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<h4>Snapshot</h4><ul><li>Sitecore announced that it will continue to add artificial intelligence features across its products</li><li>This follows the recent launch of the company's AI-based Content Cloud</li><li>The DXP previously announced complete generative AI integration via ChatGPT and Azure Open AI</li></ul><hr /> Let's get to the core of it: <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/sitecore">Sitecore</a> is going all-in on AI.The global, industry-leading DXP recently announced ongoing plans to infuse artificial intelligence features across its suite of content and commerce offerings.While the announcement was made at its<a target="_blank" href="https://www.sitecore.com/dx-events/sydney"> Sitecore DX 2023 </a>event in Sydney last week, the company has been blazing a trail across the AI/ML frontier for some time, having already embedded AI capabilities into its content cloud and personalization software.The event – which featured Sitecore CEO <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tzikakis/">Steve Tzikakis</a> – aimed to demonstrate to brands and partners that they can quickly deploy new AI-powered digital content and commerce offerings, underpinned by machine learning software.<h3>Building on proven AI and personalization </h3>Generative AI might still be considered nascent, but Sitecore has been innovating with artificial intelligence for a number of years. In fact, in 2020, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sitecore.com/company/newsroom/press-releases/2020/10/sitecore-makes-ai-powered-auto-personalization-a-standard">company introduced</a> its Sitecore AI Auto Personalization as a standard feature of its DXP.“The future of marketing technology and brand experience will be AI-fuelled due to the sheer power of machine learning tools,” said Tzikakis.As AI continues to steamroll the market with undeniable hype, Sitecore has been doubling down on high-utility applications that benefit enterprise customers at scale, most recently with the launch of its AI-based Content Cloud. This complements its Automated Personalization platform, which enables brands to gain insights from previous website visitors. <h3>Adding ChatGPT to meet demand for generative AI</h3>Earlier this year, Sitecore conducted a survey of four hundred marketers in the US, revealing that generative AI is seen as a pivotal, game-changing advancement for brand marketers – specifically for those seeking rapid-fire personalization for delivering intuitive and engaging digital experiences to customers. In April, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sitecore.com/company/newsroom/press-releases/2023/04/sitecore-introduces-openai-generative-ai-integration-functionality-to-its-fully-composable-software">Sitecore announced</a> that Open AI's <a target="_blank" href="https://chat.openai.com/">ChatGPT</a> functionality was now available across its array of fully composable software solutions. This integration, powered by <a target="_blank" href="https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/ai-services/openai-service">Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service</a>, provides marketers the ability to integrate generative AI functionality into their Sitecore-powered marketing technology stack to supercharge efficiency, personalization, and content production at scale across Sitecore’s entire range of composable solutions.According to Tzikakis, generative AI developments are moving incredibly fast. “In fact, while 77% of US marketers feel their technology can handle AI demands, 45% are concerned by the significant costs they perceive will be required to maintain growth.”<h3>Leveraging composable and AI</h3>When it comes to differentiators in the AI spectrum, Sitecore’s unique, fully composable offering provides maximum flexibility to marketers. Users can essentially “build their own solution” by bringing their own AI to integrate via open APIs and configurable UIs. “Our generative AI offering has been created to integrate with our composable strategy,” Tzikakis said. “Businesses will need to move away from legacy software stacks, and infuse AI systems into composable software approaches that enable true flexibility and the ability to provide their customers with personalized and rich experiences.”Examples of this in action include the integration of ChatGPT into <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sitecore.com/products/xm-cloud">Sitecore XM Cloud CMS</a> to create near-instant translations, and leveraging ChatGPT to rephrase marketing copy created in Content Hub to better target specific segments and destination channels. Additionally, Sitecore customers can use Dall-E to generate image variants for omnichannel campaigns being managed across Sitecore's Content Cloud.While generative AI is accelerating at an unprecedented pace, Sitecore is using its composable posture to alleviate the concerns noted about the costs of harnessing AI.“Sitecore’s composable platform helps combat this fear by giving Sitecore customers the ability to leverage our unique, composable offering,” Tzikakis stated, "which allows brands to control when and how much spend they can invest depending on customer needs.”

Sitecore Plans to Expand AI Across its Content and Commerce Offerings

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<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-updates-experience-platform-and-experience-commerce-releases-new-sitecore-content-hub/">Sitecore</a> is holding its popular <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/company/news-events/events/2022/11/ldn/symposium-takeaway-sessions-2022" target="_blank">Symposium Takeaway Sessions</a> in Europe as a follow-up to its <a href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/" target="_blank">Sitecore Symposium 2022</a> in Chicago – with a keen focus on the topic of composability.
The sessions look promising, as they include live networking, customer presentations, and lively discussions with Sitecore leadership. 
The digital experience platform (DXP) leader is welcoming back live audiences in three locations next month:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.sitecore.com/company/news-events/events/2022/11/ldn/symposium-takeaway-sessions-2022" target="_blank">November 3 – London, UK</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.sitecore.com/company/news-events/events/2022/11/dk/symposium-takeaway-sessions-2022" target="_blank">November 15 – Copenhagen, Denmark</a></li>
<li>November 17 – Stockholm, Sweden</li>
</ul>
<h2>From the Sitecore DXP roadmap to customer success stories</h2>
While each of the Symposium Takeaway Sessions offers something unique (aside from the locale), each will feature a mix of Sitecore's thought leaders. The core presentations will be led by <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacqueline-baxter/" target="_blank">Jaqueline Baxter</a>, Senior Digital Strategist at Sitecore, who will provide practical key learnings, informative tips, and takeaways from Symposium 2022 – which will be held in Chicago from October 17-20.
The UK session will feature a presentation by <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-tidmarsh-7b3871/" target="_blank">Michael Tidmarsh</a>, Olgilvy's Global CTO, as he shares the agency's experience with emerging technologies. He will touch on blockchain, NFTs, AR, and other "fringe" innovations that are making the transition to be business-ready – and the goldmine that awaits. 
In Copenhagen, attendees will have a chance to hear from LB Insurance about its use of composable architectures and automated DevOps with the Sitecore platform, allowing the firm to orchestrate and evolve business value and technology at different speeds to meet demands. 
Stockholm will feature a presentation by leading global agency <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen/">Valtech</a>, which is pioneering innovation in the composable space. 
<h2>About Sitecore</h2>
Sitecore delivers a digital experience platform that empowers the world's smartest brands to build lifelong relationships with their customers. A highly decorated industry leader, Sitecore is the only company bringing together content, commerce, and data into one connected platform that delivers millions of digital experiences every day. Leading companies, including American Express, ASOS, Kimberly-Clark, L'Oréal, and Volvo Cars, rely on Sitecore to provide more engaging, personalized experiences for their customers. Learn more at <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3311724-1&amp;h=2070543467&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sitecore.com%2F&amp;a=Sitecore.com" target="_blank">Sitecore.com</a>.

Sitecore Symposium Takeaway Sessions 2022 Coming to London, Copenhagen, Stockholm

