Contextual Code makes a winning combination with Ibexa
Partner of the Month for February: Contextual Code
The Ibexa Global Partner Conference was hosted virtually this year but was no less vibrant and inspiring for all that. An annual highlight is the announcement of the Honorary Award which went to Florida-based Contextual Code in recognition of its innovative implementations and long-term commitment to using Ibexa technology.
Contextual Code is our Partner of the Month for February
In accepting the award, CEO Mark Marsiglio said: “We have been a long-term partner of Ibexa and the partnership continues to grow primarily because we believe in the direction that Ibexa has taken the product.”
He was not exaggerating: Contextual and Ibexa have been synergizing for almost two decades. One of the earliest collaborations was the implementation in 2003 for the Florida Department of Management Services built with eZ Publish 3.2, as it was known then. “They are still clients of ours and they still use Ibexa,” says Marsiglio. “We’ve upgraded it over the years and maintained it. It's on 5.4 now, but we have a proposal out to them to move to the Ibexa platform.”
Contextual has multiple reference clients that have been using Ibexa technology for 10 years or more; the unusual longevity of these relationships shows the staying power of Contextual and Ibexa which has been innovating and re-inventing itself for two decades to stay at the forefront of content management and digital experience technology.
Since we always work with the same DXP our clients all benefit from the work we do for others.
Contextual Code uses Ibexa for all its implementations. This is more than an if-it-ain’t-broke- don’t-fix-it reflex but also an important USP.
Marsiglio explains. “Since we always work with the same DXP our clients all benefit from the work we do for others. Ibexa also has a large pool of code bundles (our term for plugins) created by other developers in the Open Source ecosystem, as well as paid options in the marketplace.”
While customization is the best way to address truly unique requirements Marsiglio believes every attempt should be made to minimize truly unique code. Leveraging the mature code of the Ibexa platform means fewer bugs, better maintainability, lower development cost, and shorter development cycles – everything a Contextual Code client is looking for.
Contextual Code services a wide client base of government agencies, financial services firms, and high-profile bodies such as the Modern Language Association—all with a team of just 10.
“We’re specialized,” says Marsiglio. “We are knowledgeable and experienced. We don't learn things on client projects; we’ve already learned them. We leverage what we've learned, doing the same thing to make refinements in the approach as opposed to [making] mistakes.”
Contextual Code has completed more successful Ibexa upgrades than anyone else in North America. These migration projects from what was eZ Publish are non-trivial, both for the client and initially for Contextual Code itself, yet Ibexa’s decision to rebuild its platform on Symfony was completely the right one, Marsiglio believes. The Symfony framework not only promotes reliability within the codebase but also ensures a more extensive pool of development talent capable of working on maintenance and customizations.
“But the transition wasn’t easy,” Marsiglio adds. “We were faced with the task of relearning everything that we had acquired as experience over the previous 10 years.”
We don't learn things on client projects; we’ve already learned them. We leverage what we've learned, doing the same thing to make refinements in the approach as opposed to [making] mistakes.
This triggered an internal discussion if Code Contextual should stick with Ibexa.
“Clearly, we answered affirmative,” says Marsiglio, “but that was the evaluation process that we went through. And the reason we stuck with Ibexa is that the underlying architecture, the design of the flexible content model, and the various options to use the underlying technology to solve the business problems of our clients continued to shine and be an industry standout.”
Marsiglio and his team have continued to leverage the flexibility and nuances of the Ibexa platform to produce hundreds of different client sites with hundreds of different sets of requirements, all with the same aplomb.
Code Contextual is a deserved winner of our coveted Honorary Award.
If you would like to discuss a forthcoming project you have with Contextual Code please contact them here.
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