1. Guidebook for Partners
What Is Your Scenario?
Guidebook for Partners

2. The Evolution of the Cloud-first Headless CMS Is Here

3. The Evolution of the Cloud-first Headless CMS Is Here
Wanna Know More?

4. We get many questions from customers who want to know what types of projects are the best fit for Kentico Cloud. The short answer is you can use it for any website, mobile app, Chat Bot, or IoT devices that benefits from a headless CMS approach. However, there’s more you should know, and that’s why we wrote more detailed guidelines.
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5. In this guidebook, you can find a reference list of various scenarios
In this guidebook, you can find a reference list of various scenarios. The stars represent how Kentico Cloud fits the given scenario. We also provide a comparison with Kentico EMS, our traditional CMS. As Kentico Cloud continues to mature, we will update these guidelines.
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6. Typical Scenarios Overview
Common Website Scenarios
Empowering Marketers
Multichannel Publishing
Scenarios beyond Content Management and Publishing
Other Specialized Scenarios

7. Common Website Scenarios
Overview > Common Website Scenarios
Common Website Scenarios
Content-Oriented Microsite or Brochure Website
Single Page Application with Heavy Use of JavaScript Frameworks That Requires...
Website with a Complex Content Governance Process
Website in Multiple Languages
Blog
Static Websites with Content Managed by a CMS
Websites and Applications on Any Platform

8. Content-Oriented Microsite or Brochure Website
Overview > Common Website Scenarios > Content-Oriented Microsite or Brochure Website
Content-Oriented Microsite or Brochure Website
Kentico Cloud provides content management functionality and a super-fast API that can be used to display the content on any website. You can take your static HTML prototype and convert it into a dynamic website step by step by simply removing static parts with dynamic content retrieved from the headless CMS. Moreover, Kentico Cloud is provided as a cloud service, so no CMS installation is required, and you can use any technology stack to run the website. Kentico EMS provides all the functionality you need to build a microsite or brochure website. You can install it on-premise or in the cloud, but you need to take care of the CMS. The presentation is coupled with the CMS, so you need to use .NET.
Kentico Cloud fits given scenario:
Is This Your Cloud Scenario?
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9. Is This Your Cloud Scenario?
Overview > Common Website Scenarios > Single Page Application with Heavy Use of JavaScript...
Single Page Application with Heavy Use of JavaScript Frameworks That Requires a High Level of Control over HTML Code 
Kentico Cloud allows you to retrieve content using its super-fast REST API in your JavaScript code and display it as you need. Since it’s a headless CMS, you have absolute control over your HTML and JavaScript code. Kentico EMS allows you to build single page applications using its REST API. However, it misses the flexibility and ease of deployment provided by Kentico Cloud, and you may not be able to benefit from its advanced functionality.
Kentico Cloud fits given scenario:
Is This Your Cloud Scenario?
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10. Website with a Complex Content Governance Process
Overview > Common Website Scenarios > Website with a Complex Content Governance Process 
Website with a Complex Content Governance Process
Kentico Cloud provides a basic collaborative workflow, commenting on content, and version history (revisions). A role-based access control will set different capabilities to individual users. The workflow functionality will evolve for more complex scenarios in the future. Kentico EMS comes with a powerful workflow functionality including a drag-and-drop visual workflow designer, complex conditions, and custom steps that enable an easy integration with external services, such as translation management solutions. It also provides highly customizable access control.
Kentico Cloud fits given scenario:
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11. Website in Multiple Languages
Overview > Common Website Scenarios > Website in Multiple Languages 
Website in Multiple Languages
Kentico Cloud brings you Content Localization for creating multilingual content for your culture-specific or international projects. With Content Localization, you can manage multiple language variants from one place—one content inventory—and also access and deliver all variants through API. Kentico EMS allows you to manage content in any number of languages, edit it side-by-side and use a fall-back mechanism to display content in a default language if the content is not translated. You can also export the content into XLIFF format, send it for translation through a translation management service, and import it back.
Kentico Cloud fits given scenario:
Is This Your Cloud Scenario?
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12. Is This Your Cloud Scenario?
Overview > Common Website Scenarios > Blog
Blog
Kentico Cloud allows you to create a blog site with a completely custom look and feel. Since it’s provided as a cloud service, you don’t have to install the CMS, and you only take care of your blog code. Kentico EMS provides everything you need to run a blog site. However, it may be overkill for simple blog sites.
Kentico Cloud fits given scenario:
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13. Static Websites with Content Managed by a CMS
Overview > Common Website Scenarios > Static Websites with Content Managed by a CMS
Static Websites with Content Managed by a CMS
Static websites are regaining popularity due to the growing use of front-end development frameworks as well as performance and security needs. You can use Kentico Cloud to manage the content and then generate static pages using a custom script. Or you can enhance static pages with content provided dynamically through Kentico Cloud API, using simple JavaScript code. You can also use our Engagement platform that is included in Kentico Cloud for tracking customers on static websites. While Kentico EMS allows you to build static websites, you won’t be able to leverage most of its advanced functionality as it’s tightly connected to its presentation layer.
Kentico Cloud fits given scenario:
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14. Websites and Applications on Any Platform
Overview > Common Website Scenarios > Websites and Applications on Any Platform
Websites and Applications on Any Platform
Kentico Cloud was built as an API-first service which means it can be used on any platform. You can produce your content just once and then publish it to websites, mobile apps, social media, smart watches, chat bots… you name it. While you can publish Kentico EMS content using its REST API on any platform, you may not be able to leverage all its capabilities outside the .NET website.
Kentico Cloud fits given scenario:
Is This Your Cloud Scenario?
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15. Overview > Empowering Marketers
Websites Managed by Marketers with Very Limited Developer Assistance
Websites with Advanced Online Marketing Functionality
Tracking Customer Behavior and Personalization of the Customer Experience

