Nowadays, you’re hard pressed to find an application with all the functionalities you need for delivering personalized digital experiences. Even though with headless solutions, you can select the best options for your goals, you can, through composability, easily connect the applications that drive personalized experiences. Still, simply adopting headless technologies isn’t enough; you also need a <a href="https://uniform.dev/blogs/composable-architecture/composable-platforms-what-why-how">composable architecture</a> that fosters innovation and a seamless authoring experience for business users. The answer is Uniform <a href="https://uniform.dev/what-is-digital-experience-composition">Digital Experience Composition Platform (DXCP)</a>, whose vendor-agnostic capabilities scale to your needs, enabling you to assemble, change, and reassemble your tools as requirements evolve. But what is Uniform DXCP and why does it exist? Read on.<h2>What is Uniform DXCP? </h2>Uniform DXCP is a new, unique product category with which you can effortlessly integrate legacy and composable services with your design system and front end of choice. In particular, you can switch to and maintain composable systems without having to build and support the connections among those systems. In a composable architecture, that means adding and removing the tools without breaking your personalized, omnichannel digital experience. <h2>Why is now the time to move beyond the modern tech stack?</h2>Similar to a composer who arranges the notes of a musical score, you’re the composer of your project’s tech stack. Say, your stack comprises various tools—a <a href="https://uniform.dev/blogs/headless-cms/uniform-for-headless-cms">headless content management system (CMS)</a>, a <a href="https://uniform.dev/blogs/composable-architecture/uniform-for-headless-commerce">commerce platform</a>, a digital asset management (DAM) system, and so on—from different vendors. By combining those technologies and hosting them on a <a href="https://uniform.dev/blogs/sitecore/deliver-better-digital-experiences-with-a-cdn">content delivery network (CDN)</a>, you render a webpage. Nonetheless, connecting headless tools with APIs doesn’t necessarily produce a high-quality or <a href="https://uniform.dev/blogs/composable-architecture/headless-versus-composable-everything-you-need-to-know">composable experience</a>. As your enterprise scales up, your business must grow as well, meaning that you must incorporate more and more applications into your tech stack, all of which are hard coded into one another through their app stores or your front-end technology. What you end up with is a messy, unwieldy, and inflexible tech stack—a maintenance headache  for your developers. Not to mention that <a href="https://uniform.dev/blogs/composable-architecture/switching-vendors-for-digital-architectures-without-replatforming">replatforming</a> or rebuilding your project from scratch can be nightmarish and expensive. How do you transform your tech stack from a cacophony of integrations connected by endless <a href="https://uniform.dev/blogs/glue-code">glue code</a> into a composable architecture that bridges your tools into a harmonious experience? You do it with digital experience composition.  <h2>How do you transition from chaos to composable with DXCP?</h2>With Uniform DXCP, you need not create and maintain the custom code that connects your APIs and front-end layers. Instead, you can compose and organize headless solutions in your tech stack without the exorbitant costs, laborious upgrades, and complexities. Here are the major benefits of moving to composable with Uniform DXCP: <ul><li>Remember the messy tech stack we cited earlier? <a href="https://uniform.dev/blogs/composable-architecture/the-mach-monolith">Monolithic architectures</a> require development of new features or investment in complicated integrations. Not so with Uniform DXCP, whose API-orchestration layer handles the connections among your digital experiences and the applications that power them. </li><li>No more “publish and pray” moments. Uniform DXCP’s no-code orchestration layer accords business users an editor with which to drag and drop components wherever they want and preview the resultant display. </li><li>In DXCP, your front end is unaware of your connections so no proprietary limitations exist, and you can select any front-end technology you desire. Whether you choose Java or PHP, your digital experience remains consistent and seamless. </li><li>DXCP offers a new paradigm for page creation around where data lives and how you manage that data. No more worries about product information being displayed outside the context of its intended design and user experience. With Uniform sitting on the end of your design data and keeping domain data intact, you’re free to deliver digital experiences through multiple services at scale. </li></ul><h2>How do you fuel your stack with digital experience composition?</h2>After you’ve built a composable architecture in DXCP:<ul><li>Your developers can easily add features and swap out tools from the stack individually.</li><li>Your stack stays organized with no need for those time-consuming, costly integrations that impede your speed to market. </li><li>Your marketers can drag and drop the components they need to create personalized omnichannel experiences without developer assistance. </li></ul>The result is less code, greater agility and flexibility, and a more smooth approach for handling orchestration and integrating new tools into your tech stack. To explore how Uniform DXCP helps build a platform that delivers cutting-edge digital experiences, <a href="https://uniform.dev/demo">schedule a free demo</a> with us and check out this free <a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/uniformdev/image/upload/v1673027431/marketing/demand-gen/short-form-content/Fast_and_Effective_Way_one_pager.pdf">DXCP cheatsheet</a>.