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These days, if you're not beating the DXP drum of "composable" and "scalable," you might seem out of step with the direction of the market. That's been a challenge for traditionally monolithic platforms that have invested in a vision of completeness for enterprise customers, but still want to be perceived as flexible amidst a growing stack of services. 
In an effort to MACHify (more on that in a minute), <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/" target="_blank">Sitecore</a> is evolving its own monolithic legacy position by adapting its fully-integrated platform of solutions. At last week's <a href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/en/world-tour/London" target="_blank">Sitecore Symposium World Tour</a> in London, the company outlined a composable product portfolio, showcasing customers delivering digital experiences at scale with its own composable offerings. 
<h2>Driving DXP growth through strategic acquisitions</h2>
In case you missed the barrage of stories we covered, Sitecore has been making headlines since announcing its <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-embarks-on-1-2b-investment-plan-to-accelerate-growth/" target="_blank">$1.2 billion capital investment</a> last year – which, at the time, was unprecedented in the industry. 
As part of its growth plan, the company went on an acquisition spree. In just one year, it purchased four technologies that addressed key gaps in its DXP strategy: <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-ai-powered-search-platform-reflektion/" target="_blank">Reflektion</a>, an AI-powered digital search solution; <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-moosend-adds-ai-powered-email-marketing-automation/" target="_blank">Moosend</a>, an e-mail marketing automation, and campaign management platform; <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-boxever-and-four51/" target="_blank">Boxever</a>, a SaaS-based Customer Data Platform (CDP); and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-boxever-and-four51/" target="_blank">Four51</a>, a digital commerce platform for e-Commerce B2B marketplace solutions. 
According to the company, these platforms are now fully integrated into Sitecore, achieving a significant milestone in delivering a complete, SaaS-based DXP.
<h2>MACH vs. monolith... or can we all just get along?</h2>
We've talked a lot about <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/mach-alliance-releases-study-on-adoption-of-mach-technologies-by-tech-leaders-qa-with-sonja-keerl/">MACH</a>-based composable architectures and how they're being adopted at a wild pace, particularly as brands look to scale faster and faster. Following the seismic shift in digital transformation following the Covid-19 pandemic, many CMS and DXP companies doubled down on a composable market posture – and Sitecore was among the enterprise crop that announced its intentions to invest in a more composable DXP position.
Sitecore's product updates have been fundamental to expanding its advanced, SaaS-enabled capabilities, which do align with several principles of MACH architectures (which stands for Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS, and Headless). Sitecore says that its suite of capabilities will enable brands to provide real-time, personalized digital experiences across every touchpoint, from content to commerce – powered by the cloud. 
One of the key challenges for vendors in the MACH space is the ability to prove their "MACH centricity" under the tenants established by the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/mach-alliance-releases-study-on-adoption-of-mach-technologies-by-tech-leaders-qa-with-sonja-keerl/">MACH Alliance</a>. The industry organization has become a bellwether for all things MACH and established strict requirements for members that reinforce the underlying fundamentals of the movement – all in an effort to help companies invest in the most composable solutions on the market.  For platforms like Sitecore, this has become an opportunity to tout the benefits of its broader market offerings while future-proofing products like <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/blog/headless/what-is-mach-architecture" target="_blank">Sitecore OrderCloud as "MACH Certified."</a> 
"For brands to truly meet the moment, it has never been more crucial than it is now to adopt technology that offers choice, flexibility, and speed," said Dave O'Flanagan, Chief Product Officer at Sitecore. "Sitecore is committed to delivering a composable DXP that meets the continuously changing needs of brands – unifying content, experience, and commerce, enabling them to offer exceptional customer experiences while continuing to innovate for whatever demands are around the corner. Ambitious brands have outgrown the one-size-fits-all vendors, and they will not settle for piecemeal point solutions – they need a stack of best-in-class features that work in harmony together – and this is what Sitecore delivers."
Here are more details on the updates to Sitecore's product offerings, which all build on innovation via their acquisitions:
<h2>Sitecore OrderCloud</h2>
<a href="https://ordercloud.io/" target="_blank">Sitecore OrderCloud</a> is an API-first, headless cloud platform for B2B, B2C, and B2X. This capability comes from the Four51 acquisition, which originally designed the platform. The new updates expand OrderCloud's marketplace support capabilities with the release of new order routing flexibility, supplier empowerment, and pricing flexibility. And as mentioned, OrderCloud is powered by a MACH architecture, giving it greater flexibility within the Sitecore stack.  
In addition, OrderCloud released a new Inventory Records feature to provide management flexibility that enables manufacturers, distributors, and retailers with seamless operational and commerce capabilities.
"With Sitecore OrderCloud, we are excited about the possibilities of connecting our customers with products they need and want to play sports and have fun," said Jason McConnell, Director of Product at NBC Sports Next. "We picked Sitecore OrderCloud because we're impressed with its composable developer-first functionality, which should give us all the flexibility needed to seamlessly weave commerce into our existing technology platforms." 
<h3>Sitecore Send</h3>
<a href="https://www.sitecore.com/products/send" target="_blank">Sitecore Send</a> is an e-mail marketing automation tool that evolved from the Moosend acquisition. Sitecore's updates include six additional languages: Spanish, French, German, Greek, Japanese, and Portuguese. Sitecore also announced a new pricing plan with a 30-day free trial for the full range of Send's enterprise-level features.
<h3>Sitecore Discover</h3>
<a href="https://www.sitecore.com/products/discover" target="_blank">Sitecore Discover</a> is an AI-powered product search and merchandising solution that came with the acquisition of Reflektion. It helps understand and predict an individual shopper's purchase intent based on patterns, context, and needs – all of which help convert browsers into buyers.
The updates provide Sitecore Discover's Commerce Engagement Console (CEC) with a revamped appearance library and editor, providing a better user experience and more control over merchandising. It also improves its widgets with type filters and rule exports, adding more convenience for users.
<h3>Sitecore Personalize</h3>
<a href="https://www.sitecore.com/products/sitecore-personalize" target="_blank">Sitecore Personalize</a> is an AI-driven, cloud-native solution for delivering tailored experiences to every customer. The product stems from the acquisition of Boxever, a SaaS-based Customer Data Platform (CDP) that provides decisioning and experimentation capabilities.
As part of the update package, Sitecore Personalize has completed its integration with Sitecore Experience Manager, offering channel diagnostic testing and real-time personalization that complements Sitecore's market-leading CMS – and is all delivered in the cloud.
<h3>Expanded integrations for Salesforce and more</h3>
Sitecore also published several new connectors on its Sitecore Marketplace for several product integrations, including Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Responsys, and Klaviyo. The company also added new AI-powered product discovery capabilities to support a broad range of commerce-related use cases, including intelligent search, product listing pages, and product recommendations.
<h2>Ramping up the competition</h2>
Sitecore has been a consistent Leader on <a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/webinars/4005210/the-gartner-magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms" target="_blank">Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms</a>. However, in the most recent 2022 assessment, the platform has fallen slightly behind its chief competitors, Acquia and Optimizely, while Adobe continues to maintain its dominance.  
<img style="max-width:800px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/03/gartner-dxp-mq-2022-graphic.webp" alt="Gartner Magic Quadrant for DXPs graphic 2022" />
According to Gartner, the <a href="https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/gartner-keynote-the-future-of-business-is-composable" target="_blank">future of business is composable</a>, and Sitecore's journey towards composability and the cloud illustrates its commitment to the market. The analyst firm noted that Sitecore's efforts to convert its core applications into SaaS – and acquiring SaaS vendors with complementary capabilities in AI, CDP, and search, among others – is a strength. 
While the company may have slipped against its competitors, it certainly appears ready to do battle in the Composable Revolution. 
<h2>About Sitecore</h2>
Sitecore delivers a digital experience platform that empowers the world’s smartest brands to build lifelong relationships with their customers. A highly decorated industry leader, Sitecore is the only company bringing together content, commerce, and data into one connected platform that delivers millions of digital experiences every day. Leading companies including American Express, ASOS, Carnival Cruise Lines, Kimberly-Clark, L’Oréal, and Volvo Cars rely on Sitecore to provide more engaging, personalized experiences for their customers. Learn more at <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/">Sitecore.com</a>.

