In This Blog

TL;DR

  • The 2021 Umbraco US Festival highlighted several major developments for the Umbraco platform.

  • Key themes included cloud adoption, .NET Core migration, improved content editing, and stronger marketing capabilities.

  • Umbraco continues to invest heavily in Azure, Cloudflare, and cloud-based hosting solutions.

  • The move to Umbraco 9 and .NET Core represented one of the platform's most significant technical upgrades.

  • The event reinforced why Umbraco remains one of our favorite CMS platforms for custom website development.

If you've followed our blog for any length of time, you probably already know that we're big fans of Umbraco.

As an open-source content management system, Umbraco provides a powerful combination of flexibility, scalability, and ease of use that makes it a great fit for organizations ranging from small businesses to large enterprises.

We appreciate its editor-friendly experience, highly customizable architecture, and ability to support everything from simple marketing sites to complex enterprise web applications.

After the pandemic delayed the event in 2020, the 2021 Umbraco US Festival finally took place as a virtual experience on April 15, 2021.

Our team attended the event to learn more about the future of the platform, hear from community experts, and explore the latest innovations coming to the Umbraco ecosystem.

Here are the six biggest takeaways that stood out to us.

1. Umbraco Continues Its Cloud First Evolution

One of the biggest announcements from the festival was Umbraco's continued investment in cloud infrastructure.

At the time, Umbraco announced plans to introduce dedicated United States data centers for cloud hosting, improving performance and availability for organizations operating in North America.

The company also continued strengthening its partnerships with Microsoft Azure and Cloudflare.

These partnerships support:

  • Improved website performance

  • Enhanced security

  • Greater scalability

  • More reliable global delivery

For organizations already leveraging Azure and modern cloud infrastructure, these investments align closely with how we build and host websites for many of our clients.

The continued cloud-first direction reinforces Umbraco's commitment to modern web development practices.

2. The Possibilities of Umbraco Continue to Grow

One of the most interesting aspects of the festival was seeing the variety of ways organizations are using Umbraco.

The platform continues to demonstrate incredible flexibility across industries and use cases.

Presentations showcased how organizations use Umbraco to:

  • Manage complex content experiences

  • Support sales and marketing initiatives

  • Unify multiple brands under a single platform

  • Create highly customized digital experiences

  • Support enterprise-level website ecosystems

Events like this are always valuable because they challenge us to think creatively about how technology can solve business problems.

Many of the ideas presented during the festival can be adapted to help clients improve their own websites and digital experiences.

3. Umbraco's Move to .NET Core Is a Major Milestone

One of the most significant technical announcements centered around Umbraco 9 and its migration to Microsoft's .NET Core framework.

At the time, Microsoft was shifting its focus away from the traditional .NET Framework and toward the more modern, flexible, and cross-platform .NET Core architecture.

Umbraco's adoption of .NET Core represented a major investment in the platform's future.

Benefits of the transition included:

  • Improved performance

  • Greater hosting flexibility

  • Modern development practices

  • Cleaner architecture patterns

  • Better alignment with Microsoft's roadmap

Importantly, most of these improvements occur behind the scenes.

Content editors continue to enjoy the same familiar Umbraco experience while developers gain access to a more modern foundation for building solutions.

At the time of the festival, Umbraco 9 was scheduled for release later that year, generating significant excitement throughout the community.

4. Flexible Content Editing Through Components

One of Umbraco's greatest strengths has always been its ability to create editor-friendly content experiences.

Modern websites increasingly rely on reusable content components that allow editors to build pages without developer involvement.

This approach helps organizations:

  • Maintain consistency

  • Improve accessibility

  • Support SEO best practices

  • Increase content publishing speed

During the festival, several sessions highlighted the growing ecosystem of component-based editing tools available within Umbraco.

Built-in capabilities such as:

Continue to provide powerful options for content management teams.

The community also continues developing innovative extensions such as:

These tools provide additional flexibility while maintaining the ease of use that content editors expect.

5. Umbraco Supports Modern Marketing Strategies

Marketing technology stacks continue to become more sophisticated.

Organizations increasingly rely on multiple tools to manage analytics, personalization, automation, segmentation, and customer engagement.

One area where Umbraco continues to shine is its ability to integrate with third-party marketing platforms.

For example, integrations with solutions such as HubSpot make it easier to connect website activity with broader marketing initiatives.

