The arrival of Sitecore 9 was announced recently during a presentation at Sitecore Symposium 2017. Sitecore in recent years has consistently remained as a ‘leader’ and ‘visionary’ in the technology world, according to a report from Gartner.
The world of marketing keeps evolving and Sitecore has embraced this change. It is now time to adopt Sitecore migration services and leverage its new benefits. As we know, Sitecore is a web content management software that is a leader in contextual marketing. It is focused on content management and automation that allows personalized commerce on a large scale.
Let’s see what new functionalities have been released in Sitecore 9 and how it will transform contextual marketing.
New features available in Sitecore 9
Sitecore Cortex
Sitecore Cortex is the machine learning capability integrated across the entire Sitecore Experience Platform, Experience Commerce analytics, testing, and optimization.
It works by identifying the common attributes of visitors and automatically recommends which segments they should belong to and how to create personalized experiences for them. This type of data analytics used to be work that required a team of data scientists. But now, with Sitecore, even the marketing team can carry out these activities.
The richer the customer’s data, either native or from third party sources via Sitecore xConnect, the more advanced the results. Thanks to the Sitecore Cortex, marketers now are capable of better understanding how their content performs and generates opportunities.
Cloud First
Sitecore XM and XP provide multiple deployment options for the users including on-premises, hybrid cloud and managed cloud hosting. Both XM and XP have full native support for Microsoft Azure PaaS, hence users can enjoy a range of benefits on deploying a Sitecore topology through Azure Resource Manager or Azure Marketplace.
The Cloud First formula promotes automated provisions, scaling up and out of data and the server-less configurations mean that the IT teams can truly benefit from speed and scale of the cloud, while marketers benefit from a faster speed to reach the market and ensure that the marketing campaigns will perform even at peak time.
Sitecore xConnect
Sitecore xConnect is the term given to a bundle of APIs and services in Sitecore Experience Platform. It performs data interchange in and out of Sitecore Experience Database. For instance, a customer’s data in any CRM system can be shifted to Sitecore Experience Database using xConnect to carry out better personalization. Similarly, customer’s data can also be transferred back to CRM so consequently, both channels can interact with data. Furthermore, xConnect leverages the OData industry standard hence developers need not learn specific Sitecore codes. XConnect allows xDB to connect with MongoDB, Microsoft Azure SQL, or Microsoft SQL Server 2016.
CRM Connectors
The new Sitecore 9 features ‘Sitecore Connect’ as part of the release. Sitecore Connect will provide great out-of-box data interchange between Sitecore Experience Database and industry-leading CRM solutions. New users who migrate or upgrade to Sitecore 9 will have access to these CRM connectors, i.e. Salesforce CRM and Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Sitecore Headless and JavaScript Services (JSS)
Sitecore XM and XP, both are equipped with the ability to separate creation and management of the content and content delivery to a web page, app, or any IoT (Internet of Things) device. Sitecore JavaScript Services (JSS) and Client Services allow developers to request content without having in-depth knowledge of Sitecore and give marketers a complete view of the customer’s data that has been fetched from every connected experience.
Native Marketing Automation
Sitecore 9 offers completely re-designed automation tools that will allow users a drag and drop interface to quickly design and run the marketing campaign and nurture prospects with personalized conversations and offers.
Redesigned Web Forms
Marketing teams are going to love the new Sitecore Forms. This is because the Forms are reusable, resulting in faster delivery of content across various sites and devices. In addition, data captured via Forms are effortlessly managed in Sitecore Experience Database in real-time, giving the marketers richer data for user customization and in-context marketing.
Migration and Conversion Tools
Sitecore 9 has several migration and conversion tools so that users can easily upgrade to the latest version of Sitecore XM or XP.
Federated Authentication
Federation Authentication is supported in Sitecore 9, including Azure Active Directory (AD) and Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) so users can easily use single sign-on (SSO) as the preferred method to log in. It can also be used for authentication purpose of social logins.
Sitecore 9 is the ultimate foundation that closely integrates with user experience. Business and marketing users can benefit from Sitecore 9 to contextually market to the target audience across all channels. This is a decision that you will need to take about whether you should migrate or upgrade to Sitecore 9. It is about delivering great customer experience both internally and externally.
With the release of a newer version of Sitecore many businesses are wondering whether they should migrate to Sitecore 9 or not. If you are not sure whether XP 9 is the right choice for you then download our assessment guide or talk to our Sitecore consultants.
