Sitecore 9 – Yet Another Version or More?

You must have heard the latest announcement about Sitecore 9 that got unveiled during the Symposium last week. Like any other version release, there was a list of new ‘jazzy’ features and a bunch of new jargons associated with it. I had always been a great critic of such releases (my friends from the product teams ‘hate’ me for that). When the rubber hits the road, such feature lists fizzle out and the only question that remains is “what’s in it for me?” Here is a summary of my view of this new release from the eyes of a customer, business head, marketer, and technologist. The bullets below showcase the priorities in most of the situations. 

What’s in it for me?

End Customer

Experience of a brand that understands me and provides me what I want now at any given moment and through every interaction via any media

Business Head

1. Digital assets that result in the top-line growth
2. Increased efficiency of the internal teams resulting in the bottom-line growth
3. Better customer loyalty as the driver for future business uplift

Marketer

1. “Intelligence” within digital assets by leveraging the machine learning capabilities
2. Better handle on the marketing budgets by the new pricing & packaging options
3. Easier to avoid information silos with Sitecore-Salesforce CRM integration
4. Quicker time-to-market for digital campaigns
5. Easier to launch mobility and progressive web apps initiatives

Content Author

1. Easier to use with improved UI
2. Simplified and easier forms

Technology/IT

1. End of the biggest dilemma “.Net vs Java” with “headless”
2. Cloud service to ease implementation and maintenance
3. Ease of integrations with super-enhanced xConnect
4. Easier to stay compliant to the information security norms

Note: My views are based on Sitecore’s official announcement. Sitecore reserves the right to change its features at any point in time.