Sdl Tridion News & Articles

So SDL officially announced the completion its acquisition of Alterian, a provider of web engagement management solutions. But the details were very light. We change that right now.

I expect you've all heard the story by now: SDL has acquired Alterian.

To remain relevant, the Web CMS (WCM) world must evolve. And given WCM's critical position in the information stream this fact is broadly accepted. However, the nature of the forces driving this evolution look different depending on who you talk to.

In this exclusive CMSWire interview SDL's CMO of Web Content Management Solutions, Robert Carroll, expounds on the industry shift from a core Web CMS focus towards Customer Experience Management (CXM).

The Forrester Wave: Web Content Management for Online Customer Experience (CXM) has just arrived and it reads like a who's who of web content management. Seems there are few WCM vendors who don't make some attempt to support the delivery of a complete online customer experience, but most still have a lot of work to do. Who leads and who challenges? Read on.

In the beginning of 2010, EMC (news, site) announced a partnership with FatWire (news, site) to bring their web content management offerings to EMC customers. One year later, EMC announced a similar partnership with SDL (news, site) to offer Tridion to the EMC customer base. While there has been a lot of speculation as to the reasons behind the addition of a fairly similar offering to EMC’s partner portfolio, EMC has explained that it is all about offering their customers the choices they need to be successful.

SDL (news, site) has taken a firm grip on supporting the growing population of mobile users in Tridion 2011.

EMC (news, site) is adding to its Web Content Management partnerships. Now, along with FatWire, the enterprise content management giant has struck an agreement with SDL (news, site).

For those organizations who deal daily not just with the needs of a mobile customer base, but one that's spread across continents and countries, Tridion 2011 (news, site), coupled with SDL SmartTarget (also newly released today), can deliver the right experience.

A community technology preview (CTP) of the upcoming SDL Tridion 2011 (news, site) is in progress right now and leaks of what it has improved upon and added are starting to surface.

 SDL (news, site) and SapientNitro have combined their respective specialties -- information management and interactive marketing -- in order to offer multi-channel customer experience solutions. The first round is already here for airports and concessionaires, and pays special attention to the mobile consumer.

In the land of SDL (news, site), today is extra special. The Global Information Management solutions provider is launching their own consolidated brand.

Translation: all business units in SDL -- SDL Tridion, SDL XySoft and SDL TRADOS Technologies, SDL Enterprise Technologies and SDL Language Services -- will be referred to as divisions of SDL in a move to unify the company.

The five specialized business divisions are:

• Structured Content Technologies
• Web Content Management Solutions
• eCommerce Technologies
• Language Technologies
• Language Services

As we were just saying, SDL has made been making moves all over the life cycle map, including their recent dabbling in eCommerce via the acquisition of Fredhopper. For those that wondered how the company would maintain consistency after such a branching out, this is it.

Said Mark Lancaster, CEO and Chairman of SDL:

This is an important move for SDL in ensuring that we provide one unified and consistent message to the market. This does not change who SDL’s customers talk to in the different divisions, nor does it change our products or goals. This re-naming of the different divisions as part of SDL only affects the way we refer to the different solutions we provide.

Got a one goal, one mission kind of mindset? Keep an eye on SDL. 

SDL Tridion (news, site) has spread its Web Content Management wings right on over to the Land of the Rising Sun, thanks to partnerships with Japan based companies Nihon Unisys and TAKT Systems.

The Nihon Unisys Group has been a provider of IT solutions since 1958. In 2008, the company started building their Internet Data Center (iDC) for hosting, ASP and SaaS businesses. Tricked out with SDL Tridion, the model offers Nihon Unisys’s customers a central Web CMS as well as the high quality maintenance and services Nihon Unisys postulates.

TAKT Systems will also be standing by with SDL Tridion, ready to work with consulting and content creation agencies for website implementation.

On a beeline for global domination, SDL Tridion also recently acquired European eCommerce company, Fredhopper. The significance of getting hands-on with a Dutch eCommerce provider like Friedhopper lies not only in the expansion to new territories, but the obvious move in a new direction as well.

With a hold on Global Information Management, and what looks like a promising dip into the online shopping pool, we’re going to guess that it would be wise to keep an eye on these guys.

 When it comes to being quick off the mark SDL Tridion (news, site) must be one of the quickest. Only last week it released the results of a survey that indicated that online shoppers want companies to track them. Two days later they released a new set of web forms that can do exactly that.

In fairness, the company has been developing WebForms for quite some time, so the timing of their release may just be coincidental with the What the Customer Wants survey. However, the release of the two within days of each other is quite timely.

The team over at ZyLab (news, site) recently scored themselves a new president and CEO for their U.S. headquarters in McLean.

Pieter Varkevisser will lead the company through their next stage of growth while former president and CEO Johannes Scholtes assumes the roles of Chairman of ZyLAB’s supervisory board and Chief Strategy Officer. 

Varkevisser brings a ton of experience to the table, including what he gained through his four year stint (2004-2008) as CEO of SDL Tridion. 

"ZyLAB has achieved a documented leadership position in the information access technology market with high-profile customers in commercial and government organizations around the world,” said Mr. Varkevisser. "I look forward to building off this solid foundation to continue to grow the company."

As the new Chairman of the supervisory board as well as the Chief Strategy Officer, Scholtes will research new technologies and products for the company as well as help bring those solutions to market.

“For the past 20 years, I have been very hands-on with nearly all facets of our company in my role as President and CEO of ZyLAB,” said Johannes Scholtes. “In that period ZyLAB has grown from a small start-up to an internationally recognized information access technology provider with offices worldwide and more than 100 employees. Pieter’s leadership skills and extensive experience in the software industry make him a great fit to help take ZyLAB to the next level of growth and expansion.”

While it’s mildly annoying to have a flock of sales associates approach you the second you step into a store, but apparently consumers don’t mind the special attention when they’re shopping on the Internet.

This is especially important to note when you consider numbers like 74, which, according to a recent survey from SDL Tridion (news, site), is the percentage of people who actually like it when businesses mine their personal shopping information.