Managing MarTech Disruption with Composable DXPs

“Composable business is a natural acceleration of the digital business that you live in every day. It allows us to deliver the resilience and agility that these interesting times demand” – Gartner

The marketing technology landscape is in flux. There was a time when legacy MarTech stacks and monolithic tools fit the business and marketing needs of most organizations. But now, sticking to a single traditional solution creates limitations like vendor lock-in and resource-draining bloatware. Most businesses want a tech stack that allows the flexibility to add or remove components or functionality as needed. They want the freedom to choose and compose their own MarTech stack with not only best-of-breed tools, but the solutions that best fit their marketing and business needs.

This shift has led to the rise of the composable digital experience platform (DXP) – which offers a lot of advantages over legacy and monolithic MarTech systems.

Legacy MarTech Stacks and Monolithic Tools

The terms legacy and monolithic are sometimes used interchangeably but they are two different ideas – though legacy systems can be monolithic, and monolithic tools can be a part of a legacy system made up of multiple monolithic solutions.

Legacy MarTech stacks are older tools that are maintained but not actively improved. They may not work well together as a unit and they’re often at risk of being phased out due to limited development and high maintenance costs.

Monolithic tools are large, inflexible and slow. Built on a single code base architecture, one small change in a monolith could have a negative ripple effect throughout the entire system. Because of this, a lot of users avoid making changes and miss out on new features and opportunities.

Both legacy and monolithic systems can gravely limit business flexibility and agility. Their incompatibility with – or inability or to integrate into – newer technologies hurts organizations’ adaptability. The upkeep of these systems often requires specialized expertise and resources, making them expensive and time-consuming to maintain and update.

The Rise of MACH-Based Architecture

MarTech solutions with MACH-based architecture are flexible, scalable and able to innovate quickly and pivot with emerging marketing trends. An acronym for Microservices, API-first, Cloud, and Headless architecture, MACH is a modern and agile approach designed to be flexible, scalable, and modular.

That said, there are some challenges associated with MACH-based architecture.

• MACH stacks can be time consuming and complex to implement and integrate with your existing stack.

• Some systems may not be compatible, and it can be difficult to ensure that every tool you adopt will work seamlessly with others.

• If you treat it like a legacy suite, your MACH solution can be expensive and still result in vendor lock-ins.

• Building out and maintaining a MACH stack can require extensive tech resources, which new or medium-sized businesses may not have.

Due to these issues, many organizations have decided to choose a more modern and flexible MarTech stack solution – a composable digital experience platform (DXP) supported by a MACH-based tech stack.

The Benefits of Composable DXPs

A majority of marketers looking for a CDP would rather choose a composable platform rather than a pre-packaged system. And marketers are moving away from monoliths, with 83% using products outside their primary platform to take advantage of best-in-class features. And with more than 13,000 MarTech solutions in the market, there are a lot of tools to choose from – as well as a strong case to be made that businesses are moving away from monolithic systems.

To ensure seamless user experiences and back-end functionality between the wide selection of best-in-class tools available, you need a headless, decoupled, composable tech stack. By design, the components of a composable DXP can be plugged in, easily integrated, scaled and replaced with other systems and technologies.

There are four principles of composable business that inform composable DXPs and set them apart from more traditional platforms.

1. Discovery – Composability provides you with the speed and flexibility to move quickly and discover the right combination of applications. Facilitated by APIs and microservices, composability allows different parts of the business to communicate and work efficiently together.

2. Modularity – Modularity gives you the ability to break complex systems down into smaller, independent units that can be assembled in different ways without affecting the entire system. This keeps you agile and able to quickly respond to change.

3. Orchestration – The ability to orchestrate and manage various resources gives you more control over your operations and helps you respond effectively to changes.

4. Autonomy – A well-orchestrated modular solution is autonomous. Various independent parts can operate on their own without constant oversight, and they continue to operate even if one part of the system fails. This makes you more resilient and helps you avoid disruptions.

Adopting a composable DXP can help you weather MarTech disruption and unlock many benefits.

1. Freedom of flexibility – Legacy and monolithic solutions make businesses conform to their capabilities and structure. But composable architecture gives you the power to construct a system that suits your needs without adding unnecessary complexities.

2. No vendor lock-In – If a vendor’s product doesn’t meet your needs, you’re free to let it go and look for a better fit. If you outgrow a certain feature, you can simply swap it out with another from a different vendor.

3. Best-of-breed technology – Composable DXPs allow you to select the combination of tools in your tech stack. This ensures you get the functionality you need and avoid bloatware.

4. Composable and cost-effective – Legacy and monolithic systems are expensive and require a lot of maintenance – sometimes for features you don’t even use. But with a composable DXP, you only need to buy and maintain the tech you need.

5. Faster implementation – Legacy and monolith systems often involve time-consuming upgrades that require system-wide testing. With a composable DXP, you can just plug in your new features without affecting the entire stack.

Create a Composable Approach with Material

Composability is a platform-agnostic approach that boosts flexibility and performance. It connects you with different best-in-class vendors, so you can build a marketing stack capable of creating and delivering exceptional personalized user experiences. In short, it can help you weather disruption and drive growth.

If you’re interested in learning more, reach out. Material can help you strategize, build and manage a composable DXP designed for engagement, efficiency and growth. Let’s start the conversation.