We’ve been working with content management systems from day one, in many forms.
Back in the late noughties, it was just as common, if not more common, to “roll your own” as it was to work with a CMS platform. And we did, more than once. These were systems built around specific requirements and not nearly as flexible as the solutions we build today, but they gave our clients the ability to manage content effectively.
The thing about building CMS platforms yourself, is that it provides insight into what working with a fully-fledged platform should look like. Those experiences continue to form the basis of how we design and build solutions for the enterprise today, and ensure we deliver the best possible solutions for our clients.
It wasn’t until the start of the next decade that we felt the need to explore working with CMS platforms. After brief forays with other systems, we quickly naturally gravitated towards Umbraco, and we continue to embrace it as one of our core technologies. Since the Microsoft technology stack has always been the foundation of our engineering practice, it was a natural fit.
So much so, we became an Umbraco Platinum Partner. As a matter of fact, this website is built with Umbraco. Yes, that’s right, we eat our own dog food.
Although use of the term CMS is still common, platforms like Umbraco have expanded far beyond content management, and the term DXP (Digital Experience Platform) is becoming more common. A DXP describes a system which encompasses additional optional modules to provide capabilities such as personalisation and eCommerce. The flexibility and extensibility of Umbraco allows us to build and implement deep integrations with other systems.
Debunking some common misconceptions about Umbraco
Misconception 1: Umbraco isn’t an enterprise solution
Some people dismiss Umbraco as being unsuitable for the enterprise. While no CMS is a perfect fit for every scenario, Umbraco capably addresses far more of them than many assume. Umbraco’s ongoing focus is on the enterprise, and it powers many high-profile, large-scale websites.
Misconception 2: It doesn’t scale
Recent versions of Umbraco scale exceptionally well. It supports multi-environment publishing workflows, load balancing, autoscaling architectures and extensible distributed caching mechanisms. Scaling Umbraco in Azure or other enterprise infrastructures is a routine requirement for us.
Misconception 3: It has limited functionality
Umbraco as a DXP provides extensions for personalisation, workflow, marketing automation for example. There are many third-party extensions available too, and of course, because Umbraco is so extensible, bespoke features and integrations can be developed to provide any other required features.
What we like best
- Extensibility everywhere, including the content editor experience
- Supported by an active and expanding developer community
- Flexible capability for building integrations with other systems
- Predictable release cycle, with new and improved features with upgrade paths that are relatively simple and non-disruptive
- We can prototype rapidly, and development pace generally is high
- Committed focus on the enterprise with regard to performance, stability and security improvements