16. Websites Managed by Marketers with Very Limited Developer Assistance
Overview > Empowering Marketers > Websites Managed by Marketers with Very Limited...
Websites Managed by Marketers with Very Limited Developer Assistance
Kentico Cloud uses a headless approach, which means the presentation is fully driven by the code. Unlike Kentico EMS, Kentico Cloud doesn’t provide the concept of web parts or widgets that could be managed by marketers. You can emulate some of this behavior by using modular content in Kentico Cloud that enables some level of flexibility in the composition of content from multiple content entries e.g. to define the content of a side column. However, there’s no drag-and-drop interface or configurable widgets. While this approach supports best practices around content reuse and multi-channel publishing, we realize it may be limiting for a traditional page-oriented approach, and we plan to address that during Kentico EMS allows marketers to drag and drop widgets in zones on the page defined by a developer and configure them for advanced scenarios, such as personalization. It empowers marketers to achieve more without depending on developers.
Kentico Cloud fits given scenario:
Is This Your Cloud Scenario?
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17. Websites with Advanced Online Marketing Functionality
Overview > Empowering Marketers > Websites with Advanced Online Marketing Functionality
Websites with Advanced Online Marketing Functionality
While Kentico Cloud provides basic behavior and profile tracking and allows you to personalize content based on this data, you need to use third-party products for more complex scenarios, such as Marketing Automation, Lead Scoring, or Marketing. Kentico EMS provides an advanced Online Marketing feature set fully integrated with its WCM and E-commerce offering.
Kentico Cloud fits given scenario:
Is This Your Cloud Scenario?
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18. Is This Your Cloud Scenario?
Overview > Empowering Marketers > Tracking Customer Behavior and Personalization...
Tracking Customer Behavior and Personalization of the Customer Experience
Kentico Cloud provides tracking capabilities for websites running on any platform. The collected data can be used to personalize the customer experience. Kentico Cloud has a very intuitive and robust segmentation builder, which will allow you to create a list of website visitors based on their common characteristics and behavior. Kentico Cloud currently misses some advanced features, but it will evolve in the upcoming months. Kentico EMS provides advanced tracking and personalization capabilities for Kentico-based websites that can be managed by marketers.
Kentico Cloud fits given scenario:
Is This Your Cloud Scenario?
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19. Multichannel Publishing
Overview > Multichannel Publishing  
Multichannel Publishing
Native Mobile Application or a Combination of Website and Mobile Application
Complex Multichannel Content Delivery

