Early 2015 Microsoft has discontinued support for the SharePoint Online “Public Website” feature, making it unavailable for new customers. Existing customers, who already use the Public Website, will be able to use the feature until March 2017. For both, new and old customers, Microsoft recommends third-party providers that offer solutions for building an online presence.
Just to remind – the Public Websites feature in SharePoint Online was a service that let Office 365 users to build and customize websites with in-browser tools. Companies could use to implement public-facing websites from templates and enable custom domain names, search engine optimization tools, social media integration and search-friendly tools. This feature was a great solution for many businesses, however, Microsoft decided to “focus on future investments while we broaden our partnership with industry leaders."(Source) as SharePoint's capabilities just didn't compare with that of third-party solutions.
Microsoft encourages customers to select recommended partner like Sitecore. Sitecore is indicated as a top-rated Web Content Management system in both the Forrester Report and Gartner’s Magic Quadrant. Sitecore is a company that provides web content management and multichannel marketing automation software for customer experience management.
The Sitecore Experience Platform is one of the leading enterprise-level CMS’s based on Microsoft technologies. It enables web marketers and content editors to have full control over all aspects of their website, including social integration, personalization, A/B testing, Marketing Automation, advanced reporting and more.
Sitecore also fully integrates with SharePoint so all the content in SharePoint can be leveraged in Sitecore. But using Sitecore leads to superior content management capabilities and exceptional experience for both, content editors and public website visitors.
Of course, the removal of WCM services in SharePoint Online will cause short-term pain for site owners, however migration to third-party solutions like Sitecore will only serve to benefit businesses in the long run. The Sitecore Experience Platform functionality allows brands to interface directly with the users who arrive at their websites, learn about them via their behaviours, and better target them with most relevant offerings based on those discoveries.
Brimit team has been working with Sitecore since 2008 and has vast experience in data migration, website redesign and new site development. We know the importance of easy and seamless data transfer from previously used software to the new CMS. Contact us to talk about your journey from SharePoint to Sitecore.
