Digital Experience Platforms: Closed Vs. Open Source DXP Solutions

The typical marketing mindset often goes something like this.

If we build great experiences, customers will come knocking on our door, buy more of our products and services and share those experiences with friends or anyone who cares to listen.

There’s truth to this. In fact, research shows that more than 70% of consumers will share a positive customer experience with 6 or more people, and improving your CX can boost revenue by 10-15%.

The trick, though, is actually improving those experiences in ways that are relevant and personal – because a lot of customers still feel let down by the brands they use. While new technologies have done a lot to streamline customer experiences, a lot of CX efforts are missing an essential human element.

So, the goal for CX-minded organizations should be to adopt technologies that humanize experiences by recognizing and addressing customer preferences and behaviors. The digital experience platform (DXP) is one such technology. But what exactly are DXPs?

They began, in a sense, as CMS platforms.

The Evolution of the Digital Experience Platform

Sustaining engagement depends on delivering content seamlessly across a lot of channels – including websites, email mobile apps, customer portals, social media and more. The growing number of devices involved in this effort make matters even more complicated; according to Deloitte’s 2023 Connected Consumer Survey, U.S. households have an average of over 20 connected devices of 13 different types – including smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, computers, smart speakers, TVs and more.

And content can’t just be delivered separately to each channel or device; it has to be consolidated into a seamless, connected and harmonious experience that informs, engages and guides consumers along their buying journey. Making this happen requires the right technology.

From CMS to DXP

The first type of tech to attempt multichannel experiences was the content management system (CMS). The first of these appeared in the late 80s and early 90s. Delivering manually created, static web page content, it’s fair to say we wouldn’t recognize these early CMSs as effective marketing tools today. But by the late 90s, organizations began to deliver dynamic content; this led to the emergence of the social web, which grew steadily with the help of user-generated content and the proliferation of mobile devices.

Over the next few years, the demand for personalized consumer engagement and in-depth business integration paved the way for Web Experience Management (WEM) solutions. WEM systems enabled organizations to collect engagement data, create user personas and made it possible to provide personalized experiences.

But WEM systems were exclusively created for marketing, so it was difficult to tether them to other technology systems like CRMs or ERP software. WEM systems also failed to take into consideration the emergence of additional customer touchpoints.

The need for greater integration led to the advent and adoption of headless, microservices architecture. This set the scene for the creation of Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs) that now provide seamless and holistic customer experience across different channels and devices.

What Is a Digital Experience Platform?

According to Gartner, “A digital experience platform (DXP) is an integrated set of core technologies that support the composition, management, delivery and optimization of contextualized digital experiences.”

DXPs resemble robust CMSs, but they take engagement to the next level – going beyond your website and content to connect with customers across every digital touchpoint. DXPs also carry out analytics, use data to optimize experiences, and help manage the entire customer relationship.

Given all they’re capable of, there’s a lot riding on your choice of DXP. There are two general categories to consider – proprietary DXPs or open source DXPs – each with benefits and challenges.

Choosing Between an Open DXP or a Closed DXP

Closed DXPs

A closed DXP offers tightly integrated components within a single platform. It strives to provide an end-to-end experience within itself. This may feel like the better choice – and could be, depending on your needs. But closed DXPs, while claiming to be all-encompassing, don’t always have the comprehensive capabilities you need – and leave little or no room for integration with external systems. Users may often find themselves performing auxiliary tasks – managing customizations, add-ons or complex upgrades to reach the goal of fully integrating their customers’ experiences.

Other closed DXP challenges include vendor lock-in, high costs, sluggish development cycles and closed codebases that make it hard to integrate with existing systems. Organizations are often faced with the tough choice of either gritting their teeth and bearing continual integration costs – or considering a transition to a new platform.

Open DXPs

An open-source DXP enjoys the flexibility of integrating with best-of-breed products from a variety of vendors. They typically provide open APIs that allow other systems to simply and seamlessly connect and work with them.

Compared to closed DXPs or other long-established digital tech, open DXPs offer a highly inclusive technology ecosystem that provides a lot of capabilities right out of the box. They also offer much leaner, more modular architecture, making them highly customizable and extensible.

Why Open Source DXPs Are the Better Option.

The very premise of a DXP is that it should be able to meet the needs of your business and customers. You should never find yourself forced to realign your business goals and customer needs to fit an inflexible platform.

More Benefits of Open DXPs

They’re conducive to innovation

An open-source DXP provides you with the elbow room to amalgamate and customize different components from the cream of the crop of technology vendors. Components are easily interchangeable and enable you to customize the platform according to your needs.

They enable enhanced personalization

Open-source DXPs provide extensive integrations with external systems and channels, such as CRMs, social media platforms and customer service platforms. They offer a granular and comprehensive view of each customer through intuitive dashboards and AI-powered analytics – helping you personalize your customers’ experiences.

They deliver content seamlessly and fluidly

Open source DXPs leverage headless CMS and microservices architecture to ensure that the same content is delivered across multiple channels. This flexibility allows you to develop and deploy relevant content where and when it’s needed.

They provide future-ready ambidexterity

Open source DXPs can easily integrate with new technologies, adapt to changing digital trends and enable you to instantly connect with audiences. As a result, you can roll out innovative customer experiences without breaking a sweat – or the bank.

Partner with Material to Make the Most of Your DXP

To fully connect with consumers and engage your audience, a digital experience platform is a must. A closed system might do the trick – but proprietary DXPs can be limiting and costly.

If you’re struggling with a closed system – or just want to learn more about open-source DXP options – reach out. Material can help you decide what kind of digital experience solution matches your needs and goals – as well as develop, deploy and maintain an open-source DXP customized to your business.

Find out what it’s like to be unshackled by technology. Get in touch with Material today. Let’s start the conversation.