Sitecore Announces Updates to Product Suite, Enhances Composable Features and Innovation from Acquisitions

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Sitecore’s epic <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-embarks-on-1-2b-investment-plan-to-accelerate-growth/" target="_blank">$1.2 billion growth plan</a> keeps bearing its fruits, this time with the addition of a new SaaS DXP. Sitecore yesterday <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/company/news-events/press-releases/2021/10/sitecore-announces-the-future-of-the-digital-experience-platform" target="_blank">announced</a> Sitecore Experience Manager Cloud – the first entirely cloud-native CMS offering the design flexibility, integration-friendliness, and authoring experience for business users to create and deliver personalized digital experiences. 
Sitecore’s new SaaS DXP, which is available for customers from today in most regions globally, is built on a composable architecture, so end users can buy best-of-breed products or an integrated platform that scales to support high volume content, visitor, and data processing needs. The composable approach enables brands to capitalize on Sitecore’s 1,200+ strong partner ecosystem, extensive developer network, and deep-rooted expertise in helping enterprise businesses manage and enhance the customer experience across all industries and regions.
The company also announced a range of new product updates that integrate recent acquisitions and the launch of a subscription-based learning resource. <a href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/" target="_blank">Sitecore Symposium</a>, the biggest annual Sitecore event, was full of announcements, including a range of new product updates that integrate recent acquisitions and the launch of a subscription-based learning resource, all accompanied by John Legend’s singing performance. 
Sitecore’s $1.2B investment last year has been the largest capital investment in the martech space. The investment spurred a series of acquisitions of <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-boxever-and-four51/" target="_blank">Boxever, Four51</a>, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-moosend-adds-ai-powered-email-marketing-automation/" target="_blank">Moosend</a>, and, lastly, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-ai-powered-search-platform-reflektion/" target="_blank">Reflektion</a>.
With the new SaaS DXP, customers can now configure and connect products through APIs as needed to gain faster time to value and have the ability to flex their creativity to create differentiation in the market faster than the competition. With microservices-based, cloud-native technology, the option to scale up or down and quickly change content across different channels is possible.
<blockquote>“Today’s announcement confirms our ambition to disrupt the market and help brands stay ahead with cutting-edge technology. Our recent acquisitions have been fundamental to building the most advanced composable platform available today, something we see as the future of DXP. Customer expectations are everchanging, so it is essential brands are empowered to work in real-time, adapting experiences to keep up with the demand. We’re supporting them with the technology to make this possible. By bringing our portfolio together in the cloud, brands can achieve this and enjoy a truly integrated, flexible, and scalable platform – delivering personalized experiences for their customers, whatever the channel.”
- Steve Tzikakis, Sitecore CEO</blockquote>
Below you can find a list of updates to Sitecore’s offering:
<h4>Sitecore Discover</h4>
Following the acquisition of Reflektion in September, <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/products/discover" target="_blank">Sitecore Discover</a> empowers commerce businesses by adding individualized search and merchandising capabilities. 
With 93% of all online experiences starting with search, this is an essential update empowering brands to offer end-to-end, personalized experiences using AI-powered technology that understands and predicts customer patterns, context, and needs.
With Site Discover, you can deliver a 1:1 shopping experience with tailored search results and recommendations driven by AI in real-time.
<h4>Sitecore Personalize</h4>
Sitecore yesterday announced its new SaaS Personalization Engine powered by technology from the company’s Boxever acquisition. Boxever, a SaaS-based Customer Data Platform (CDP) providing decisioning and experimentation, allows Sitecore to enhance customer intelligence with AI-driven personalization tools. Personalize allows brands to experiment and be agile to customers’ evolving digital behaviors. The AI-based technology empowers digital leaders to deliver next-level, real-time experiences, optimize their conversion funnels and engage customers with relevant content and offers.
<h4>Sitecore Health Cloud</h4>
Sitecore Health Cloud is an offering of Sitecore Experience Platform in Microsoft Azure that caters to the specific intricacies of the U.S. healthcare market. The technology, which is scheduled to be HIPAA ready in Spring 2022, will empower providers to offer engaging and personalized patient experiences using data, delivering great healthcare services in a secure and compliant manner.
<h4>Sitecore Learning</h4>
Sitecore also announced three new tiered learning subscriptions – Essentials, Professionals, and Advanced – to help more professionals across the industry become Sitecore certified. Created to meet the demand for education that matches the speed of Sitecore’s DXP updates and additions, the resource will enable users to learn about products from online courses and instructor-led tutorials. They will also allow professionals to learn about other Sitecore products, opening up possibilities to expand and enhance their capabilities and address the challenge of siloed teams. To find out more about Sitecore’s learning resource, visit: <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/knowledge-center/getting-started/training" target="_blank">learning.sitecore.com</a>
<h2>About Sitecore</h2>
Sitecore delivers a digital experience platform that empowers the world's smartest brands to build lifelong relationships with their customers. A highly decorated industry leader, Sitecore is the only company bringing together content, commerce, and data into one connected platform that delivers millions of digital experiences every day. Leading companies, including American Express, ASOS, Kimberly-Clark, L'Oréal, and Volvo Cars, rely on Sitecore to provide more engaging, personalized experiences for their customers. Learn more at <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/" target="_blank">Sitecore.com</a>.

Sitecore Announces the Future of the Digital Experience Platform, Launching Industry’s First Enterprise SaaS Offering

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In the battle for digital domination, search reigns supreme – and brands are stepping up their search game.According to a survey by SearchNode, 68% of eCommerce industry leaders are improving their search functionality in 2021 and expanding the lens of their magnifying glasses. That plays directly into today's news that digital experience platform provider <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sitecore.com/">Sitecore</a> is acquiring San Mateo-based <a target="_blank" href="https://reflektion.com/">Reflektion,</a> an AI-powered digital search solution that understands and predicts patterns, context, and needs – so brands can convert more shoppers into buyers.The addition of Reflektion's technology will enable Sitecore to better engage, educate, and empower shoppers to make purchase decisions faster – increasing buyer confidence, long-term revenue, and overall customer satisfaction and loyalty.The acquisition – a continuation of Sitecore’s epic <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-embarks-on-1-2b-investment-plan-to-accelerate-growth/">$1.2 billion growth plan</a> – will help marketers solve the information overload that is characteristic of traditional search solutions, which can impede a customer's ability to find and select the products they're looking for.When <a target="_blank" href="https://www.webfx.com/seo/statistics/#:~:text=When%20people%20go%20online%20to,search%20engine%20to%20guide%20them.">93% of all online experiences start with search</a>, it's fair to say that it's essential to the customer buying journey. Reflektion elevates the value of search by transforming it into a conversational, guided experience that provides more personal, accessible, and tailored answers for the customer. “Search is about more than just entering words into a box and hoping for the right results – it is the cornerstone of a digital experience," said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tzikakis/">Steve Tzikakis</a>, CEO, Sitecore. "With Reflektion, a brand can add various types of search including personalized search, preview search, conversational search, and voice search. This reduces customers’ effort and anxiety to find exactly what they need – with more convenience and speed – and leads to increased customer satisfaction with more conversions and revenue. Acquiring Reflektion reinforces Sitecore’s position as the leader in digital experience technologies that meets customers at the moment with more relevant, intuitive, and human experiences.”<h2>Elevating the E-commerce Experience with AI</h2>Reflektion brings an array of complementary commerce, AI, and personalization capabilities to Sitecore, which will further augment the DXP's acquisition of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-boxever-and-four51/">Four51,</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-boxever-and-four51/">Boxever</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-moosend-adds-ai-powered-email-marketing-automation/">Moosend</a>. Together, this nexus of data and deep learning technologies will allow Sitecore to seamlessly deliver intelligent, personalized, real-time information across channels.Four51’s API-first, headless e-commerce solution enables organizations to quickly and easily deliver engaging shopping experiences, helping them improve customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy. Four51’s feature set complements their existing B2C commerce capabilities while the Customer Data Platform (CDP) Boxever enhances customer intelligence with AI-driven personalization tools – making it easy to capture, unify and activate customer data and deliver personalized experiences at scale.With a robust stack powering their growth across data and digital commerce, search presents an ideal channel for connecting and expanding Sitecore's breadth of capabilities – and Reflektion delivers on that vision.“Since its inception eight years ago, Reflektion has become recognized for its unique approach to search-product discovery technology," said Amar Chokhawala, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Reflektion. "Our technology uses AI to adjust each consumer’s digital experience, in the moment, based on diverse data from multiple channels. I am proud of the passionate team at Reflektion who has been successful in bringing our AI-first approach to many site-search deployments for large e-commerce and retailers’ websites. With Sitecore, the Reflektion team and customers will be able to continue to leverage the enhancement of digital experiences, leading to continued growth and results for all.”The acquisition is expected to close in September 2021.<h2>Ramping Up the Competition</h2>Sitecore fired a "shot heard 'round the DXP world" last January when it announced its ambitious $1.2 billion growth strategy – which brewed speculation amongst competitors and analysts alike.While the mature market player celebrated its fourth year in a row as a Leader on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/key-takeaways-from-gartners-2021-magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms/">Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for DXPs</a>, it fell slightly behind both Acquia and Episerver (now Optimizely). <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/01/gartner-magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms-2021.png" alt="Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms-2021" /><a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/resources/forrester-wave-agile-cms-2021-report/">Forrester’s Q1 Wave Report for Agile CMSes</a> paints a similar picture. Since 2019, Sitecore has elevated its Strong Performer status, now straddling the fence of the Leaders circle with a wider market presence. But like the Gartner MQ, they are lagging behind Acquia and Optimizely.With the acquisition of Boxever, Four51, Moosend, and now Reflektion, Sitecore seems poised to pounce. As competition heats up at the highest level of the enterprise, CMS and DXP players are accelerating their investment in innovation – and buying up the missing pieces to their platform puzzle. With consumers relying more on AI-driven voice assistants like Siri and Alexa, the channel opportunities for search are expanding in dynamic ways. Sitecore's bid to stay top-of-mind and top-of-market will require more than acquisitions. But their stack is looking more like a vision – and that's what every platform is searching for.<h2>About Sitecore</h2>Sitecore delivers a digital experience platform that empowers the world’s smartest brands to build lifelong relationships with their customers. A highly decorated industry leader, Sitecore is the only company bringing together content, commerce, and data into one connected platform that delivers millions of digital experiences every day. Leading companies including American Express, ASOS, Kimberly-Clark, L’Oréal and Volvo Cars rely on Sitecore to provide more engaging, personalized experiences for their customers. Learn more at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sitecore.com/">Sitecore.com</a>.<h2>About Reflektion</h2>Reflektion’s Digital Commerce Experience Platform for eCommerce and Retail listens to the behaviors of each individual shopper, utilizes <a target="_blank" href="https://reflektion.com/glossary/artificial-intelligence-ai/">Artificial Intelligence</a> to calculate their preferences and intent, and then responds to every moment-to-moment interaction by displaying the most relevant content and products in real-time and across the digital touchpoints that matter most—including preview and site search, product recommendations, category and <a target="_blank" href="https://reflektion.com/glossary/landing-page/">landing pages</a>, and email.Leading retail brands such as Skechers, Ulta, Reeds, Petco, Ascena and RiteAid rely on Reflektion’s platform.Founded by pioneers in Artificial Intelligence and awarded both the Best eCommerce Solution and Best Overall Business Technology Solution by SIIA in 2019, Reflektion combines individual shopper insights, product intelligence, and <a target="_blank" href="https://reflektion.com/glossary/artificial-intelligence-ai/">AI</a> to create more relevant and impactful eCommerce experiences.

