Contributing makes good business sense, especially when open-source technology, such as Drupal, is at the core of everything you do (pun intended!).
by Owen Lansbury / 19 April 2023Based on a talk given at EverythingOpen 2023. A video of that presentation is also available at the end of this article.
Adopting a formalised approach to contribution helps our business stay sustainable in the long term. It also has the added benefit of helping everyone else in the open-source community.
Over the years at PreviousNext, we’ve honed a deep expertise in Drupal. That’s because we’ve doubled down and avoided diluting our technical offering. We’re all in for Drupal.
This level of knowledge sees us regularly referred to clients looking for hard hitters in the Drupal space. Our expertise is particularly appealing, as it happens, for our Higher Education and Government clients. Being Australia’s only Platinum Certified Drupal Partner can only help in this regard.
Our Drupal Association profile records all our contributions as ‘credits’. These determine our ranking as a certified partner, demonstrating our commitment to Drupal as a technology and a community.
We focus on raising our Drupal profile using means other than traditional marketing methods. Our team attends events, volunteers at DrupalSouth, presents at conferences, sponsors the DrupalSouth CodeSprint, and takes on community leadership roles.
This level of involvement cements our position as a leading Drupal provider. It also gives all members of our team (including those who are non-technical) additional opportunities to be part of the community and raise their profiles.
I like to refer to Drupal as a ‘do-ocracy’. Everyone is welcome, and all help is welcome. Open-source and open-handed. It’s the same sense of community that we value at PreviousNext.
When someone first joins our business, we often use open-source contributions as the primary method of onboarding them. This induction method encourages them to develop best practices in their coding and use their involvement in the Drupal project as part of their ongoing professional development.
An offshoot of this is the chance to build relationships and be mentored by people external to our organisation. It’s a unique opportunity to broaden our collective perspectives and work alongside (and become!) some of the brightest minds in open-source tech.
Avoiding team member burnout or a lacklustre approach to work is vital for us as a smaller organisation. Instead, we help staff to scratch those different ‘itches’.
Working on contrib helps to maintain interest and passion by giving staff time to work on projects that aren’t run-of-the-mill client engagements. It also exposes our team to larger initiatives than they might otherwise work on.
A happier team, in turn, leads to a more stable team over the long term. Our retention rates have steadied at around three times the industry average.
This tendency towards longevity also facilitated our decision to make PreviousNext employee-owned.
Enshrined in our Staff Handbook is the hope that employees at PreviousNext will use 20% of their time for contrib (the remaining 80% is billable client work). If a team member chooses not to contribute, they work closer to fully billable hours.
We don’t expect staff to contribute outside their employed hours–though many do for their own interest.
With a robust time-tracking and self-management culture, this approach works well and leads to a productive, well-run company.
We’ve also baked open-source contributions into our regular ‘Hackdays’. These are days when our developers get together and innovate. This focused work feeds into our client projects and becomes part of our Drupal contributions.
Other methods for ensuring a regular flow of code include directly sponsoring developers, which helps us maintain our partnership status.
We also use project-based sponsorship to contribute patches and new modules to the Drupal ecosystem. The clients for these projects also receive credits for sponsoring this development.
Open-source contribution isn’t just about altruism. It also shouldn’t be viewed as a drain on a business’s income generation. It’s about recognising that our businesses depend on a technological ecosystem that in turn relies on as many of us playing our part to advance it as possible.
When it comes to Drupal, the result of these contributions is a platform that commands a 10% share of the top 10,000 most visited websites globally. Clearly, though, there is more to be done to promote Drupal even further. It’s something we can all get behind, because when our chosen open-source platform thrives, so do our businesses.
Hey, are you doing everything you should to protect your customers’ data?
Picture this: you’ve gathered the information from your audience via your latest webinar registration page. And now, your audience keeps receiving emails they never asked for. Would they trust you, your marketing process, and your services anymore?
Absolutely not.
As the world becomes more digital and interconnected, security is becoming more and more important for businesses of all sizes. Whether you're a marketer, technologist, or just a small business owner, you can't afford to overlook the importance of strong security measures.
In fact, a recent survey found that 80% of content marketers and managers believe that security is absolutely crucial to their success. With so much sensitive data and personal information at risk, it's no wonder that businesses across industries are prioritizing security like never before.
To stay ahead of the game, companies are turning to flexible content management systems that meet their customers' needs without compromising on privacy and security. Whether you're managing customer data, creating marketing materials, or just trying to run your business smoothly, a strong security strategy is key to success in today's fast-paced digital landscape.
True, it’s not realistic to anticipate every cybersecurity issue. However, the best strategy is to take proactive measures to protect your organization's and customers’ data. In other words, secure systems should be enacted to prevent potential threats before they arise.
In this blog, you'll learn the importance of data security as seen through a marketer's lens. Not only will we break down why it matters, but also provide tips and tactics for protecting your information with a CMS.
