Episerver Launches Updated Digital Experience Hub

Digital marketing and commerce platform provider Episerver has launched an upgraded edition of its Digital Experience Cloud, bringing together its native Episerver solutions with technology that the company added through the acquisition of Ektron, a content management system vendor. The Digital Experience Cloud is a cloud-first solution, but will now be available on-demand and as a private cloud in addition to an on-premise offering. And, thanks to enhanced integrations and connectors, the Digital Experience Hub will now better interact with marketing automation tools from a number of providers.

"Everything our customers do is in the cloud, but traditional content management is on premise. What we're trying to say is you need to put your business where your customer experience is," James Norwood, CMO of Episerver, says. Doing that effectively, however, requires flexibility and connectivity. "We have an end-to-end platform with many capabilities, but we know that our customers are already invested in different best-of-breed solutions and we don't expect to come in and say, 'You have to only use our software now.' We thought about connectivity to other systems in the design of our original cloud. It wasn't an afterthought," he adds.

The improved connectivity to marketing partners will enable users to gain deeper insight into the customer experience, including information on purchase history, preferences, and habits. Episerver's Digital Experience Hub provides far-reaching capabilities for marketers, but strategic integrations with email marketing, content management, and other marketing technology providers such as Marketo, Hubspot, and Salesforce will serve to augment Episerver's solutions and fill in any product gaps. Integrations with CRM platforms such as Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics CRM will also extend the functionality of Digital Experience Hub.

Since merging with Ektron, Episerver has worked to merge Ektron's content management technology with its own digital commerce solution, and this release serves as a precursor to "greater things to come," according to Norwood. The Ektron product line received a number of updates, including the introduction of Episerver Find, a relevance technology that enables marketers to pinpoint the most relevant content targeted toward individual visitors in a streamlined way. The tool delivers true one-to-one marketing, Norwood says. Other improvements were made to the company's existing content management capabilities as well, namely a more thorough content staging solution that provides a better prepublishing preview and a content collaboration tool that helps marketers optimize workflow and increase content quality. One the digital commerce side, Episerver introduced enhancements to the catalog management platform and search tools.

Moving forward, Norwood says, the company's goal is to fully merge the Episerver and Ektron products into a single best-of product that brings together content and commerce. "Companies don't just want products in the storefront. They want great content, and they want it injected in real time around the buying experience. One is very much driving the other. We're making a commitment to bring the two pieces together by the end of the year, but for now, our customers can think of this release as a down payment."  

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