From awards showcasing product expertise to exciting .NET Core features, Progress Sitefinity DX has its share of news stories to go around the community.
Unique news stories consistently come out of our Progress® Sitefinity® community nearly every year. 2022 is certainly no different. The customers’ needs in the digital experience platform (DXP) space continue to grow, and Sitefinity DX further develops along with them. Taken together, the stories we’ve collected reveal trends in our customer base and in our industry. With these trends in mind, we debuted many new product changes to reflect what our clients and partners seek when creating digital experiences.
The volume of new product developments and community updates required us to assemble them into a news roundup. While the year is not quite over yet, we wanted to share each news item with you below.
Progress Recognized by Gartner in the 2022 Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms
In 2022, Gartner placed Progress amongst 16 notable vendors offering DXPs. The firm had distinct criteria involving revenue targets, regional reach, cloud deployment capabilities and flexibility. Our placement on the Magic Quadrant not only represents the new developments and features for Sitefinity DX, but also how our customers are responding to the changes and how our increased focus on digital experiences has assisted their websites.
2022 was a Year of Change and Improvement for Sitefinity
Throughout the year, Sitefinity DX 14 received many innovative and effective updates, each enabling our customers and partners with myriad content creation possibilities. Attempting to summarize each of these in a single blog wouldn’t do the capabilities of Sitefinity DX 14 justice. What follows are some major highlights.
Sitefinity DX 14.1 Presents New Features for .NET Core and Digital Asset Management Integrations
When Sitefinity 14.1 was released, the centerpiece of the update was the improved .NET Core usability and capabilities. Previous versions of Sitefinity 14 used .NET Framework and .NET Core is the successor. Whether on-premise or in the cloud, Sitefinity users can utilize .NET Core as a frontend-based framework tool to deploy cross-platform digital experiences, while streamlining page creation and content editing processes. Other important updates in the 14.1 release came in the form of an improved Digital Asset Management (DAM) integration, allowing users to easily store and access digital assets such as photos or videos in a centralized location. Another feature is compatibility with Azure Cognitive Search, which provides developers infrastructure, APIs and various tools for the search components of your website.
Enhancements to Sitefinity Insight and Sitefinity Cloud are in the Sitefinity DX 14.2 Release
Around the summertime, Sitefinity DX received another update. The 14.2 release included several quality-of-life updates for .NET Core, SiteSync usability and enhanced Content Expiration Notifications. However, the two significant upgrades in the 14.2 release apply to Sitefinity Insight and Sitefinity Cloud integrations.
Insight now supplies Sitefinity users with in-depth reports on the Top Pages based on audience segments and tighter Ucommerce incorporation. As for Cloud enhancements in the 14.2 release, Automated Workflows achieves automation with no coding and adds stronger, tighter content publishing workflows. Security Information and Event Management provides real-time monitoring, threat detection, event analysis and incident management, but with the inclusion of an AI-augmented security layer for efficiency.
Sitefinity 14.3 Improves the Features Required to Digital Experience Toolsets
For those who are creating digital experiences via Sitefinity, the most recent update delivers on this promise. Sitefinity 14.3 includes significant updates for content creation and content delivery. Section Presets, one of the newest features, helps content creators repurpose page layouts with minimal complexity. Content creators and marketers will be happy to learn about the new content recommender, powered by AI and data insights. Instead of struggling to pick content for customer journeys, this tool recommends what to use based on previous customer interactions.
Users have probably noticed the new features on the content delivery front. Updates to Azure Cognitive Search and enhanced internal search functions are included. But one standout component in 14.3 is the ability to integrate your website’s FAQ page with NativeChat.
In addition to those, users received regular quality of life upgrades .NET Core capabilities and various security components.
2022 Brought Great Stories from Our Customers and a Great Event with Our Partners
Once again, our Website of the Year Awards allowed us to showcase some great customer stories and congratulate our partners on some fantastic work with the Sitefinity platform. Brands like P.F. Chang’s and Kaplan UK used Sitefinity to improve the digital experience for their customers and clients, and the WoY Awards gave us a place to showcase those stories. Keep an eye out for an announcement about nominations for the 2023 WoY Awards.
Finally, after several years apart, 2022 allowed us to get together with our partners at our Progress360 event in Boston. The event was a rousing success, and we look forward to many more face-to-face meetings in 2023. If you are a partner and would like to attend our final virtual roundtable for 2022, don’t hesitate to reach out.
What Should We Expect in 2023?
What will be the new developments for Sitefinity in 2023? Will customers continue to use .NET Core for cross-platform page building? What other UX features are going to be implemented? Or do you have your own predictions for Sitefinity? Even as the year ends, and the community anticipates more changes, digital experiences will improve via Sitefinity.
Colin Barry
Copywriter Colin Barry has spent the majority of his career in the tech sector of Boston as a journalist and content marketer, writing about early-stage startups and consumer electronics. However, it is the combination of marketing and creative writing that draws him to the world of copywriting. Colin lives in Massachusetts and is self-described film geek, rock music nerd, and video game enthusiast.