If you’re not the first to reach your customers with products and services, you’re spoon-feeding them to your competition. Arriving to the party late (even if you’re wearing your most dazzling outfit) will only bore your customers. They’ve seen it all before. It only takes hearing about something five times for it to lose its sparkle.
Your competitor might have a substandard product, but they could very well dominate the market (i.e., your market) simply by getting there first. While you’re playing catch-up, they’re making a name for themselves as the industry leader.
That’s not to say you should rush things to market before they’re market-worthy; rather, fix your technology and your processes so they are actively supporting you in getting to market smarter and faster than ever before.
In the words of Napoleon, “Dress me slowly, I’m in a hurry.” Less haste, more speed. Become so technology supported that you can’t help but be first on the scene.
Getting to market fast isn’t about speed
Here are seven reasons DXPs will help you get to market at the best time.
1. DXPs are built to integrate: API-first
One of the biggest hurdles of moving to new software is integrating. All those third-party tools you’ve come to love (and hate) somehow all have to talk to your new platform in a way that doesn’t completely miss the point of migrating.
So your IT department spends countless hours integrating multiple tools, only for Marketing to still have to go to three different places to get a clear picture of your customer. And when a tool upgrades, all that hard work could be rendered redundant.
A DXP is built on API-first methodology. This means it’s designed to integrate with virtually anything, even if your data is hidden deep within your CRM. If it’s API-able, it’s integrate-able.
Easy integration with third-party tools means your developers can get your systems up and running much faster and spend all that saved time on getting your offering into the hands of your customers.
2. Modular by name, flexible by nature
Good CMS platforms offer some really great out-of-the-box functionality that can support you in providing good customer experiences and in delivering sophisticated marketing to your well-deserving consumers.
Too many tools, however, can have you paying for the pleasure of sifting through hundreds of fancy bells and whistles you don’t really require (on an overburdened system) to find the few you actually need. And there’s always the question of whether a platform offering everything plus the kitchen sink could possibly offer best-of-breed quality in them all. How good are the tools that really matter to you?
The modular architecture of a DXP means you choose which functionalities you want to pay for and who provides it to you. And ease of integration means you can change your mind whenever you like, mixing and blending your way to your perfect soup of success. No vendor lock-in or settling for less than the best in what you need.
This gives you the agility, flexibility, and scalability you need as a growing company to get your campaigns and products out there pronto.
3. One centralized hub for all channels
One of the great things about an all-in-one CMS is that everything you need is in one place: content creation, workflows, a data repository, marketing tools, your CRM… even e-commerce and online marketing tools worth their salt.
Everyone in the organization is working from the same page inside one system. Adoption is easy and the team quickly benefits from increased efficiency and productivity.
You are, however, limited to the offerings of your vendor. If any device or channel (here and now or yet to be developed) is not supported, your customer reach is limited. And after difficult integrations with the third-party tools that hook it all up for you, there’s no guarantee your data won’t sit in silos again.
As you know, a DXP is designed to integrate with all your favorite tools, and to interpret, merge, collate, and present all data across all of them in one place. Each customer gets his own profile, populated with data from all channels and devices, helping you get personalized experiences to them in real time!
DXPs are basically begging for new innovations to hit the mainstream so they can show off their API-first benefits. When the new “This is Me” t-shirt comes out—where a user’s photos, social interactions, and favorite hashtags are used to influence content digitally displayed on the front of their t-shirt (made up by me, but a totally awesome idea)—you’ll want to be there first. And with a DXP, you can be.
Future. Proof.
4. Productivity multiplied with decoupled architecture
Sorry to harp on about architecture, but like they say: It’s not about working faster, it’s about having a system that allows you to work smarter.
Unlike a traditional CMS, a DXP has a decoupled architecture, meaning that the functionality part of the website (the domain of the developers) is separate from the content part (the domain of the marketers). This allows for synchronous workflows—or, in English, for the development team to be working at the same time as the content editors, graphic designers, etc. You’ll all arrive at your collective finish line together—and sooner.
With a DXP, you empower your content team to create, edit, and beautify content without having to contact the developers. With tools like custom forms and page templates, they’ll have a set of perfectly tailored tools to play with without having to worry about breaking anything.
A lot of precious time saved all round. Now we’re cooking on architecture!
5. The future in omnichannel engagement
Being everywhere your customer is just keeps getting more crucial.
Mobile share of total internet usage almost doubled in the last 5 years, to 48% in 2019, with 90% of mobile time being spent on apps. Facebook alone has 2.5 billion monthly active users. And 81% of organizations consider customer experience a competitive differentiator.
Not being omnichannel is not an option.
A DXP can publish content and engagement tools across all channels at once—including websites, mobile sites, social channels, customer portals, online stores, IoT devices, and mobile apps—all from one place, all while gathering further data from each channel. With all this, you can deliver optimized experiences consistently across them all in a timely manner throughout the customer journey.
And remember: You can scale to any channel that becomes the next big thing. Who knows what incredible innovations you’ll be monopolizing while your competitors catch up to the “This is Me” t-shirt!
6. Agility = acceleration + adaptability
A recent survey by PA Consulting found that 10% of companies with high financial performance are 30% more likely to show agile characteristics than their lower-performing counterparts. 42% release frequent improvements and functionalities (compared to 33% of the lower tier), 58% move quickly from concept to launch (compared to 39%), and 49% are mobilized to respond to competitors quickly (compared to 32%).
This proves that business agility is essential in gaining value more quickly from change and innovation. And you can benefit even when you’re not the first mover by being a fast follower that has refined features and improved the experience.
It’s about prioritizing functionality over “finished”, using the real world as your test bed, and being ready for and responsive to change.
Often, big projects take many months to get off the ground, test, and update, potentially missing their window of opportunity.
Being agile enables you to take small, iterative steps towards your goals. You release often, test fast, improve, and repeat. This kind of continuous development allows you to remain flexible and adaptive in the dynamic and volatile marketplace, and it supports you in capitalizing on opportunities while navigating around risks.
Here’s where the sexy architectural elements of the DXP that we’ve already explored come together.
Its modular API-first structure allows you to move around in the API space, testing ideas without having to make a full commitment until the results come in. And when the market throws a curve ball, you’re poised to respond with lightning speed. And its separation of concerns means all your teams can be working synchronously towards big goals broken down into short bursts of productivity, feedback, productivity, and profit.
7. Opting for cloud scalability
When you combine the virtually limitless possibilities of the DXP with the incredible benefits of the cloud… Well, then you’re flying.
Cloud DXPs get you up and running in no time, with no installations. They don’t need hardware or people to babysit it. Employees can access it from anywhere, at any time. And you can scale elastically (up or down) in response to actual needs, only paying for what you actually use.
The vendor’s experts take care of maintenance and upgrades, and backups are automatic. You’re afforded advanced cloud-level security, as well as excellent data recovery plans.
Seriously, we’re talking about a whole new level of sophistication and acceleration to market here.
Get dressed for speed… slowly
The value of getting to market fast is clear.
Your technology should be specially designed to ease deployment, streamline your processes, synchronize workflows, make all channels one, future-proof your investment, mobilize you for readiness, and get you to market way ahead of the competition.