With an ever-growing digital ecosystem consumers nowadays expect an experience that’s not just relevant and consistent but also serves a meaningful purpose. Brands are on a constant quest to serve reliable and cohesive experiences that ensure smart communication of their product through personalized design; something that’s limited only with the help of a Digital Experience Platform (DXP).
What is a DXP?
DXP is a collection of fundamental technologies that allows teams to build, manage, deliver, and enhance contextualized digital experiences. It helps in connecting digital touchpoints into a smaller and more manageable well-informed ecosystem for marketers.
DXP combines the power of several technologies such as e-commerce, Digital Asset Management (DAM), campaign management, customer relationship management (CRM), customer data platform (CDP), and other personalization tools.
Types of DXP
There are two distinct types of DXP - a closed DXP and an open one.
- Closed DXP - is a self-contained platform with all DXP components and products integrated into the system. Rather than relying on third-party tools, a closed DXP provider develops and maintains all DXP components, which are then provided as a package. Not to say that a closed DXP can't operate with other products but it just works best within its own ecosystem.
- Open DXP - is a system that combines items from various third-party providers into a single, centralized system. An open DXP gives businesses the freedom to incorporate products of their choosing. Several open DXP suppliers additionally provide clients with pre-built interfaces with third-party products that have been verified and are ready to "switch on" in the system.
Design as the Future of DXP
When it comes to the future of DXP, design plays an integral part. Design offers constrained acceleration wherein there’s overlapping of rules and a designer is expected to do implementations.
Design ensures people-first experiences wherein users don’t face any difficulty when interacting with a design/product. Similarly, a DXP + design model focuses on creating a holistic digital experience for end-users through the personalization and identification of a user’s immediate needs.
When Design is incorporated into a DXP, teams are able to innovate and build experiences that are flexible, intuitive, and consistent. Design is the differentiator in DXP that allows the incorporation of multiple components with several permutations and combinations. Ideas from the Designer’s toolkit into a DXP ensure an experience that is in sync with the expectations of the brand and tailored according to the needs of the business.
Benefits of DXP and Design
A DXP + Design model is built to eliminate constraints and fuel innovation by focusing on the digital experience through a people-first approach. Businesses will get the following benefits with this correct model in place -
- Ensures flexibility and acceleration of projects through quick and smooth integrations.
- Has its own design language and isn’t limited to a set of components, allowing for multiple permutations and combinations of the components, as per brand specifications.
- Perceptive customization via machine learning and cross-channel insights into consumer insights, preferences, content consumption, and more.
- Comes ready with pre-built widgets and components that help in reducing implementation and integration time.
- Methods for creating turn-key content for more nimble online marketing and less dependency on on-site developers
- Provides a 360-degree perspective of the consumer through proper analysis and implementation of online and offline data.
- Governance measures help maintain material consistent with the business, safeguard client information, and reduce risk.
For all these reasons and much more design is the only differentiator, a seamless way to innovate, and the future of digital experience platforms.
Conclusion
With the digital ecosystem showing constant growth every day, a positive digital experience is a priority for users. DXPs and design enable brands to have a stable digital presence. Its seamless integration of different aspects of a brand helps to provide insights that are based on user interactions. While a DXP helps to bring in users and ensures a digital presence that helps a business stay omnipresent and updated, the design ensures an experience that is flexible, smooth, and cost-effective. It also enables the sartorial use of components while retaining brand uniqueness, thus making the process smoother, quicker, and better.
At QED42, our team of experts makes use of DXP + Design to build holistic digital experiences for businesses and people alike, ensuring a competitive edge in the ever-growing digital landscape.