Marketers should be aware of data breaches, as protecting customer information is essential for their success. Here's why:
Building trust with customers is a key ingredient to any successful marketing strategy. Creating strong relationships through exceptional service can transform leads into loyal customers who feel secure in doing business with you. It's not just about the sale, it's about building a rapport that goes beyond transactions.
Happy customers will not only continue to support your business, but they'll also recommend it to others. However, lose their trust and it'll be downhill from there. So, make sure you're always focused on fostering trust with your customers - it's worth it in the long run.
As a marketer, you hold a special responsibility to protect the trust that your customers bestow upon you. They willingly give you their information through registration forms, webinar sign-ups, and newsletter subscriptions, believing that you and your business will keep it safe and sound. It's a sign of faith, and it's important that you honor it by safeguarding their data at all costs. After all, the trust they put in you is like a delicate flower - it only takes one wrong move to crush it irreparably.
Protecting and respecting your customers' privacy is crucial, and it's up to you to be their guardian. You can't just go around using their personal information willy-nilly - that's a big no-no. To avoid any potential kerfuffles, make sure you get their consent before reaching out to them. Being responsible with their data will not only earn their trust, but it will also make you a stand-up business. So, protect and serve - your customers will thank you for it.
Now that we’ve laid the background for the need for data security for marketers, here are five must-have security features you should look for in a CMS before using it.
Ensure that your CMS has data encryption capabilities to secure stored data and content assets exchanged between systems.
Whether software or hardware devices, your CMS’s firewall is configured to deny, permit, or proxy data via your network. It allows the data to seep through different trust levels while also reducing the intensity of security threats in your network simultaneously.
With the authentication feature, a CMS becomes a high-security fortress, allowing you to control who has access to your content. This feature verifies the user's credentials by cross-referencing them with details stored in the system and offers cool access control options like single sign-on, SAML, and OAuth.
Take it up a notch with extra security measures, provided by OpenID and Default authentication protocols. Implementing authentication in your CMS workflows is like hiring your own personal bouncer for your website.
With managed cloud hosting, your organization’s IT department can remain carefree about its infrastructure management. Moreover, with automatic updates and regular security patches, your cloud host ensures that your security stays in place.
Ensure that your CMS relies on a network of servers that equip it with advanced security and better performance. CDN caches all the data with the servers distributed geographically. This way, the primary location of your data stays secure and anyone trying to access your network can only access the nearest server.
When it comes to security concerns, it is highly recommended to use hack-tight security measures to secure your CMS. CMS-powered open-source websites are the most popular ones today, with WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla covering 75% of the CMS-powered website market.
Although popular, open-source websites can be vulnerable to cyber threats easily. So, here are a few ways to avoid such vulnerabilities and secure your CMS from hackers.
Be an Empathetic Marketer
Building a bond of trust with your audience is the backbone of marketing triumph. By providing top-notch services and earning a well-respected reputation, you can cultivate an authentic connection with potential customers.
Encourage them to express their thoughts freely so they can confidently decide whether or not to do business with you. Trust isn't built in a day, but by consistently demonstrating your expertise and professionalism, you will inevitably win their hearts and their wallets.
A CMS to help you achieve your marketing goals in accordance with your business goals is Drupal. Drupal’s security team always keeps a close watch over potential security threats and keeps your organization’s data safe from exploitable vulnerabilities. They release security patches and fixes from time to time for advanced security.
Offering transparency and assuring that your customer’s data is safe with you will encourage trust; ensure this by taking advantage of a CMS and utilizing effective marketing strategies.
Author: Priyanka Phukan
Meet Priyanka, a Junior Content Writer and Marketer at Specbee. Priyanka’s a Grammar-Freak with a knack for creating impactful content with ‘words’ being her weapon of choice. A foodie who likes all things chicken. When not writing, she likes to play the Uke and sing. On blue days, you’ll find her binge-watching Asian dramas.
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Explore View all Case StudiesI am a big fan of Zen stories. Those are little labyrinths of concealed wisdom. Once you enter the maze, you should find the way out. There is a way, and there is no way. You are trapped and free as well. It all depends on how you perceive things.
Let me quote a Zen story. Kindly excuse me if you have already heard this one. A young man visited a Zen master who lived in the middle of a chaotic city. The man wanted to know whether he would be happy if he relocated there as already, the master lived there.
The master asked: "How is your current place like?"
"It is terrible. Everyone is mean. I hate being there, and I need change,"
answered the seeker.
"It will be terrible here. Everyone would be mean. You would hate being here, and you won't experience any change,"
said the master.
A few hours went by. Another young man came to the master with the same question, and the master raised the same query.
"It is good. Wonderful. I have nothing to complain about. Everybody is so friendly and supportive. I just need a change,"
the man answered.
