Editorial
The Gist
- SaaS focus. Kentico zeroes in on Software-as-a-Service, pushing for cloud-based agility and seamless updates.
- Complexity challenge. The company aims to simplify the rapidly growing martech landscape, boosting ROI.
- Leadership shift. New CRO Bill Cunningham aims to amplify Kentico's reach in the U.S., building on a 42% ARR growth.
NASHVILLE — Kentico, a Digital Experience Platform (DXP) founded in 2004, held its Kentico Connection event in Nashville, Tennessee, last week. The Music City event was the second in a trio of stops that began in Brno, Czech Republic, (the company’s hometown) on Oct. 18-19 and finishes up in Sydney, Australia, on Nov. 1. Held on the 21st floor of the impressive AC Hotel by Marriott, the bird’s eye view of Kentico’s product roadmap vied only for attention with the breathtaking vantage of Nashville itself. And hopefully, to attendees of the annual event, the view toward the horizon was just as clear in both cases.
Like any professional conference, especially post-COVID, the chance to be in person in a great location with industry influencers, product company leaders and real-world customers is a special networking and knowledge-sharing opportunity. Many lessons were gleaned from all of the above interactions, and while most discussions were devoted to hybrid headless, there was also plenty of opportunity for some honky-tonk.
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Kentico Connection Takeaways
Here were the key takeaways from Kentico Connection 2023:
SaaS Evolution: The Journey of Xperience by Kentico
The big key in this bullet is in the thing that is missing: a version number. Kentico announced that its focus is on SaaS, or Software as a Service. Customers have come to expect solutions that are available in the cloud, focused on agility, quick time to market and regular seamless updates. Kentico announced that it has done this very thing, and that its “hybrid headless” approach is one that will resonate with many mid-market and upper mid-market customers.
Now one year into its lifecycle, Xperience by Kentico is expected by the company to become the main platform that customers adopt over the next few years. Meaningful updates can be made to the platform and delivered iteratively and regularly. No more lengthy upgrades, but incremental innovation in expected intervals. SaaS “by default,” according to Kentico CEO Dominik Pinter.
The company also announced connectors, or bridges, to that future for both Xperience by Kentico on-premise customers and customers on competitor solutions.
Untangling MarTech Maze: Addressing Composable Complexity
In today's marketing landscape, the number of tools and solutions has grown exponentially. Pinter showed famed thought leader Scott Brinker’s Martech Map starting from 2011, which has shown a 7,000% plus growth in marketing technology tools in the past 12 years. Brinker was one of the featured keynotes at Connection.
While this growth offers numerous opportunities, it also introduces complexities. It's not just about having a website anymore; there are various channels like email and social media, each requiring specialized tools. Integrating and managing these tools, ensuring data flows seamlessly, and having the personnel to handle everything has become a challenge. This has led to increased costs, demands for specialized expertise, and a drop, according to Pinter, in return on investment (ROI). Many businesses struggle to execute simple digital tasks quickly due to this complexity.
Said Pinter, “and the trend which we are trying to address with Xperience by Kentico is that increased complexity, and we want to decrease that and really consolidate and make the stuff simple and easy again.”
Unified Digital Expedition: Embracing Single Vendor DXP
Pinter talked about what he and Kentico see as the three kinds of DXP and where they feel Kentico fits in nicely:
- Best of Breed DXP: This involves creating a platform using various tools from different vendors. The major challenge is the complexity of integrating these tools to ensure seamless communication and operations.
- Integrated DXP: Here, a single company offers a platform by acquiring other firms and integrating their tools. Although there might be some level of integration, the platforms often still retain inherent complexities due to differing underlying models and objectives.
- Single Vendor DXP (e.g., Xperience by Kentico): This approach offers a unified platform that encompasses all basic foundational capabilities such as content management, email marketing, personalization and multilingual support. The advantage of this approach is its ease of deployment and flexibility to integrate other tools as needed, allowing businesses to scale their digital maturity at their own pace. The goal is to simplify operations, increase productivity and provide a platform that's both easy to use and maintain, ultimately driving better ROI.
Steering Growth: Kentico's New CRO Forges U.S. Expansion
Industry veteran Bill Cunningham was introduced as the new chief revenue officer of Kentico. Based in the U.S., Cunningham will look to turn up the promotional dial for Kentico to the American audience especially. With a strong “channel” structure in place, and key individuals based around the country regionally focused on strategic partners, Kentico will look to improve upon its announced 42% growth in annual recurring revenue (ARR) over the past 12 months.
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Cunningham spoke on stage for a bit during Pinter’s keynote, and even — in Superman fashion — unbuttoned his collared shirt to show a T-Shirt with the title “SaaS” on it. With an assist from his wife and Michaels Stores, he was able to have the shirt at the ready. He joked that the back of the shirt said “partners.”
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Final Thoughts From Kentico
In a concerted stride toward cloud-centric solutions, Kentico magnifies its focus on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), aiming for agile, cloud-based applications and seamless updates. Amidst a convoluted martech sphere, the firm seeks to untangle complexity, eyeing an upswing in return on investment (ROI). The company unveiled a roadmap that promises incremental innovation, a simplified digital experience and a robust growth trajectory especially in the U.S. market.
“SaaS and partners is where we’re going forward,” said Cunningham. “We're really excited about all of this. I think we're going to have a great year and a great future.”
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