Enterprise software companies stand to increase revenue by up to $1B within three years of investing in improved customer experience (CX)—a 30% higher return than is estimated for non-SaaS companies. To enable, attract, and retain customers through engaging experiences, software companies must focus on the too-often-neglected marketing department. Digital experience platforms (DXPs) automate and personalize marketing initiatives within software companies, but also provide rapid deployment of apps, portals, and websites, including content management.
To be classified as a true DXP requires a solution that delivers all three of the following:
- Facilitate rapid development (apps, personalized content, and more)
- Connect data and media through APIs
- Manage and store content
Let’s look at how DXPs empower the collaboration, personalization, and optimization that lead to sustained competitive differentiation.
Collaboration for scalability
Software companies are often a collection of siloed platforms, teams, and data—all working independently while learning nothing from each other. As business increases, so does data—and without proper consolidation, data disparity increases in parallel. Consumer attention is a scarce commodity, and companies must deliver data-driven personalized experiences to capture interest and engagement. However, silos will render software companies incapable of keeping pace with customer demand in the absence of synchrony.
Experience platforms empower team collaboration which assists in working in greater transparency and in a less siloed fashion. Not only do DXPs centralize and improve control, but the platforms also serve to eliminate repetitive and inefficient processes. From content to engagement, to personalization and optimization—experience platforms:
- Increase speed and reliability of work
- Improve the efficiency with which work is performed at scale
- Empower best practice maintenance from concept to delivery
To scale with customer and growth demands, DXPs are essential for internal alignment, agility, and empowering personalization that differentiates the brand from the competition.
“Personalization can reduce acquisition costs by as much as 50%, lift revenues by 5–15%, and increase marketing spend efficiency by 10–30%.” McKinsey
Improving personalization
A recent Epsilon study shows 80% of customers are more likely to purchase a product or service from a brand that provides personalized experiences.
Experience platforms improve personalization through disparate data consolidation that enables a true 360-degree view of users and prospects. Data integration and automation is simplified through product, platform, and API connection. Batch (high volume collected over time) and streaming (continuously generated from multiple sources) data are both processed immediately to enable timely and relevant offers. With this real-time personalization at scale, software companies can eliminate the latency that occurs with batch-only systems.
Experience platforms combine both internal and external data sources to drive intelligent decision making and more accurate customer profile segmentation. Equally, if not more importantly, DXP automation frees IT teams from repetitive technical maintenance to apply more time working with engagement teams.
Perpetual optimization
Software companies understand the need for continuous optimization through the product lifecycle, and this holds true for marketing as well. Once a DXP has been adopted, data silos have been consolidated, and all API connections made—the task of perpetual learning, acting, and improving on insights can begin. This is accomplished through DXP self-learning automation powered by machine learning (ML).
Digital experience platforms leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to empower companies with a clear view of customers and prospects, and provide actionable data. As a result, individuals are no longer treated as groups, only personal and relevant engagements are delivered, and experience is improved exponentially.
However, software companies must begin the optimization process before the DXP is even integrated. First, a company must understand customers and their journeys, and where there is greatest need and opportunity for improvement through innovation. Second, all existing and potential data points must be identified. These two proactive steps will ensure that a company understands current and future states and what existing insights to leverage to move from one to the other.
Sustainable competitiveness
Software companies exist to solve enterprise challenges, but to remain competitive and grow, businesses must also espouse technology solutions to solve internal needs. Consolidated, actionable, accessible, and scalable data is required for advanced applications like AI/ML. These drive automation and personalization, which deliver improved engagement, conversion, and retention.
At SoftServe, we have over 26 years of experience in software development with over 5,500 engineers and developers at the ready. We are agnostic experts in big data, AI/ML, and personalization and are preferred partners with leading experience platform providers. If a company hasn’t already adopted an XP, we can advise which is the best option, and for those that have, we empower our clients to ensure the experience platform is fully leveraged and perpetually optimized.
Which DXP?
It’s crucial to choose the right DXP not only on its own merits, but on how the solution aligns with the company’s culture and vision, and the solution’s ability to fully integrate with other software. There are ample DXP solutions to choose from. Examples include:
- Adobe are industry leaders
- Sitecore are top performers for retail/B2C (where personalization and CX are king)
- Quadient is known as a leader for companies that have high volume processing demand
At SoftServe, we’re agnostic DXP experts and preferred partners with the world’s leading DXP providers. We advise which platform is best for each client and provide expertise and service to ensure ongoing optimization.
Let’s talk about where you are in your experience platform journey today.