Uniform DXCP: the what, why, and how

Denmark-based <a href="https://cobham-satcom.com/">Cobham Satcom</a> has been a leader in radio and satellite communication for over four decades, serving a mission-critical role in sea and land communication for governments, cruise ships, service providers, and partners. However, the company’s corporate website had fallen short of delivering a timely, rich experience to its digital-savvy customers.In an engaging <a href="https://uniform.dev/dxc-assembly#watch-the-recordings-now">virtual panel session</a> as part of the DXC Assembly event last November, I interviewed Patricia Kunth, global digital marketing manager at Cobham Satcom; Lars Ørum Andersen, CEO of digital agency <a href="https://kruso.dk/">Kruso</a>; and Pierre Burgy, CEO of <a href="https://uniform.dev/blogs/headless-cms/uniform-for-headless-cms">headless CMS</a> provider <a href="https://strapi.io/?utm_campaign=Partners&utm_source=Uniform">Strapi</a>; on how Cobham Satcom leveraged <a href="https://uniform.dev/blogs/composable-architecture/composable-platforms-what-why-how">composable architecture</a> to transform its web experience in only four weeks. At the outset, Kunth pointed out that, backed by the <a href="https://uniform.dev/what-is-digital-experience-composition">Uniform digital experience composition platform (DXCP)</a>, a composable framework, Cobham Satcom saw immediate results, including faster page loads, an empowered workforce, and a surge in customer leads. Not only were the hard results outstanding, but also her team were happy using tools they deemed much more intuitive. As she said, “We were riding a bike before, and now we are driving a Maserati!”<h2>The reasons why composability matters</h2>When Cobham Satcom and Kruso began the project, their first priority was to deliver a new site that would generate leads quickly. That led Kruso to suggest Uniform DXCP to underpin the project. By eliminating the manual integration process, Cobham Satcom was able to go live significantly earlier than with another approach. Additionally, its teams could do even more with their new CMS, Strapi, creating a platform that could easily expand with best-of-need technology as their visions and goals evolved.Burgy at Strapi agreed, adding that composable structures give companies like Cobham Satcom a significant amount of flexibility in selecting the best technology for their requirements. If Cobham Satcom needs personalized content or a digital asset management system, or plans to move toward e-commerce, Uniform DXCP makes it easy to test and integrate new technologies.Burgy likened composability to building a house. Instead of hiring only one person for the job, homeowners would enlist the service of a plumber for the plumbing, an electrician for the wiring, and so on. “It’s really important that you work with the best vendors with the best integrations,” he emphasized. “Once you do, the sky’s the limit as to how much your company can achieve.”Andersen at Kruso agreed that, ultimately, the composable structure sparked the lighting-fast, four-week turnaround. “Uniform’s drag-and-drop interface took the pain out of integration, delivering customization that immediately got Cobham Satcom off the ground and running with composing pages,” he explained.Kunth at Cobham Satcom posited that the technical achievements of the composable structure drastically raised the speed of digital delivery at the company. On top of that, the new system generated leads incredibly quickly, empowering her team to show their contributions to the company’s bottom line.“Now that our new digital setup covers the whole planet, leads are coming from everywhere at all times,” Kunth revealed to the panel. In fact, the new site has been so successful that the latest challenge is to build lead-management flows to effectively manage the new opportunities. When pressed, Kunth admitted that that was “a luxurious problem to have.” <h2>The human effect of composability</h2>As prodigious as the technical achievements in Cobham Satcom’s new website are, equally impressive is the effect it has had on the company’s internal teams.To quote Kunth, “Our site’s faster capabilities, simpler CMS tools, and lead-generation abilities are ‘galvanizing’ internal teams daily.” “Technical tools can change the life of people at work, and that really excites not only me, but also everyone involved [with the site],” she said. “Everything is reachable and faster. Thanks to that, our teams are committed and engaged, which is crucial for the success of marketing activities.”Burgy echoed the importance of empowering teams through technology. “We spend so much time on our computers every day that we’d better enjoy the journey. And our companies will be more successful as a result,” he asserted.<h2>The effectiveness of the Uniform DXCP</h2>For more details on how Cobham Satcom worked alongside Uniform, Kruso, and Strapi to revitalize its website, view the <a href="https://uniform.dev/dxc-assembly#watch-the-recordings-now">recording of the panel session</a>, which also offers tips on how to deploy a composable structure and elaborates on the structure’s benefits. Additionally, <a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/uniformdev/image/upload/v1662386798/marketing/partner_marketing/case_study/CaseStudy_CobhamSatcom.pdf">available for download</a> is a case study that details the new Cobham Satcom experience, which saw a 150-percent jump in qualified leads in only four weeks. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq25z8XWjg0&ab_channel=Uniform">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq25z8XWjg0&amp;ab_channel=Uniform</a>

