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Scott Brinker unveils 2023 martech landscape
On May 2, designated as International Martech Day, Scott Brinker unveiled the latest edition of his marketing technology landscape. From 9,932 last year, the total number of solutions in the landscape has grown to 11,038. This represents something like a 7,000% growth in the space over the last 12 years. One new feature launched alongside the landscape is the Marketing Technology Capability Heatmap. It reveals the most searched-for capabilities, with personalization at number one, and identifies the categories that offer them. Presenting alongside Marketing Tribe founder Frans Riemersma, Brinker, VP platform eco-system at HubSpot, said: “On average, across companies of all sizes, you still have around 291 SaaS subscriptions. Even while there is consolidation of the industry in the economic environment of today, a motivation to rationalize stacks, we still see people using this very wide variety of tools.” Other key trends. Among the trends identified within the new landscape, Brinker and Riemersma highlighted the following: Two-way data flows between data warehouses and front-line solutions like CDPs. Composability emerging in a number of categories including DXPs, commerce and CDPs. “AI as your co-pilot is real,” said Brinker. Why we care. Everyone who knows marketing technology knows the marketing technology landscape. It’s an evolving but iconic image. It’s such a crowded graphic, however, that it simply became hard to read. This is why it’s so valuable that it has become, essentially, interactive. Registered users can explore the actual content of the landscape rather than just gaze on it in wonder. The landscape is available at Chief Martec and can be sorted, filtered and queried at martechmap.com. Add MarTech to your Google News feed. Related stories New on MarTech @media screen and (min-width: 800px) { #div-gpt-ad-6013980-7 { display: flex !important; justify-content: center !important; align-items: center !important; min-width:770px; min-height:260px; } } @media screen and (min-width: 1279px) { #div-gpt-ad-6013980-7 { display: flex !important; justify-content: center !important; align-items: center !important; min-width:800px!important; min-height:440px!important; } }
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SAP moves to a composable commerce offering
Global software giant SAP has announced a new Commerce Cloud composable offering, providing merchants new levels of flexibility and a range of choices between the complete Commerce Cloud package and specific applications and services. SAP is also announcing new headless composable storefronts for verticals including financial services, travel, telecommunications and the public sector in addition to its existing offerings for retail, consumer products, distribution and manufacturing. SAP is also highlighting its partnership program for Commerce Cloud, including Contentful for content creation, Coveo for AI-driven product recommendations and Akeneo for PIM and product experience management. Why we care. This is a new stage on the SAP commerce journey which began essentially with the acquisition of ecommerce vendor Hybris ten years ago. Hybris became SAP Hybris and then evolved into SAP Commerce Cloud, part of a broader CX suite. The new initiative reflects a growing trend towards composability in the digital experience and commerce space as businesses with different levels of digital maturity, different products and services, and an ever-diversifying range of channels in which to meet customers, are seeing the limitations of being locked into traditional, all-in-one solutions. A federated approach to offering services, combined with large partner networks, is bringing much greater flexibility to commerce offerings. Dig deeper: Sitecore adds new products to its composable DXP All-in-one versus composable. Comprehensive buy-in to Commerce Cloud secures a wide range of services including order management, PIM, content management, personalization and engagement tools. Not every business needs all of these services from their commerce provider of choice — or not all of them at the same time. By choosing among SAP and partner applications served on the Commerce Cloud platform, SAP customers can create their own agile, highly customized commerce solutions. SAP is also flagging these announcements as reaffirming its commitment to the digital commerce and CX categories.
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The truth behind MACH-based DXPs: Benefits, risks and key considerations
The term “MACH” is popular nowadays, with many martech vendors claiming to offer MACH digital experience platforms (DXPs). But is this just a marketing tactic, or do these products genuinely align with the principles of MACH architecture? Dig deeper: What is a digital experience platform or DXP and is it the future of content management? What is MACH? MACH (microservices, API-first, cloud-native and headless) is a modern approach to digital experience management that allows for greater flexibility, scalability and speed. MACH-based DXPs offer several benefits to marketing organizations looking to work more effectively and efficiently. Misalignment in MACH-based products This may shock you, but not all products marketed as MACH DXPs are created equal. MACH has become a highly sought-after concept in the industry. Some vendors may see the label as a way to differentiate themselves and attract customers looking for solutions that embody the principles of MACH. (The same goes for SaaS, but that’s a topic for another article.) Not all products marketed as MACH are fully compatible with the architecture or even aligned with its principles. This misalignment creates customer confusion and mistrust and can ultimately harm the vendor’s reputation and credibility. Dig deeper: Digital experience platforms: 4 building blocks to success Benefits of MACH-based DXPs One of the key advantages of MACH-based DXPs is the ability to break down complex systems into smaller, independent components that can be managed and updated separately. This allows for faster and more efficient development, testing and deployment of new features and functionality. Another key advantage is the API-first approach, which enables marketers to easily access and use data from various sources to deliver personalized experiences. This helps organizations keep pace with constantly evolving consumer expectations. Cloud-native technology, built specifically for deployment — wait for it — in the cloud, provides the scalability and reliability required to support complex digital experiences at scale. The headless approach allows for greater flexibility and independence in the front-end development process, enabling marketing teams to move faster and deliver new experiences to the market more quickly. Overall, MACH-based DXPs help marketing organizations achieve faster time to value and time to market, enabling them to keep pace with a consumer who moves faster than the brand. This approach to digital experience delivery helps organizations stay ahead of the curve, deliver better experiences and achieve better business results. Dig deeper: Reinventing the digital experience platform Reducing risk and increasing success To reduce risk, avoid misleading marketing claims and improve your chances of success in adopting a MACH-based DXP, here are key considerations: Thoroughly research and assess potential vendors to ensure their offering aligns with the organization’s specific needs and the principles of MACH architecture. Look for vendors that clearly understand the MACH architecture and its benefits and a solid track record of successful MACH-based DXP implementations. Consider the vendor’s expertise, commitment to supporting the MACH architecture and experience working with other organizations in similar industries or marketing challenges. Ask for references and case studies from organizations that have successfully adopted a MACH-based DXP to better understand the vendor’s capabilities and track record. Pay close attention to the vendor’s support and training offerings to ensure they have the resources to help your organization adopt a MACH-based DXP. Separating marketing hype from reality MACH architecture is a modern approach to digital experience management that offers benefits like flexibility, scalability and speed. Not all products marketed as MACH DXPs are aligned with the principles of MACH, leading to confusion and mistrust among customers. To ensure success and reduce risk, it is essential to thoroughly research potential vendors and assess their alignment with the organization’s needs and the principles of MACH architecture. Look for a vendor with a solid track record, expertise and commitment to supporting the MACH architecture and consider their support and training offerings.