- CLIENT
- WU Executive Academy
- SECTOR
- Executive education
- SCOPE
- CMS · Cloud · AI
- LAUNCH
- 2025
A future-ready portal for the Executive Academy.
strg.at:~$init --driven-by-humans --supported-by-ai
The website is the WU Executive Academy's most important sales channel. Together we rebuilt it — on a headless CMS with Storyblok and a cloud-native architecture on Google Cloud. The result is a future-ready, performant and editorially efficient portal that is clearer, more focused and converts better.
- Headless
- CMS built on Storyblok
- DE · EN
- Bilingual portal
- Cloud
- Google Cloud, autoscaling
- AI
- in the editorial workflow
About the client
The continuing education of WU Vienna
The WU Executive Academy runs the continuing-education programmes of WU Vienna (the Vienna University of Economics and Business). Its website serves very different groups: prospective and current students, alumni and faculty, as well as corporate clients. For all of them the site is the central entry point — and at the same time the Academy's most important sales channel.
01The challenge
An ageing system that no longer met requirements — and a sales channel that lacked clarity and conversion focus.
02The approach
Analysis and workshops with every user group, then a clean separation of backend and frontend — headless with Storyblok, cloud-native on Google Cloud.
03The outcome
Faster, higher-quality publishing for the team and a clearer, more focused and better-converting portal with stable growth.
The starting point
A relaunch built to last for years
The previous relaunch was several years back, and the existing system could no longer meet the requirements. What was needed: a fresh design and modern tooling, flexible extensibility for the years to come, plus clean system integrations, GDPR compliance and accessibility. On top of that, as the most important sales channel the site lacked the necessary clarity and conversion focus.
Adding to the complexity, several IT transitions were running in parallel — among them a simultaneous rebuild of the CRM and the form logic. The relaunch therefore had to fit into a fast-moving technical environment without putting operations at risk.
The approach
First understand, then decouple
It began with a detailed analysis of the current state. In workshops with the different user groups — prospective students, students, alumni, faculty and internal teams — we developed personas and prioritised features. That made it clear what mattered and which content genuinely helps which audience.
Separating backend and frontend was a logical step for the Academy. It creates the flexibility to move content quickly without rebuilding the frontend — and gives both sides the room to evolve independently of one another.
The architecture
Headless with Storyblok, cloud-native on Google Cloud
The content management system is the cloud-native, component-based Storyblok. It lets content be moved and recomposed quickly without rebuilding the frontend. The decoupled frontend runs on Google Cloud and scales automatically — crucial around application deadlines, when load spikes sharply.
Security was part of the architecture from the start: integrated DDoS protection and automated security mechanisms are part of the baseline. And because the Academy addresses both a national and an international audience, the portal is fully bilingual in German and English.
AI in the editorial workflow
AI that takes real work off the editors' desks
STRG.AT works on topics that are strategically important to the Academy — semantics and AI-supported mechanisms. In the portal, AI now provides tangible relief for the editorial team: automated translations, text summarisation and alt-text generation. Content can be published faster and at higher quality — and SEO optimisation is embedded directly into the workflow.
The website is our most important sales channel. Today it is clearer, more focused and converts better.
Podcast
In conversation: how the WU Executive Academy rebuilt its portal on Storyblok — and what that means in practice.
Impact
What the relaunch moves
- Headless
Storyblok CMS
Component-based and cloud-native.
- Cloud
Google Cloud · autoscaling
Scales with application-deadline peaks.
- DE · EN
Bilingual
For a national and international audience.
- AI
Editorial workflow
Translation, summarisation, alt-texts.
Closing
Set up for the future.
Since launch the portal has been growing steadily and positively, and organic visibility has improved — right down to geo-specific search. Internally, the team describes the difference to the old solution as "day and night". With Storyblok and the chosen cloud architecture, the WU Executive Academy feels set up for the years ahead — and STRG.AT did not just implement, but actively challenged the work with a clear product and conversion perspective.
Read more
STRG.magazine
Let's talk about your project
Want to rebuild your most important sales channel?
From current-state analysis to a headless CMS and cloud architecture to an AI-supported editorial workflow — we know the path to a future-ready, conversion-strong portal.