by Bluegrass Digital CEO Nick Durrant
A growing number of CIOs are recognising the benefits of composable DXPs, it enables their organisations to select and connect the most appropriate solutions to deliver localised content and personalised digital experiences to end users. Composable DXP also underpins the omnichannel and international growth strategies of their enterprise clients as they seek to future-proof their tech stack.
By taking a composable approach, they are no longer constrained by single-vendor solutions and can introduce fresh tools that allow them to respond more quickly and efficiently to customer requirements and market opportunities.
Digital experience platforms (DXP) emerged in response to customer demand for streamlined, personalised interactions, that provide a consistent experience across organisations’ websites, apps and other digital touchpoints. First to market were the monolithic DXPs from Adobe, SAP, Salesforce and Oracle.
These platforms go beyond content management systems (CMS) to deliver CRM, digital asset management (DAM), product information management (PIM), analytics and reporting, within a comprehensive solution.
However, users pay for the full DXP functionality even if they only require certain elements. Delivering new business capabilities, in response to market changes and opportunities, usually requires extensive customisation and integration work.
The impact on speed, cost and flexibility has led a growing percentage of companies to adopt composable DXPs. It allows them to select and connect a blend of best-of-breed technologies that are optimised to deliver the required business capabilities, with the flexibility to add more, or different elements in response to changing business and customer demands.
Composable architecture allows businesses to capitalise on market opportunities, rapidly deliver services across a range of digital touchpoints, and deliver premium user experiences.
According to Gartner, by 2023, 60% of mainstream organisations will list composable business as a strategic objective and will use an increasing number of packaged business capabilities (PBCs). Also, 60% of them will seek composability in new application investments.
In the study titled ‘Adopt a Composable DXP Strategy to Future-Proof Your Tech Stack’, it states that by 2023, organisations that have adopted an intelligent composable approach will outpace competition by 80% in the speed of new feature implementation.
Why APIs underpin composable DXP strategies
DXP extends the functionality of a traditional CMS, going beyond traditional websites to integrate CRM, PIM, DAM and analytics for personalisation and localisation. This could mean offering content in the right language; products in the correct currency; and payment gateways aligned with local preferences.
Packaged business capabilities, connected by APIs that secure and exchange data between modules, form the foundation of composable enterprises. API-connected components allow businesses to select and combine the technologies that most effectively meet their current business and technical requirements.
More importantly, APIs allow individual DXP elements to be retired and replaced, without requiring extensive integration or full migration to a new platform. This provides greater flexibility as businesses grow and adapt to changing market demands. It also helps to ensure that all DXP elements are optimised to deliver the best user experience (UX).
Which technologies are typically being combined?
Umbraco’s open-source CMS was developed to make it simpler, faster, and more intuitive to deliver content. Because it’s open source, businesses can choose from thousands of community-created CMS extensions to tailor the digital experience for their customers. This lies at the heart of our composable DXP, which works with several best-of-breed integrations.
To provide premium UX, maximum flexibility and platform extensibility, common best-of-breed integrations that we’re seeing from our digital agency partners include Umbraco and UCommerce, HubSpot, Bynder and Vendr, as described in the examples below.
Who is already using composable DXP? Putting it into practice
Bluegrass has been applying the composable microservices architecture to many of its solutions in recent years. What makes Umbraco flexible, is its extensibility and we take full advantage of its API to enable the integration of headless functionality into projects.
We used this to good effect with our project for The Index Standard, a new index ratings platform. We utilised Umbraco API connecting with various data sources, 3rd party payment integrations to provide a secure portal in order to allow customers to search tools to access ratings and financial data, supported by content served through Umbraco.
Adopting a composable approach allowed The Index Standard to future proof itself and meet its need for digital expansion, while also providing the flexibility to separate the web environment and allowing for content to be delivered to different digital channels in the future.
The flexible CMS that grows with your business
The digital landscape is changing at an ever-increasing pace and for businesses to succeed in the future, everything needs to be flexible. DXP has evolved from the need for more advanced features than what the traditional CMS offers. There are endless possibilities for Umbraco in a composable DXP setup.
With a composable DXP, organisations can avoid vendor lock-in from suite solutions. The composable DXP removes this issue, the platform is flexible and integrates the technologies to create the best customer experiences, whether you need a new payment method, personalisation engine, or CRM setup.
With Umbraco, digital agencies can now deliver business value for their customers – fast and efficiently through exceptional websites and integrated digital ecosystems. It is a future-proof, flexible and cost-effective open-source content management system that offers an intuitive editing experience, freedom for developers, and seamless integrations.