"It will be good here. Wonderful. You will have nothing to complain about. Everybody would be friendly and supportive. But you won't experience any change,"
the master cautioned.
You will find what you seek. But if you desire something that you already have, you won't even realize you have reaped it anew. If you are privileged, you won't appreciate how far the privilege has taken you. It might blind you from the paths tread by the underprivileged too. To develop a balanced view is the Zen.
I am very much elated as the community is with the news that Drupal is now a Digital Public Good. But in hindsight, wasn't Drupal a digital public good from its initiation? Wasn't Drupal inherently a public good? What is there in some agency specifically designating Drupal as a digital public good?
The answers might be in the specifics. Yes, governments were using Drupal to serve their people better. Yes, Drupal was helping achieve the 17 SDGs put forward by the United Nations. Yes, Drupal is non-excludable and non-rivalrous.
But with all that, Drupal grows because of commercial interest, and it serves the hunger for profits of the businesses and agencies that use it. It is no crime, as with every other public good, like rail, roads, waterways, playgrounds, public education system, etc. Those will not have been this good this far without enough commercial interest.
Let me quote from a press release cum article put out by Zyxware Technologies.
"This recognition is a significant milestone for Drupal and the Drupal Community. Being listed as a DPG will make it easier for companies to justify using Drupal and potentially direct funding for specific feature sets. It is a testament to the community's hard work and dedication to creating software that adheres to the highest standards and helps achieve the UN's SDGs."
Let me move toward other news and events.
John Doyle, founder and president of Digital Polygon, speaks to Alethia Braganza about Owning It, Giving Back, and Building It Better. In this interview, he says that he genuinely believes that Drupal has become this successful because of the community members that drive it forward and advocate for its use.
Our second blog post on the 'build in public' initiative discusses How We Built a Newsletter System on Drupal with Mailchimp Integration. Emily Mathew, the lead developer of TDT, writes about the workflow.
Drupal Decoupled Days, scheduled for August 16-17 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has released a call for papers. The last date to submit a session proposal is May 05, 2023. DrupalJam 2023, set to take place on June 01 at DeFabrique in Utrecht, Netherlands, has announced its sponsor packages. DrupalSouth released the schedule and agenda for the 2023 conference set for May 17 to 19 in Wellington, New Zealand. MidCamp, scheduled for April 26 to 29 in Chicago, Illinois, is still seeking more sponsors, according to their newsletter. MidCamp attendees can also attend an evening match of Baseball at Wrigley Stadium. You could also purchase regular tickets to the camp until April 21. Drupal Developer Days happening in Vienna, Austria, from July 19 to 22, have sold out early bird tickets quickly; but regular tickets are still available. TDT is a media partner for DrupalCamp Finland, scheduled for April 28.
Drupal Association has announced the onboarding of Fran Garcia-Linares. Stichting Drupal Nederland, or the Dutch Drupal Foundation, has onboarded three new members to its director board.
Those joining this year's DrupalCon Pittsburgh can avail of accommodation facilities at a discounted rate if they choose from hotels within the official hotel block. Also, check out 7 best places to visit while you are at Pittsburgh for DrupalCon North America. Meanwhile, the deadline to submit sessions for DrupalCon Lille is April 24.
NERD Summit has published session videos of the 2023 camp on its official YouTube channel.
Two international PHP conferences are coming. The first is from May 22 to 26 in Berlin, and the second is from October 23 to 27 in Munich. You may submit session proposals for the October event.
Third and Grove has published a blog post explaining the new features and improvements coming to Drupal 10.1 and beyond. Franz Glauber Vanderlinde has written a blog post in Evolving Web's portal explaining Claro, Drupal's default admin user interface. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has announced an upgrade of its web platform to Drupal 10 in 18 months. Tomato Elephant Studio (TES) will conduct a Drupal training session on April 24, 2023. The 3-hour event will focus on Building Data Reports in Drupal. Srijan, recently acquired by Material+, has published a blog post about the key factors to improve SEO and performance for a Drupal Website. TDT published a listicle on why Drupal is the best for travel agency websites. Neeraj Kumar, founder and CEO of Valuebound published a blog post on opensource.com about Drupal Modules to Improve Accessibility.
Acquia has opened a new partnership with KPMG to advance DXP roll-out across industries. Acquia certifications in Japan have crossed the 200 mark. Acquia employees can apply to the headless developer advisory board.
There was a critical security alert on the protected pages module.
The number of stories selected from the past week is more extensive than we used to pack. Some of the stories linked in the written part might not repeat in the list beneath. Before winding up this newsletter issue, let me apologize for postponing the publication for almost a day. We are bound to rectify this procedural lapse linked to human error. We will return the following Monday with a new issue of Editor's Pick.
Sincerely,
Sebin A. Jacob
Editor-in-chief, TheDropTimes
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