Reflections Before Sitecore Symposium 2025

November 2, 2025

I'd like to reflect on previous years' Sitecore Symposiums to contextualize this year's symposium.

Chicago (October 2022)

The main event was the announcement of XM Cloud, Sitecore's fully SaaS composable DXP. I still remember the weird energy in the air. For companies, developers, and marketers alike, this signalled a sea change.

I and many others came out of that symposium with more questions than answers:

"Is Sitecore phasing out XP/XM?"
"Is XM Cloud ready for prime time?"
"Is Sitecore going to be able to deliver on all of their new composable offerings in a timely manner?"
"Are Sitecore customers ready to buy what Sitecore is selling?"
"How are Sitecore customers and marketers going to navigate the increasingly complex technological landscape of composable DXPs?"
"How will this affect my work in the future?"

Ever since XM Cloud was announced, Sitecore customers and implementation partners have been trying to figure out how to navigate this push toward a SaaS-based composable DXP architecture, which is a fundamental shift from the battle tested monolith DXP.

It takes organizations years to navigate these paradigm shifts. Realizing that a procurement cycle was in their future, Sitecore customers started doing their due diligence and began evaluating competing platforms. Competitors launched aggressive ad campaigns while also shipping at a rapid pace; free certification tests for Sitecore developers and, fast forwarding to the 2024 Symposium in Nashville, putting up an ad on a TV screen just outside of the men's washroom at the airport exclaiming that THEY are the #1 CMS. Competition is so funny.

Late 2022 to Late 2024

Following the 2022 symposium in October, the following key events happened:

Late November 2022: ChatGPT-3.5 was released, taking the world by storm
March 2023: ChatGPT-4 was released; this was when AI became quite useful and was when professionals and enterprises really started to take notice
October 2023: SUGCON in Minneapolis -- Sitecore's CEO at the time, Steve Tzikakis, continued pushing XM Cloud and composable DXP, though he backtracked slightly and assured the community that XP/XM was not going away anytime soon.
November 2023: Mo Cherif, who at SUGCON Minneapolis, delivered a great presentation about AI and Sitecore, joined Sitecore as Senior Director of Generative AI. From my perspective, around this time is when Sitecore really started to ramp up their AI efforts.
Sitecore notably did not host a Symposium in 2023, likely because they wanted to focus on building everythign they announced in Chicago 2022.
March 2024: Dave O'Flanagan was named Interim CEO of Sitecore. Prior to that, he was Sitecore's Chief Product Officer ans was leading the transition to Sitecore's composable DXP.
April 2024: O'Flanagan was appointed as CEO. This was important because O'Flanagan is a product guy, and it set the tone for what transpired in the months leading up to the 2024 symposium, as well as the symposium itself. Ever since O'Flanagan's appointment to CEO, he and the new executive suite made what appeared to be significant changes within the organization, as evidenced by a handful of high profile layoffs, restructurings, and dubious departures from Sitecore. Most of the people who left Sitecore were quickly hired at other Sitecore partner companies. Some went to go work for other DXP vendors.
July 2024: Optimizely announced a fully cloud SaaS DXP, while on its own wasn't a massive burger, but it was one of the many signs that DXP vendors had their eyes on the same prize as Sitecore: a fully cloud SaaS DXP.

Nashville (October 2024)

There was a good energy in Nashville. Over the two years since the prior Symposium, people had a chance to reflect and learn and were beginning to understand where things were headed, and how their organization might begin to navigate the new composable SaaS DXP landscape. The big announcement in Nashville was Sitecore Stream, Sitecore's AI-powered DXP. Brand Assistant was also announced. It was my sense that these announcements were well received by the community.

I saw Sitecore's new focus and growth, and I was positively optimistic about Sitecore's ability to deliver value for its customers and help them transition to more composable architecture.

My takeaways from the 2024 symposium:

Sitecore's pace of innovation and delivery is increasing
Sitecore is starting to make good on the announcements made in Chicago 2022
Sitecore's focus on product and experience was consistently evident throughout the event
XM Cloud is becoming sufficiently differentiated from XP/XM and is starting to offer many compelling features that justify the migration costs
XM Cloud is ready for prime time, as evidenced by the announcement of Pages reaching feature parity with Experience Editor by the end of 2024
XP/XM isn't going away any time soon; in fact, it's going to continue improving. Sitecore made this very clear in their messaging, and it is also evidenced by Sitecore Stream being compatible with XP/XM
In a way, the advancement of AI tools was quite fortuitous for Sitecore; in hindsight, Sitecore needed these tools to make good on its lofty ambitions (same is probably true for other companies)
Sitecore couldn't not have announced stream
Sitecore Stream is sorely needed by Sitecore customers, and it will unlock unprecedented value for organizations worldwide
Liz Nelson, Senior Director of Product Management @ Sitecore, delivered an impressive set of passionate presentations on CDP, XM Cloud, and XM/XP/MC R&D road maps. The presentations clearly provided the substance behind what O'Flanagan and other execs discussed in their higher level presentations.
Sitecore as an organization seems to be aligned and focused on delivering value for their customers
Sitecore is focused on workflows and experiences for developers and marketers who use their tools
Sitecore's C-suite is more in touch and accessible than ever, as evidenced by 1) all of them attending the MVP Summit for a panel and Q&A session, and 2) O'Flanagan and other execs being present throughout the entire symposium and speaking with people in between presentations
Brand Assistant will be a game changer for companies

Sitecore Stream / AI

In the keynote presentation, Sitecore announced a "new solution that enhances Sitecore's DXP with orchestration and AI to boost marketing productivity and drive growth." The holy grail seems to be an industry-first "intelligent DXP." Since then I have heard other DXP competitors mention this concept as well.