Sitecore Acquires AI-Powered Search Platform Reflektion

It would appear that the cows have come home: in a surprising move, Sitecore yesterday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire <a href="https://moosend.com/">Moosend</a>, an e-mail marketing automation and campaign management platform used by a diverse set of customers. This includes leading brands such as Domino’s, Interpublic Group, and Sephora, among others. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of May. 
“Moosend perfectly complements Sitecore’s industry-leading core offering to create a personalization powerhouse for modern enterprises," said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tzikakis/" target="_blank">Steve Tzikakis</a>, the CEO of Sitecore. "Moosend’s state-of-the-art marketing automation and AI-powered customer engagement features will streamline Sitecore’s ability to engage, nurture, and convert customer relationships to deliver personalized experiences across every channel. The combined offering will make it easier for marketers to deploy and measure campaigns and automate workflows across the entire customer journey – a game-changer for <a href="https://www.bcg.com/publications/2020/responsible-marketing-with-first-party-data" target="_blank">the majority</a> of brands not yet set up for lifecycle marketing.” 
Acquisitions have become almost commonplace among the leaders in the CMS and DXP categories, particularly with solutions that expand a platform's capabilities around data. According to Sitecore, this move was driven by the ongoing shifts in data-driven personalization – and the risks and challenges posed by privacy. While data is essential to personalization, there are mounting concerns around privacy due to breaches caused by problematic data collection methods. This, along with other factors, have businesses questioning the value of personalization at scale. 
In fact, back in 2019, Gartner <a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-12-02-gartner-predicts-80--of-marketers-will-abandon-person" target="_blank">predicted</a> that 80% of marketers would abandon personalization efforts by 2025 due to the increased complexity and a lack of consumer trust. It was a gloomy outlook for both marketers and technology vendors, but clearly on point in a world of scaling data privacy governance. 
Consumers are often unaware of how and when their data is being collected and where it is used. They’re also experiencing overload from increasingly cluttered inboxes and mobile notifications, causing them to ignore even the most carefully customized message. The resulting conundrum has left CMS and DXP platforms struggling with how to serve personalized experiences while meeting the consumer expectation of privacy and trust across multiple dimensions. 
“It’s a paradox of modern times," said Tzikakis. "Consumers expect brands to cater to them as unique individuals, providing a consistent experience everywhere and rewarding loyalty in deeper ways; at the same time, they want privacy first – more control over data, less confusion on how it’s used, and an end to creepy targeting and algorithmically garbled messaging that only a bot would love.” 
Recognizing the depth of the privacy problem, Sitecore aims to facilitate both the modern art and science of earning customer relationships through experiences – to make consenting to data-sharing an afterthought. If they can deliver on this vision, they may have a significant advantage in shaping the future of the industry.
The acquisition of Moosend is just the latest move in Sitecore’s ambitious $1.2 billion growth plan. In a highly publicized purchase less than two months ago, the DXP leader <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-boxever-and-four51/" target="_blank">acquired</a> two companies on the same day: Boxever, a SaaS-based Customer Data Platform (CDP) providing decisioning and experimentation, and Four51 – a digital commerce pioneer that powers custom, highly scalable e-commerce B2B marketplace solutions. With the addition of Moosend, it appears that Sitecore has amassed everything it needs to deliver a complete, end-to-end SaaS-based digital experience platform – and elevate their competitive posture. 
<h3>About Sitecore</h3>
Sitecore delivers a digital experience platform that empowers the world’s smartest brands to build lifelong relationships with their customers. A highly decorated industry leader, Sitecore is the only company bringing together content, commerce, and data into one connected platform that delivers millions of digital experiences every day. Leading companies including American Express, ASOS, Carnival Cruise Lines, Kimberly-Clark, L’Oréal, and Volvo Cars rely on Sitecore to provide more engaging, personalized experiences for their customers. Learn more at <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/">Sitecore.com</a>.

