What is Sitecore?

24 April 2024

By: Sinead Hammond

Category: Blogs

Sitecore is a powerful technology, chosen by over 11500 businesses (and counting) designed to help global brands create online experiences that convert. Businesses today face a significant challenge: creating online experiences that meet the evolving needs and expectations of their customers. With technology advancing rapidly, companies must adapt quickly to stay competitive. That’s where Sitecore, a leading digital experience platform, comes into play. 

But what is Sitecore? Sitecore DXP enables businesses to create cohesive, customer-centric experiences that drive engagement, conversion, and loyalty. From content management and customer relationship management to marketing automation and analytics, Sitecore offers a comprehensive platform that helps businesses streamline their digital operations, personalise their customer interactions, and optimise their marketing efforts. With its flexible cloud deployment options and headless CMS capabilities, Sitecore allows businesses to adapt to changing market conditions and customer preferences.

There are many capabilities and benefits of Sitecore. With so many features, advantages, and real-world applications this piece aims to answer exactly what is Sitecore and if it’s right for your organisation. Whether you’re looking to improve customer experiences, increase conversions, or simplify content management, this guide will provide you with an overview of Sitecore and its potential to support your business goals.

What is Sitecore: The Toolkit

Sitecore can be built as either a SaaS DXP or a Platform DXP. Choosing between them can be daunting, which is why it’s best to work with Sitecore Partners to help you make a strategic choice. However, here are some of the key facts. 

SaaS

Sitecore offers a range of composable tools delivered through a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. This allows you to pick and choose the functionalities that best suit your project, giving you greater flexibility and agility.

Content Management:

  • Content Hub One: Ideal for smaller projects or those built with JAMStack architecture, Content Hub One is a lightweight yet powerful CMS. It provides all the essential tools to create and manage content, allowing you to build and launch web experiences quickly.
  • XM Cloud: If your project demands the full spectrum of content management features Sitecore is known for, Sitecore XM Cloud delivers. This headless, cloud-hosted version offers the same robust functionality as the traditional platform, but with the scalability and ease of use that cloud deployment brings.

Extend Your Capabilities:

Alongside their core content management options, Sitecore provides a suite of composable tools to enhance your digital experience further. Enhance your content management with a range of SaaS tools:

  • Personalize & CDP: Sitecore Personalize helps you capture user data, personalise content delivery, and make informed decisions. Works across web, mobile apps, and custom interfaces.
  • Content Hub DAM: Manage the creation and organisation of digital assets with robust project management tools. Integrates seamlessly with your CMS.
  • Content Hub Operations: Manage content from strategy to delivery with ease and speed.
  • Search: Make your website content easily searchable for users and internal needs (e.g., “related articles”).
  • Send: Sitecore Send allows you to design email campaigns, manage delivery lists, and integrate marketing automation with ease.
  • OrderCloud: Build e-commerce functionalities with an API-driven platform for product, inventory, and order management.
  • Discover: Facilitate product search, recommendations, and branded listing pages with minimal effort.
  • Connect: Sitecore Connect can integrate various SaaS products with a user-friendly “no-code” approach.

On-Premise

For projects where on-premise control and data security are paramount, Sitecore offers its flagship Digital Experience Platform (DXP). This self-hosted solution provides all the functionalities businesses need to manage content, personalise experiences, and gain valuable insights, all within a single, secure platform:

  • Sitecore XP: This comprehensive platform goes beyond basic content management, offering omnichannel personalisation features, customer data consolidation, robust marketing automation tools, search functionality, email-sending capabilities, and in-depth analytics to help you measure your digital efforts effectively.

Sitecore empowers you to select the solution that best aligns with your project requirements and security needs.

What is Sitecore?

