Composable vs. platform: building the right strategy for your business

Until recently, Sitecore has built its business on world-leading platform products – Experience Manager (XM) and Experience Platform (XP). Today they’re powering standout digital experiences for the likes of L'Oreal, P&G, Volvo and thousands more globally.

Now with the introduction of our new composable SaaS DXP, we’re offering a new route for brands who want to build future-proof tech stacks that take advantage of the latest innovations in digital experience software.

Choosing the right path for your business – platform or composable – will need to take into account things like what your current tech stack looks like; what your ambitions for digital experience are; your digital maturity; and all the hosting and data regulations you have to consider. Let’s take a look at your options.

Understanding platform vs. composable

Our all-in-one platform products – XM and XP – are hosted on private cloud. You can host in your cloud, or we can host for you in our Managed Cloud offering. XM is a full-service CMS while XP adds built-in analytics, personalization, and marketing automation functionality. Both products are highly customizable.

Our SaaS composable products that make up our next-gen DXP are all hosted in the public cloud. They are developed, designed, and deployed as cloud-native apps built with a composable architecture and licensed using a Software as a Service (SaaS) model.

Going all in for composable

We believe composable is the future of digital experience. For the end customer, it delivers lightning-fast, relevant, and engaging experiences. And for brands, it brings richer functionality, faster performance, more agility, and smarter integrations across our composable portfolio and with other vendors.

“Never upgrade again.”

Crucially, composable also means never upgrading again – with new features and capabilities landing every month to drive continuous innovation across your tech stack. With composable, you’re protecting the future of your tech stack – and the future of your digital experience.

Progressing with platform

While we’re passionate about the future of composable, for many brands, platform will remain the right strategy for the immediate future. A lot of organizations operate within regulatory and data residency restrictions, or sit within geographies that aren't ready for public cloud. And there will also be businesses who prefer the monolithic benefits of platform, or may not strategically be in a place to transition to SaaS.

We recognize that – and that’s why we’ve just launched 10.3 for XM and XP, our highest-performing and most complete release ever. With new capabilities and innovations, better integrations, and overall platform modernization, 10.3 goes further than ever to power standout experiences. Furthermore, we’re continuing to innovate within our Managed Cloud offering – providing more cost-efficient options that take the burden of hosting and managing website infrastructure off IT teams.

Best of both worlds

Many brands will make the strategic decision in the coming months to transition from platform to composable. We’ve got dedicated teams and partners to make the move as easy as possible and to make sure every customer is maximizing value from their investment.

But for those existing XM or XP customers keen to start driving value from our composable DXP much faster, it’s possible to combine composable products like DAM, CDPand Personalize with your current platform product. It’s the best of both worlds.