How Digital Experience Platforms Fulfill Digital Transformation Needs
For ages, organizations and businesses have been differentiating themselves by supplying high-quality, competitively-priced products and valuable offers, using sufficient distribution channels. However, over time and due to digital transformation, these opportunities have become a commodity and, as Walker says, "By the year 2020 it’s expected that customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator." If you’d like to tap into the power of being able to differentiate your business, you have to get the basics down. Shall we begin?
Although every business is different and it’s not easy to pinpoint a definition that applies to all, we can define digital transformation as the integration of digital technology into every area of a business which will result in elemental changes to how companies operate and deliver value to customers. If your business is seeking to stay relevant, the process of digital transformation is simply inescapable and while it is naturally facilitated by modern technology, it requires attention to be paid to 3 key elements:
- customer experience,
- operational processes and
- business models.
The most ‘detectable’ aspect of the above is front-end customer experience which, with the help of modern marketing and data-collecting software, we can now further personalize than ever, creating true digital experiences. Let’s stop for a second and recall what those are exactly: as we discussed in more depth in one of our previous articles (The digital ‘experi-sense’), a digital experience (‘DX’ in short) is an interaction between a user and a company that is only possible with the help of digital technology.
By extension, it also calls for a digital experience platform (‘DXP’). According to Gartner, DXP is “an integrated collection of technologies and methodologies that provides the ability to design and deliver user interface/presentation capabilities for a wide variety of interaction channels”.
A DXP can and should merge countless, previously used software, programs, methods and channels, however, we can highlight five key needs it has to fulfill in order to be successful:
- Back-End Integration
A successful digital transformation strategy must focus on both front-end user experience and back-end systems management. This can be done through innovative interfaces that will help you quickly adapt to your customers’ needs and create efficient business processes.
- Legacy System Transitioning
Most businesses use outdated software of some sort that might be pieced together from multiple programs and is never truly updated. DXP technology is designed to help businesses transition from obsolete technology to modern platforms and with its flexible architecture, it’s easy to include new services when necessary.
- Omnichannel Experience
Your customers are most likely to be either digitally savvy or digitally native, meaning they have high expectations when it comes to a consistent experience with a business across various channels. A DXP can help you unify your digital channels and offer solutions that truly satisfy your customers’ needs.
- Addressing Customer Journey Pain Points
A customer journey has several phases, including considering, purchasing, using and returning to a company’s services. During these steps, there are several points that can easily turn into pain points that need to be addressed. Through the use of DXP technology, you will have a complete understanding of what, when, where, how and why your customers do and have a chance to adjust these touchpoints.
- Unifying Silos
Digital transformation is a process that should happen across your entire company, and not in a silo. To facilitate that, everybody in your business needs to have a shared vision and an understanding that if the customer has a poor experience, it affects the entire profitability of the company. Digital experience platforms can integrate all aspects of a business, allowing customers to interact with each level of a company’s business process.
If after all this, it’s still not clear what digital transformation, digital experience, and digital experience platforms are, no need to panic! Request a demo of Liferay DXP and explore it yourself!
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