2015 was an eventful year for Episerver and Ektron. The merger between the two companies was announced in January, and over the course of the year, we learned more details about the converged platform, which was known as the Digital Experience Cloud, and got a clear picture of the future of the platform at the Ascend ’15 conference.
Now that the dust has settled a bit, we know more about the future of the Episerver platform, as well as the best options for migrating from Ektron to Episerver. So, what can we expect in 2016? Here are a handful of areas that we feel will be important for Episerver in the coming year:
1. Continued Personalization and Integration Enhancements
Personalized content is currently a key area of focus for website owners, and we expect that Episerver will continue to provide robust personalization capabilities for its users. In addition, it will be able to integrate with an ever-growing list of third-party systems, allowing companies to connect their website with a large number of CRMs, PIMs, ERPs, MAPs, and other external systems, eliminating the possibility of data silos and resulting in a robust, connected digital strategy.
2. Continued Focus on the Convergence of Content and Commerce
One of the key advantages of the Episerver CMS is its combination of content and commerce within the same platform, and as the Digital Experience Cloud continues to evolve, it will continue to focus on this unique benefit. The capability to personalize of all aspects of both content and commerce based on integrations with third-party systems will result in websites that provide incredible value to both users and site owners.
3. More Robust Business Intelligence
Based on the aforementioned areas of emphasis, we believe that it only makes sense for Episerver to begin to drive more value to site owners by surfacing more real time business intelligence about their sites. Providing them with this valuable information will help them learn more about how people use their sites and how to provide them with a quality experience that increases ROI.
4. An Evolving Product
Episerver’s continuous release cycle provides users of the platform with regular updates that address existing errors and security issues and enable new features, and we expect this to continue going strong throughout 2016. As new capabilities are added to the platform, site owners and developers will be able to take advantage of them immediately, demonstrating Episerver’s commitment to providing a product that continues to evolve to meet the needs of the rapidly-changing online ecosystem.
5. Continued Focus on the Cloud
Episerver provides cloud-based hosting and management for their platform, and in 2016, we expect that they will continue to push the capabilities and scalability of cloud-based deployments. This means that users of the platform will continue to see the great performance, redundancy, and scalability that the cloud provides.
What About Ektron?
While we believe that Episerver is truly the future of Ektron, many site owners have made a substantial investment in the Ektron platform, and our expectation is the Episerver will continue to protect these clients’ investments in several ways, including:
- Regular release of security and service packs
- Helping Ektron customers migrate to the converged platform through Episerver’s partners
- Enhancing the Ektron product through cloud-based Episerver integrations such as Episerver Find
Whether you’re an existing Episerver customer who wants to get the most out of the platform, an Ektron customer considering a migration to Episerver, or a website owner looking to implement a robust new CMS platform, Diagram can answer any questions you might have and help you determine your best options when planning for the coming year. Please contact us to speak to a Solutions Engineer, and we’ll work with you to help you plan and implement your ideal digital strategy. Here’s to a great 2016!
