With cloud computing adoption steadily on the rise, many organizations have instigated a “cloud first” strategy to prefer cloud-based solutions to on-premise data and applications. But such an architectural overhaul demands more than a mere managerial mandate; it requires a holistic strategy in order to maximize the full value of the cloud.

Originally developed to help companies streamline, if not to altogether automate, transactional printing, CCM (customer communication management) has matured over the nearly 40 years since its inception. Today, the shift in automated communications continues from print to digital channels. This transition is no longer being driven by cost-saving initiatives cloaked in environmental stewardship, but rather by CX (customer experience) strategy and technology, data and analytics evaluation, and mobile device proliferation.

Customers no longer have to drive to brick and mortar stores as often. They’re online interacting with multiple platforms. The challenge for many businesses is in balancing the need for meeting customer demand with profitability, where digital transformation puts businesses ahead of the game.

We have long been writing about the importance of building a seamless user experience into digital experience (DX) delivery solutions. In fact, seamlessness has become the dominant focus in the age of digital transformation.

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance in sophistication and acceptance, robots and technology are taking on more human characteristics and responsibilities in daily life. So ubiquitous has AI become that one Danish study even wonders if robots could be considered our “friends” in the future. Though making connections with machine sounds extremely futuristic, one customer experience (CX) technology available today has improved our ability to get to know our customers on a more intimate basis. Modern digital experience (DX) technologies are changing the game when it comes to making a personal connection.

Gartner’s latest Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms [paywall] (Gartner, Inc., February 11, 2019) predicts that through 2021, 85% of the effort and cost in a digital experience platform (DXP) program will be spent on integration. That’s partly because Gartner has refined its definition of a DXP, i.e., it is not a monolithic product from a single vendor anymore. Now it is an anchoring tenet in an ecosystem of best-of-breed composition, management, delivery and optimization capabilities that support contextualized digital experiences. It’s also because a DXP is but one piece in the larger mosaic of what Gartner has called the customer engagement hub and others refer to as the digital experience (DX) stack, i.e., the software that powers customer journeys.