Digital Experience Platform Tech Trends To Look Out For In 2021

Digital Experience Platform Tech Trends To Look Out For In 2021

Technology is evolving at such a pace that it has become our core responsibility to be at the top of our game. What was called the cutting-edge technology 10 years ago seems dated now.

Circa 2020 turned out to be a leap year for technology. The pandemic changed the way we think, work and use technology. The silver lining here is digitalization, and its advancements has enabled enterprises to grow and become more intuitive and innovative. This ensures satisfied customer experience and helps enterprises stay long in the market.

But the hard fact is that headless CMS (Content Management System) and DXP (Digital Experience Platform) industry were affected by sudden rise in new technology, software architectures and other interruptions within the workflows, upholding the fact that traditional CMSs aren’t ready for today’s tech market. It is the time to turn towards DXP.

Have you checked out our detailed blog on DXP and its importance yet?

No one can predict the future but we all can make educated guesses based on knowledge and experience. Contemplating that, we have listed the tech trends for 2021 and their impact on the future of DXP and CMS.

Data Protection is and Will be the Mantra.

Many companies today are aware of the significance of data management and protection. DXPs (Digital Experience Platform) are deployed to protect customer data and prevent any breach of trust.

In 2021, the value of data is increasing leaps and bounds, all thanks to omnichannel marketing and behavioral advertising. It has become the sole responsibility of DXPs that they provide exceptional privacy, data control and data protection policies to backend users and customers who interact at every touchpoint with the enterprises.

AI-based Personalization Gets a Thumbs Up

Personalization has forged ahead and how?! Rule-based personalization is an age-old procedure that works well even now. But ever since people have identified the potential of AI, there has been no looking back.

AI has been successful in delivering customized content and product-based suggestions and it is phenomenal at directing users to digital experiences based on their actions.

By the end of 2021, personalization would have become less taxing and more mainstream and widespread as online retail will be an obvious thing for customers. DXPs have already started benefiting from AI by giving personalized offers to customers such as ‘shop the look’ options based on user data collected from the platform.

Companies Swear by Omnichannel Customer Experiences

Omnichannel marketing has become the touchstone in digital world today. Marketers can now look deeper into their campaigns, check how campaigns are converted into sales, analyze which channels are productive and why. Currently, omnichannel-ready DXP comes with analytical tools that notifies about customer journeys across devices.

Multi-Cloud Environments Will be in Demand

In multi-cloud strategy, cloud assets, software tools and applications are distributed across various cloud environments. This prevents errors and reduces downtime. Companies can make the best use of various features and tools of each cloud environs with multi-cloud approach; they can overcome vendor lock-in and gain autonomy over their businesses.

Looking from DXP perspective, multi-cloud improves platform’s flexibility and capabilities to handle crisis.

Growth in Microservices Architecture

Traditional architecture will be slowly and steadily replaced by microservices architecture in both small and large enterprises. Although the architecture is complex, microservices are easier to build, design, install and maintain. It enables seamless workflows and instant software updates or changes. Developers have options to build modular software with interchangeable parts.

Breakthrough in Edge Computing

Edge computing is not a new thing. This technology is existing from past few years and mostly used in CDNs (Content Delivery Network). With the rise of EVs, connected vehicles, IoT powered devices and 5G networks, there will surely be a surge in Edge computing this 2021.

Edge computing networks boost the low latency speeds of 5G networks. Edge computing helps DXPs respond well to growing consumption of data and bring flexibility and content delivery speed by benefitting the distributed computing capabilities of an Edge computing network. Looks like Edge computing is gaining momentum.

React Keeps Booming

Front-end architecture and libraries like React help resolve development issues when building manageable and modular applications. React simplifies the design of interactive user interfaces. Developers can build UI components and complete user interfaces, including all the visual elements and the logic that controls these elements. React is the most loved, and upsurging library. React is going to expand as large number of developers are in favor of it.

