CMS Vendors
Xalok
Xalok is a well-established CMS in Spanish language markets, offering editors a live preview of what their content will look like on various devices.
- While the "Xalok Go" SaaS platform caters to small news organizations, most customers will still likely require extensive engagement with the vendor's services arm to customize an implementation to their requirements.
- Parent company Hiberus offers other website and application development services
- Key customers include La Vanguardia, El Tiempo, and Corriere della Serra
Likely fit
Xalok Go could be a potential next step from WordPress for Micro-Independent News Organizations. However, any additional requirements will mean switching to the core version of Xalok with custom development. Hiberus can offer all professional services required, from development to managed services, which could prove convenient to a Mid-Sized Chain of News Organizations (such as the media arm of parent company HENNEO). However, this could prove a step too far for Small Independent News Organizations and Small Chains of News Organizations.
At a glance
Primary Customer Fit
Mid-Sized Chain of News Organizations
Secondary Fit
Micro-Independent News Organizations
Most Active Geographies
EMEA, Latin America
Official Support Hours
Choices for 8x5, 12x5, 24x7
Officially Supported Languages for User Interface
ES, EN
Third-party Language Support Available?
No
License Model
Monthly fee for use of the software, depending on tiers based on traffic, page views and users
Scope Summary
Digital first CMS with visual interface from a vendor in Spain that can see to many peripheral IT needs as well
Tech Base
PHP (Symfony), MySQL, Elastic, Redis, Node.js, Twig
Cloud Model
SaaS
Headquarters
Zaragoza, Spain
Head Count
72
What customers report
- Visual interface allows editors to work on an article as site visitors would see it
- Hiberus Media Labs can draw from a large pool of Hiberus tech resources to implement the CMS, as well as many other adjacent technology needs
- A Xalok Go demo could give the impression the product is a good fit out of the box, while in reality this may require complicated bespoke development based more on the underlying core product
- The core CMS is mostly an editorial interface, with integration or expansion needed to go beyond this
- Lacking a partner network, you will have to defer to Hiberus professional services for any customisation required
Background
- What began in 1895 as the newspaper Heraldo de Aragon has in the past decade transformed into HENNEO, a media and technology conglomerate. Technology consulting subsidiary Hiberus was created in 2012 with the addition of Comex Integración and IriTec. In 2017, Xalok merged with Hiberus' content management team to form what is now Hiberus Media Labs, with Xalok as their main product.
- Xalok's editorial interface revolves around editing within the preview, which can be switched to show different screen sizes (desktop and mobile). The company has focussed on its visual editing interface and minimizing the number of steps editors have to take outside of it. Setting the focal point for an image, for example, can be done from within the article view, without having to go into a separate DAM (Digital Asset Management) system. Editors can also add different types of content blocks, and if the content is sourced from the CMS itself, will immediately show these within the editor. The system also supports multiple languages (for instance, a Spanish and an English edition) with the option to automatically translate the first version for editors to work on.
- What the platform brings in editorial niceties, it generally lacks in other services (such as planning, paywalls, subscription services, commenting), which must be built or bolted on.
- Xalok is a PHP based system with a Node.js front-end and Twig templating (though the CMS can also be used headless). Customers must implement a custom layer on top of the core system that caters to their specific needs and integrations. This can be developed by the customer tech teams themselves, though in many cases Hiberus Media Labs will have heavy involvement in the development and daily operation of the platform. The company can be a "one stop shop" to the extent that a customer will only need to fulfil the product management role -- though it can be easy to underestimate the responsibilities this brings in deciding on implementation details. To mitigate this, Hiberus Media Labs also created the more out of the box "Xalok Go", which caters to small publications. However, if requirements exceed Xalok Go capabilities, it can then require a steep step-up to a custom Xalok implementation.
- While Hiberus Media Labs has 72 employees, its rapidly-growing parent company Hiberus employs 3,300 – a large resource pool covering multiple technology areas, which can be drawn upon for CMS implementations when needed. In fact, many Xalok customers also engage in other technology projects with Hiberus (ranging from SEO to big data projects).
- Xalok has very recently announced the "Xalok IA assistant", which promises to suggest article topics (integrated with competitive ananlytics), and aid with content creation. The goal for this is to be service independent, using ChatGPT and Gemini, or open source alternatives such as Vicuna.
نطاق الحزمة (كما أبلغ عنه المورّد)
| منصة أساسية - أي مجمّعة في المنتج (نعم/لا/إصدار تجريبي) | إضافة (نعم/مخصَّصة/تابعة لجهات خارجية) | |
|---|---|---|
|
الدورة الزمنية للمحتوى: التأليف / التصنيف / التعديل / الموافقة / النشر / إعادة الاستخدام / الأرشفة / الإزالة نهائيًا
|
نعم
|
|
|
إدارة مواد العرض الرقمية الأساسية / الصوتية / الوسائط
|
نعم
|
|
|
إتاحة نشر الإصدارات المطبوعة
|
لا
|
نعم
|
|
إعادة النشر بسهولة على وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي
|
لا
|
نعم
|
|
وحدات اختيارية: نماذج / استطلاعات / تطبيقات مصغّرة لوسائل التواصل الاجتماعي / غير ذلك
|
لا
|
نعم
|
|
مكتبة موصلات (موصلات OOTB، واجهات برمجة تطبيقات، غير ذلك)
|
لا
|
طرف خارجي
|
|
شبكات توصيل محتوى مجمّعة (مع حماية ضد هجمات تعطيل الخدمة)
|
نعم
|
طرف خارجي
|
|
تسجيل المستخدمين
|
لا
|
طرف خارجي
|
|
إدارة الاشتراكات وتنفيذها - الإصدارات الرقمية
|
لا
|
طرف خارجي
|
|
إدارة الاشتراكات - الإصدارات المطبوعة
|
لا
|
طرف خارجي
|
|
التخصيص
|
لا
|
|
|
إدارة الإعلانات - الإصدارات الرقمية
|
نعم
|
طرف خارجي
|
|
إدارة الإعلانات - الإصدارات المطبوعة
|
لا
|
|
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إدارة تطبيق على الأجهزة الجوّالة
|
لا
|
مخصَّص
|
|
البحث في الموقع
|
نعم
|
|
|
التخطيط للمحتوى والمهام
|
لا
|
طرف خارجي
|
|
إدارة الفيديوهات / OVP
|
نعم
|
طرف خارجي
|
|
إدارة المحتوى الصوتي / نشر بودكاست
|
نعم
|
طرف خارجي
|
|
التمثيل المرئي للبيانات
|
لا
|
طرف خارجي
|
|
إعلانات مبوبة
|
لا
|
طرف خارجي
|
|
إضافة تعليقات / ميزات المنتدى/
|
لا
|
طرف خارجي
|
|
إنتاج النشرات الإخبارية وإدارتها
|
لا
|
نعم
|
|
الإشعارات والتنبيهات
|
لا
|
نعم
|
|
اختبار A/B
|
لا
|
نعم
|
|
تحسين محركات البحث
|
نعم
|
|
|
إدارة جهات نشر متعددة مع اكتساب متغيّر
|
لا
|
مخصَّص
|
|
تصميم وموقع إلكتروني فرعي معقّدان / استنساخ فقرات فرعية
|
نعم
|
|
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خدمات واقع معزّز / واقع افتراضي محسَّنة
|
لا
|
طرف خارجي
|
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تصنيف الجمهور إلى شرائح
|
لا
|
|
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مستخدم على الإنترنت / منتديات شريكة
|
نعم
|
|
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اجتماعات منتظمة لمجموعات المستخدمين
|
لا
|
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