'Net Features : sitecore

Plug-in Brings Web and Print Design Worlds Closer

Allison Howen — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:00:00 GMT

Sitecore has launched a new design technology it hopes will break down the barriers between the Web and print media worlds.

Adaptive Print Studio was created to enable marketers and Web designers to leverage Sitecore’s platform as a central station for Adobe InDesign content in order to save production time and design costs. It works as a plug-in that provides users with the ability to access work queues and pull content from Sitecore’s content management system directly into InDesign.

This provides users with rich content management capabilities within the InDesign and InCopy platforms, including team collaboration, multi-lingual management, security, workflow control and dynamic document delivery. Adaptive Print Studio also offers non-designers the ability to customize PDFs and print products from layout to publish.

"The design and print production of marketing materials takes up about 30 percent of a marketer's budget and a significant amount of time is wasted because content creators rely on designers for layout and print needs," says Darren Guarnaccia, Sitecore's senior vice president of product marketing. "Adaptive Print Studio gives marketing departments the freedom and flexibility to create professional PDFs and print collateral. The product is based on true collaboration because the advanced features of Sitecore's CMS such as workflows, drag and drop content, language management and security settings can also be used for print projects."

Other features of Sitecore's Adaptive Print Studio include the ability for users to deliver targeted print content in real-time, connect customer behavior to online content and campaigns, edit and create print materials without Adobe InDesign knowledge, a shortened production time, as well as a reduction of review cycles and a quick and easy way to publish content across all channels.

Content Migration with Sitecore and Kapow

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 02:00:00 GMT

If you've ever transitioned to a new a content management system you know how difficult it can be. For those with thousands of pages and a variety of content assets however it can feel nearly impossible; so much work is involved in fact that I have personally seen many end up not changing at all and sticking with their legacy systems. Is there a better way? You bet and it's called automated content migration.

One of the most reliable tools/resources/services I am aware of to support this immense challenge and transition is Kapow Software and what I hear from other web professionals is that it is indeed well worth the cost. Last week, enterprise content management solution Sitecore and Kapow Software announced they have partnered to make migrating legacy digital assets a little bit easier.

Customers can now automate the migration of content from multiple content management applications into Sitecore's Web CMS using the Kapow Katalyst Application Integration Platform. The Kapow Katalyst Platform extracts content and metadata from existing websites, unstructured files, databases, and other sources, and then apply business rules to transform and map source content to Sitecore's content templates, loading directly into Sitecore's CMS.

"Having the right content at the right time in the right place is critical to any business," said Rory Byrne, vice president of business development, Kapow Software. "Migrating legacy Web content presents many challenges, as migration scripts and manual processes reduce accuracy and stretch project timelines. By integrating with Sitecore CMS, the Kapow Katalyst platform can extract, transform, and migrate data and metadata from any content management system automatically, and load it into Sitecore in a fraction of the time and cost."

Sitecore to Release Customer Engagement Platform

Linc Wonham — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 15:00:00 GMT

Web content management firm Sitecore has announced the upcoming release of a new product group called the Customer Engagement Platform. The platform enables organizations to manage the full customer experience and is designed to create relevant and valuable customer conversations that engage, entertain and inform.

The Customer Engagement Platform provides new ways to orchestrate customer needs and solutions previously unattainable due to complexity hurdles. It does so through the addition of three new major and integrated products – Engagement Analytics, Engagement Automation and the Personalization and Experience Editor.

Engagement Analytics is designed to help Web marketers and professionals understand which online investments are paying off, enabling rapid response and impact. It measures, visualizes and compares all initiatives and online campaigns, quickly showing their impact in creating awareness, engagement and quality prospects. Engagement analytics commands the business view marketers and business people want to make informed decisions on digital investments.

Engagement Automation software powers the conversation with visitors, integrating with multiple marketing channels. It orchestrates events across time and visits, enabling quick and automatic responses to the many touch points and requests. It automatically integrates with Sitecore’s broad range of online products, including Web content management, email, engagement analytics and your CRM system – enabling tightly knit interaction.

The intuitive interface of the Inline Experience Editor allows consistent content creation and auto-association with established personas. Editors have unprecedented control over testing of whole pages, specific text or any media items such as images and videos. The complexity challenges of highly personalized websites are now history.

These products will be released June 8, 2011 at Sitecore’s Annual Dreamcore Developer and Partner Conference in London, but a product preview is available now.

E-Commerce Meets CMS at Sitecore

E-Commerce Express : feature — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:33:00 GMT

.Net Web Content management system (CMS) released an E-Commerce platform. What does a CMS know about e-commerce software? It turns out, quite a bit courtesy of the company focus on marketing automation. What makes this e-commerce solution different (and...(read more)

Gartner Report Sees Positive Outlook for WCM Market, Sitecore

Linc Wonham — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 13:30:00 GMT

IT research and analysis firm Gartner, Inc. has released its 2010 Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management report, in which it declares the content management sector a vibrant part of the Web industry that will likely surpass $1 billion in revenues this year.

The report evaluated numerous Web Content Management (WCM) vendors based on a set of criteria that included customer experience, innovation, market understanding, marketing and sales strategies, product strategies and business models. Among the leading visionaries that Gartner anoints for the space in 2010 are Sitecore, Oracle, Autonomy, SDL and Open Text. Challengers and niche players include Microsoft, IBM, Alterian and Dynamicweb Software.

Gartner gave Sitecore particularly high praise in the business-to-business domain, citing the recent additions of Email Campaign Manager and Online Marketing Suite to the core platform of its flagship CMS product, which is based on .NET. The Gartner report called Sitecore an industry leader in WCM applications designed for the .NET environment, providing its customers with the scalability, performance, flexibility, and integration capabilities they need to manage multiple websites and seamlessly deliver compelling Web experiences.

The report stated that today’s vendors are battling to differentiate themselves based on three sets of capabilities: usability, interoperability and consumability. It also projects a compound annual growth rate of 14 percent for the WCM market through 2014, based on the increasing emphasis on the online channel and improving visitors’ experience. That’s a positive outlook not only for the content management market but also for Web users everywhere.

E-mail System Integrates Customers' Actions on Your Site

Linc Wonham — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 10:48:00 GMT

A new e-mail campaign management product from Sitecore makes it possible to map customers in a CRM system to the actual customers opening e-mails and visiting your website or accessing the Web from their mobile phones. Sitecore’s E-mail Campaign Manager tracks all the visits and actions on a business website that e-mail campaigns are influencing.

Rather than providing click-and-open rates and then losing track of visitor actions once they reach the website or initial landing page, this e-mail system tracks the individual visitor throughout the entire range of digital channels. Business websites and e-mail campaigns are tightly aligned, allowing marketers and webmasters to test and target more relevant content in e-mails, landing pages and other Web pages.

Visit Sitecore to learn more about the new E-mail Campaign Manager.

SiteCore Marketing Suite Coming Soon

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:49:00 GMT

Mark your calendars - an impressive online marketing suite looks like it will be released by web content management systems provider SiteCore around June 30th.

The Online Marketing Suite is an add-on to the already robust Sitecore CMS, providing Web marketers with an ability to monitor visitor behavior, deliver personalized experiences, perform usability testing and manage online campaigns. The two key features of the platform are integrated analytics and a rule builder.

SiteCore's Visitor Experience Analytics provides a foundation for personalization and visitor profiling. As reporting is accessible directly from within SiteCore, users are able to set up visitor profiles, register campaigns, specify goals and act against events.

The rule builder is what allows non-technical users of SiteCore to setup profiling, personalization and perform A/B and multivariate testing on the site. The builder in many respects mimics the Outlook message rule builder.