Driving strategic conversations: The Business Summit
The Umbraco Business Summit kicked off with a clear message: digital leaders must not only keep pace with technology but actively shape it.
One of the standout sessions came from Chuck Gahun, whose talk was both energising and thought-provoking. He explored how consumer behaviour is evolving faster than ever, with omnichannel journeys becoming the norm. In fact, 50% of product discoveries now happen across multiple platforms, and 32% of consumers are turning to AI-powered search to guide their decisions. For content marketers, the challenge is clear, it’s no longer enough to create content; it must hit the right market at the right time, with the right message.
Chuck highlighted how Generative AI is removing traditional friction points, enabling content to be surfaced and consumed more intuitively. This shift demands that organisations rethink their delivery models, moving towards reusable, personalised experiences that can be dynamically distributed across an expanding set of digital touchpoints. It’s a call for agility, creativity, and strategy, and one that aligns closely with how we at Shout help clients deliver impact at scale.
Codegarden: A celebration of people and possibilities
If the Business Summit was strategic, Codegarden was electric.
There's nothing quite like sharing space with hundreds of developers, designers, and digital peers united by a shared love of open-source. We heard the announcement of Umbraco Compose—a powerful SaaS tool for content orchestration, pulling from multiple sources into a single, unified output. You can apply for a private beta, with launch planned for 2026.
A few personal highlights:
- Umbraco Cloud Roadmap by Bjarke Berg: A packed session filled with substantial updates to the maturing Umbraco Cloud platform. We saw exciting developments like support for app settings for secrets and non-sensitive values, dedicated database servers, and load balancing the backoffice. Enhanced DDoS detection, bot protection, Cloudflare request analytics, WAF configuration, and OWASP standards all contribute to a more robust, enterprise-grade offering. And the addition of external login providers, maintenance windows, and ‘under attack’ mode adds polish to an already strong roadmap.
- From Clicks to Commands – Phil Whittaker & Matt Wise: Possibly the most talked-about session of the event. This glimpse into the future of Umbraco development via MCP (Management Command Protocol) showed how AI agents like Copilot or Claude could be used to execute admin tasks by command. They demonstrated asking an LLM to clean up unused data types or create a complete blog post — including generating associated content types like authors and categories — all with deep structural understanding of the Umbraco content model. It was a compelling preview of a future where AI and CMS work hand-in-hand.
- Neurodivergence in Tech – Matt Brailsford: A personal and heartfelt talk from Matt, sharing his journey of discovering he has ADHD, ASD, and Dyslexia. He spoke openly about his challenges, and the tools and habits that have helped him. It took a lot of courage in sharing this which I’m sure resonated with many. He explained practical takeaways for building more inclusive, supportive workplaces.
- Is ChatGPT Killing the Penguins? by James Hobbs: A thought-provoking session diving into the ethics of AI. James raised critical questions: How are companies using data? What transparency do clients deserve? And where is the line between productivity and privacy? It was a much-needed reminder that while AI can accelerate, it must also be deployed responsibly and ethically.
Why this matters for Shout
Events like Codegarden aren’t just about ticking a professional development box. They shape how we advise our clients, build our platforms, and lead our teams.
What stood out this year was the alignment between where Umbraco is going and where we’re already heading with our digital partnerships — creating flexible, robust, and forward-thinking solutions that meet real user needs. We’re returning from Denmark with new insights, new relationships, and fresh momentum.
Looking ahead
We’re excited to bring this thinking into our upcoming work — especially as we help our clients navigate modern content architectures, AI, and the ongoing evolution of digital experience platforms.
Thank you to Umbraco HQ for hosting such a standout event, and to the wider community for continuing to push the boundaries of what’s possible.
Stay tuned for more updates as we put these insights into action. If you’d like to chat about how the latest Umbraco innovations can empower your organisation, we’d love to talk.