Kubernetes FTW In the Containerization Space

Ever since Kubernetes worked in favor of the feature CRI (Container Runtime Interface), there is no looking back. Over a period of time, Kubernetes has established itself as the leader in container orchestration and management technology. It is ruling the roost in both public and private cloud landscapes. It is not surprising that every other major cloud provider now offers managed Kubernetes services along with their containerization services. We predict that there will be more acceptance of Kubernetes in hybrid and multi-cloud environs and data platforms and maybe AI and ML (Machine Learning) enterprises.

Jamstack Becomes the Ninja

Jamstack is not a newbie anymore which was used only for fringe development architecture. It is quickly becoming a norm and used in developing enterprise software architecture.

Jamstack is an architecture used to increase the speed of the web pages, for better security and scalability. It is built using many tools and workflows to bring optimum productivity. The fundamental concept is pre-rendering and decoupling which helps websites and applications to carry out tasks seamlessly and efficiently.

SPAs and PWAs are Sought-after

Although relatively new in the industry, Jamstack has established itself as a great architecture by 2021. It has paved the way to Single-Page Applications (SPA) and advanced web apps.

SPAs are web application or website that communicates with the customers dynamically by rewriting the current web page with new data from the web server. Default method of web browser loading entire pages is ruled out. SPA is easy to use, supports rapid content flows and improved website speeds. Search engines are also in favor of SPAs owing enterprises to invest more in adopting them.

Likewise, PWAs (Progressive Web Apps) are also gaining popularity. PWAs are created with latest APIs to deliver better functionalities, robustness, and deployment capabilities to reach customers across devices (desktop or mobile) using a single codebase.

PWAs provide an application like experience without the addition of extra tools to the tech stack.

Hello GraphQL; Move Away REST

GraphQL and REST are the most popular API design standards these days. Although REST is great and has been around for quite some time now, GraphQL is relatively new. There are loads of reasons for enterprises to step aside from REST and adopt GraphQL.

GraphQL is excellent with complex and large frameworks, microservices-based architectures and is built in order to leverage full benefits of the capabilities and functionalities the latest devices and new technologies hold. GraphQL not only enables processing multiple domains in one request but also aids developers use the same domain multiple times at times of queries or issues.

dotCMS – Futuristic DXP

dotCMS is a hybrid DXP that enables users to access in-built features like drag and drop functionality, layout design and personalization. NoCode (no coding needed and can be accessed by any end user) and LowCode(some coding is needed by developers who work under platform’s protocols) features of dotCMS make it a relatively easier tool even for non-technical users.

Edit Mode Anywhere is a SPA (Single Page App) editor. It aids marketing teams with a seamless editor experience to create content without depending on the IT team to edit and publish content for them.

For companies to thrive in the digital ecosystem of the future, they should definitely go for platform like dotCMS which can give the best of both traditional and headless CMS to developers and marketers.

NoCode and LowCode Development

With expansion of digital transformation there has been demand for NoCode and LowCode tools. With the possibility for non-technical users to effortlessly build digital experiences and significantly less knowledge of programming languages, they are gaining prominence. LowCode deployment enables lesser weeks of planning and development and giving more testing time for DXP and CMS users.

Collaboration Will be at its Peak

Collaboration and co-existing are the terms that are going to stay for a long time henceforth. DXPs and CMS (Content Management System) are adapted to this already. Software vendors are coming up with improved and innovative features for such cross-team association. Newer platforms are prominently used for employee experience hubs with intranets and social networking tools to assist remote and distributed teams connect better.

Food For Thought…

It clearly has been a tough year. Businesses should perform wherever the customers are. The year 2020 saw businesses move to online without an option. But this year 2021 is also going to be much better for customers and businesses. Companies have positioned themselves in much better place to deliver better customer service with innovative and personalized experiences.

One thing we can vouch for is that businesses today are much closer to their customers compared to last year. The technical and operational hindrances have become smaller as technical advancements are expanding. This is an incredible time for brands to leverage and reach out to customers and perform better. It won’t be wrong to say that DXP will be dominating the eCommerce world.

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