Engine’s access to <a target="_blank" href="http://wordpress.org/">WordPress.org</a>. That court filing led to a contentious and very public campaign against WP Engine, in which Mullenweg called out WP Engine for misuse of the WordPress trademark. Perhaps in a more scathing rebuke, he also suggested the company had not been good stewards of the WordPress open source community, failing to sufficiently contribute to the platform’s ongoing innovation.For the record, I tried reaching out to multiple sources since the beginning of the drama. This includes trusted open source community members and people on the inside from both ends of the spectrum. Unfortunately, given the legal sensitivities, no one was willing to comment at the time. Now that a ruling has materialized – albeit preliminary – there might be more transparent reflection from all parties. We’ll see.Has this entire episode shaken the confidence of WordPress developers and practitioners? No doubt about it. Just read the tirade of social media comments that criticized both parties. Additionally, there’s been mounting negativity from contributors who have been vocal about their perception of the situation – a signal that things could be shifting in the future as developers assess the aftermath of this episode. The dispute has also exposed a fragile vulnerability that perhaps rivals zero-day open source security exploits, demonstrating how the human factor (vis-à-vis the politics of ego and the pursuit of profit) might present unforeseen risks to WordPress agencies, businesses, and the ocean of community developers.<h3 id="so-what-happens-next?-">So what happens next? </h3>Historians might be grappling with this chapter of web legacy for years to come. A lot depends on the fallout. There has been direct and collateral damage, to be sure – and given the visible personalities involved, we can probably expect further action. Does that mean more bellicose rhetoric? We’ll have to wait and see. From a more existential framework, I would contend that WordPress isn’t projecting the same level of gravitas it once did. To be clear, I spent a season of my career building, managing, and migrating to and from this CMS. I know it well. Maybe too well. Heck, the previous version of this blog was powered by WordPress and hosted on WP Engine and I rarely had any issues. It was stable and reliable. Sure, I had to facilitate updates and manage our custom-built plugins. But having that level of control was part of the fun, part of the magic that is website design and development. Maybe the operative question is: will WordPress continue to be a place where fresh minds and ambitious young developers flock to? Today, it still powers the largest share of websites on the open web, but is it in danger of becoming less relevant? Is a situation like this serving as a lynchpin for change – or a stark reminder that it is no longer the up-and-coming disruptor that it once was?I believe in open source. We all use it up and down the stack, from Linux to Docker. It is fundamental to how we code and create. On the CMS level, I’ve vocally advocated for the analyst community to give open source platforms the fair shake they deserve in the scope of their grids. I’ve also written about the efforts of organizations like the <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/drupal-joomla-typo3-and-wordpress-join-forces-in-new-open-website-alliance">Open Web Alliance</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/the-swiss-dont-miss-on-open-source-how-switzerlands-embag-law-is-evolving-the-oss-landscape">countries like Switzerland</a> that are embracing open source in meaningful ways. At the same time, users and practitioners ought to have material opportunities for generating equitable revenue by using open source software as part of their business strategy. As these platforms aired their dirty laundry on a very public stage, they've been influencing the decision-making for new and existing developers and businesses, perhaps deepening the rift and raising questions about the solvency of building in this ecosystem. Will that manifest in slowing growth? Again, the historians will love unpacking this. If you visit Automattic’s website, the first thing you’ll read is a very simple mission statement: “We are passionate about making the web a better place.” If that’s true, then maybe tearing down the oligarchical power structures is the first step. And that’s not directed towards one side of the field. There’s plenty that can be done to reinforce better standards, greater transparency, and generally “good karma” from both Automattic and WP Engine. Both parties have beneficial attributes, and both had solvent points to make in this dispute.Regardless of the outcome, we can agree that leaving builders and businesses in limbo is the least constructive way to maintain trust. Hopefully, we can leave the scorched earth behind – and focus on green fields.  <hr /><h4 style="text-align:center" id="looking-for-guidance-on-wordpress-or-wp-engine?--talk-to-us.-">Looking for guidance on WordPress or WP Engine?  <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/contact">Talk to us. </a></h4><hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-2025"><a href=" https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25">CMS Kickoff 2025</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaMeet industry leaders at our third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global CMS event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">so secure your tickets today.</a> <img style="width:30.46%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/cms-summit-25.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-summit-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">CMS Summit 25</a></h4>May 13-14, 2025 – Frankfurt, GermanyDon't miss the first European edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community! CMS Summit 25 will bring together top-notch speakers, our renowned learning format, and engaging social events. Hear from leading practitioners like Deutsche Bahn, Dr. Oetker, and more – and join customers, agencies, and CMS vendors as we discuss current trends and what's ahead for the content and digital experience fields. Connect and network at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference focused on CMS. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">so book your seats today.</a>

WP Engine wins an injunction against Automattic. Is the WordPress 'scorched earth' campaign over?

matt-garrepy

<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

michael-lukaszczyk

Weglot - The easiest way to translate a website

The easiest way to translate a website

#18164c

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

Responsible AI Principles for Digital Marketing and Content Teams 

bmckeiver

Painting by numbers: Where CMS fits in the 14,106 products on the 2024 Martech Supergraphic

Untangling the CMS market in 2024

Eco-Friendliness in the CMS World

lasse

<hr /> I got the Salesforce Blues… Even Slack can't pick me up… I got the Salesforce Blues… Is Informatica outta luck?Oh, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/salesforce">Salesforce</a>. Even legendary blues disciple <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Johnson">Robert Johnson</a> couldn’t pen a sadder tune about these troubled waters. What did you ever do to deserve this reaction?Before we discuss any “deals with the devil” or take riders to Rosedale, let’s review what we know (and don’t know). Things started brewing last Friday when the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/salesforce-in-advanced-talks-to-buy-informatica-ba9ec09c?mod=tech_lead_pos3">Wall Street Journal</a> first reported that the CRM giant was in early talks to buy <a target="_blank" href="https://www.informatica.com/">Informatica</a>, a leader in the data management software space. For context: Informatica’s tools provide advanced data quality and integration capabilities, helping businesses enhance the value of their data for business, IT, marketing, and commerce applications. This includes stuff like APIs, cloud modernization, Customer 360 solutions, and a whole lot more.On Monday, when word hit the street, <a target="_blank" href="https://qz.com/salesforce-informatica-deal-11-billion-1851411069">Salesforce stock tumbled 7.3%</a>. Informatica, likewise, was off by 6.5%. Salesforce recovered a bit today, but the axe fell deep – and swiftly. But it's too early to draw conclusions. It's no secret that Salesforce has been expanding and diversifying its ecosystem. When I reflected last week on <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/is-google-adding-the-letters-crm-to-its-alphabet-soup-ask-hubspot">Google’s dalliance with buying HubSpot</a>, I also noted how Salesforce is entangled in the gravitational influence of the leading cloud providers – where <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/aws">AWS</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/microsoft-azure">Microsoft</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/google-cloud-platform">GCP</a> present a celestial three-body problem.Over the years, Salesforce has evolved CRM through its own sales lens, adding tools like marketing automation, commerce, CMS, analytics, and a whole host of technologies that make its cloud more attractive and “sticky” to enterprises. Central to it all is data, the currency of business, and an area that’s being threatened by the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forrester/2024/01/16/google-commits-to-third-party-cookies-deprecation-in-2024/?sh=a8d8e14245af">deprecation of cookies</a> and an evolving consumer privacy landscape. When it comes to an acquisition of this scale (at $38.48 a share, the Informatica price tag would be in the billions) there are a lot of underlying forces at play. But what presumably makes this worth all the “B’s” to Salesforce is the exploding value of AI. This is why the hunt for platforms like Informatica could be key to accelerating the injection of AI-powered capabilities into the mix. Both Salesforce and Informatica have been charging up their existing products with artificial intelligence for quite some time but really ramping up since the introduction of <a target="_blank" href="https://openai.com/">Open AI</a> and LLMs. Earlier this year, Salesforce released <a target="_blank" href="https://www.salesforce.com/news/press-releases/2024/02/27/einstein-copilot-news/">Einstein Copilot</a>, a generative conversational AI assistant for its CRM that delivers more trusted responses trained on your company’s data. Around this time last year, Informatica also released its AI-powered <a target="_blank" href="https://www.informatica.com/about-us/news/news-releases/2023/05/20230509-informatica-expands-its-intelligent-data-management-cloud-with-innovations-led-by-claire-gpt-industrys-first-generative-ai-powered-data-management-platform.html">Intelligent Data Management Cloud</a>, which included its novel <a target="_blank" href="https://www.informatica.com/about-us/claire.html">CLAIRE GPT</a> – providing the industry’s first generative AI solution within a data management platform. And so here we are, waiting to see if Salesforce starts Travis-picking with another big gamble. The talks are merely at the advanced stage, but they could represent a major move for both companies and send ripples across the CRM and cloud landscape.  <h3 id="so-why-are-investors-singin’-the-blues?-">So why are investors singin’ the blues? </h3>Play it again, Sam…It’s a song as old as time, because Salesforce has been around forever – and given its track record with its most recent acquisitions, it’s clear that the street is feeling a bit uneasy about another big-ticket purchase that doesn’t pay off in big dividends. Just to jog your memory: when Salesforce touted its breathtaking $28 billion acquisition of Slack in 2020, CEO Mark Benioff proclaimed it was a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/how-slacks-marriage-to-salesforce-crumbled">“match made in heaven.”</a> It didn’t take long for things to sour – from a visible rift between Benioff and Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield, to real skepticism that sales could be increased by bundling and integrating Slack with other products.To be clear, there are multiple Slack integrations with Salesforce, from basic connectors for admins to Service Cloud and Tableau. You can also build custom notifications, which is pretty handy. OK, so it works. But by all measures, it hasn’t been a windfall. And paying 26 times Slack’s future revenue was just one painful reality playing out over the last two years. The other was fighting the <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/is-google-adding-the-letters-crm-to-its-alphabet-soup-ask-hubspot">growing “Cloud War” with Microsoft</a>, its former rival for Slack and persona non grata around Salesforce HQ. As competition betwixt Dynamics 365 and other downstream systems ensued, Salesforce was feeling pressure to innovate, scale, and make up ground for a colossal misstep. And things are getting precarious from an accountability perspective. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/salesforce-is-advanced-talks-buy-informatica-wsj-reports-2024-04-13/">According to Reuters</a>, Salesforce has been under the gun since early last year, when a pod of activist investors – including ValueAct Capital and Elliott Management – started raising flags around the company’s strategy. This included a quest for changes in management, but it might also be the fire that lit leadership into action around the company's next strategic venture.Buying Informatica at the proposed price will make this the biggest acquisition for Salesforce since the Slack debacle. Not to say that all previous purchases have missed the mark. <a target="_blank" href="https://qz.com/salesforce-informatica-deal-11-billion-1851411069">According to Quartz</a>, Salesforce has purchased over 70 companies since 2006. Some of those must have turned out to be winners, right? Right?Well, that’s exactly what investors are weighing. Even though 2023 was a year of austerity for the CRM king’s unabated “expansion by acquisition,” some major purchases prior to Slack are still rattling the market’s rib cage. In 2019, it went hog-wild with Tableau – spending <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-05/salesforce-crm-guts-tableau-after-spending-15-7-billion-in-2019-deal">$15.7 billion</a> for the analytics visualization platform. A year earlier, it dropped <a target="_blank" href="https://groovetechnology.com/blog/why-did-salesforce-acquire-mulesoft/">$6.5 billion</a> for Mulesoft – arguably the leading API development and integration platform. On the surface, these purchases seemed to serve ostensibly ambitious goals: Salesforce wanted to enrich customer data and expand its marketplace with API-powered interoperability. But just as with Slack, Salesforce gutted both platforms after the deals were closed, laying off sizeable portions of their respective teams. With Tableau, a major reorg last year signaled that the acquisition might not be living up to its expectations. Maybe not the best way to handle your multi-billion-dollar purchases. But that’s another song on the record. <h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>As the tale goes, Robert Johnson <a target="_blank" href="https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/robert-johnson#:~:text=Legend%20has%20it%20that%20Robert,the%20first%20ever%20rock%20star.">sold his soul</a> to the devil at a crossroads in Cleveland, Mississippi in exchange for a mastery of the guitar. Regardless of what you believe, his talent was unrivaled at the time – and he might have been the first rock star ever. Like the blues legend, Salesforce was unquestionably the first rock star of CRM. Sure, it was flanked by contemporary pioneers