Today, web publishing is delivered not just to PCs, but to tablets, smartphones, and even virtual reality headsets. This is font of headless and composable content management systems that create digital experiences for consumers. Enterprise Strategy Group conducted research in 2024 to understand how DXPs are evolving in the context of this putative shift. The expectation was that legacy web content management is failing at digital customer experience support since aging content management systems cannot handle customer data and keep up with digital customer service, marketing personalization, and commerce operations. CRM-based integrated application stacks might have some customer service and e-commerce functionality, but they lack sophisticated content lifecycle management. Vendors have a difficult time understanding their customers in this shifting digital experience.

Headless content management and headless commerce strategies can enable enterprises to keep up with the evolution of devices, apps, and channels their customers use, but traditional content management systems make the headless approach difficult or unattainable. Previous Enterprise Strategy Group research revealed that while many organizations still rely on traditional content management systems, others have made the leap to headless and hybrid CMSs, with more adoption in the works. Many content management software vendors have transitioned from on-premises to cloud offerings and broken their application features into microservices in the last decade. This has led to a wider range of choices for buyers and paved the way for API-driven headless architecture and its cousins, hybrid and decoupled CMSs.

This is a market characterized by confusion and use incomprehension, so to gain further insights into these trends, TechTarget’s Enterprise Strategy Group surveyed 370 IT and business decision-makers in North America (US and Canada) responsible for digital transformation strategies, digital experience platforms, and customer experience ecosystems.