Let's delve into a bit of history! Content Management Systems (CMS) emerged when business users needed the capability to update their website content without developer assistance. This led to the creation of hierarchical content repositories, mirroring the website's structure, and enabling basic content edits. However, these capabilities fell short of meeting evolving demands. Business users required enhanced productivity tools, and additional digital marketing elements had to be integrated into the same ecosystem.
For instance, as websites became more complex, business users sought visual tools to better comprehend what they were editing and desired the ability to make these changes directly through a visual editor. They also needed features such as personalization, multivariate testing, and analytics, which became differentiating factors. These advanced tools came to be known as Digital Experience Platforms (DXP). To accommodate these features, DXPs gradually became more opinionated, influencing technology choices, implementation approaches, and overall solution architecture.
Over the years, a plethora of front-end technologies gained popularity. However, a significant problem arose—DXPs and CMS technologies struggled to support these new technologies effectively. Many websites continued to rely on outdated implementation approaches, utilizing modern JavaScript capabilities only for specific features. Simultaneously, the emergence of various communication channels, including apps, social media, and in-store devices, required content to transcend the confines of the web, necessitating omni-channel content strategies.
This shift gave rise to the concept of headless systems. These technologies enabled companies to construct their websites using preferred tech stacks while delivering content across multiple channels, thus facilitating faster digital team operations.
Nonetheless, these newfound capabilities came at a price. It became apparent that business users were now missing some of the productivity tools that monolithic DXPs had provided. WYSIWYG editing, visual design capabilities, and straightforward content location became scarce. The flexibility and freedom granted to IT inadvertently restricted business users.
This new situation led to the evolution of the term “Digital Experience Composition” or DXC in 2022. According to Gartner, DXC is the bundle of low-code developer and no-code business user tools used to create, develop and maintain digital experiences. The collection of these tools includes three categories of software: front-end as a service (FEaaS), page builders, and API integration to connect the (headless) technologies together.
Or said differently, DXCs combine headless services, such as CMS, commerce, media and search via APIs. That is, by applying DXC, business users can build advanced digital experiences using content from existing sources.
DXC typically encompasses three core components:
Given DXC's relatively brief existence, it's challenging to discuss established traditions. However, "Perfection" embodies the DXC concept, albeit in a unique manner. Perfection encompasses elements of FEaaS, Experience Builder, and API Integrations, but its approach differs for a reason.
Our goal is to grant business users full control over page aesthetics and visitor experiences, without transforming into a new monolithic bottleneck for interactions. Consequently, we don't forge deep integrations with every vendor or provide SDKs to render entire websites. Instead, you continue building your website using the APIs and SDKs of the underlying CMS, commerce, DAM, orchestration, and other systems. While this approach does introduce some minor limitations in the user experience, its advantages far outweigh the drawbacks.
With Perfection, you can apply our technology to your existing website without necessitating a complete frontend overhaul. The implementation process is straightforward, and you'll start reaping the benefits of your investment within days.
You only need to optimize the components of your solution that genuinely require productivity enhancements or flexibility. In essence, you can start small and focus your investment on specific areas of your site that demand improvement.
We empower you to construct your composable setup according to your business's unique needs, without imposing a rigid architecture.
Furthermore, while some CMS products offer inline editing capabilities or experience builders, these often remain confined to their respective platforms. Consequently, as soon as you incorporate multiple data providers on your website, such as a commerce engine, you should consider Perfection.
Additionally, we place a strong emphasis on collaboration and productivity for business users. We believe that merely providing an experience builder falls short; instead, the website should serve as the single point of entry for business users.
To achieve this, we offer a multitude of features beyond experience builder tools:
In summary, Perfection is a DXC. We are just a bit different.
Get in touch today! Interested in exploring a composable approach tailored to your specific needs? Connect with us today to discover how Perfection can help you avoid vendor lock-in and create a flexible, cost-effective digital experience. Book a demo to see our solutions in action.