Three Exciting Innovations Introduced at Symposium 2024

This year's Sitecore Symposium was packed with insightful sessions and inspiring keynotes by industry leaders, innovators, and marketers from around the globe. Whether you’re a seasoned Sitecore user or just starting to explore its powerful capabilities, there is always a wealth of knowledge to unpack from the conference.

As a veteran Sitecore developer, here are three major innovations from Sitecore Symposium 2024 that I think are worth delving into.

1. Sitecore Stream

Announced at the event’s keynote, Sitecore Stream is a new collection of brand-aware AI functionality aimed at streamlining marketing capabilities such as content creation and delivery. AI was a huge topic at Symposium this year, and Sitecore Stream took center stage in that discussion.

I received a demo of Stream's capabilities, and it was amazing to see what it can do. Stream takes a lot of the annoying bits from content creation out of the equation to help quickly assemble campaigns, landing pages, and other marketing-centric content. During the demo, I saw how easily these tools integrate into existing brand-centric entities to find, create, and piece together assets.

The demo’s presenter used an example juice brand to demonstrate the process of creating a campaign. After setting up a few key parameters like the brand’s color theme, they uploaded contextual material related to the campaign (things like meeting transcripts or outlines) and had Stream generate the rest.

Stream can access your brand’s assets from Content Hub and suggest documents and imagery related to the campaign you’re trying to create. You can even refine what tone and audience you’re trying to reach, and Stream will suggest specific assets tailored to that message. Stream will compile all these parameters and give you quick and easy options to create personalized promotional materials such as landing pages or components with a single click. It is fascinating to see this in action.

2. Sitecore and the Vercel AI SDK

A session hosted by Vercel CTO Malte Ubi and Sitecore’s head of AI Mo Cherif went over the Vercel AI SDK. The Vercel AI SDK is an open-source library that gives you the tools you need to build AI-powered products.

One amazing takeaway from this presentation was a demo on Vercel’s new version 0 (v0) AI tool. You can ask the tool to generate Sitecore components. v0 will not only return the source code, but also a visual rendering of the component alongside an explanation on what it created and how to integrate it into your solution.  According to Ubi, this is only the beginning, and we should expect much more to come!

3. XM Cloud and Github Codespaces

A captivating session on accelerating XM Cloud development with Codespaces was hosted by Sitecore’s Richard Seal. GitHub Codespaces is a cloud-based development environment that allows developers to create, manage, and collaborate on code directly from their web browser.

Seal showcased how Codespaces can be leveraged to spin up XM Cloud development environments quickly. From start to finish, the process took less than five minutes! This is a big difference from the days of old when local environment setups could take hours, or even days to complete.

You can even use the XM Cloud page builder by making the URL public. This gives you the option to show other people on your team changes in real time and enhances collaboration significantly.

Embracing the Sitecore Possibilities

These innovations from Sitecore Symposium 2024 make it clear that the future of digital marketing and development is being shaped by innovative tools and technologies. From the impressive capabilities of Sitecore Stream to the seamless integration of the Vercel AI SDK and the transformative potential of GitHub Codespaces, these advancements can redefine how we create, manage, and deliver content.

Whether you're looking to enhance your marketing strategies or streamline your development processes, embracing these innovations will not only empower you to meet the demands of an ever-evolving digital landscape but also inspire creativity and collaboration within your teams. Here’s to a future Sitecore filled with possibilities!

Want to know more about any of these exciting innovations? Contact us. Our Sitecore MVPs and experts would be happy to talk more about how your organization can take advantage of them.