The Essential Guide to Selecting a Web CMS for Your DXP: Powering Digital Transformation Success

Digital channels open up a world of possibilities for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), allowing them to reach wider audiences and better engage with customers. A Composable Digital Business Platform, especially a Composable Digital Experience Platform (DXP), provides the backbone for successful digital transformation. At the heart of a DXP lies a powerful Web Content Management System (WebCMS) that empowers you to create compelling content, seamlessly integrate tools, and deliver engaging experiences across all channels. Here are the essential attributes to consider when choosing your DXP's WebCMS foundation

1. Accelerating Global Reach and Digital Initiatives 

For global expansion and rapid deployment of new initiatives, your WebCMS should be adaptable and scalable:

• Multilingual Capabilities: Ensure your platform supports seamless translation of content and interface elements. This is necessary for targeting international audiences. A university we worked with provides a compelling example of how multilingual support increased global engagement.
• Multisite Architecture: Efficiently manage multiple websites, brands, or regions within one centralized platform. The Arizona Government Transformation Office (GTO) is a good example of how a well-structured multisite approach can provide tailored experiences while maintaining centralized control.
• Recipes and Distributions: Utilize pre-built packages of functionality to standardize site features or industry-specific content models, speeding up the launch process. The news portal we created, utilizing a Drupal distribution named Thunder, enabled us to launch it within a month.
• Automated Testing: Confidently deploy changes and updates across your entire digital ecosystem with the assurance that everything works across browsers, devices, and languages. WebCMS like Drupal comes with a modern PHP unit testing framework. It is also possible to integrate behavioral testing tools like Behat and functional testing tools like Playwright, Selenium or Cypress.

2. Seamless Integration with Your Digital Tools 

A well-integrated Digital Experience Platform (DXP) seamlessly connects core business applications with customer-facing experiences. The integration and API capabilities of your Web Content Management System (WebCMS) are crucial in determining its suitability for building the DXP you envision. Such integration facilitates streamlined communication between your WebCMS, Customer Relationship Management systems (CRMs), analytics tools, and other enterprise applications, ensuring data consistency and automating workflows.

• Composable Architecture: A composable DXP embraces a "best-of-breed" approach. This means you can select specialized tools for functions like marketing automation, personalization, or analytics, and integrate them seamlessly into your platform. This flexibility allows you to tailor your DXP to your unique business needs without being locked into a rigid, monolithic system. 
• Single Sign-On (SSO): Simplifies user logins and reduces security risks for accessing multiple systems within your DXP, improving both user and administrator experiences.
• API First: Connect external systems to your WebCMS for data exchange, enabling the creation of dashboards, reports, and other tailored visualizations of your most valuable customer insights. 

3. Empowering Business Users for Agility and Innovation 

A DXP should put power in the hands of business users to make data-driven decisions. This fosters an environment of experimentation and continuous improvement.

• User-Friendly Content Authoring: Intuitive interfaces and content creation tools minimize training overhead, enabling business teams to quickly update web assets and launch targeted campaigns. Modern WYSIWYG editors, such as CKEditor5, along with AI integrations, page builders like Gutenberg, and Layout Managers, reduce dependency on the engineering team and empower marketing and communication teams to build pages as needed.
• Advanced Workflows: Advanced Workflows: The ability to create and automate business process workflows is an important feature that every organization looks for in the DXPs they choose to use. This includes form automation, content workflows, email/message notifications, and more. CMS platforms like Drupal offer contributed modules such as Views, Events, Conditions, Actions (ECA), etc., which enable the creation of workflows and data presentation without the need for writing code.
• Personalized Content Display: Personalized Content Display empowers business owners to tailor aspects of their web presence, providing dynamic, contextualized experiences designed to meet the unique needs of different audience segments. This approach enhances user engagement by delivering relevant content and significantly improves conversion rates by aligning with the specific interests and behaviors of visitors. We have implemented a personalization engine that uses a privacy focused approach to show messages that are relevant to the visitors. Here are some example use cases on how personalization can be useful in the context of a DXP.

4. Omnichannel Experiences for Customer Engagement 

A DXP delivers a cohesive brand experience regardless of how customers interact with your organization. These omnichannel capabilities are essential to build customer loyalty in today's world of multiple devices and touchpoints. Your WebCMS plays a key role in achieving this:

• Multichannel Content Distribution: Robust APIs within your CMS empower you to seamlessly distribute content across your website, mobile apps, in-store kiosks, specialized front-end applications, and even partner websites. This ensures that your message remains consistent and engaging across all channels.
• API-First Approach: By prioritizing APIs, your WebCMS serves as a central content repository that can be easily accessed by other systems. This enables you to create specialized front-end applications, pull curated content into external platforms, and dynamically adapt content for specific devices or channels.
• Decoupled CMS Architecture: Separating content storage from presentation allows for flexible front-ends tailored to different devices and platforms. This ensures your brand message remains consistent while the user experience is optimally adapted to each channel, providing a seamless journey for your customers, regardless of how they choose to engage.

Strategic Alignment for DXP Success

While focusing on the technical features of your WebCMS is essential, remember that it's just one piece of the puzzle. To maximize the impact of your DXP investment, ensure your choice of WebCMS strategically aligns with your organization's overall digital transformation goals. Consider these questions:

• Customer Centricity: Does your chosen WebCMS offer flexible content modeling capabilities, personalization options, and seamless integration with CRM and analytics tools? These features are essential to deliver the tailored, data-driven experiences modern customers demand.
• Operational Efficiency:  Choose a WebCMS with intuitive workflows, automation capabilities, and user-friendly interfaces. Empowering business users with these tools streamlines content management processes, freeing up IT resources to focus on innovation and long-term strategic initiatives.
• Agility and Innovation: Prioritize a WebCMS with an active community, a commitment to open standards, and the flexibility for extensive customization. This adaptability allows you to experiment with new tools, launch initiatives efficiently, and keep up with the evolving digital landscape.
• Cost Control: Opt for a free and open-source CMS to eliminate recurring licensing costs and minimize your total cost of ownership. This approach grants you more financial flexibility for continuous improvement and strategic investments.
• Avoid Vendor Lock-In: An FOSS CMS gives you the freedom to choose the technologies and service providers that best suit your needs. You won't be tied to a single vendor's roadmap or pricing structure, ensuring greater control over the evolution of your platform.
• Flexibility for Customization: Free and Open-source solutions offer extensive customization possibilities. You can tailor the CMS extensively to align perfectly with your unique business requirements, creating a truly differentiated digital experience.

To choose a WebCMS to build your DXP that aligns with your overall digital goals. Ask yourself:

Will it help me implement strategies to increase traffic, drive engagement, boost conversions, improve customer satisfaction, and support the long-term growth of my business?

We can help you select the right WebCMS that supports your business goals for your website revamp project.  Contact us today!