Nicolai Munch Andersen
It started with customer requests for a plugin and ended with a hackathon, a more-advanced integration than foreseen, and a roadmap for a deeper integration solution.
A 48-hour hackathon transformed an idea-concepting and coding event into an unexpected collaboration journey between two global technology brands, CoreMedia and Siteimprove.
The result was not only a shiny, new integration that performs unlike any other Siteimprove has offered to date, but it was also the formation of a deeper partnership now on course to a broader integration between the two platforms.
Behind the story
CoreMedia hosted a two-day hackathon in November 2017. Siteimprove was invited and sent along a developer and a technical product expert to forge some fresh ideas for a new application.
A plugin had already been requested by existing and potential customers of both companies, so that was the logical starting point for the brainstorm. In fact, to say the plugin had already been ‘requested’ is an understatement. One of the customer requests came from a leading, international retail operation. They required a streamlined process to accommodate complex e-commerce systems spread across multiple locations and users.
More than expected
The winning pitch was a proof-of-concept plugin that integrates the CoreMedia and Siteimprove platforms in a totally unique way. The joint plugin actually checks content before it’s published.
Broken links, misspellings, and SEO errors appear before a page goes live and is visible to the public. A dynamic widget in the CoreMedia interface automatically reloads whenever content changes in the CMS. A web editor no longer has to wait until a page is live to have it scanned.
Shared customers of CoreMedia and Siteimprove get real-time access to visual data including an analytics summary, Digital Certainty Index (DCI) overall score, SEO, quality assurance, and digital accessibility, all while working directly inside the CoreMedia CMS.
Partnering together to integrate the two platforms makes workflows for editors and developers far easier. The ability to check content prior to going live is game-changing.
The reasons for collaboration
Let’s be clear. Collaborations get complex. The advantages and resources of one party must align with the advantages and resources of the other. In this case, the benefits were too great to pass up.
CoreMedia’s omni-channel CMS allows leading retailers, luxury brands, manufacturers and media companies to create and manage digital experiences in CoreMedia Studio across multiple brands, markets and territories in a variety of languages – with instant omni-channel preview and integration of third-party tools like Siteimprove in a single, intuitive user interface.
Siteimprove is a global intelligence platform that helps organizations deliver high quality, outstanding digital experiences in SEO, accessibility, and analytics, by turning website challenges into easily managed tasks.
Siteimprove’s strong market share in the US proved interesting to CoreMedia and CoreMedia’s exceptional reputation and experience in the D-A-CH markets was appealing to Siteimprove.
By teaming up, knowledge-sharing, joint marketing, and combined sales activities benefit all parties. CoreMedia seeks to actively invest in partners who push the envelope in digital experience technology and Siteimprove’s platform excels at analytics and the streamlining of scattered processes. Therefore, the alliance makes sense for both sides and ultimately benefits customers.
The next step
The unique integration was just the beginning. However, this particular journey has two parts. Something greater is coming down the line. More robust Studio tools are in the works for a second phase. This is where the deeper partnership really takes shape.
The two brands tell a story together, but the collaboration journey is just the backstory. The interesting narrative is the new innovation that will result from combined minds, goals, and development. A compelling partnership that benefits two global brands is exciting, but a partnership that benefits existing and prospective customers is even better.
