Recently, Q was tasked with enabling authentication into a government agency’s Sitecore CMS using a U.S. Government issued Common Access Card (CAC). I know it sounds scary; but don’t worry, we’re professionals.

The first question that you may ask is: “what is a CAC card?” It, as with many great things in this world, is a simple entity with a complex purpose; specifically, to identify an individual using two-factor authentication. Similar to your ATM card, you’re able to be identified because you have the two requisite items: you have the card in your possession and you know the PIN associated with the card.

By Wyatt Queener, Vice President, Strategy

July was a month full of big announcements for Q partner and WCM leader, Sitecore. While Sitecore continues to follow a flexible size-based model for its CMS solution, the company announced changes to its North American pricing model on July 1. Sitecore also announced the launch of the App Center, an online marketplace of on-demand applications, services, and integration solutions developed for Sitecore’s Customer Engagement Platform. According to Sitecore, the App Center will serve as an “ecosystem of pluggable cloud applications [that] will include email marketing, social media monitoring, Windows Azure hosting, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), translation and web compliance.” These recent changes align with the company’s ongoing push to offer more robust analytic, marketing and customer engagement capabilities in addition to content management, raising the bar in the web content management (WCM) space.

1. Sitecore Acquires Pectora to Bridge the Gap Between Print and Digital Worlds

Earlier this month, Q CMS partner Sitecore announced its acquisition of the development team and intellectual property of Pectora. Pectora, previously a long-term Sitecore technology partner, provides web publishing solutions for integration with print-based projects.  The new effort combines print and web design teams to deliver more dynamic, personalized, customer-facing print media including brochures, catalogs and magazines.

1. The New Facebook Groups: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
By Ayelet Noff on The Next Web

In the wake of Facebook’s BIG ANNOUNCEMENT of its Groups feature, The Next Web offers a summary of the best and worst of this new feature. Literally. The title misleads the reader because the post only goes on to cover the author’s two biggest gripes about the tool. However, it does serve as a friendly reminder that like everything that emerges on the Internet, and Facebook’s previous BIG ANNOUNCEMENT, Places, it has its pro’s and con’s.

Takeaway: There are certainly some benefits to this feature, but it suffers from two long standing Facebook problems – the spammy nature of updates and privacy issues. Being part of a Facebook group means that you have yet another thing to opt in or out of in terms of email notifications from Facebook, and updating your settings every time Facebook decides to add a new feature is getting a little old for a lot of users. Add to this the fact that no consent is required for someone to add you to a group (unless, yet again, you change this permission through your privacy settings on Facebook), and it’s clear that this feature has room for improvement.

agencyQ will co-host the next DC Sitecore User Group Meeting with NavigationArts and Siteworx on September 21. This time we’re taking our show on the road to Northern Virginia with an evening of networking and a discussion of the Sitecore Online Marketing Suite at Chima Brazilian Steakhouse in Tysons Corner.

Join us as we discuss the importance of analytics and share some best practices around what and how we can measure our website activity.  We will also explore the new Sitecore Online Marketing Suite and Analytics tool and look at some practical applications for improving business.

The agenda will cover:

• The importance of Analytics: What To Measure and How To Use The Data
• An Introduction to the Sitecore Analytics and Marketing Suite
• Q and A
• Networking

Plus, we’ll feed you! So what are you waiting for? Get the full details and register here.