There are five different components that help form Sitecore’s architecture; the Channel layer, the Management layer, the AIDA layer, the Database layer, and the Integration layer. Let’s take a closer look at each section and see what makes Sitecore so unique.
Channel Layer
First, let’s go over the Channel layer. This component is comprised of all the interactions customers have with your business. There are several different avenues that customers can use to access your brand. These features include:
- Web
- Mobile
- Social
- Commerce
- Apps
- Federated
Sitecore allows you to cover all of your bases because different people may have preferences on how they want to communicate with your business. Sitecore’s Email/Print/Federate Experience Manager, Social Connections and Commerce Connect allow you to cater to all types of customers seamlessly.
Management Layer
Next, let’s take a look at the Management layer. This component is the driving force behind Sitecore’s experience platform. Here, admins can manage the content that will be on display, configure personalization rules and view engagement scores and reports. This layer also collects, sorts and compiles customer intelligence from information gathered across your channels. The key features include:
- Unified content management
- Launchpad
- Analytics and Reports
- Digital asset management
This layer also lets you manage all of your digital assets across all of your channels which makes the life of an admin much easier.
AIDA Layer
Now, let’s see what the AIDA layer has to offer. AIDA stands for Analytics, Insights, Decisions, and Automation. This component is geared towards marketers because of the useful information it yields. You can carry out advanced A/B or multivariate testing, configure customer engagement goals triggers or reports. The key features include:
- Experience profiles
- Personalization
- Experience optimization
- Engagement plans
Essentially, AIDA provides you with analytics and report features to give you an idea of how well your brand is performing with your customers.
Database Layer
Now let’s talk about the heartbeat of Sitecore. Data is the most important aspect of a management system otherwise your platform is useless. Sitecore uses MongoDB to help capture and sort massive amounts of data; because of its retention capabilities, high volume and velocity data can become actionable in real-time. Key features include:
- xDB (MongoDB)
- Scalability
- High Availability
Thus, this component is the reason why you are able to create a relevant and personal customer experience for your customers.
Integration Layer
Last but not least, let’s take a look at the Integration layer. In this day and age, your platform needs to be able to connect to other products and services. With this component, connecting into back-end systems such as your CRM or ERP systems has never been easier. The key features include:
- CRM connector
- Commerce Connect
- SharePoint connectors
- Social connections
Connecting these services together helps consolidate the view for your customers and gives you important information on how to improve their experiences.
These have been a brief introduction to Sitecore’s architecture and I hope that you found this information resourceful. If this post has piqued your interest and you wish to learn more about Sitecore, check out this blog post by our CTO, Eric Ramseur.
On top of helping our enterprise clients with DataStax and Sitecore projects we also provide companies with project planning workshops and Virtual CIOs.
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