What Is a Composable DXP? (+ 3 Benefits)

A composable DXP - or a composable digital experience platform - is a platform that allows businesses to choose their ideal technical tools to create engaging digital experiences best suited for their target audiences. It offers flexibility, technological freedom, agility, and customer-based operations superior to the capabilities offered by traditional systems.

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Flexibility is key to a business approach that can survive the modern world. If you’re working with a system that’s too static, you could be compromising your ability to compete in the modern day and age. That’s where a composable DXP comes in. Simple yet effective, this approach can do away with meaningless limitations to create a system that can best support your organization’s goals.

What is a composable DXP?

A composable DXP – also known as a composable digital experience platform or composable architecture – is a system that allows a modular approach to delivering digital experiences across many channels. It does so by utilizing a microservices architecture, combining best-of-breed solutions via APIs.

That means instead of lumping all of your programs into a single vendor as you see with monolithic DXPs, you’re free to pick and choose each one to assure it’s the right tool for the job. Each of these individual programs, or business use-based groups of programs known as Packaged Business Capabilities (PBCs), remains independent. However, they can still work together through the use of APIs. That means you can assemble a curated group of tools for your organization, avoiding the need to compromise functionality or communication in any way.

How does a composable DXP relate to headless CMS?

As for how a composable DXP relates to a headless CMS, headless CMSs are also based on APIs. That way, each tool related to content management can communicate with the others without being naturally tied together. As such, the PBCs found within a composable DXP will also rely on the flexibility of a headless CMS to do their jobs properly. The ability to seamlessly integrate new tools or swap out old ones is key to both.

Together, they can create ideal customer experiences thanks to a hyper-customized microservices approach: Headless separates the content management procedures from the presentation layer. The backend, the content repository, is then accessible through APIs. Composable DXP uses these APIs to deliver experiences across channels for maximum exposure and efficacy.

3 benefits of a composable DXP

Composable architecture is an important part of running a flexible system. Here are a few concrete benefits that opting for this option can offer you.

1. Full flexibility and freedom

Best-of-breed is a term used to refer to a system that you can build component by component. Instead of one out-of-the-box program that has to do everything, you can pick and choose individual programs for individual tasks. This gives you the freedom to accomplish your goals without having to compromise.

Monolithic systems don't offer best-of-breed functionality. Thanks to this, they provide easy all-in-one operations, but they’re also totally inflexible – so if something about that package doesn’t work for you, you can’t simply replace it.

With composable DXP, you’re not limited to this. You can instead choose the most suitable tools for all of your needs, whether they be analytics, ecommerce, automation, and so on.

For example, let’s say you’re running an online store. You find one program that offers a checkout process you like, but the storefront and stocking functions leave something to be desired. You don’t have to settle with composable DXP – simply find three programs that get the job done as you want it in three different ways and integrate them into your system. They’ll still be able to work together seamlessly like programs an all-in-one would, but while providing the best functionality available.

2. Agile implementation

Simply put, you can’t afford to be slow these days. With so much competition offering blazing-fast performance, every second counts. You don’t want to waste time struggling with trying to work around a static system – or even worse, having to take your site offline because you have to overhaul your entire system just to make one simple change. The flexible structure of a composable DXP makes these challenges things of the past.

Here’s another example: Let’s say you’re using a composable DXP already. You’ve chosen a PBC to manage customer data. However, you’re finding that it isn’t as helpful as you were hoping. Swapping out this program with a new one is effortless thanks to APIs, meaning you can start collecting that essential user data without missing a beat during the transition. You can do this as many times as you like – with such little time required, innovating is as fast as it is easy.

Side-stepping the monolithic structure by choosing individual programs also means that you’ll avoid vendor lock-in. You’ll be able to avoid dealing with technology that is incompatible with other providers, thus saving you substantial amounts of time, energy, and resources if and when you want to make a switch.

Moreover, agile implementation is cost-efficient. By not paying for an all-in-one solution, you’ll only be investing in the programs you’ll actually use, so you’re not overspending unnecessarily. This also leaves you with more resources to re-invest in technology that will better serve your purposes, maximizing your value.

3. Customer-oriented structure

Providing customers with a high-quality user experience is more important now than ever. The Temkin group found that the correlation between customer experience and repurchasing is very high. That means capturing users effectively helps in the short term and in the long term. Composable architecture offers the opportunity to meet these needs.

This is because composable DXP doesn’t limit you. You’re free to add on countless integrations and front-facing channels that you need to capture conversions. For instance, you may find that more and more of your users are online at a certain time. If you want to maximize your reach, you can integrate a new program that collects information on when most users are visiting your site. That way, you can plan on releasing your content when it will be most effective.

This structure is future-thinking, too. Composable DXP’s use of APIs means that it’s ready to integrate unlimited new technology – even programs that may not exist yet! That means you can set yourself up to meet new customer needs before they even know to expect a solution. Having the freedom to accommodate users quickly and seamlessly like this can play a large role in your success.

Additionally, personalization also comes into play here. Composable DXP’s reliance on APIs means it can connect multiple different data sources. You can then use the combined information from all of them to form a full picture of your customers: what they like, what they don’t, and how you can provide them with the most enjoyable experience possible. The result is seamless omnichannel experiences that help your users engage with your brand as easily and frequently as possible.

Is it time to switch to a composable DXP?

Composable DXP frees your organization from the traditional constraints of a monolithic system so that it can be the best version of itself. If you’re finding that your system isn’t doing what it needs to do and you’re ready to broaden your horizons, then switching to one that uses composable architecture can be a very smart move. You’ll likely find that best-of-breed allows your business to perform at its best ability.

However, it’s also important to remember that using a composable DXP requires some time and effort. You need to find the programs that work well and understand how to best leverage them with other best-of-breed tools. The work is usually worth it for the results, but if you simply don’t have the time or resources, taking it on may not be in your best interest.

Consulting with potential providers can also give you an idea of what this technology can do for your organization, so don’t be afraid to reach out.

Key takeaways

Ultimately, composable DXPs are the wave of the future. Quickly integrating new technologies that are specialized for their function will be key to keeping up as digital tools evolve and customer expectations rise. Choosing a system that can grow with your business will be essential to remaining competitive regardless of which market you’re in.