Additional tools like uMarketingSuite bring advanced capabilities directly into the Umbraco ecosystem, including:

  • Personalization

  • A/B testing

  • Customer segmentation

  • Marketing analytics

These capabilities help organizations create more relevant digital experiences while making data-driven marketing decisions.

The growing marketing ecosystem around Umbraco continues to be a major advantage for businesses looking to maximize the value of their website investments.

6. The Umbraco Community Continues to Impress

Technical features and product announcements are important, but one of the things we appreciate most about Umbraco is its community.

The platform has developed a passionate and supportive ecosystem of developers, partners, content creators, and business users.

The festival featured appearances from several well-known personalities including:

  • David Hasselhoff

  • Tony Hawk

  • Mick Foley

  • Jodie Sweetin

  • Penn Jillette

  • Jaleel White

  • Mark McGrath

  • Kate Flannery

  • Danny Trejo

  • Jerry Springer

While those celebrity appearances added some fun to the event, the real highlight was seeing the continued enthusiasm surrounding the platform.

Strong communities are often one of the biggest indicators of long-term platform success, and Umbraco's community remains one of its greatest strengths.

How Emergent Software Can Help

Emergent Software helps organizations design, build, migrate, and support modern websites and digital experiences using Umbraco, Microsoft Azure, and other leading technologies. Our team specializes in custom website development, CMS implementations, cloud hosting, application modernization, and long-term support services that help businesses maximize the value of their digital investments. If this sounds familiar, we can help.

Final Thoughts

The 2021 Umbraco US Festival reinforced why we continue to be excited about the platform's future.

Its cloud-first direction, commitment to modern development practices, strong marketing capabilities, and thriving community all point toward continued growth and innovation.

Whether you're considering a new website, planning a CMS migration, or looking to improve an existing digital experience, Umbraco remains one of the most flexible and powerful platforms available today.

If you'd like to learn more about Umbraco or discuss your next website project, reach out to our team. We'd love to help.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Umbraco?

Umbraco is an open-source content management system built on Microsoft's .NET platform. It allows organizations to create, manage, and scale websites and digital experiences. Umbraco is known for its flexibility, editor-friendly interface, and strong developer ecosystem. It supports everything from small websites to large enterprise platforms. Many organizations choose Umbraco because it combines ease of use with extensive customization capabilities.

Why is Umbraco popular for enterprise websites?

Umbraco offers a flexible architecture that can support complex business requirements while remaining easy for content editors to use. It integrates well with Microsoft technologies and supports custom development. Organizations can tailor both the content management experience and the front-end user experience to their specific needs. Its scalability makes it suitable for growing businesses. These factors have helped make it a popular choice for enterprise website development.

What was significant about Umbraco 9?

Umbraco 9 represented the platform's migration to Microsoft's .NET Core framework. This move improved performance, flexibility, and alignment with Microsoft's future technology roadmap. Developers gained access to modern development practices and improved hosting options. Most of the changes occurred behind the scenes, allowing content editors to continue using a familiar interface. The migration was considered one of the most important technical milestones in Umbraco's history.

Can Umbraco integrate with marketing tools?

Yes. Umbraco supports integration with a wide variety of marketing platforms and technologies. Organizations frequently connect Umbraco to CRMs, marketing automation tools, analytics platforms, and personalization engines. Solutions such as HubSpot and uMarketingSuite extend its marketing capabilities even further. These integrations help organizations improve customer engagement and measure marketing effectiveness. Flexibility is one of Umbraco's biggest strengths.

Is Umbraco hosted in the cloud?

Yes. Umbraco supports cloud hosting environments and continues to invest heavily in cloud infrastructure. Many organizations deploy Umbraco on Microsoft Azure, taking advantage of scalability, security, and performance benefits. Umbraco Cloud also provides managed hosting capabilities designed specifically for the platform. Cloud hosting has become an increasingly important part of the Umbraco ecosystem. Many modern implementations leverage cloud-first architectures.

Why does Emergent Software recommend Umbraco?

We recommend Umbraco because it provides an excellent balance of flexibility, scalability, editor usability, and developer customization. It integrates well with Microsoft technologies, supports modern website architectures, and allows organizations to create highly tailored digital experiences. We have successfully implemented Umbraco solutions across many industries and use cases. Its active community and ongoing innovation continue to strengthen the platform. For many organizations, it remains one of the best CMS options available.

Author

Emergent Software