Sitecore Acquires Moosend, Adds AI-Powered Email Marketing Automation

Another week, another big twist in the enterprise CMS and DXP battle for market dominance.
This time, it’s Sitecore making waves, proving there’s only one thing better than acquiring a strategic company – and that’s buying two at the same time.
Just weeks after unveiling a <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-embarks-on-1-2b-investment-plan-to-accelerate-growth/">$1.2 billion investment plan</a> to fund innovation and accelerate growth, Sitecore <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/company/news-events/press-releases/2021/03/sitecore-acquires-boxever-and-four51">announced</a> it has entered into definitive agreements to acquire <a href="https://www.boxever.com/">Boxever</a>, a SaaS-based Customer Data Platform (CDP) providing decisioning and experimentation, and <a href="https://four51.io/">Four51</a>, a digital commerce pioneer that powers custom, highly scalable e-commerce B2B marketplace solutions.
When Sitecore originally announced its daring yet elusive investment plan in mid-January, there was a great deal of speculation about their strategy. Very little was revealed about how the funds would be used, or if any acquisitions were on the horizon.
With this move, Sitecore has answered a big part of the market's questions – and positioned themselves to better compete at the top with the likes of <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/acquia-digital-commerce-unifies-data-content-commerce-and-digital-merchandising/">Acquia</a>, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/episerver-to-acquire-optimizely-the-worlds-leading-experience-optimization-platform/">Optimizely</a> (formerly Episerver), and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/adobe-experience-cloud-adds-new-headless-cms-capabilities-updates-to-commerce-integration/">Adobe</a>.
<h3>Adding Customer Data Platform (CDP) capabilities</h3>
One of the gaps that every CMS and DXP is racing to address exists around customer data. As brands and organizations demand greater personalization to optimize value and loyalty throughout the buying cycle, customer data is fueling the experience management engine – and having a CDP strategy is no longer a luxury, but a necessity.
Boxever has been on a roll with its CDP offering. The platform provides a rich, 360-degree view of customers with advanced segmentation, real-time decisioning, and experimentation capabilities. The system acts as the “brain” within an organization’s marketing stack, rendering every customer interaction more relevant and engaging.
With Boxever’s multi-dimensional capabilities, Sitecore will be able to enhance customer intelligence with AI-driven personalization tools, making it easy to capture, unify and activate customer data and deliver personalized experiences at scale.
<h3>Elevating headless e-commerce</h3>
As the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated digital transformation, brands discovered <a href="https://www.historyofheadlesscommerce.com/">headless commerce</a> – and leaned on its extensible framework to rapidly power their omnichannel strategies.
Four51’s API-first, headless e-commerce solution enables organizations to quickly and easily deliver engaging shopping experiences, helping them improve customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy.
According to Sitecore, Four51’s feature set will complement their existing B2C commerce capabilities, enabling them to define the digital experience market in new ways. Additionally, the combined offering will require less upfront investment, with a horizon of continuous innovation and a dramatically shorter time to value.
<h3>Competing in a growing field of Digital Experience Platforms</h3>
For Sitecore, the pandemic has highlighted the need for a flexible and modern Digital Experience Platform (DXP) to provide organizations with both agility and intelligence to keep pace with changing demands.
While CMS platforms have begun to migrate their capabilities to meet the definition of a DXP, the goalposts continue to move – driven by rapidly accelerating innovation and consolidation.
Like its competitors, Sitecore recognizes the gaps and is making bold moves to shore them up. By integrating Boxever and Four51 with their proven suite of capabilities, Sitecore will be positioned to deliver a true content-to-commerce, SaaS-based DXP.
The resulting solution would enable businesses to deliver real-time, personalized digital experiences across every touchpoint, including the full buying cycle from order fulfillment to service beyond the sale. Technical organizations will also get an open stack built for modern architectures, with applications that are more intelligent, agile and always up-to-date.
<h3>Buyer’s remorse?</h3>
In their announcement, Sitecore acknowledged the skepticism surrounding the recent trend of acquisitions and consolidations in the marketing technology sector.
Still, the CDP train seems unstoppable. Gartner has <a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/3983209/market-guide-for-customer-data-platforms">predicted</a> that “70% of independent CDP vendors will be acquired by larger marketing technology vendors or will diversify through M&amp;A of their own to enter adjacent categories such as personalization, multichannel marketing, consent management, and/or MDM for customer data.”
But is all this activity paying off? Unfortunately, the data suggests that most of these strategic acquisitions have left customers feeling disappointed with the feature sets, particularly around personalization.
In fact, Gartner has further <a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-12-02-gartner-predicts-80--of-marketers-will-abandon-person">predicted</a> that 80% of marketers who have invested in personalization will abandon their efforts due to the lack of ROI and distrust from consumers due to growing privacy issues. <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/03/google-says-it-wont-track-you-directly-in-the-future-as-it-phases-out-cookies.html">Google’s recent news</a> that it will phase out browser cookies for ads is the latest sign that the data privacy landscape is changing rapidly, and the impact on personalization will continue to evolve.
<h3>Consistent positioning from Gartner and Forrester</h3>
With the acquisition of Boxever and Four51, Sitecore is hoping to do more than just stay in the game – they clearly want to uplevel it. Perhaps these two pieces to the puzzle will prove highly advantageous to their near and long-term goals by offering a SaaS-based, API-first Digital Experience Platform that expands the breadth of their data and commerce capabilities.
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img style="max-width:600px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/01/gartner-magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms-2021.png" alt="Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms-2021" /></figure>
Recently, both Gartner and Forrester issued their 2021 reports for enterprise DXP and CMS. While Sitecore celebrated its fourth year in a row as a Leader on <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/key-takeaways-from-gartners-2021-magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms/">Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for DXPs</a>, it fell slightly behind both Acquia and Episerver (now Optimizely).
<a href="https://www.contentful.com/resources/forrester-wave-agile-cms-2021-report/">Forrester’s Q1 Wave Report for Agile CMSes</a> paints a similar picture. Since 2019, Sitecore has elevated its Strong Performer status, now straddling the fence of the Leaders circle with a wider market presence. But like the Gartner MQ, they are lagging behind Acquia and Optimizely – with Adobe maintaining its clear dominance in the category.
<h3>The impact of the CDP revolution</h3>
The recent announcement from Sitecore codified one thing: that CMS and DXP platforms are feverishly racing to add CDP to their core offerings.
According to <a href="https://learn.segment.com/customer-data-platform-report-2021/">Segment’s industry report</a> released last month, 73% of companies reported that a CDP will be critical to their customer experience, and integrating that capability can enhance the value of a content management or digital experience platform.
As a side note, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/twilio-acquires-segment-for-3-2b-adds-market-leading-cdp-for-building-data-driven-apps/">Segment was acquired by Twilio</a> in November 2020 for $3.2 billion. This move further demonstrates that CDPs are broadly viewed as a strategic acquisition for a multitude of technology platforms – particularly in a COVID-19 world where organizations require more access to data-driven tools to grow and compete.
The explosive growth in this category is made abundantly clear in the graph below:
<img style="max-width:700px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/03/segment-cdp-report-data-1024x695.png" alt="Segment cdp report data" />
<h3>What’s next for Sitecore?</h3>
They say timing is everything. When Sitecore announced their ambitious investment plan, it was just the latest in a high-intensity cycle of headlines from across the martech stack – and may have been perceived as a response to other newsworthy activities.
Unlike their rivals, the lack of clarity around their $1.2 billion investment stirred questions about their market goals, compounded by growing competitive friction and setbacks. But behind the scenes, they clearly had their sights set on key acquisitions that would accelerate their growth and address the aforementioned gaps in their strategy.
With the integration of Boxever and Four51, Sitecore can now deliver what the market needs: industry-leading content and customer data management, omnichannel delivery, headless commerce, testing, journey optimization, and more. With these capabilities in their toolkit, they are better positioned to compete at the top of the market.
The acquisitions are expected to close before the end of March 2021, and financial terms are not being disclosed. Upon completion, the CEOs of both Boxever and Four51 will take on leadership roles – and Sitecore expects to invest and expand in both Boxever's Dublin, Ireland and Four51’s Minneapolis, Minnesota locations.
Now, which marketing technology vendor is bold enough to score a hat trick... and buy three companies at once?
<h3>About Sitecore</h3>
Sitecore delivers a digital experience platform (DXP) that empowers the world’s smartest brands to build lifelong relationships with their customers. A highly decorated industry leader, Sitecore is the only company bringing together content, commerce, and data into one connected platform that delivers millions of digital experiences every day. Leading companies including American Express, ASOS, Carnival Cruise Lines, Kimberly-Clark, L’Oréal, and Volvo Cars rely on Sitecore to provide more engaging, personalized experiences for their customers. Learn more at <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/">Sitecore.com</a>.

Sitecore Acquires Boxever and Four51

Image of hand tapping on a mobile phone with Sitecore, Boxever, and Four51 logos on the front