20. Is This Your Cloud Scenario?
Overview > Multichannel Publishing > Native Mobile Application or a Combination of Website...
Native Mobile Application or a Combination of Website and Mobile Application
Kentico Cloud allows you to manage content in a structured format that can be used across any channels via its API. Kentico EMS allows you to provide content to native mobile applications using its REST API. However, its content model and some content management functionality are primarily built with web pages in mind.
Kentico Cloud fits given scenario:
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21. Complex Multichannel Content Delivery
Overview > Multichannel Publishing > Complex Multichannel Content Delivery
Complex Multichannel Content Delivery
Besides web and mobile, there are many other channels through which customers are engaging with brands. Use cases spanning from in-store kiosks, through smart watch apps displaying the latest updates based on geofencing data provided by the device, to product descriptions displayed while using your augmented reality app or headset while walking through the market. These are all real-world use cases that require CMS solutions to provide a reliable and fast content delivery. Additional channels include print, , social, content aggregators, or virtual reality. The API-first nature of Kentico Cloud makes it an ideal solution for these cases. While Kentico EMS provides a REST API that makes it possible to deliver content to channels other than web or mobile, it requires a certain level of custom development to build additional layers of Web APIs on top of the REST API to provide the necessary level of abstraction and control over the output.
Kentico Cloud fits given scenario:
Is This Your Cloud Scenario?
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22. Scenarios beyond Content Management and Publishing
Overview > Scenarios beyond Content Management and Publishing
Scenarios beyond Content Management and Publishing
E-commerce Sites
Portals and Membership Sites

23. Is This Your Cloud Scenario?
Overview > Scenarios beyond Content Management and Publishing > E-commerce Sites
E-commerce Sites
Kentico Cloud doesn't provide any e-commerce functionality out of the box. You can only use it to manage the product catalog content. Still, you can enhance it with custom code for an online store or integrate a third-party e-commerce solution if needed. From a different perspective, you can use Kentico Cloud to manage content for your e-commerce site if your e-commerce solution doesn't provide a strong content management story. Kentico EMS combines WCM, E-commerce, and Online Marketing solutions in a single fully-integrated product.
Kentico Cloud fits given scenario:
Is This Your Cloud Scenario?
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24. Portals and Membership Sites
Overview > Scenarios beyond Content Management and Publishing > Portals and Membership Sites
Portals and Membership Sites
This scenario includes intranets, partner portals, client portals, communities, association member sites, etc. Kentico Cloud currently doesn't support member-only access to content, so any published content is available to anybody through its API. This makes it unsuitable for intranet/portal scenarios. Kentico EMS comes with a built-in intranet solution and supports membership-only sites with advanced user management functionality.
Kentico Cloud fits given scenario:
Is This Your Cloud Scenario?
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25. Other Specialized Scenarios
Overview > Other Specialized Scenarios
Other Specialized Scenarios
Content Production Independent of the CMS
Centralized Management of All Your Marketing Content in One Place
Conducting a Content Audit during a Website Redesign

26. Content Production Independent of the CMS
Overview > Other Specialized Scenarios > Content Production Independent of the CMS
Content Production Independent of the CMS
You can use Kentico Cloud to produce structured content and then import it into a CMS or other system of your choice via REST API. Kentico EMS can be used for such a scenario, but it wasn't built for that.
Kentico Cloud fits given scenario:
Is This Your Cloud Scenario?
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27. Centralized Management of All Your Marketing Content in One Place
Overview > Other Specialized Scenarios > Centralized Management of All Your Marketing Content...
Centralized Management of All Your Marketing Content in One Place
You can use Kentico Cloud to manage any content in the cloud and then distribute it to any channel or other tools, such as CMS, E-commerce, PIM, etc. Kentico EMS can be used for such a scenario, but it wasn't built for that.
Kentico Cloud fits given scenario:
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28. Conducting a Content Audit during a Website Redesign
Overview > Other Specialized Scenarios > Conducting a Content Audit during a Website Redesign
Conducting a Content Audit during a Website Redesign
You can use Kentico Cloud to review the content and collaborate with others. Moreover, with Roles and Permissions, you can set who will be responsible for what during the content review. Then, you can import the content to any CMS or publish it directly through REST API. Once the Content Management API is released, it will be easier to import your existing content and save your valuable time. While Kentico EMS can be used for such a scenario, it wasn’t built for that purpose, and it misses the convenience of content collaboration provided by Kentico Cloud.
Kentico Cloud fits given scenario:
Is This Your Cloud Scenario?
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29. We Are Happy You've Found The Right Product for Your Scenario!
Overview > You've Found It! Yay!
We Are Happy You've Found The Right Product for Your Scenario!
If you want to start enjoying the benefits of Kentico Cloud, please contact us! Contact Kentico Cloud Sales Team via Do you have a scenario for Kentico CMS/EMS instead? Contact Kentico CMS Sales Team via
Case Studies

30. Show Me the Case Studies
Overview > Case Studies
Enjoy The Case Studies
The best proof that our product works is from the clients themselves. Check out the real stories!
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