Insights
Sitecore Symposium 2022: The content experience
by Yari Freeman
10/28/22
Sitecore Symposium 2022 was all about Meeting Every Moment and this year’s in-person event was filled with memorable moments with partners, peers and colleagues. However, the most notable highlight was the announcement from Sitecore CEO Steve Tzikakis on their three new product launches – Content Hub One, Content Search and Connect.
The driving force behind these new products is Sitecore’s mission “to maintain leadership in content and disrupt the engagement and commerce markets. The goal is to help [customers] succeed and convert customers into fans,” said Steve. At Horizontal, we share this sentiment and deliver on it through our connected experience expertise to help clients build momentum with their customers to create long-term relationships. And as a part of this process, we understand the important role that content plays in delivering a truly connected customer experience.
The driving force behind these new products is Sitecore’s mission “to maintain leadership in content and disrupt the engagement and commerce markets. The goal is to help [customers] succeed and convert customers into fans,” said Steve. At Horizontal, we share this sentiment and deliver on it through our connected experience expertise to help clients build momentum with their customers to create long-term relationships. And as a part of this process, we understand the important role that content plays in delivering a truly connected customer experience.
The content experience is the customer experience. Tools to listen, understand, analyze and personalize. If the content is not delivered consistently in a way that resonates with the customer – it just won’t land.
So now we understand why Sitecore has doubled down this space, but what do the products do? Here’s a peek into how Sitecore rounded out its content cloud gap.
XM Cloud
Although XM Cloud was announced prior to Symposium, it’s important to understand the role that it plays in the Sitecore content cloud. For many going into Symposium, a common misconception was that XM Cloud was the successor to XM, but what Dave brought to light was that XM Cloud is XP’s successor. XM Cloud has been thought of as an enterprise CMS that addressed the content management needs at an enterprise level, but it’s more than that. According to Dave, “For 80% of Sitecore’s customer’s, [they] believe that XM Cloud will provide all the capabilities that they need and more.”
How, you wonder? Aside from offering content management capabilities, XM Cloud offers personalization, insights, and an easy-to-use page builder in a centralized location called Sitecore Pages. With their ultra-scalable solution, integration is as easy as a tag or a beacon on your sites, allowing marketers to ship sites without the intervention of IT. To top it all off, “customers that need more sophistication can upgrade from XM Cloud to CDP for data management with the click of a button” (Sitecore).
Content Hub One
The first of three new product announcements was Content Hub One—the small sibling of XM Cloud. Sitecore XM is known to be a SaaS-based CMS geared towards larger enterprises and complex implementations. But now, with Content Hub One, there’s a headless CMS that is lightweight, agile and does not require an enterprise-wide implementation. Content Hub One addresses a key gap in the market of brands needing a simpler solution to content management. Now, there’s a solution for simple use cases: a short-term campaign or landing page site can be built and live in weeks.
What’s also great about Content Hub One is that it is built on Content Hub, a proven product with enterprise scale and performance. “You can integrate with XM Cloud, share the same database as an enterprise DAM or MRM with the click of a button, with no additional integrations required. And to top it off, marketers, enterprise and digital teams can work in parallel,” explained Dave.
Content Search
Content Search — the second product announcement — is a standalone SaaS search engine. Leveraging the Reflektion’s engine, an acquisition made 14 months ago, Content Search offers an advanced search solution that is intuitive, intelligent and AI powered. “It provides fast predictive search, relevant content as you type, and anticipated intent in milliseconds,” said Dave.
Content Search can not only be integrated with XM Cloud or Content Hub One but also index content from any CMS. This product is made for technologists and marketers alike, offering relevant and flexible search capabilities. With its intuitive back-office UI, a marketer can easily manage the search experience with limited technical expertise. It also has detailed search and content analytics that makes it easy for marketers to understand search performance. You can now see it in action by visiting Sitecore.com.
Connect
Connect is the third product release. “With Connect, Sitecore really wanted to be the gateway for any organization’s composable journey,” said VP of Technology, Horizontal, Sheetal Jain. This product works to integrate data across the enterprise using a plug-and-play tool that allows you to easily connect with any out-of-the-box connectors. Its low code, no code environment allows transfer of data from your digital asset management to almost any other data system. What’s also great is that it can work with any Sitecore app, legacy Sitecore product or any third-party vendor imaginable.
