eZ Systems’ CEO, Aleksander Farstad on Leadership and the Future of Web Content Management
Every year, Gartner publishes its report, The Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management, and every year the industry waits to see where and how those little blue dots will move about, as a reflection of Gartner’s in-depth analysis of leading vendors.
Looked upon by many as a guide for companies to evaluate which Web Content Management 
solution would be right for their business, we here at CMS-Connected are always happy to see numerous vendors included in the report that we know very well. We often create a few conversations following the release focused on the recognition within the report, and showcase details of the platforms themselves but admittedly, when I reflect on the various businesses, I look through the lens of leadership and wonder what is on the mind of those at the helm of these companies, the CEOs themselves? Thankfully, upon reaching out, I was fortunate enough to gain access to the great mind of eZ Systems’ CEO, Aleksander Farstad, to discuss leadership, eZ Systems' recognitions by Gartner, and what trends and innovatons he sees on the horizon.
As CEO, what do you feel are the fundamental elements to leading a successful company?
"People! eZ was founded on a philosophy that innovation happens at the interaction between people. Success happens when you can attract, maintain and grow talented people, in an open culture, sharing information and knowledge."
What do you feel eZ Systems has done to contribute to their recognition in the Gartner Magic Quadrant and how do you intend on keeping up that momentum?
"To be honest, we do not focus much on the analyst relation itself. Our focus is to develop great software and serve our partners and customers. While most of our competitors are great WCM solutions, eZ differentiates from them by coming in and providing a better solution when customers have sophisticated content-driven business models with more complex needs. Such as having a large number of sites, handling a large amount of traffic, users or editors, and integrations and customization needs with beyond the web capabilities. Like handling 10 million subscribers for The Economist, millions of customers for the French bank Credit Agricole or connected kitchen appliances for Kitchen Aid."
What are your thoughts on the WCM space? For example, what trends do you see on the horizon or where do you think we will see the most innovation in the coming months?
"We see digital is moving beyond the web and we see that it is content that fuels digital success. This is accelerating, with apps, mobile, IoT and more things to come. However, most Web Content Management systems are still purely Web centric, and not content centric. This is not a good fit for this new digital world.
eZ was designed content-centric, and is built for this new era. We now see innovation happening around the core capabilities of content management, making sure you with ease can handle any type of content, from any source, distributed to any channel, reaching the target audience at the right time and with the right content."
Laura Myers
A digital business, marketing and social media enthusiast, Laura thrives on asking unique, insightful questions to ignite conversation. At an event or remotely, she enjoys any opportunity to connect with like-minded people in the industry.