Apr 12 2013

This week, global research firm Forrester launched its two yearly WCM report, titled “WCM for Digital Experiences”, presenting an in depth look at the 10 WCM vendors, identified as the “most significant providers in this field”. As a leading European agency, we are very pleased to see that our partners are doing so well!

No surprises at the top of the ranking: Adobe clearly the leader. Their web content management solution is rich, sexy and very user friendly. It features integrated digital asset management capacities with enhanced personalisation features and has a very strong focus on mobile and multi-channel delivery. In combination with their analytics offering, Adobe really has a killer platform that is surely there to stay for the coming years.

After years in which SDL, with Tridion CMS, was in the top category of ‘leaders’, it now shifted to the ‘strong performers’.  No real surprise here either; the market has become much more competitive with several vendors from the middle segment moving up (e.g., Sitecore), as well as open source solutions gradually entering the enterprise market. With the last two releases, SDL made a big step forward with regards to general usability of their platform. However, the integration of the acquired solutions, Fredhopper (now known as SmartTarget) and Calamares (for media asset management), did slow them down.

Sitecore has proven to be a very strong performer in the middle segment, competing with even top vendors in some scenarios.  They have a very powerful product suite, offering web content management, marketing automation, analytics and e-commerce – all from the same platform!

Microsoft is still in the ‘contenders’ category, as it was in the previous 2011 version of the Forrester WCM report. Sharepoint is an enterprise content management platform, mainly focused on document centric collaboration. When using the platform for building public-facing websites, it is highly common to develop intranet and/or extranet systems (on the same platform) as well.  This allows companies to have one platform for all their environments i.e., intranet, extranet, and web.  Sharepoint 2013 is very powerful, yet, you can’t expect it to be competitive with the ‘pure players’ of the WCM field; they clearly lack the marketing tools.

The newbie in Forrester’s report is Acquia with Drupal CMS. Drupal made, and still is making, huge improvements in its platform’s usability. More importantly,  it is getting more and more traction in the enterprise, thanks to Acquia as a driving force within the huge community of ‘drupalistas’. Acquia was the fastest growing company in the US in 2012. It recruited several key players from other CMS vendors and is building a well-organised partner channel. If Acquia can fulfill its vision for web engagement management with Drupal, it will definitely be in the ‘strong performers’ category soon.

Anyway, the future is looking bright! If you want to renew your digital platform, need strategic advice, support on vendor selection or implementation. Do not hesitate to contact us!

 

Cheers,

Steven Volders.

Technical Vendor Manager Emakina Belgium

 

 

Mar 11 2013

The Chancellery of Belgium’s Prime Minister invited Emakina’s experts to speak to its communication and policy officers, at an event, called ‘Media Day’.  During this original initiative, Emakina’s Director of Media Relations, Luc Malcorps hosted two workshops on digital opportunities within a cross-media strategy.  He presented real examples of institutional campaigns, executed by Emakina.EU for the European Commission, such as the European Toy Safety campaign, fight against food waste, food control and programmes for better collaboration among SME’s across EU borders.

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Jul 17 2012

Life Capsule is a start-up company which offers individuals the possibility to save their precious and confidential information online. In the event of death, this information and personal memories can be made available to (certain) relatives through a secure website. The Emakina Group was involved in this initiative since its early conceptualisation, through assisting the founders and developing its strategic plan. Emakina is currently launching the company’s stylish website, built in OpenCMS (Java).

 

 

Even a sensitive issue as one’s plans for after death has now gained its place on the web; a development which was well-noticed by the two Life Capsule founders. Having dealt with a personal loss of a family member, the two founders searched for a practical way to commemorate their loved one over the Internet. Once they realised that such solution did not yet exist, they decided to create Life Capsule and to materialise their idea.

Life Capsule offers a web platform on which subscribers can preserve personal data which they would like to leave to their chosen ones once they pass away. Each subscriber thus designates those who will have access to their digital material. Such “life capsule” may contain various documents such as: photos, videos, PDF files, but also texts or even musical playlists. This approach also allows transferring confidential information such as access codes for social networks, last wishes, or address lists.

A central part of Life Capsule’s homepage is dedicated to subscribers’ commemoration sites which are made public after they pass away. The company offers various subscription packages, and donates a part of its revenues to the King Baudouin Foundation. Each year, the sums which were donated to this charity organisation will be published on the Life Capsule website.

Complete discretion and high security are among Life Capsule’s top priorities. In order to guarantee that the data are safely secured for many years, the company has sought the help of Emakina’s experts. Being the first digital agency in Belgium, Emakina has proved its broad expertise through its numerous large-scale clients from the financial sector (banks and insurance companies). Furthermore, thanks to the security audit, conducted by Zion Security, Life Capsule can guarantee that its site is immune to online piracy.

The site equally offers its visitors a full range of interesting information on dealing with death, including: writing a testament, last wishes before death, and even delicate issues like euthanasia. Last but not least, the company is establishing a fund, with sufficient funds to maintain its servers and software for the next 50 years, regardless of the financial future of Life Capsule.

 

 

 

Jun 22 2012

smart goes green

Automobile manufacturer, smart, has launched a new environmental campaign, focused at the company’s environmental responsibility. The campaign, created and executed by the digital agency, Emakina, presents the CO2 compensation of the smart cars in an original and lively manner.

168 trees = 1 smart

The city car brand has recently launched a new CO2 compensation programme in the Benelux countries. The idea behind it is that smart compensates for the emission of each car it sells, (calculated on the basis of four years on the road). For each car sold across the Benelux countries, 168 trees will be planted in Kenya. This makes smart the first car manufacturer in the world to launch a programme of this kind.

 

WeForest

The ‘natural’ partner of smart for this programme is WeForest. This international NGO is specialised in reforestation and permaculture in many countries. The efforts of this organisation offer numerous advantages, including contributing to the ecology and to bio-diversity through planting new tree species and to the economy by creating an entire array of new local jobs.

The campaign makes use of a baby gorilla in order to show the new link between the client and the animal, thanks to the trees, planted for the latter on behalf of the former. The message is thus transmitted using an original human and humorous tone, showing viewers that nature “thanks” the client for its recent generous gesture. Last but not least, the smart website allows visitors to follow the plantation progress.

And… the campaign is going forward at a good pace, with almost 100 000  trees that are already  planted.