Sitecore Symposium: Topics We’re Tracking

Digital innovation moves fast, so it’s easy to forget that Sitecore Symposium was only a few weeks ago. However, it continues to inspire us to push the boundaries of our vision and the platform. With that in mind, here are some critical topics we’re tracking.

1) Sitecore Commerce

Sitecore’s e-commerce solution has been revamped and fortified. While third-party commerce platforms can still be integrated via CommerceConnect, users can now use Sitecore’s native, enterprise-grade solution.

2) Sitecore Experience Accelerator (SXA)

HI has always focused on component-based solutions, giving our clients a set of building blocks they can use to assemble a range of user experiences. Now, SXA presents a library of components and layouts that can speed up UX ideation and, consequently, project lifecycle.

3) xConnect

This application programming interface (API) allows for the easy integration of external data into Sitecore. Virtually anything can be accommodated: weather forecasts, social media, stock market tickers and more. This can facilitate a range of robust, custom user experiences.

4) Sitecore eyes Azure skies

Azure is Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, and integrating it with Sitecore is getting even easier. Deployments can be managed and performed using scripting or a web interface; environments can be scaled manually or automatically based on resource thresholds; and tons of telemetry data is available through Azure’s Application Insights. HI deployed the first enterprise-level Sitecore site in Azure in 2013, and these upgrades will make future deployments faster and more flexible.

5) UserVoice: a developer’s best friend

For developers, Sitecore 8.2 makes testing and building easier than ever before. Part of that is community feedback, including a new service, UserVoice. It’s almost like Reddit for Sitecore—if you have an idea, you can submit it, share it and discuss it with the community. If they like it, they vote for it, and based on community response, Sitecore will prioritize it into their queue. UserVoice joins StackExchange and ongoing improvements to dev.sitecore.net in the widening channel of communication between Sitecore and their partners.

6) Helix

With the introduction of Helix, “Sitecore now provides a set of architecture conventions and guidelines that describe how to apply recommended technical design principles to a Sitecore project.” This new direction improves efficiency, effectiveness, scalability and maintainability, reducing implementation time and cost. And the best news is that Helix is on GitHub, so the entire community can contribute.

7) .NET Core 1.0 and Sitecore Publishing Service

Sitecore is keeping pace with technology trends, including Microsoft’s “lean and composable framework for building web and cloud applications,” ASP.NET Core. They’ve launched Sitecore Publishing Service as a standalone add-on built on .NET Core. The best part? It doesn’t require additional licensing.

8) NuGet

The developer community has been asking Sitecore to make assemblies available via NuGet, and Sitecore listened. The Sitecore NuGet feed is an important step toward solving DLL reference issues.

9) EU General Data Protection Regulation

A new European Union regulation, going into effect May 2018, aims to strengthen and unify a user’s data. This will affect any company that does business with any EU country. International regulations and compliance are important parts of HI’s planning and execution, so we’re already working these new laws into our process.