The last year has seen a number of jaw-dropping moves by CMS and DXP vendors, from strategic acquisitions to major expansions. Yesterday, <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/">Sitecore</a> elevated the noise to a whole new level with the largest martech investment deal ever.
The digital experience platform provider <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/company/news-events/press-releases/2021/01/sitecore-embarks-on-1_2b-investment-plan-to-accelerate-growth">announced</a> that it received backing on $1.2 billion in capital investment – just five months after <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-names-steve-tzikakis-as-chief-executive-officer/">Steve Tzikakis</a> took the reins as CEO.
While the announcement was relatively soft on specifics, Sitecore did say that the investment would be focused on accelerating product innovation, doubling their go-to-market presence, expanding their team, growing their global footprint, and launching a brand campaign.
One thing we do know is that Sitecore appears to be well-positioned for growth, achieving record revenues over the last three quarters. Much of this can be attributed to accelerated demand for digital transformation due to the pandemic. According to <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/how-covid-19-has-pushed-companies-over-the-technology-tipping-point-and-transformed-business-forever">McKinsey</a>, the industry jumped years ahead in consumer and business adoption of digital in just a matter of weeks. This has created numerous opportunities in the eCommerce, web, mobile, and digital experience categories.
“An investment of this magnitude in our industry is unprecedented,” said Steve Tzikakis, Sitecore's CEO. “As companies and consumers search for more seamless ways to communicate, coordinate, and collaborate during this momentous period, Sitecore’s investment will supercharge product innovation in order to better enable deeper and more engaging experiences across the entire customer journey.”
There's no question that Covid-19 forced businesses to shift their focus to digital. Sitecore has already been very agile in responding to these unprecedented market shifts, investing heavily in the transformation of their products and services. Less than 6 months ago, Sitecore pushed a <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-updates-experience-platform-and-experience-commerce-releases-new-sitecore-content-hub/">major release to its flagship products</a> – Sitecore Experience Platform (XP) 10 and Sitecore Experience Commerce (XC) 10 – with the main goal of bringing marketing and IT teams together and allowing them to work more efficiently.
“Global Markets today are undergoing monumental shifts, and the need for digital experiences that fabricate and define Human Connections are becoming more important,” <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tzikakis_today-is-a-very-special-day-on-my-journey-activity-6706590350095523840-ndmi">said</a> Tzikakis, when he joined Sitecore. “Our customers and partners can expect to see us accelerate our global expansion plans and innovation of more market-leading cloud and SaaS solutions, while further increasing our customer-centric DNA.”
With Tzikakis at the helm, Sitecore has focused its strategy on expanding global reach and elevating brand awareness. This $1.2 billion investment is a testament to their growing momentum, as well as their confidence around market demand for their products and services. With increasing competition up and down the stack, this news is a clear signal that we can expect more innovation from the DXP leader in the months and years to come.
<h3>About Sitecore</h3>
Sitecore delivers a digital experience platform (DXP) that empowers the world’s smartest brands to build lifelong relationships with their customers. A highly decorated industry leader, Sitecore is the only company bringing together content, commerce, and data into one connected platform that delivers millions of digital experiences every day. Leading companies including American Express, ASOS, Carnival Cruise Lines, Kimberly-Clark, L’Oréal, and Volvo Cars rely on Sitecore to provide more engaging, personalized experiences for their customers. Learn more at <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/">Sitecore.com</a>.

Sitecore Announces $1.2B Investment to Accelerate Growth

In a year that’s already seen major shifts in strategy from enterprise software vendors, Sitecore is shaking things up with the appointment of <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/company/news-events/press-releases/2020/09/sitecore-names-steve-tzikakis-as-chief-executive-officer">Steve Tzikakis as its new CEO</a>. 
Effective immediately, Tzikakis will take the reins from Mark Frost, who over the last three years successfully led Sitecore through a radical transformation of its business, transitioning to a multi-product company with managed cloud and SaaS offerings. Frost worked closely with the Sitecore Board of Directors during the past several months on the transition plan and will remain on in an advisory role. 
Tzikakis is an experienced digital transformation technology leader with a strong track record for translating vision and strategy into world-class, go-to-market execution – and the ability to bring together teams and ecosystems to drive rapid growth. A 13-year veteran of SAP, Tzikakis spent the last five years as President of SAP’s South Europe, Middle East, and Africa region, spanning more than 43,000 customers, 19,000 partners, 4,700 employees, and 85 nationalities. While in this role, Tzikakis doubled business in the region. 
This announcement follows a <a href="/sitecore-updates-experience-platform-and-experience-commerce-releases-new-sitecore-content-hub/">major release to Sitecore’s flagship products</a>, Sitecore Experience Platform (XP) 10 and Sitecore Experience Commerce (XC) 10, as well as the launch of <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/company/news-events/press-releases/2020/07/sitecore-leverages-ai-for-smarter-management-of-images-and-video">Sitecore Content Hub 3.4</a> – which offers enhanced Digital Asset Management (DAM) and smarter orchestration of images and video.
“Global Markets today are undergoing monumental shifts, and the need for digital experiences that fabricate and define Human Connections are becoming more important,” <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tzikakis_today-is-a-very-special-day-on-my-journey-activity-6706590350095523840-ndmi">said</a> Tzikakis. “Our customers and partners can expect to see us accelerate our global expansion plans and innovation of more market-leading cloud and SaaS solutions, while further increasing our customer-centric DNA.”
Given Tzikakis’ background and experience, it’s clear that Sitecore is shifting its focus to global reach and brand awareness. This may be due in no small part to rising opportunities within digital transformation. The market’s reaction to COVID-19 has resulted in significant turmoil and budget slashing, but areas like eCommerce have been bright spots as businesses adapt to new B2B and consumer behaviors. With a new product model and the introduction of managed cloud and SaaS, the company seems poised for growth.
<h3>About Sitecore</h3>
Sitecore delivers a digital experience platform that empowers the world’s smartest brands to build lifelong relationships with their customers. A highly decorated industry leader, Sitecore is the only company bringing together content, commerce, and data into one connected platform that delivers millions of digital experiences every day. Leading companies including American Express, ASOS, Carnival Cruise Lines, Kimberly-Clark, L’Oréal, and Volvo Cars rely on Sitecore to provide more engaging, personalized experiences for their customers. Learn more at <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/">Sitecore.com</a>.

