Web Content Management is dead (again), what next?

Last week Gartner announced it will be retiring the Magic Quadrant and Critical Capabilities Reports for Web Content Management systems and will be archiving the current report when it's a year old in July 2020. The research company deems that the WCM market has reached maturity with little differentiation in vendor offerings. In future it will only produce a Market Guide on the subject. A Market Guide can still help clients evaluate which technology and services to buy as they can give insight into representative WCM solutions but comparative positioning is difficult…and also less relevant.

So from the ashes of WCM so rises the phoenix of DXP (Digital Experience Platforms) - the DXP market is looking much more buoyant - and over the past three years Gartner has also published a Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms. Many of the same vendors have appeared in both publications demonstrating that DXP has some overlap with WCM. Many would argue (ourselves included) that DXP is the natural evolution of WCM, where today DXP vendors such as eZ offer a more complete suite of solutions to ensure companies can deliver great digital experiences to their audiences on whatever devices, wherever they are, at any time of day.

Companies want to grow their digital operations, to create and deliver digital experiences all along the customer journey. Today the user has to be heart and center of your digital operations. And to be effective, you need the right tools, processes - the technology and organization to do so. It's also about being nimble and agile, able to improve and deliver user experiences quickly and easily.

DXPs are technology stacks that complement and strengthen each other, encompassing content management, personalization, e-commerce and the ability to integrate with other technologies more or less seamlessly. As Gartner asserts, WCM is all about creating content, and although WCM solutions may differ from one to another, their core functionalities are similar, creating and curating content, content delivery to web pages and sites, editorial workflow management, layout management etc. A DXP is more than just WCM on steroids…it has to offer much more and be broader in scope. Alex Net, Microblau agrees: "Today, a CMS is not enough. It takes much more to deliver on our customers' needs, and that is this "much more" that we expect from a DXP."

Enterprise buyers have emerging needs and want to consolidate their technologies, they want to manage their digital experience offerings as products that they manage and constantly improve, not as a standalone, static projects, they want to incorporate e-commerce capabilities that can tap into existing ERP and CRM systems. Their goal is for their customers to enjoy a great personal experience - the more you match and answer your customers' needs, the more they'll be loyal to your brand.

Point solutions are no longer de rigueur. Web Content Management as a feature is still key, and far from dead, however, as a Market it is indeed losing relevancy as it's only one part of a much bigger equation to solve. At eZ we have been investing heavily in building up the capabilities and value of eZ Platform over the past few years. We've done this by introducing and integrating personalization and e-commerce capability into the core of the platform, introducing a PaaS offering boosting productivity and development speed , introducing and expanding our connectors to ERP, social media platforms, analytics and CRM solutions. "eZ platform is not just a CMS, it is a DXP - a set of functionalities working well together on top of the best PHP Framework: Symfony," says Sébastien Morel, CTO, Novactive, a long-time eZ partner.

It's good news. It's about experience. Gartner recognizes these changes and the fact that the key success drivers now lie way beyond the Web and way beyond content. How do you value digital experience? Do you find yourself wanting to do more with your content, wanting to add more functionality, delivering it to apps and wearables? Wanting not to add more costly customization to your creaking WCM? Is it time to evaluate how you build and deliver great digital experiences today with a modern, agile DXP.

Why not download our eBook - DXPs: Four Considerations for Creating Exceptional Customer Experiences, or if you have a project ready to kick off then talk to us about how to build inspirational digital experiences.

Note: "Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose."