by Janus Boye
Preston So works as Senior Director, Product Strategy at Oracle
It’s no news that marketers and content editors want control over non-web experiences. Preston So from Oracle describes the current situation in the marketplace as “an uneasy alliance between personas” and last year he made a popular call for A New Grand Compromise In Content Management as he shared some of the current problems with headless CMS.
Earlier this month, he returned and hosted a member conference call with his latest thinking. He covered what he considers the fundamental problem facing content management today: “Not all CMS personas are treated equal anymore” and went on to talk about how this impacts us all on the journey from CMS to DXP (digital experience platforms).
Below are my notes from the call and further down you can also find the slides and recording.
Introducing social contracts to content management
To quote Preston:
In the early days of web content management, whether we knew it or not, foundational social contracts about essential CMS features such as multi-site management and no-code editorial preview were forged and solidified the notion of what a CMS is in the user’s imagination. As CMSs face down a stark choice between pivoting to the headless model or becoming a full-fledged DXP, how do the social contracts we signed still hold up? Are they at risk of fraying forever?
As he introduced social contracts in the call, he shared an example of social contracts in society: As citizens, we pay our taxes and follow the law. That’s a simple social contract we live by.
Similarly, web content management systems are built on the social contract that content editors can control the experience. 10 years ago, this meant clicking preview and seeing content on a website. 10 years ago, it was basically all about building websites as illustrated with a shared infrastructure below.
Today, it’s much more complicated.
We need digital experience presentation management
The clear expectation today among MarTech buyers is that they can compose the experience as they see fit and tailor it to their customers. Customers don’t want channel-specific content authoring and developers want freedom to build.
We’re seeing “a big bang of infrastructures” as Preston called it. That’s also illustrated by the diagram below where things are more complicated and diverse than in the past.
Being able to do no-code content preview has now become the holy grail of DXP according to Preston and it is the most commonly requested feature. It’s much harder though than in the past as the content is shared across devices in all sizes, apps, conversational interfaces and much more. As just one example: How do you actually preview content in a conversational dialogue?
The challenge is how to ensure both developer teams and marketer teams are satisfied. Today, both camps often feel left behind and we need to find a way to restore balance.
To quote Preston said:
When editors can no longer interact with their digital experiences as richly as before, they become convinced they are playing a losing game
In closing, he covered the black box issues in DXP and finished with this call to all vendors:
The DXP must never lose sight of its past as a multi-persona enabler and democratizer
Learn more about how social contracts are impacting the digital experience space
You can also download the slides (PDF) or view the entire 32-minute recording below