Marks & Clerk
Supporting a global leader in intellectual property
Connecting technology and thought leadership through Umbraco and Passle
Overview
Marks & Clerk is an international intellectual property firm, helping businesses protect, manage and maximise the value of their ideas and innovations.
With expertise spanning patents, trade marks and wider intellectual property services, the firm's website plays an important role in communicating its capabilities, showcasing its people and sharing specialist knowledge with clients and prospective clients.
For a business built on expertise, thought leadership is a particularly valuable part of its digital presence. Articles, commentary and industry insights help demonstrate the knowledge of its specialists while keeping audiences informed about developments in intellectual property.
When Marks & Clerk needed a digital partner to take responsibility for its existing website, Quba stepped in to provide the technical expertise needed to modernise the platform and improve how content was managed and presented.
Modernising an established platform without starting again
Marks & Clerk's website was built on Umbraco, but the existing implementation needed upgrading to ensure the platform could continue to meet the organisation's requirements.
Running on an older version of the CMS meant the business wasn't benefiting from the latest platform improvements, security updates and content management capabilities.
The challenge was to upgrade the underlying technology while protecting the existing website, its content and the experience of its users.
Alongside this, Marks & Clerk wanted to improve how it managed and published thought leadership.
Content was being handled across Umbraco and Passle, a specialist platform designed to help professional services organisations create and share expert insights.
This created an opportunity to bring the two systems closer together, streamline publishing processes and provide a more consistent experience for visitors.
Taking ownership of the existing website
Our first priority was to understand the existing Umbraco implementation and establish a clear approach to its ongoing development.
Rather than recommending a complete rebuild, we focused on protecting Marks & Clerk's existing investment while addressing the technical changes needed to support its future requirements.
Taking responsibility for an established website meant working carefully with the existing codebase, content structure and functionality to ensure improvements could be introduced without unnecessary disruption.
Upgrading the Umbraco platform
A key part of our work was upgrading the website from Umbraco 8 to a more modern version of the CMS.
This involved migrating the existing codebase to the newer .NET architecture and updating the underlying database and application components.
The upgrade was planned around maintaining continuity for the live website, with development and testing taking place separately before deployment.
By modernising the technical foundation, we helped Marks & Clerk move away from an ageing CMS implementation and establish a more maintainable platform for ongoing development.
Connecting Umbraco and Passle
The next major challenge was improving the way Marks & Clerk managed its thought leadership content.
We integrated Passle Enterprise with Umbraco, enabling articles, news and expert commentary to be synchronised into the main website.
Rather than maintaining separate publishing processes, Passle became the central source for this content, with Umbraco responsible for presenting it as part of the wider website experience.
This approach brought together the strengths of both platforms: Passle's specialist content publishing capabilities and Umbraco's flexibility as the website's CMS.
The integration also replaced existing import functionality, simplifying the way content moved between the two systems.
Creating a more consistent experience for thought leadership
The integration wasn't simply about transferring content between platforms. It also provided an opportunity to improve how visitors discovered and engaged with Marks & Clerk's expertise.
We refined the structure and presentation of the website's thought leadership content, bringing greater consistency to articles and expert commentary.
Updated article layouts introduced more prominent author profiles, clearer content presentation and additional opportunities for users to interact with and share insights.
We also enhanced the way content could be organised and discovered, bringing together different types of thought leadership under a more cohesive experience.
Topic-based filtering, search functionality and improved content categorisation helped make the firm's extensive knowledge more accessible to its audiences.
Supporting a more efficient publishing process
Behind the scenes, the integration was designed to reduce duplication and make content management more straightforward.
By synchronising content from Passle into Umbraco, Marks & Clerk could manage its thought leadership through a more consistent publishing workflow while maintaining its presence within the main corporate website.
The approach also supported the migration of existing content and the preservation of established website links through redirects.
Together, these improvements created a more joined-up approach to publishing, managing and presenting the firm's specialist knowledge.
A modern platform with a more connected content experience
Through our partnership, Quba has helped Marks & Clerk modernise its existing website and strengthen the connection between its digital platform and thought leadership activity.
The Umbraco upgrade provided a more up-to-date technical foundation, while the Passle integration brought articles, news and expert insights into a more unified publishing experience.
For the firm's content teams, this means a more streamlined approach to managing thought leadership. For website visitors, it means a more consistent way to discover relevant expertise, explore specialist topics and engage with the people behind the insights.
By building on the existing platform rather than replacing it, we helped Marks & Clerk protect its digital investment while introducing meaningful improvements to both technology and content management.
The result is a more modern, connected digital platform that makes it easier for Marks & Clerk to share its expertise and supports the firm's ongoing digital ambitions.
Let’s move you forward
Are your digital experiences holding you back in some way, or do you need to propel the business forward, quickly?
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