Introduction
When you need to operate, monetize, and deliver digital content to millions of global viewers in a hurry, you turn to a content delivery network, like Edgio. The company, which materialized following a merger between Limelight Networks and Edgecast, securely serves up rich and robust digital experiences — be it applications, APIs, or content — without sacrificing speed or quality. Delivering complex digital content of this caliber and volume requires a high-performing platform, which, as the company came to realize, was difficult to find.
Eager to prove itself amid a pack of established competitors, leaders across the company began looking for a content platform capable of helping them do more than just keep pace — they wanted an edge in the larger marketplace. Edgio needed a reliable solution from which it could build brand recognition and reputation.
Introducing a composable content platform with rich features
Edgio considered several options to power its content delivery infrastructure before committing to any single one. When the architects leading the re-platform and migration tried Contentful and completed a competitive analysis, the composable content platform’s speed and deep features made one thing obvious: there was no better choice.
“When testing Contentful, we had a real ‘Wizard of Oz’ moment. Things seemed to go from black and white to color, in terms of features, functionality, and what you can actually do with it,” Brandon Anderson, Senior Software Architect, said. Eager for this glimpse of a possibility to become a reality, Edgio ended the search and began migration.
Satisfying Edgio’s need for speed
After onboarding its new content platform, Edgio’s initial focus was website optimization. It wanted to serve customers a speedy digital experience — one that reflected the performance of its true offering.
“The website has to be fast — a real statement piece — so that when customers go to our website, they feel it's attainable for themselves as well,” Brand Manager Jeremy Doty said. “We were first and foremost looking at how to build a website that loads in the blink of an eye. We wanted to leave people wondering how we could even accomplish it.”
By adopting Contentful, Edgio dramatically improved its site loading time, successfully delivering faster experiences to clients. New, Contentful-powered capabilities, like preloaded images and video delivery optimizations, are behind these outcomes.
Delivering a new way of working
Edgio’s digital experience improvements didn’t stop at speed. Edgio found Contentful to enhance editorial accessibility within the company. With low- and no-code editing and publishing capabilities, more team members could contribute to creating better, more expansive customer journeys.
“With our previous CMS, our publishing workflow was slow,” Anderson said. “Just two or three people were able to edit and publish content — myself, our developer, and two or three content editors included. With Contentful, we’re able to open those roles and responsibilities to a broader team. Now, we have people in nearly every department contributing. Our content is really a group effort.”
Part of this success comes from having a reusable content structure that’s developed early on and can be reused across experiences. “Moving to something modular like Contentful allows you to manage the bare bones of the content, its structure, and its relationship to other elements in a way that’s accessible and manageable by people who aren't programmers and developers,” Anderson added.
With workflow worries left behind and more hands contributing to every area of content production, Edgio can better deliver and market the edge-enabled solutions its customers enjoy. This pool includes some of the world's largest brands from 38 different countries. Each achieves unmatched performance while using Edgio’s proprietary technology to deliver powerful solutions across web applications, content delivery, and streaming.
Fast forward to the future
According to Anderson and his team, Edgio’s next project with Contentful will have something to do with localization. It hopes to offer customers the same page speed and content no matter where they’re from. Contentful’s API-first nature is paying dividends with this project, allowing Edgio to easily integrate Trados, their third-party translation app of choice.
Edgio and its customers have a fundamental need for speed. Contentful’s platform provides the platform to deliver the results they need — today, tomorrow, and even further into the future.
