AI-first by design: SUGCON keynote insights on the future of Sitecore and digital experience
AI-first by design: SUGCON insights on Sitecore’s future.
SUGCON 2025 opened with a clear message: Sitecore is no longer simply a composable DXP, it’s now an AI-first platform, end to end. It’s visible in how Sitecore is building its products, enabling its internal teams, and preparing partners and customers for a new digital paradigm.
From practical tooling like the new Sitecore Marketplace SDK to strategic AI integrations, the opening sessions laid out a future that’s faster, more intelligent, and fundamentally agent-driven. Here are the key insights from the keynote and why they matter for technical leaders, product teams, and digital agencies alike.
Sitecore embraces the AI-first mindset
In his opening remarks, Sitecore CEO Dave O’Flanagan confirmed what many in the ecosystem have already begun to observe: Sitecore is positioning itself as an AI-first DXP. This shift runs deeper than feature announcements, it’s a transformation of internal development culture at Sitecore, engineering tooling, and product strategy.
Engineering teams across Sitecore are already using AI-powered tools like Cursor to enhance development velocity and decision-making. The underlying idea is clear: to continue delivering weekly improvements across platforms like XM Cloud, Sitecore must embed AI enablement at every level of the organisation.
Takeaway for agencies and enterprises
Embracing AI isn’t just about tooling, it’s a cultural shift. As technical leaders, we must start thinking in terms of enablement: giving our developers the access, context, and workflows to use AI tools responsibly, effectively, and consistently. If we expect smarter platforms from our vendors, we must also create smarter development environments ourselves.
Developer tooling takes a major step forward
One of the most exciting reveals came from Spyros Misichronis (Marketplace Architect) and Liz Nelson (Product Lead for XM Cloud), who demoed the new Sitecore Marketplace SDK. Designed to work via CLI, the SDK enables developers to build new UI components and interface extensions across the Sitecore suite, starting with XM Cloud, Content Hub, and the Sitecore portal.
You can think of it as a way to build:
- New field types for XM Cloud
- Custom interface panels
- Full-page overlays within the Pages interface
The SDK operates across a client ↔ host ↔ product API model, allowing integration with Sitecore product services through a consistent development experience.
The Marketplace SDK is open-sourced and currently available on GitHub:
https://github.com/Sitecore/sitecore-marketplace-sdk
We’ll take a deeper dive into the Marketplace SDK and roadmap in a future post.
Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO): a new use case
A standout example involved analysing page structures for GEO. Unsure what GEO is?
Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is the next evolution of SEO. As AI tools like ChatGPT, Google SGE and Perplexity become part of how people search for information and make decisions, traditional keyword rankings are no longer enough.
GEO focuses on making sure your content is discoverable, trustworthy, and useful in AI-generated answers. That means creating content that is structured, well-sourced, credible, and genuinely helpful, so it gets picked up and cited by these systems when decision-makers ask high-intent questions.
Search is shifting—fast
One stat from the keynote that caught my attention: Gartner predicts that traditional search engine usage will drop by 25% in a single year by 2026, as users turn to AI copilots, chat interfaces, and autonomous agents to find answers.
The implications are significant:
- Optimisation strategies must shift toward AI discoverability
- Content must be structured for intelligent consumption, not just human scanning
- The rise of agentic systems will fundamentally alter how users interact with digital content
If your digital strategy still treats search as a static channel, now’s the time to re-evaluate.
CI Hub enables seamless access to Content Hub assets
CI Hub, one of the event sponsors, showcased an impressive solution aimed at large enterprises managing media assets across distributed teams.
With their connector for Content Hub, users can access stored assets directly within everyday tools like:
- Microsoft Outlook (for embedding images into emails)
- Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign)
- Figma and other design platforms
It’s a great example of bringing enterprise content into the user’s workflow, without compromising governance or security.
https://ci-hub.com/integration/sitecore
Microsoft & Azure AI Factory: the agentic future
Microsoft’s session focused on what comes next in AI, and it aligned closely with Sitecore’s vision. The focus? Agentic workflows.
Azure AI Factory is Microsoft’s response, a platform designed for:
- LLM orchestration
- Intelligent connector frameworks
- Copilot and agent development
- Deep OpenAI integration
If your teams are exploring AI use cases beyond basic prompts or content generation, Azure AI Factory offers the scaffolding for more sophisticated, scalable agent-based systems.
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/ai-foundry
We’re currently exploring cases where conversational UIs can be embedded within the development workflow to enable orchestration of every day development tasks and we’re looking at how Azure AI Factory can assist.
Final thought: a shift that demands action
The message from Sitecore is unambiguous and perhaps predictable: AI is the foundation for what’s next. But real impact won’t come from watching this trend unfold, it will come from engaging with it directly.
That means:
- Enabling your developers with modern tools and AI augmentation
- Structuring your content for machine consumption and discovery
- Thinking beyond search—and preparing for a world led by agents
- Putting the necessary learning and training foundations in place to ensure your team is ready for the cultural shift
At Think Fresh, we believe these shifts require not just technical response, but cultural alignment. AI-first isn’t a future concept. It’s a present challenge, and a real opportunity.
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