like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.goldmine.com/">Goldmine</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.maximizer.com/">Maximizer</a>, but it was Mark Benioff’s vision of “The End of Software” that really blew people’s minds and established a revolutionary foothold for the category. And it was rock 'n roll all the way to the top.It’s true what they say: some stars burn bright and fade into obscurity. That’s not the case here, but market-leading entities like Salesforce do lose their luster as innovators and disruptors when the accouterments of success begin to weigh things down. There’s no doubt that Salesforce has made some, shall we say, miscalculations when feeding its voracious M&amp;A appetite. That might seem obvious on the frontend relative to the inflated price tag for Slack. But the real misstep is the mismanagement of the potential. Reorgs and layoffs aside, it seems that no one had a real plan for what to do after it won the race.Still, Salesforce got to its Gleaming Tower on the Bay because it has continued to nurture its core business – and I’m certain it has a few more tricks up its sleeve. Case in point: aligning with AWS to build a beachhead against Microsoft via its Marketplace. The Informatica acquisition could also be more tacitly aligned with Salesforce, building on market longevity and proven enterprise relationships. Like Salesforce, Informatica’s no spring chicken – it was founded in 1993, six years before Benioff left Oracle to build his new kingdom.Also on the plus side: it looks like a good buy from a revenue and market share perspective. Informatica’s stock has been performing well since the launch of its AI features, up 43% this year. With 5,000 active customers and 6,000 employees, it could present a more profitable catch – as long as the multipliers hold steady.At the end of the day, the cloud plays big in any decision, for reasons already mentioned (vis-à-vis the "Cloud Wars”). The next big hurdle in cloud adoption and management is optimization, fueled by actionable data insights. If Salesforce can complement its core services with greater access to data innovation and cloud modernization services – coupled with even greater API integration and data quality capabilities – it might have a real winner on its hands.And of course, there’s AI. Informatica’s CLAIRE GPT leverages unified metadata intelligence to enhance data discovery up to 100x faster and unlock new levels of productivity. Automation is becoming increasingly important as brands amass huge amounts of data across billions of transactions and data integration jobs. This is work humans can’t do – and its CRM ecosystem could certainly benefit from. After a long drought of M&amp;A activity, 2024 is looking to be a year of potentially epic dealmaking. This move by Salesforce is a clear signal that sentiment is improving. That said, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan <a target="_blank" href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jpmorgan-ceo-dimon-says-market-181040250.html">maintains caution</a> as the outlook is compounded by a confluence of outside factors – namely a Presidential election in the U.S. and continued global conflicts that could impact supply chains. In other words, we just don’t know. It’s hard to weigh in fully on speculation, but with so much percolating across the tech sector, it’s important to keep our eyes on what’s really happening. Salesforce is a critical part of almost every enterprise stack, and a key one for CMS and DXP platforms (heck, Salesforce has shown up as a DXP for Gartner). Improving data management could be a pro for customers on multiple levels. Of course, the Blues can be unpredictable – and sometimes, you don’t start singin' 'til the deal is done. Let’s hope the devil isn’t involved.   <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-conferences">Upcoming conferences</h3> <img style="width:29.67%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-connect-2024-logo.png" alt="CMS Connect 24 logo" /><h4 id="cms-connect-24"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect24">CMS Connect 24</a></h4>August 6-7, 2024 – Montreal, CanadaWe are delighted to present our first annual summer edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community. Join us this August in Montreal, Canada, for a vendor-neutral conference focused on CMS. Tired of impersonal and overwhelming gatherings? Picture this event as a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">CMS Kickoff 25</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaJoin us next January in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for the third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, so secure your tickets today.

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