WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

“Self-hosting” is a practice that pretty much describes itself: running your own internet services, typically on hardware you own and have at home. This contrasts with relying on products from large tech companies, which the user has no direct involvement in. A self-hoster controls it all, from the hardware used to the configuration of the software.

In mature markets like Web Content Management, there is almost always a single proprietary leader and a single Open Source leader. There is Oracle and MongoDB. Splunk and Elastic. VMWare and Docker. Gitlab and Github. That is why I believe that next year it will be Acquia and Adobe at the very top of the WCM Magic Quadrant. Sitecore and Episerver will continue to fight for third place among companies who prefer a Microsoft-centric approach. I was not surprised to see Sitecore move down this year as they work to overcome technical product debt and cloud transition, leading to strange decisions like acquiring a services company.

• Content creation functions, such as templating, workflow and change management
• Repositories that organize and provide metadata about content
• Library services, such as check-in/check-out, version control and security
• Website management features, such as layout, menus and navigation
• Content deployment functions
• Personalization and analytics capabilities
• The ability to integrate well, via APIs, with adjacent technologies such as digital commerce platforms, social media platforms, marketing automation platforms and broader digital experience platforms (DXPs)
• Hybrid (traditional and headless) and pure headless capabilities for API-driven omnichannel content delivery