Connect’s ability to bring flexibility and solve the complexities and length that come with composable integrations is a game changer. Integration in a composable world holds real importance, and this product seamlessly allows data to travel from one system to another in a timely manner. Getting real-time insights in a faster time is what technologists have been looking for because it means faster time to market.
Content has always been at the epicenter of Sitecore’s product roadmap, but they are focusing their attention on it more than any vendor in the market. Their goal is to be the content platform of the internet and since the content experience is the customer experience, we cannot wait to help our clients unlock the full potential of these products. To learn more about how we can help you harness the power of Sitecore to create connected experiences, contact us.
XM Cloud
Although XM Cloud was announced prior to Symposium, it’s important to understand the role that it plays in the Sitecore content cloud. For many going into Symposium, a common misconception was that XM Cloud was the successor to XM, but what Dave brought to light was that XM Cloud is XP’s successor. XM Cloud has been thought of as an enterprise CMS that addressed the content management needs at an enterprise level, but it’s more than that. According to Dave, “For 80% of Sitecore’s customer’s, [they] believe that XM Cloud will provide all the capabilities that they need and more.”
How, you wonder? Aside from offering content management capabilities, XM Cloud offers personalization, insights, and an easy-to-use page builder in a centralized location called Sitecore Pages. With their ultra-scalable solution, integration is as easy as a tag or a beacon on your sites, allowing marketers to ship sites without the intervention of IT. To top it all off, “customers that need more sophistication can upgrade from XM Cloud to CDP for data management with the click of a button” (Sitecore).
Content Hub One
The first of three new product announcements was Content Hub One—the small sibling of XM Cloud. Sitecore XM is known to be a SaaS-based CMS geared towards larger enterprises and complex implementations. But now, with Content Hub One, there’s a headless CMS that is lightweight, agile and does not require an enterprise-wide implementation. Content Hub One addresses a key gap in the market of brands needing a simpler solution to content management. Now, there’s a solution for simple use cases: a short-term campaign or landing page site can be built and live in weeks.
What’s also great about Content Hub One is that it is built on Content Hub, a proven product with enterprise scale and performance. “You can integrate with XM Cloud, share the same database as an enterprise DAM or MRM with the click of a button, with no additional integrations required. And to top it off, marketers, enterprise and digital teams can work in parallel,” explained Dave.
Content Search
Content Search — the second product announcement — is a standalone SaaS search engine. Leveraging the Reflektion’s engine, an acquisition made 14 months ago, Content Search offers an advanced search solution that is intuitive, intelligent and AI powered. “It provides fast predictive search, relevant content as you type, and anticipated intent in milliseconds,” said Dave.
Content Search can not only be integrated with XM Cloud or Content Hub One but also index content from any CMS. This product is made for technologists and marketers alike, offering relevant and flexible search capabilities. With its intuitive back-office UI, a marketer can easily manage the search experience with limited technical expertise. It also has detailed search and content analytics that makes it easy for marketers to understand search performance. You can now see it in action by visiting Sitecore.com.
Connect
Connect is the third product release. “With Connect, Sitecore really wanted to be the gateway for any organization’s composable journey,” said VP of Technology, Horizontal, Sheetal Jain. This product works to integrate data across the enterprise using a plug-and-play tool that allows you to easily connect with any out-of-the-box connectors. Its low code, no code environment allows transfer of data from your digital asset management to almost any other data system. What’s also great is that it can work with any Sitecore app, legacy Sitecore product or any third-party vendor imaginable.
Connect’s ability to bring flexibility and solve the complexities and length that come with composable integrations is a game changer. Integration in a composable world holds real importance, and this product seamlessly allows data to travel from one system to another in a timely manner. Getting real-time insights in a faster time is what technologists have been looking for because it means faster time to market.
Content has always been at the epicenter of Sitecore’s product roadmap, but they are focusing their attention on it more than any vendor in the market. Their goal is to be the content platform of the internet and since the content experience is the customer experience, we cannot wait to help our clients unlock the full potential of these products. To learn more about how we can help you harness the power of Sitecore to create connected experiences, contact us.
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