Where is Kentico headed? Thoughts from Kentico Connection 2023

What does the future of Kentico look like over the next five years? When should users of version 13 start preparing to switch to Xperience by Kentico, and should partner agencies get hands-on with the development of the new platform sooner than we thought? If you missed this year's Kentico Connection conferences, we have a summary from Brno and Nashville, spiced with thoughts from a long-time Kentico Partner.

Disruptive innovation is such an everyday mantra among leaders at the forefront of digital transformation. However, as an agency working for diverse industries, we know that marketing and digital infrastructure often resemble enormous ships, challenging to alter their course with a single turn of the wheel. We ourselves are still in the process of migrating a couple of customer systems to MVC and upgrading to the highly esteemed Kentico 13. Yet, Kentico's focus is already on an entirely new product. In a growing dispersion of martech technologies and the demand for composable solutions, this is absolutely the right way - argued the speakers.

IT'S ALL ABOUT XPERIENCE BY KENTICO NOW

Hybrid headless, multi-channel experiences, and composability - these trending concepts in the digital industry were elegantly woven into Kentico CEO Dominik Pinter's keynote address at the conferences in Nashville and Brno. His speeches underscored a well-defined vision and a strategic roadmap for the new platform. Xperience by Kentico has seen successful implementation in numerous projects over the past year, and the invaluable feedback from customers plays a pivotal role in improving the product's capabilities.

The foremost objective is to empower customers to adapt to market dynamics. Marketers today use several different martech tools a day and are often dependent on the extensive work of developers.

Themes of the burden of complexity, the need for consolidation, and acceleration resonated in the sessions led by Debbie Tuček and Scott Brinker and product presentations by Brian McKeiver, Sean Wright, Mike Wills, and others. 

XbK aims to be the remedy for all the marketers' pain. 

THE TECHNOLOGY AND SPEED 

This is not Kentico 14 - emphasized Debbie Tuček, director of product. It's an entirely new product built from the ground up with a completely modern technology stack - she said. 

.NET Cloud Native framework is the central part of the technology, and there's a REACT front as well. Debbie was quick to reassure developers accustomed to coding in C# - "You can code your custom modules as you used to, and we will generate REACT for you. So one of those quick and easy things that makes life just a little bit easier".

The new product is also supposed to be exceptionally easy to install and update; a point affirmed later on by Brian McKiever during his Kentico MVP session. He shared that, even in the platform's early development phase, he successfully updated his system in under 30 minutes.

Thanks to the universal migration toolkit, you can save between 20% and 50% of project costs based on how much content you're migrating - claimed speakers.

THE BURDEN OF COMPLEXITY

The quest for easing the hustle extends beyond the realm of developers; it primarily revolves around customers. Complexity is a marketer's enemy, as enterprises persistently employ way too many disparate digital tools. 

Kentico's Product Director illustrated this with a common scenario. When a company introduces a new product or runs a seasonal promotion, there's a need for a microsite or landing page. These are often hastily created to meet tight deadlines using a low-code or no-code platform completely detached from the leading site. Despite the apparent ease of operability, data becomes scattered, and cohesion is compromised.

The answer is consolidation. And not only the consolidation of tools but also the consolidation of content.
 

CONTENT HUB

The content hub is one of the critical features of the new composable platform. It enables users to have the content in one central location and seamlessly share it across diverse channels. This means one team can focus on content creation and publication while another can simultaneously manage its distribution across multiple channels like emails, newsletters, and applications. Users will be able to leverage several distinct microchannels with a standard Xperience by Kentico license.
 

AI TOOLS FOR REPURPOSING CONTENT

Of course, the topic of artificial intelligence could not be overlooked, but as Kentico's Director of Product emphasized, "We are not using AI for the sake of using AI," supporting her assurances with more examples.

The platform's enhanced features aim to facilitate both content reuse and repurposing. AI plays a valuable role in this endeavor. For instance, when creating a new email campaign from numerous articles across channels, built-in AI tools can assist in summarizing and condensing them into concise headlines.

THE ROADMAP 

Debbie Tuček also emphasized the SaaS offering, which is advantageous for companies comfortable with a standardized model instead of extensive customization. Notable advantages encompass support for troubleshooting from experts familiar with the product, predictable package pricing, and quicker execution times.

What else awaits down the road? Embracing integrations, improving workflows, and providing native e-commerce capabilities, though aimed mainly at the B2B market, like Kentico always used to. 
 

LICENSING AND PRICING

My intent is that you think of this session as a non-event because there's nothing huge happening with the licensing - Ben Franklin, VP of Channel Growth Sales, reassured partners and customers during Connection in Brno. The XbK licensing model is meant to be as simple as counting to three.

Similar to earlier editions, licenses will be offered at Standard, Advanced, and PRO levels, aligning with the digital maturity levels of enterprises based on the model established a year ago by Kentico. It's worth noting that the PRO version of the offering is currently in the planning phase, and we anticipate its release soon.

As previously mentioned, the standard version of the package will now allow the distribution of content on microchannels parallel to the main licensed channel. While the exact definition of a microchannel is still pending, Ben shared that it implies that partners and consumers can also engage in smaller side projects.

 

WHAT'S NEXT FOR KENTICO PARTNERS AND CUSTOMERS

In the closing days of both conferences, the focus shifted predominantly to partner presentations showcasing Xperience by Kentico implementations. Notably, the Greater Miami and Miami Beach project by Ntara awarded Kentico the "Site of the Year" title. The project involved reconstructing a content-rich website featuring thousands of articles and listings. By migrating to cutting-edge technology, content management across over 3,000 pages became significantly more efficient. The enhancements also led to accelerated processes and faster site loading, ensuring the site's future resilience.

The instances of GMCVB and various other projects underscored the potent capabilities of XbK. Particularly noteworthy is its ability to significantly enhance the speed and simplicity of system management.  

Transitioning to a new technological era necessitates careful preparation. While Kentico 13 stands as a robust and fully supported (at least until the end of 2026) product, Xperience by Kentico might not be yet a solution for all customers; however, it will eventually become the new flagship. It's prudent for partner agencies to proactively gear up to work with XbK in the near future.

ADHD Interactive participated in the Kentico Connection conferences in Brno and Nashville (we hope to add Sydney to our tour next year), as we cooperate with many companies in these markets, including agencies that may be looking for talented developers familiar with Kentico to supplement their projects. Our stance is one of openness to collaboration, and we are ready to share our experiences in light of impending changes. Let's chat about it.