ownCloud today launches its new website as part of reinventing itself. The time is now: In just a few months, the business world has completely transformed into a more digital enhanced and remote-first environment. Society as a whole is increasingly aware of risks involved in the flow and storage of data, and many companies revamp processes and infrastructure to act more responsibly.
ownCloud is well placed to shape this transition as an open-source solution for storing, sharing and editing files in a secure, efficient and sovereign way, for individuals as well as for teams and organizations.
We are in the process of re-developing our software from scratch. We are building a new front-end for a simpler, better user experience. Our mobile apps are developed at a faster pace than ever before. We have already re-written the iOS app, for example, and are constantly striving to refine it.
The community and the partners we work with are evolving dynamically, creating a more mature, more professional environment. From 2016 to 2020, ownCloud GmbH has transformed from a fledgling open-source start-up amidst a rough patch to a dependable, thriving international company serving a number of global enterprise customers.
The old ownCloud.com website no longer represented what we stand for today, open-source software that works on an enterprise level, with a professional community and a strong focus on security and digital sovereignty. That is why we have taken the plunge to completely redesign and revamp our face to the public and also the most crucial point on our customers’ journey.
After half a year of development, we are very proud to present to you our new website, ownCloud.com!
Merging .org and .com
Whether Community Edition or Enterprise Edition, we are one ownCloud with the one set of values for open source and digital sovereignty. We don’t think the community and enterprise customers need or want separate websites, and want to get them on the same page, as it where. Therefore we have merged our two existing websites .org and .com and are now available at owncloud.com.
Our partners and clients invest a lot of work, feedback and innovation in our product. They are as much a part of the community as are the contributors, the app developers on the Marketplace, the beta testers and the many other contributors. The community is an integral part of ownCloud and now is no longer outsourced to a separate website. The Community Edition of ownCloud will always be part of ownCloud, open source and free of charge.
New website to unify the user experience
By merging the two sites, we also simplify the user experience for everyone throughout our digital touchpoints: The path to one’s ownCloud becomes more accessible. Existing users find what they are looking for faster as they don’t have to deal with multiple sites and different information architectures anymore. To new visitors we can explain more easily why we believe that ownCloud as a file platform is their most essential digital tool since email.
With the website relaunch we reworked information architecture for better experience and accessibility
Clear, simple, straightforward
In the course of the website redesign, we audited nearly 1,500 blog posts and over 300 pages, eliminating duplicate content and developing new structures for the decisive points in a customer’s journey. We have split up the pages for downloading the server, the desktop and the mobile apps. For both developers and end users, downloading the various server versions or the latest desktop app is clear, simple and straightforward.
For those who are interested in the functionality and solutions offered by ownCloud, we have reorganized the product and feature pages. Each feature now provides direct links to further information like user and admin manuals, explanatory videos and downloads. On the product pages, the features are organized according to how they add value to organizations such as internal collaboration or how annoying email attachments can be replaced by ownCloud links to files and folders.
Easier than ever: Downloads for desktop and mobile apps got a massive upgrade with the new website
New design elements
Corporate identity in language and visual imagery is easy when it comes to selling IRL B2C products like shoes or tortilla chips. We can touch the product, smell it, taste it, hear it and perceive it through more than one sense. It is more difficult with B2B software based on complex principles like open source and digital sovereignty. So we introduce new design elements: We have developed a new modular graphics library to represent our software and processes in an abstract but not emotionally distanced way. It allows us to confer feeling for our software that is both unique but also communicates that we mean business, in the 2020 B2B digital environment sense.
Find the right package for your needs: Choose between the Community Edition, the Enterprise Edition and our SaaS offering
What’s next?
In the coming weeks, we will present you our new Beta & Testing program, describe details about our upcoming new user interface and also continue to translate our website into German, Italian and Spanish. We have a whole new chapter coming up, be sure to check for ownCloud news in the fall.
Thank you so much to everyone involved in the relaunch of the new website, the whole team and especially to Achim Geissel for the graphical and technical realization!
