Sitecore promised us at Symposium in September this year that they would be releasing Sitecore platform version 8 and I’m happy to report that it finally arrived this past Friday!
The new version 8 includes an improved interface that truly leads to an incredible experience for marketers. By removing the complicated interface and experience from the previous versions and creating a very easy and simplistic one, the jobs for marketers will be easier as tasks are expedited and more efficient on the new version.
With additional data, integrated tools, new features, and incredible changes to the database configuration options, I can't wait to personally start working on projects that are on this new version. The automation capabilities are amazing and will bring a lot of joy to marketers, and what better time than the holiday season to bring that joy!
Sitecore 8 has focused on providing an engaging customer experience throughout all the tools that it provides to the marketer managing a website built on the Sitecore platform. The entire customer experience can be managed through the many useful tools Sitecore 8 provides, and it also includes an incredible feature through the Federated Experience Manager that brings the power of Sitecore experience tools and analytics tracking to non-Sitecore websites.
Some of the major features to point out (provided by the Sitecore announcement email):
- A new cross-platform visual design for the Sitecore client interfaces, applications, and modules
- A redesigned Sitecore login screen and Launchpad now available to all users
- New Marketing Foundation features
- A new way of centrally managing marketing taxonomies and classifying marketing definitions
- A fully integrated Federated Experience Manager (FXM)
- List Management as an integrated part of the platform
- New SPEAK components within a new SPEAK theme
- Enhanced Experience Analytics
- Enhanced Experience Profile features
- Automatic content testing and optimization reporting
- A new Path Analyzer component
- Full UTC support across the complete platform
- Versioned layouts – a different presentation set on different versions of different languages for the same item
I can't wait to start digging deep into the new features and exploring how we can support Sitecore websites through the new experience platform provided. I’m looking forward to a new experience with Sitecore 8 in 2015.