This announcement couldn't have come at a better time. As a client facing developer, I see marketing teams struggling with complexity, budget constraints, and workload. I have seen a "Jesus take the wheel" trend forming for quite some time, where marketers are being pushed to the limit and are in serious need of help. Marketers desperately need an intelligent DXP. Sitecore Stream is a beacon of hope for marketers worldwide.

Overall, Sitecore Stream and various other AI announcements showcased the ability to continuously learn, adapt, and optimize without human intervention, providing an edge that marketers are in sore need of.

Broad Themes

These are the themes that resonated with me:

Focus on customer experience. Enhancing the customer experience was a focal point throughout the symposium, whether through personalization, AI, or data unification. It was clear that Sitecore intends to put the customer at the heart of every interaction and decision.
Focus on product. Sitecore demonstrated that their product teams worked closely with marketers and partners such as Microsoft and Nestle to ensure that the tools being built are aligned with real-world needs.
The future of digital marketing is intelligent. Sitecore emphasized that the future of digital marketing is intelligent and demonstrated how AI will play a key role in automating complex tasks and optimizing marketing strategies in real time.
Personalization at scale, thanks to AI. I realized at the symposium that personalization could have never truly spread its wings without AI. I can see a "Creation of Adam" finger touch moment between Brand Assistant and Sitecore CDP/Personalize, where content becomes truly personalized while still staying on-brand. I know that Sitecore is being genuine when discussing this because Liz said she and her team are "obsessed" with the personalization / performance conundrum.
Customer choice. Sitecore emphasized in various ways that customer choice is paramount, particularly regarding XP/XM vs XM Cloud. They will continue to support and improve XP/XM.
The voice of Sitecore MVPs matter. There was a specific session where the value of the Sitecore MVP program was discussed. It wasn't just about the recognition, but about how becoming an MVP is a way to shape the future direction of Sitecore. The panel touched on how MVPs are deeply involved in early access programs and give early feedback on new product directions.
Empowering marketers. Sitecore pointed out two key groups of marketers: 1) the "hesitant marketer" who must navigate an increasingly complex digital landscape and 2) those marketers are tasked with doing more with less. Sitecore showed how marketers will be able to use simple prompts to generate content, make data-driven decisions, and automate sophisticated strategies / workflows, even on teams that lack technical expertise. The way to do this, as described by Liz Nelson, is to take the power out of the hands of the developers and to put it in the hands of the marketers. I appreciated that Liz paused on that concept and acknowledged that shift is a difficult problem, but that her and her team are "obsessed" with solving it.
Human / AI collaboration. Sitecore's partnership with Nestle to develop Brand Assistant was presented as an example of AI's potential to radically improve internal brand governance across global teams, helping marketers move faster while also staying true byzantine brand guidelines. There was also an emphasis on how AI can augment, and not replace human creativity, freeing up marketers to focus on higher value creative work.

Summary

Overall, Nashville demonstrated that Sitecore is serious about staying ahead and keeping the lead. Brand and strategy messaging was consistent throughout the symposium, and key presentations, particularly those by Liz Nelson, instilled confidence and excitement about what the future holds. They sparked (in me at least) a feeling of philosophical curiosity about the future of Sitecore, and digital marketing in general. For example, questioning the very idea of content itself. How does the concept of an item change in the age of AI? Is there a better way to store and represent content in the age of AI?

As a last tidbit, there was mention of a "Power of Three" initiative, which would supposedly blend Sitecore, Microsoft, and implementation partners to create more innovative solutions. I am not sure what came of this.

Late 2024 to Present

A number of notable events have happened since the 2024 symposium:

October 2024: Sitecore announces more than $500 million in revenue, driven by strong demand for XM Cloud. It was an interesting choice to announce this as they are under no obligation to do so as a private company. It was clearly a strategic move to shift sentiment and show the market that Sitecore is growing and that XM Cloud is a success.
Liz Nelson quickly rises the ranks, advancing from Senior Solutions Architect to VP of Product and Technology in under 3 years (well earned, IMO)
Competition increases: Optimizely takes the #1 spot in the 2025 Gartner magic quadrant for DXPs. Contentstack appears on the quadrant for the first time with a surprisingly high ranking -- lower than Sitecore but surprising momentum.
Pricing becomes more competitive as competing DXP vendors race to the bottom with ever more features and bundling for less money
Throughout the year, Sitecore ships long awaited XM Cloud features, achieving feature parity (and beyond) with XM
May 2025: Eric Stine announced as the new CEO of Sitecore, with O'Flanagan moving on from the day-to-day management of the business, while remaining an advisor to the Board
October 2025: Sitecore Marketplace is announced, opening up a massive new ecosystem for Sitecore partners to build and sell their apps to the Sitecore community, which will also have the effect of making XM Cloud much more powerful and flexible
March 2025: Mo Cherif is named VP of AI and Innovation

Orlando (November 2025)

Something interesting about this Symposium is that it will be publicly streamed (for free) for the first time. This is in line with what competitors are doing, and it's a sign that Sitecore is becoming more open and transparent.

Top of mind for me will be: