The Sitecore DX 2023 Minneapolis event was nothing short of spectacular, captivating the 500+ attendees with a number of exciting announcements and content. For Sagittarius, it was even more exciting as the event marked our official launch in the USA!
Our CEO Ian MacArthur and CXO Natalie Waite experienced a bustling week that included the MVP Summit (where Ian picked up his MVP trophy), Partner Connect, and SUGCON North America alongside the main DX Minneapolis event.
Sagittarius might be the ‘New Kids on Your Block’ as far as the USA is concerned, but we proudly brought our award-winning digital solutions to the heart of innovation and enjoyed sharing our Sitecore heritage when speaking to people at the event.
These amazing introductions and conversations with customers and industry leaders were hugely valuable, but that couldn’t overshadow the handful of breaking Sitecore developments which occurred across the event. Here are our personal highlights:
The event kicked off with an electrifying keynote from Sitecore’s CEO, Steve Tzikakis, who unveiled a series of groundbreaking products.
Building on this success of XM Cloud (which has surpassed 100 major adoptions within its first year), Tzikakis introduced XM Cloud Plus, a powerful amalgamation of cloud-native products such as Personalize, CDP, and AI-powered Search, empowering brands to forge deeper connections with their customers.
“XM Cloud marked a significant moment in Sitecore’s journey when we launched it a year ago,” said Tzikakis. “Today, we expand the XM Cloud offering with XM Cloud Plus […] to offer an unrivalled customer experience, while simplifying and accelerating their move to the cloud, and delivering a powerful solution for the thousands of Sitecore XP customers that want additional enterprise capabilities.”
Key areas introduced by XM Cloud Plus include AI-powered search and content recommendations, an omnichannel content centre, an intuitive form builder and more.
Also introduced was Sitecore Accelerate, a comprehensive program designed to aid customers in their migration from Sitecore XM and XP to XM Cloud. Tzikakis emphasized Sitecore’s commitment to supporting its customers and partners through this transition.
“We understand that making the move is not easy,” Tzikakis said. “But we have set up a program that puts Sitecore on your side of the table, offering you knowledge, resources, and tools.
“Sitecore Accelerate is not only focusing on our customers but also the capabilities of our partners. We believe that only together, can we all make the move to XM Cloud in a smooth and seamless way.”
We were lucky to capture a captivating keynote by AI expert Noelle Russell, Chief AI Officer at the AI Leadership Institute. Her experience is extensive, including being a renowned Microsoft MVP and previously at the forefront of Amazon’s Alexa.
During her speech, Russell emphasised the responsible use of AI, urging attendees to be mindful and intentional in its implementation. She stressed the importance of diverse voices and critical questioning to ensure the ethical development of AI technologies: “Ask questions, push back. Gather diverse voices.”
Attendees gained a comprehensive understanding of the latest innovations, including automatic feature updates and the seamless integration of best-of-breed capabilities.
This included talks from Acting CMO Hannah Grap on the road to composable, and Roger Connolly, VP of Product Management at Sitecore, who provided invaluable insights into updates made to XM Cloud, especially the removal of large updates, comparing the new seamless roll-outs to the current process for the “Apple iPhone or Watch.”
The event also celebrated excellence with the Sitecore Experience Awards 2023 winners from the Americas. Outstanding achievers like United Airlines, Atkore, Bachman’s, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, and Cytiva were recognized, showcasing their innovative use of Sitecore technology.
Jeff Nunn of Meritage Homes was also honoured for Best Leadership in Experience Transformation, a testament to his exceptional contributions.
Sitecore DX 2023 Minneapolis concluded with a compelling panel discussion moderated by Chief Customer Success Officer Lee Miles. The panel, featuring industry experts Venkat Pethari, Sara Ranson, and Rahul Khosla, delved into the composable journey with Sitecore, highlighting the growing emphasis on business value and the need for rapid implementation, as well as a deep dive into the SaaS experience.
If you’d like to explore how Sagittarius can help unleash the power of these exciting Sitecore developments for your brand, get in touch with our experts.
