What is the difference between a Content Management System (CMS) and a DXP?

Whether you’re building a website, redesigning an existing one or undergoing a complete digital transformation, you will need to determine which type of platform will best suit your needs. Here are the main differences between a CMS and a DXP:

Content Management System

A content management system is software that allows you to create and manage text and images for desktop and mobile websites. Some of the most popular are WordPress, SquareSpace, Drupal, Joomla, Shopify, Wix, Hubspot and Blogger. A CMS is comprised of two layers: content and code. Before the CMS came along, you had to build and update web pages using a coding language like HTML, Javascript or CSS. With a CMS, you don’t need to be a developer to produce and update content on your website.

Digital Experience Platform

A digital experience platform takes it several steps further to help you create an optimal customer experience. A DXP allows you to create a fully integrated digital experience across multiple channels and devices through the entire customer journey. With a DXP you can adapt content for multiple devices to create a seamless multichannel customer experience. While on the backend, technical and content-driven users can work more efficiently within a single, integrated system.

Why would I need a DXP?

Many companies use a straightforward CMS that meets their business needs. But as these businesses grow, they often find their CMS can’t keep up and upgrading the system still doesn’t address their needs. From lacking the ability to optimize, limited commerce capabilities, and compatibility issues that prevent the CMS from connecting with other parts of the business, there are many areas where a CMS can fall short. A digital experience platform can deliver CMS, commerce and data management functionality, making it the perfect solution for a number of business needs.

• Not sure if a DXP is right for your business? Here are a few examples of when you would need a DXP:
• Undergoing a major digital transformation, where interoperability, data integrity and data flows are paramount.
• Executing an omnichannel digital experience that is truly seamless.
• Preparing to automate several customer-facing processes, such as marketing.
• Looking to support a new platform business model where the business IS the product, in which case a DXP could provide robust functionality without the cost of custom development.

What are the benefits of a DXP?

Content management systems are commonplace but they have their limitations. If your current system is cumbersome and it’s difficult to update content across platforms or you’re looking to create a more personalized and seamless user experience across your digital assets, then it’s time to look into a digital experience platform. Here are a few of the advantages to a DXP:

Integrations

While plug-ins for your CMS are great, too many can cause your site to slow down or break. DXPs are built for more elaborate marketing frameworks. DXPs offer flexible architecture that allows for a more seamless and smooth integration of various channels to create a true omnichannel experience. With a DXP, you also have the possibility of integrating the customer-facing experience with other business process systems such as the ERP, Logistics, WMS, and so on.

Scalability

A DXP allows you to add multiple instances to your platform without involving your IT department or sacrificing on-site speed and performance. For example, it offers the scalability to support multi-sites or multiple languages within a site, as well as the scalability of content assets such as generating one image into multiple sizes across the platform.

Personalization and Customization

A DXP is designed to be fully customizable to meet your digital workflow needs. It can also integrate with other software, which allows you to gather customer insights at every touchpoint and then use that data to personalize the customer experience.

Analytics

When you have everything running from one centralized hub, you are able to gather insights from all of your consumer touchpoints in one location. This connectivity means you can obtain deeper insights with customer data gathered from multiple sources and then leverage this data to personalize content, define and customize user journeys and fine-tune marketing executions.

If you have a comprehensive marketing strategy that requires the management of personalized user experiences across multiple channels, you will significantly benefit from a digital experience platform. Contact us to learn more about how we can create a customized DXP to optimize your content management processes and improve your customers’ digital experience.