The Capabilities

Enhance your Content Marketing

Streamline content management and reduce complexity with Sitecore’s content management system (CMS) tools. Brands can create, manage, and publish content across multiple channels, including websites, mobile apps, and social media. Consequently, this feature enables businesses to maintain a consistent brand voice and message across all platforms. With Sitecore’s CMS, users can create and edit content using a user-friendly interface, making it easy to keep their online experiences up-to-date and fresh. 

Streamline your Automation 

Achieve a higher return on investment through marketing automation and optimisation. Many brands considering a DXP are keen to know what Sitecore’s marketing automation capability is. Sitecore comes with tools that allow businesses to automate and optimise their marketing campaigns, ensuring maximum ROI and customer engagement. With Sitecore, companies can create and manage complex workflows, automate email campaigns, and personalise content based on customer behaviour and preferences. This feature enables businesses to save time and resources while also improving the effectiveness of their marketing efforts. 

Get Detailed Analytics and Reporting 

Enhance customer insights through analytics and reporting. Sitecore’s analytics and reporting features provide real-time insights into customer behaviour. This helps businesses refine their marketing strategies and improve customer experiences. With Sitecore, businesses can track website traffic, engagement metrics, and conversion rates, gaining a deeper understanding of how their online experiences are performing. This data can then be used to inform future marketing decisions. Brands can ensure continuous improvement in customer experiences and business outcomes. 

Personalisation to Engage and Convert 

Improve customer experiences through personalisation and omnichannel delivery. Sitecore’s personalisation capabilities enable businesses to tailor their online experiences to individual customers, based on their behaviour, preferences, and interests. This feature allows businesses to deliver highly relevant and engaging experiences that resonate with each customer, increasing the likelihood of conversion and loyalty. With a Sitecore website, businesses can create personalised content, recommend products or services, and even tailor the layout and design of their website to each customer. 

Meet your Customers Wherever they are

What is Sitecore known best for? Sitecore allows businesses to deliver seamless, consistent experiences across multiple channels, including web, mobile, social media, and IoT devices. This feature ensures that customers receive a unified brand experience regardless of the device or platform they use, fostering trust and loyalty. Businesses can create and manage content once, and then deliver it across all channels, reducing the complexity and cost of content management. Increase conversions and revenue through targeted, omnichannel marketing and sales strategies.

Future-proof your Online Experience with Headless CMS

Sitecore’s headless CMS capabilities enable businesses to deliver content to any device or application, without the need for a traditional website. This feature allows businesses to decouple their content from their presentation layer, giving them the flexibility to deliver content to emerging channels and devices, such as voice assistants, smart home devices, and augmented reality experiences. With Sitecore’s headless CMS, businesses can future-proof their content and stay ahead of the curve in terms of innovation and customer experience.

Increase ROI and Reduce Time-to-Market with Cloud Deployment

Sitecore offers flexible cloud deployment options, allowing businesses to choose from a range of cloud providers, including Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud Platform. This feature enables businesses to scale their online experiences quickly and efficiently, while also ensuring high availability and performance. With Sitecore’s cloud deployment options, businesses can reduce their infrastructure costs, improve their time-to-market, and increase their agility in response to changing market conditions.

What is Sitecore

Choosing Sitecore

Sitecore is a powerful digital experience platform that empowers businesses to create memorable, omnichannel experiences for their customers. With its comprehensive features, flexibility, and scalability, Sitecore is a top choice for many organisations. Whether you’re looking to enhance customer experiences, increase conversions, or streamline content management, Sitecore is definitely worth considering. 

We’ve implemented over 100+ Sitecore solutions to help ambitious organisations achieve their digital transformation goals.

Still wondering what is Sitecore and if it’s right for you? We’d love to speak to you, contact us to book a free demo to get started with one of our accredited experts We’re proud to be a recommended Platinum-certified Sitecore Agency with over 20 years of experience working with global brands to maximise their Sitecore investment and create experiences that convert.  Check out some of our work to find out more about how Sitecore has powered world-leading brands. You can also read about our Sitecore MVPs.

 

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