Vendor messaging of “the composable DXP” is not resonating, especially when the portfolio of capabilities varies widely across vendors. It turns out that securing credibility as a provider of a digital experience platform (DXP) requires more than appending the word “composable” to the name. In 2023, vendors lost time before retracing their steps to more conventional (and procurement-friendly) labels such as CMS (content management system). In 2024, they rebuilt their lead-gen campaigns to develop and nurture new pipelines.

Why Overselling CMS Didn’t Work

Perhaps it’s because tech buyers who bake know that the flour alone isn’t the cake. The cake is the cake — it could be as simple as that. A flour vendor selling the idea of “the composable cake” isn’t necessarily wrong. They can sell the idea that they can be one great ingredient, but doing so obfuscates the fact that they alone don’t sell the ingredients that the baker needs to buy; that’s the baker’s frustration.

Architecturally astute enterprises (that play the role of the architects of their own DXP) were already buying CMSes as part their composed platforms. They didn’t need new messaging. The next wave of buyers want more “in the box” with less DIY — personalization capabilities are a prime example in the CMS space, but don’t tip the scales into DXP territory.

What Would “A Composable DXP” Vendor Offering Look Like?

A composable DXP solution from a vendor must have all of the following attributes:

    • A CMS solution for orchestrating digital experience delivery
    • Two or three of the following: an e-commerce solution, a marketing automation solution, and/or a CRM or customer data platform solution
    • The ability to implement the modules over time
    • Turnkey integrations between the modules
    • Cloud architecture
    • A framework for integrating with products from other vendors

This is a tall order. For a vendor, it requires substantial R&D to build it, must have a partner ecosystem to sustain it, and takes years for an enterprise to implement all of these solutions.

We argue that many enterprises already have composed DXPs. Replatforming to another composable DXP would require a highly compelling business case — another tall order.

The Distinction Between CMS And DXP

  • A CMS is part of a DXP — it is the orchestrator of digital experiences.
  • A DXP is much more than a CMS — it’s customer data, content, marketing, and/or commerce in one integrated (yet loosely coupled) portfolio from one vendor.

CMS and DXP terminology and capabilities:

CMS capabilities: content generation, repository, experience delivery, editorial workflows, orchestration (experimentation and personalization)

DXP capabilities: Data (to understand customers), content (that constitutes the experience), marketing (to fit the content to the context), and commerce (to deliver value) — these experiences support customer engagement across the entire customer lifecycle and integrate with applications that similarly support the customer experience (e.g., sales clouds, service clouds, etc.).

Traditional DXP: monolithic, tightly coupled, pre-cloud data, content, marketing, commerce

Composable DXP: Modular, cloud-native data, content, marketing, and commerce — relative to traditional DXPs, they are more flexible, scalable, and upgrade painlessly.

The role of the DXP architect:

You can buy your DXP from a vendor. Your DXP vendor plays the role of lead architect, integrating its capabilities and providing guidance on how to extend the architecture to accommodate its technology partners and others outside that ecosystem. You are likely to need capabilities that neither your vendor nor its partner ecosystem offers.

You can compose your DXP. You play the role of lead architect, integrating all your vendors’ capabilities and creating your own guidance on how your developers extend your architecture.

Content And Experience Operations Deliver The Strategy (By Using The Platform)

Optimal ways of working look different in each organization. Creating brand experiences across every touchpoint (digital, hybrid, or in person) requires people across organizational boundaries to collaborate and harmonize ideas before they go to customers. Once customers engage, the feedback generated by those engagements must inform the next iteration of the experience. The speed of the technology enables teams to iterate faster (to minimize derailing mistakes, amplify successful characteristics, and to identify new, unmet audience needs). And this is before generative AI designs the next iteration of the experience for customers automatically.

If you need help understanding how to select your vendor-provided DXP or architect your own DXP, let’s talk. Schedule an inquiry or guidance session with myself or Chuck Gahun to talk about how you can use our latest Forrester Wave™ evaluation to drive the selection of your CMS, digital asset management, product information management, commerce, or DXP provider. We can ensure that it aligns with your strategic commitment to the pursuit of continuously improving business results through technology.

Forrester clients can also read our report, Case Study: Wiley Unifies Its Digital Subscription Portfolio By Architecting Its Own Digital Experience Platform.