Sitecore Names Steve Tzikakis as Chief Executive Officer

2020 has been both a challenging and active period for content management platform providers. Despite battling the persistent headwinds of COVID-19 and the looming specter of economic uncertainty, it’s clear that businesses are embracing digital transformation at all levels of the market – and shifting resources from physical to virtual.
This has been a transformational period for some vendors, particularly those focused on digital experience (DX). In fact, <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/five-fifty-the-quickening">a recent study by McKinsey</a> suggests that we’ve just experienced 10 years of eCommerce growth in the last 3 months.
As the study suggests, that pain you feel in your neck might just be digital whiplash.
Market challenges aside, this has clearly been a dynamic news cycle for the CMS industry. Soon after Acquia <a href="/acquia-launches-new-open-digital-experience-platform/">released its new Open Digital Experience Platform</a> with the vision of bringing marketers and developers closer than ever, Sitecore announced a major release to its flagship products: Sitecore Experience Platform (XP) 10 and Sitecore Experience Commerce (XC) 10.
What’s more, both releases follow the recent launch of <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/company/news-events/press-releases/2020/07/sitecore-leverages-ai-for-smarter-management-of-images-and-video">Sitecore Content Hub 3.4</a>, which offers enhanced Digital Asset Management (DAM) and smarter orchestration of images and video.
Based on these releases, it seems like the pandemic hasn’t slowed down the rise of digital experience. On the contrary, with DX becoming the lifeblood of many organizations, companies are working harder and faster than ever to provide the best customer experiences online. Sitecore’s latest updates reflect this goal, bringing marketing and IT teams together and allowing them to work more efficiently.
<h3>What you can expect from Sitecore’s new releases</h3>
As a legacy leader in the CMS space, Sitecore commands a strong footprint in the enterprise market. This is both an advantage and disadvantage, as their monolithic ecosystem has been challenged over the past few years by mid-level market solutions with smaller pricetags. As digital and content professionals demand greater freedom and control over their martech stack, they have embraced API-driven and <a href="/contentstack-introducing-headless-cms/">headless platforms like Contentstack</a> to shape experiences across a broadening landscape of endpoints and devices.
What’s evident is that Sitecore is responding to their market shifts, investing heavily in the transformation of their products and services to meet a changing world – one where flexibility is essential. At the enterprise level, there continues to be demand for well-architected, highly integrated solutions that provide the trusted scalability for distributing content across a multitude of channels, and making the “Holy Grail” of personalization less of a myth to marketers.
If you’re not familiar, Sitecore is composed of four integrated products: Sitecore Experience Platform, Sitecore Experience Commerce, Sitecore Experience Manager, and Sitecore Content Hub. When combined, they form Sitecore Experience Cloud: the end-to-end content, commerce, and personalization platform.
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/5T7qzvHbEcE7rzExxw3BkwoQQBUel03jMcvE_mKuofsJTpiINkmy4uQLWIsh6u7sBE7QYlujU4stKWnS2v0jT1QeNN7SyMsNRgPrsJ1Vbh3YafLk4T3VDP1BLANbQkWvOQ0HdiTRT2tfsyyQwg" /></figure>
If you’re interested in diving deeper into each of Sitecore’s products, <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/products">click here</a> for more details.
<h3>Sitecore Experience Platform (XP) 10</h3>
The new Sitecore XP 10 comes with updates such as enhanced analytics reporting, ASP.NET Core headless development, and Sitecore Containers – which provide greater efficiencies across teams. Now, IT and marketing can accelerate customer success by aligning workflows and timelines, evolving customer experiences quickly, and deploying data-informed updates or new experience elements faster than ever.
Sitecore XP 10 features new innovations around usability and performance. The updated editing environment offers an intuitive, easy-to-use interface, and provides real-time insights for multisite and multilingual experiences as content is created and published – giving marketers the knowledge they need to drive improved conversions.
In addition, Sitecore XP 10 includes enhanced reporting that enables marketers to make informed decisions with more granular visibility, specifically with how personalization is driving performance. It also includes improvements to out-of-the-box forms and enhancements to email and marketing automation.
With full container support, XP 10 eliminates that problem with smooth deployment flows between environments through consistency, isolation, and reproducibility.
XP 10 also makes collecting, analyzing, and acting on enhanced customer data faster for marketers, providing even deeper insights for audience segmentation to strengthen personalization capabilities across channels and grow customer loyalty.
Other XP 10 updates include:
<ul>
<li>Enhanced data capabilities coupled with the ability to extend targeting with auto-personalization.</li>
<li>Horizon editing interface, providing in-context insights across multilingual and multisite experiences.</li>
<li>Updated connector functionality for sending current visitor Experience Database® (xDB) information to Salesforce Marketing Cloud in real-time, enhancing Salesforce marketing automation.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Sitecore Experience Commerce (XC) 10</h3>
The new Sitecore XC 10 release truly reflects the market shift towards eCommerce. It provides more tools to drive higher average order value and revenue with dynamic product bundling and new promotion capabilities.
For example, using the new product bundling capability, brands can sell related and complementary products and services together at one price, driving higher order value and selling more products and services.
Sitecore has also been doubling down on their container infrastructure for deploying their solutions. To accelerate time-to-value and increase agility, Sitecore XC 10 includes broad support for <a href="https://www.docker.com/">Docker</a> and <a href="https://kubernetes.io/">Kubernetes</a>, making the deployment process more lightweight and faster than ever. Containers are generally complex, particularly Kubernetes, and require an advanced level of expertise to manage successfully.
<h3>Sitecore Content Hub</h3>
Formerly Stylelabs – which was acquired by Sitecore in 2018 – the new Sitecore Content Hub provides a 360º view of your content landscape, helping you manage every dimension of your marketing content through a single, integrated solution.
More than a DAM, Content Hub provides a broad array of features. Along with housing all of your digital assets, media, and content elements, Content Hub allows users to “feed” their Sitecore personalization with AI/ML content tagging and Image Similarity. The entire system is designed to integrate with Sitecore CMS and Experience Commerce, so you can seamlessly organize your assets and plan around content production and operations – and power your campaigns for the right channels, regions, and audiences.
The other cool aspect of Content Hub is its marketing resource management, allowing teams to sync more effectively and collaborate across workflows. Content Hub also features product content management, so you can control versions of catalogs and eCommerce items and more personalized web-to-print capabilities.
If you’d like to try out Sitecore, you can request a demo <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/request-a-demo">here</a>.
<h3>About Sitecore</h3>
Sitecore delivers a digital experience platform that empowers the world’s smartest brands to build lifelong relationships with their customers. A highly decorated industry leader, Sitecore is the only company bringing together content, commerce, and data into one connected platform that delivers millions of digital experiences every day. Leading companies including American Express, ASOS, Carnival Cruise Lines, Kimberly-Clark, L’Oréal, and Volvo Cars rely on Sitecore to provide more engaging, personalized experiences for their customers. Learn more at <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/">Sitecore.com</a>.

Sitecore Updates Experience Platform and Experience Commerce, Releases New Sitecore Content Hub

One year ago, Sitecore and Microsoft announced a partnership with the goal of offering the best of experience marketing and commerce in the same package. That goal has now been met, with the release of Sitecore Commerce 8 powered by Microsoft Dynamics.
<a href="http://s.bl-1.com/h/lMcnXgM?url=http://www.sitecore.net/" target="_blank">Sitecore</a>, the global leader in customer experience management, has officially announced the availability of the new Sitecore Commerce 8 powered by Microsoft Dynamics, which integrates the leading experience management capabilities of the <a href="http://s.bl-1.com/h/lMcohSR?url=http://www.sitecore.net/Learn/Resources-Library/Brochures/Sitecore-Experience-Platform.aspx" target="_blank">Sitecore Experience Platform</a> with the omni-channel commerce capabilities of <a href="http://s.bl-1.com/h/lMconrT?url=http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/retail.aspx" target="_blank">Microsoft Dynamics for Retail</a>,
Sitecore Commerce 8 powered by Microsoft Dynamics aims to enable enterprises to bridge the gap between in-store and digital experiences.
<img style="max-width:400px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sitecore_logo_400x0.gif" />
<h2>Omni-Channel, Synchronization &amp; Publishing Capabilities Enhanced</h2>
Key features of Sitecore Commerce 8 powered by Microsoft Dynamics include:
●   Shared Services Between Online and Brick-and-Mortar: All aspects of order capture (like pricing, tax &amp; discounts) are shared between digital and brick and mortar channels, supporting a consistent experience regardless of channel.
●   Additional Omni-Channel Capabilities: Microsoft Dynamics’ comprehensive features in the areas of loyalty programs; store location with real-time inventory; buy online, pickup in store; order management, including returns; customer service and call center are all enabled in digital experiences built using Sitecore.
●   Synchronization and Publishing: Synchronization service to aggregate catalog data from Dynamics and Sitecore’s Commerce Catalog to facilitate very high traffic digital experiences.
●   Storefront Solutions: Support for multiple storefronts representing different countries and legal entities in the same deployment. A reference storefront is provided to accelerate customer deployments.
Sitecore and Microsoft have developed this new version of Sitecore Commerce over the last year. They co-designed its architecture to capitalize on the strengths of both Sitecore and Microsoft Dynamics. The combined solution allows businesses to create seamlessly connected customer experiences optimized for visitors’ digital behaviors, devices and preferences, complete with real-time order management across any channel.
Darren Guarnaccia, the Chief Strategy Officer at Sitecore, made these comments:
<blockquote>“Businesses, until now, haven’t had a unified way to connect the customer experience between the worlds of online and brick-and-mortar. This partnership fills a real customer need by marrying the expertise and technology of two trusted global enterprise solutions. You can expect to hear more about the success of significant implementations over the coming months.”</blockquote>
The new solution further diversifies Sitecore’s commerce offering. The release offers significant opportunities for customers with a retail presence to aggregate their content across all sales channels, particularly for those customers already using or evaluating Microsoft Dynamics for Retail.
Microsoft's General Manager of Commerce &amp; Retail Solutions, Ashvin Mathew, also shared his take:
<blockquote>“Retailers want to create a connected experience as they look to extend engagement beyond point-of-sale. The new solution combines the rich commerce capabilities of Dynamics with Sitecore’s experience platform and represents a significant step in our partnership and commitment to deliver innovative and personalized solutions for our mutual customers.”</blockquote>
To find out more about Sitecore Commerce 8 powered by Microsoft Dynamics, <a href="http://www.sitecore.net/commerce" target="_blank">check out the Sitecore website</a>.
Furthermore, you can explore <a href="/products/sitecore/" target="_blank">Sitecore via our CMS Directory</a>.

