Telerik recently announced the release of Sitefinity 4.2 which is focused on content and commerce as opposed to customer experience. Modern content management systems have mastered the art of usability and user experience. Now, software designers are focusing on content within the system and ecommerce.
At the beginning of 2011, Telerik released the latest version of their content management system, Sitefinity 4.0 which was a major update for the product. It focused on user experience by adding several improvements such as a new SDK and integration with Windows Workflow Foundation (WWF). At the time, Telerik also confirmed that they were in the process of including ecommerce functionality.
Months later, Telerik has done exactly that. Version 4.2 offers an additional level of integrating ecommerce into the system while fixing many bugs and improving Quality Assurance and automation testing. Additionally, the designers have refined the core content management experience for the user.
Unfortunately this release has not updated customer experience controls such as marketing dashboards, multivariate testing, Internet marketing campaigns, personalization, multi-channel management and rules engines. However, this is not really a major issue because the basics have not changed while ecommerce is exploding.
The most significant addition to the latest version is the ecommerce Module which gives users all the fundamental tools to be successful without being fancy. These resources include:
- Real-time shipping and tax calculation
- Reporting, statistics and metrics
- Product, department and manufacturer management
- Online payment processing through PayPal and Authorize
- Support for a variety of custom product types and other variations
Although the ecommerce Module was a major focus for this version, there are other improvements to the system. For instance, the media library system has extended its functionality by supporting storage providers. Also, localization support has been added to all templates. Furthermore, the filtering of feeds and advanced configuration of notifications has become granular which satisfies content managers.
Sitefinity also offers a respectable level of support for A/B testing and experience optimization. This relies solely on the integration of Google’s Website Optimizer which will greatly assist users with search engine optimization techniques.
Members of the Sitefinity team discussed that customer experience continues to be on their radar. However, the primary focus has shifted to improving quality, integrating ecommerce tools and providing a fantastic content manager user experience. The new focus brings an excellent set of goals and objectives for the corporation.
