Up and to the Right: Hippo Moves into the Visionaries Quadrant in the 2016 Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management

Arjé Cahn
Arjé Cahn
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Gartner recently released their 2016 Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management and Hippo, in our second year of inclusion, has moved into the Visionaries quadrant.

As CTO, I am incredibly proud of the excellent work my team has put into developing a product our customers love, I believe this achievement is their doing. I feel that last year’s induction into the Magic Quadrant gave Hippo unprecedented exposure and opportunities, and I believe this year’s move into the Visionaries quadrant will continue to fuel our great momentum in the market.  

 

Communication Built on Data

As customer-centric strategies rise, WCM systems will become increasingly critical to facilitate the flow of communication between business and the customer. This constant communication is built on data, and lots of it.

The importance of data is well established in the WCM industry, and a growing number of providers offer data collection and analytics inside their own platform, Hippo included. However, the most well-rounded picture of your customer isn’t going to be made by WCM data alone, but by combining the data from every system they interact with.

There will, of course, be vendors who tackle this need for data by attempting a suite approach, saying “Sure, you can have data…but you can only use our systems to collect it,” and lock businesses into expensive packages that are unspecific to the needs of their industry. Hippo, on the other hand, has always been an advocate for the best-of-breed philosophy. We put all of our resources into creating the best digital experience platform, and think businesses should be able to also choose the best CRM software, eCommerce platform, email automation tool, and other top solutions that fit into their unique strategy.

A WCM system in the age of customer-centricity needs to be able to interoperate with all solutions a business chooses, and be able to use that combined data to conduct a real time conversation with the visitor. I believe that Hippo’s ability to seamlessly integrate data across the solution landscape is one of the attributes that has placed Hippo in the Visionaries quadrant this year.

 

Everybody’s on Cloud 9

In regards to architecture, the 2016 Gartner Magic Quadrant for WCM states:

“WCM will no longer be so monolithic. It will become more modular, granular and atomic to facilitate delivery of the “best next digital experience.” Cloud-first strategies will win the day, with cross-channel continuity fueling ongoing customer interaction.”1

I couldn’t agree more. This year, we released our new onDemand platform, and tackled a common barrier to cloud adoption: solutions built for only one department. Cloud tools are often provided as a closed software-as-a-service, great for marketers who crave the speed and ease of the cloud but frustrating for developers who want to go beyond the packaged functions. We took this issue to heart when creating onDemand, and built a platform that provides out-of-the box features that marketers love, while also sticking to our open-source philosophy that lets developers dive in, be creative, and tailor the platform to the unique needs of the business.

Not only does Hippo onDemand let companies innovate beyond the one-size-fits all cloud solutions commonly seen, it also provides the REST-API based architecture that lets this innovation happen at a ridiculous speed. Hippo onDemand was built to enable both developers and marketers to do their best work, and supports our long-standing belief that for a solution to truly work in an organization, it has to satisfy the whole team.

 

The Enterprise is Hungry for Java

Hippo is, once again, the only open-source Java option included in this year’s Magic Quadrant. There are other open-source vendors included, and other Java vendors as well, but it is the combination of the two that, I believe, is helping Hippo to redefine the industry.

With microservices and interoperability increasingly in demand, companies are looking for solutions that are flexible, scalable, and easy to fit into their existing ecosystem. I believe that Java – an object oriented language built for reuse and extensibility – is the optimal language for integrations, flexibility, and sharing code and is the key to building the type of solutions modern industries are craving.

There are other Java platforms available in the WCM space, which is no surprise due to the benefits Java offers, but Hippo is also open source – meaning it is faster to develop and highly adaptable. This speed, and the easy interoperability open source allows, makes Hippo an ideal solution for businesses who want to master fast-paced innovation.  

The combination of Java and open-source, and our fundamental separation of content and presentation, lets businesses rapidly adapt their content to any channel, touchpoint, external application, and across multiple languages while keeping the integrity of the content intact.

We built Hippo in a language with one of the widest communities and – rooted in the ideals of the Apache Software Foundation – we opened it up to be shared. This foundational decision has greatly influenced our vision, has led to a Hippo community that is a true catalyst of innovation, and has brought together an exceptional Hippo team that continues to go above and beyond to provide the best solutions for our customers.

I couldn’t be prouder of the years of dedication, skill, and creativity the Hippo team has put into our product, and our continued recognition by industry experts is testament to their achievements. Here’s to the exciting and innovative road ahead.

 

1. Gartner, Inc. “Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management,” by Mick MacComascaigh and Jim Murphy,  September 28, 2016.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

 

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Arjé Cahn

Chief Product Officer at Bloomreach

Arjé is the brains behind the Bloomreach technology stack. He has a record of building groundbreaking software in his role as co-founder and CTO of Hippo CMS, which is regularly recognized by top analyst firms for its technological excellence.

He has earned his stripes in the open-source world as an elected Member of the Apache Software Foundation in 2007, after becoming an Apache Cocoon Committer in 2005.

Arjé is a sought-after speaker at conferences on web experience management and open source. He supports the growing Dutch tech scene as a mentor at Rockstart.

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