Sitecore & Microsoft Team Up to Improve In-store and Digital Customer Experiences

mike-johnston

<a href="http://www.sitecore.net/" target="_blank">Sitecore</a> have made their Experience Platform 8 available for general release.
<a href="/the-keynote-sitecore-north-american-symposium-symna/" target="_blank">Revealed at Sitecore's 2014 Symposium</a>, this latest version of the Sitecore Experience Platform enables marketers to create, deliver and optimize unique digital experiences throughout the customer lifecycle.
Also known as Sitecore XP 8, the new platform shortens the time it takes to gain insights, make marketing decisions, and then put them into action.
Data analytics are built in, giving marketers constant feedback on content effectiveness and performance, while recommending actions accordingly. Automatic testing and continuous content optimization ensures that everything can be constantly refined if necessary.
<img style="max-width:400px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sitecore_logo_400x0.gif" />
<h2>New Interface, Intelligent Insights &amp; More</h2>
Sitecore 8 is undoubtedly going to empower the marketing teams around the world, and in turn the enterprising entities they work for. Here's a break down of what's new.
Brand New Interface: Sitecore XP 8 has a completely new user interface, providing a clean, consistent user experience for every Sitecore user. All features still work like they did in previous versions, too. This all makes learning to use Sitecore much quicker and easier, and lowers training and support costs.
Single Customer View: The Sitecore Experience 8 Profile provides a single view of each individual customer, used for real time personalization, segmentation and analytics. Sitecore collects and connects data about the whole customer experience, making it immediately available to marketers to continue ongoing conversations and provide highly relevant and personalized experiences for their customers.
Intelligent Analytics &amp; Insights: Sitecore XP 8 shortens the time it takes to gain insights, make a decision and take action. Sitecore uses Engagement Value to measure what’s working, what’s not, and recommends what action to take, throughout Sitecore’s Experience Marketing tools. Sitecore’s Experience Analytics help marketers understand what is performing, and with whom. Sitecore also harnesses and analyzes data from non-Sitecore sites, CRM, ERP, and POS systems.
Non-stop Testing &amp; Optimization: With Sitecore XP 8, everything can be optimized. All content changes can now be automatically A/B tested, by any content creator. Personalized content can be tested against its default control base content. Advanced optimization experts also have all the tools they need to set up sophisticated test scenarios, like multi-variate tests, built into the platform. So every component and every channel can be fine-tuned for performance, continuously.
Dynamic Segmentation &amp; Automation: Sitecore enables target segments to be created based on any information in the Experience Profile – like demographic data and behavior – for real-time content personalization, email communication, and automated nurturing campaigns. Segments are directly usable with Sitecore’s automation and email marketing capabilities.
Cross-channel Experience Delivery: Sitecore customers can now use Sitecore as a central hub to manage all of their digital properties, even non-Sitecore sites.  New customers can start to leverage Sitecore functionality immediately on existing sites, and marketers inheriting legacy sites can rapidly bring them under the brand umbrella.
Michael Seifert, the CEO of Sitecore, made the following comments.
<blockquote>“The goal with Sitecore XP 8 was to give time back to marketers and free them up to be marketers again. Sitecore makes it simple for all marketers to create unique customer experiences – by knowing every customer, and shaping each experience.”</blockquote>
To learn more about Sitecore 8, check out the <a href="http://www.sitecore.net/About/Press-and-Media/Press-Releases/2014/12/Sitecore-8-GA.aspx" target="_blank">official press release</a>, <a href="http://www.sitecore.net/Platform/Sitecore-8.aspx" target="_blank">Sitecore's overview</a>, as well as their informative <a href="http://www.sitecore.net/Learn/Resources-Library/White-Papers/Introducing-Sitecore-8.aspx" target="_blank">Sitecore 8 white paper</a>.
Also, make sure you explore more of <a href="/products/sitecore/" target="_blank">Sitecore through our CMS Directory</a>.

Sitecore Launches Sitecore Experience Platform 8

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During the much reported Sitecore Symposium in Las Vegas this month, I had a chance to sit down with Sitecore's Corporate VP of Commerce, Ryan Donovan to discuss the future of commerce in the upcoming Sitecore 8.
 Mike: Can you tell us a bit about the integration of Commerce into Sitecore 8 and talk a bit about the future plans for the product?
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/avatar.jpg" alt="Ryan Donovan" />Ryan: Sure, we just shipped <a href="http://www.sitecore.net/About/Press-and-Media/Press-Releases/2014/08/Sitecore-Commerce.aspx">Sitecore Commerce 7.2 (in August) powered by Commerce Server </a>and that is the fruit of the acquisition coming to bear. It is, I think, the industry's first fully integrated commerce and content platform in one because we've really tried to focus on making it a completely seemless experience in terms of adding commerce capabilities into Sitecore.
We have Sitecore Commerce 8 coming as part of Sitecore 8 and what that's going to add is a second product to the Sitecore Commerce family called <a href="http://www.sitecore.net/About/Press-and-Media/Press-Releases/2014/01/msft-ecommerce.aspx">Sitecore Commerce powered by Microsoft Dynamics AX</a>. This new product is the fruit of the partnership that was announced last January between Sitecore and the Dynamics AX organization of Microsoft. This new product will be focusing on providing a true omni-channel solution. In other words, you'll have the exact same pricing, tax, shipping and calculation logic between online and the store. You can then have a seemless buy online and pick up in the store or buy online, return to the store experience with instant order history the second you make the purchase. This will then bring us into the realm where we can really begin to personalize based on behaviors and store behaviors in the contact center in addition to just digital channels. The first product, Sitecore Commerce powered by Commerce Server is targeted at scenarios such as B to C and the Sitecore Commerce powered by Microsoft Dynamics AX is really aimed at omni-channel retailers.
 Mike:  What are your biggest success stories since <a href="/sitecore-buys-commerce-server-aims-to-bring-ecommerce-to-their-platform/">the merger?</a> Do you have any customers that are doing some impressive things with the product?
 Ryan: We started the early access program in the spring with Commerce Server 7.2 and we're seeing a lot of net-new interest but we are also seeing a lot of interest from the legacy Microsoft Commerce Server customer base because it's a very logical feature rich upgrade for them that can also help them preserve some investments they've made into their deployments. With the powered by Dynamics AX solution, we're seeing lots of interest from the Dynamics AX customers out there because it will give them a complete experience management and commerce solution.
 Mike: What's the next stage for your team at Sitecore? What is the next step in bringing together the perfect platform for commerce and content?
 Ryan: We are really aiming to focus on enabling end to end marketing experience management, so really putting the best practices into the product; for instance; what are the types of things you would want to do to optimize for conversion.The goal of course would be to help lower the barrier of entry and help build knowledge share. We also are aiming to enhance the product to offer more and deeper capabilities from a commerce perspective so we can address broader and broader customer scenarios. We are really focused on the enterprise space and so their requirements are more complex than mid market solutions. One of the areas we are looking to innovate in is pricing, I've heard comments from some people no commerce platform does pricing well for their business and those are the types of problems we are looking to solve. I think our value proposition is very simple in that we are a one technology platform so it's going to be a completely cohesive business user experience for the merchandiser, the market and ultimately, for customer service reps.
 Mike: Having come from Commerce Server before Sitecore, what have you seen change since the acquisition took place?
 Ryan: Customers of Commerce Server were always adding other products into their solutions, so they'd have a CMS, they'd have a search solution and a marketing automation solution but they were having to go to great lengths to actually integrate these things. There was a lot of developer cost and IT cost involved but the business user experience was also fragmented in terms of actually doing a marketing campaign. Since the merger, customers seem to be very excited about the one platform value proposition. It was really interesting because with the legacy customer base, we anticipated that people would be a lot more reserved about moving to a single platform but instead we're seeing the opposite. A surprising amount of customers are wanting to embrace the whole Sitecore platform and replace their old ones completely and do it quickly.
 Mike: Can you share with us what the commerce piece will look like in Sitecore 8?
 Ryan: Absolutely, here are some screenshots!
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/category_products200x0.png" alt="sitecore 8 commerce" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/site_alltabs200x0.png" alt="sitecore 8 commerce" /> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/category_products_iconview200x0.png" alt="sitecore 8 commerce" /> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/customcatalogs_rules_itempicker200x0.png" alt="sitecore 8 commerce" /> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/products_details200x0.png" alt="sitecore 8 commerce" /> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/variants_inventory200x0.png" alt="sitecore 8 commerce" />
To learn more about Sitecore Commerce, visit <a href="http://www.sitecore.net/Platform/Channels/Commerce-Experience.aspx">http://www.sitecore.net/Platform/Channels/Commerce-Experience.aspx</a>

Interview with Corporate VP of Commerce at Sitecore, Ryan Donovan

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