How Cobham Satcom built its composable corporate site in four weeks

Digital experience platforms (DXPs) and the more modern <a href="https://uniform.dev/what-is-digital-experience-composition">digital experience composition platforms (DXCPs)</a> share the same goal of making it easier for business users to create visually dynamic, personalized digital experiences. A major contrast is that DXCPs orchestrate solutions and technologies from different vendors. On the other hand, even though DXPs call themselves composable, they lock brands into a single vendor and one way of doing things at the expense of other capabilities.To help brands decide whether to switch from a DXP to a DXCP, we explain below their key differences. More details are available in this video created by Headless Creator.<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8On6ZKr7Q4&ab_channel=HeadlessCreator">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8On6ZKr7Q4&amp;ab_channel=HeadlessCreator</a><h2>DXCPs are far more cloud native</h2>A major disadvantage of DXPs is that their foundation is a content management system (CMS), which contains integrated add-ons or bolted-on tools along with such platforms as a digital asset management (DAM) and a product information management (PIM) system. Consequently, developers must manually apply updates, manage the hosting, customize the platform, and scale up the hosting to accommodate traffic spikes, such as those that occur around busy shopping days like Black Friday in the U.S. and Europe. The alternative is to hire the vendor to do all that at an additional cost.Conversely, DXCPs and the headless tools they manage are all hosted in the cloud and cloud native, which means that updates can not only occur automatically, but also scale elastically as demand rises and falls. Also, since DXCPs are tech agnostic and API-first, business users can work with multiple tools there. They can do that in DXPs, too, but only to a limited extent, let alone that in venturing outside that vendor’s proverbial walled garden, they give up features and capabilities.<h2>DXCPs are more than a data aggregator</h2>Uniform views DXCPs as a way for brands and their developers to select advanced, API-first vendors and loosely couple those vendors’ tools together. Furthermore, thanks to DXCPs’ tooling, business users can work across the many integrated tools in a holistic, unified workflow. Additionally:<ul><li>DXCPs are more than a data aggregator. Even though effective tools are available for stitching APIs into a cohesive model for access and use by developers, those tools do not deftly manage experiences as DXCPs do. 

After all, API aggregators are meant for access by developers through code only, not for business users, whose expertise rests with a low- or no-code editing environment, in which DXCPs also specialize. 
</li><li>DXCPs are different from a CMS because, unlike a CMS that requires that all content be routed through it for a tight coupling of technology, they keep content and data sources on a level playing field and maintain the loose coupling so that you can replace and add capabilities as necessary with no technology lock-in. </li></ul>In short, the entire focus of DXCPs is to accord teams freedom to collaborate smoothly, and for brands to switch tools without impacting the way other tools work and the overall web experience.<h2>DXCP protects domain data</h2> When building webpages or experiences, developers need two types of data:<ul><li>Domain data, which is core material, such as product models, that defines your brand across channels. For an events website, this data contains the names of the event spaces provided by your company, the dates, and the procedure for registration.
</li><li>Design data, which is volatile, channel-specific material, such as your site’s colors and the way in which you can edit the display of week-by-week information. For an events website, for example, you can change page design or spotlight a feature with volatile data.</li></ul>In DXPs, both domain data and design data reside in the same CMS, potentially leading to a messy situation and a polluted content model. In DXCPs, the design data and domain data are separate, providing clean data workflows for innovation efforts and more system longevity.<h2>Uniform DXCP readily facilitates transitioning from the old</h2>The primary function of composable frameworks like DXCPs is to enable both developers and business users to work seamlessly together, doing what they do best by leveraging the headless solutions that support them best. Composability also unlocks the potential of creating state-of-the-art, future-forward web experiences. For details, see this <a href="https://uniform.dev/resources/unlock-composability-with-dxc">guide from Uniform</a>. To learn how Uniform can help you transition from a DXP to a DXCP, <a href="https://uniform.dev/contact">contact us</a> for a free demo. Also, be sure to watch the Headless Creator video below for an informative summary of Uniform DXCP.

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