Revisiting 2024 Predictions on the Future of CMS

15 mins

A Tarot card with the text "CMS" and "2024" on the face

Does Composable DXP take the limelight?

Andrew Kumar is the Global Vice President of Customer Solutions and Ecosystem at Uniform and a CMS Critic Contributor.

I delivered the closing keynote at the CMS Kickoff Conference in St. Petersburg, Florida, in January 2024. This event, part of the CMS Experts working group, provided an excellent platform for sharing insights and predictions about content management.

As we approach the end of 2024 (and prepare for the next conference), I'd like to revisit these predictions and assess their accuracy.

Prediction 1: "All hands on deck" when building websites and apps

This prediction has mainly proven inaccurate for 2024. 0 for 1 so far!

We've seen significant progress in breaking down silos between development, marketing, operations, and growth teams, but only in small pockets and industries.

Summary from the comments section on LinkedIn:

Diverse Opinions

Some respondents, like Paul Abdool and Justin Cook, see a shift towards more diverse involvement in digital decisions:

Paul Abdool notes anecdotally that buying committees are becoming more diverse and less technical, focusing more on users and customers.
Justin Cook estimates that up to 50% of prospects now want a hands-on collaborative approach in tech stack selection.

Skepticism and Disagreement

However, several others disagree with the notion of increased collaboration:

Carrie Hane and Janus Boye view things as "business as usual" with continued siloed operations.
Sean Wright, based on conversations with industry professionals, agrees with the "business as usual" assessment.

Nuanced Perspectives

Some respondents offer more nuanced views:

Greg Dunlap notes broader stakeholder involvement in content creation but questions their digital savviness and strategic thinking.
Makram Mansour sees increased collaboration happening in specific ways, such as cross-funnel experiment planning and data sharing across website sections.

Overall, the quotes reveal a mix of opinions, with some seeing a trend towards more collaborative approaches in digital content and technology decisions, while others maintain that traditional siloed structures persist.

Prediction 2: Platforms must coexist

I'm pleased to report that this prediction has held true in 2024. According to recent data from ChiefMartec, companies are increasingly focused on integrations and APIs when selecting martech solutions.

1 out of 2 predictions so far!

Integration capabilities and APIs have become the second most important factor after cost when evaluating new technologies. This trend underscores the growing importance of platform interoperability and the need for seamless coexistence within complex tech stacks.

To that end, The MACH Alliance has been moving full steam ahead on an interoperability mission, a promising signal for co-existing platforms.

I may be slightly biased here, working for Uniform where I support 80+ connectors as part of our composable platform (also known as Uniform Mesh), which enables our customers to unify all their content & data quickly and efficiently.

Summary from the comments section on LinkedIn:

Ecosystem of Solutions

Makram Mansour's Perspective: Makram emphasizes the need for multiple specialized tools to create personalized customer experiences at scale:

No single solution can excel in all areas.
An ecosystem of tightly integrated solutions is necessary to enable speed and confidence in setting up and validating experiences.

Sean Wright's Response: Sean agrees with Makram but highlights some challenges and considerations:

Organizations are reluctant to manage and integrate numerous hyper-specific products.
There's a growing trend towards adopting more technology solutions, not fewer.

Balancing Composability and Integration

Sean suggests a middle ground:

Platforms should offer composability to accommodate the increasing number of technology solutions.
Products with more built-in features that require less composition may appeal to organizations overwhelmed by their current tech stack.
He poses an important question: Can we enable composability where customers want it without making it a requirement everywhere?

This discussion reflects the industry's ongoing tension between highly specialized, composable solutions and more integrated, all-in-one platforms.

Commenters acknowledge the need for flexibility and integration in modern content management and customer experience technologies.

Prediction 3: Experience modeling will rise in importance

Unfortunately, this prediction didn't materialize as I had hoped in 2024.

1 for 3 on these predictions.

The landscape has become more complex, with headless CMS vendors introducing visual studios and legacy DXP vendors adding headless APIs. This has muddied the waters and potentially set back the adoption of separate experience and content modeling.

At Uniform, we've maintained our focus on this core tenet, and our customers are successfully separating experience and content modeling. However, the broader market has yet to catch up. 2025 might be the year this approach gains wider adoption.

Summary from the comments section on LinkedIn:

Skepticism and Priorities

Justin Cook expresses uncertainty about the priority of certain CMS features:

He struggles to connect some CMS improvements directly to revenue or cost savings.
Cook questions whether technical benefits resonate with C-Suite executives, particularly CMOs focused on pipeline contribution.

Technical Benefits and Challenges

Nika Karliuchenko (from TELUS) highlights the importance of content and component reusability:

Without proper abstraction, content duplication and non-reusable frontend components lead to inefficiencies.
She suggests appealing to brand consistency to make the case for these improvements.

Dynamic Personalization

Venkatesha (Venky) Murthy describes the next wave of CMS systems:

Focus is shifting from traditional content and experience modeling to dynamic content experiences and personalization.
Systems that enable tailored experiences at scale will likely be market winners.

Flexibility and Multi-Channel Capabilities

Makram Mansour emphasizes the need for versatile content management:

CMS should allow selection between raw content, components, or full experiences depending on the application.
Flexibility in content reuse across various channels (web, mobile, email, AI bots) is critical for multichannel campaigns.

Overall, the quotes reveal a tension between technical advancements in CMS and their perceived value to business leaders, while also highlighting the industry's move towards more dynamic, personalized, and flexible content management solutions.

Prediction 4: Brands will start with the customer and deprioritize orchestration

This prediction has proven accurate to a large extent. Major players like Contentful and Contentstack's release of visual builders, have indeed prioritized customer experience for singular content sources.

That puts us at 2 out of 4 on the predictions!

I anticipate that orchestration will become a more significant consideration in 2025 as composable DXP gains traction, economic pressures ease, and businesses refocus on growth. Additionally, the rise of AI is likely to reinforce the need for observability, audits, and quality content reuse, which may bring orchestration back into the spotlight.

Summary from the comments section on LinkedIn:

Customer-Centric Approach

Sean Wright and Akshay Sura emphasize starting with the customer's needs and letting those drive marketing goals and technical solutions.
Matthieu Hattab defines customer-centricity as a holistic business approach that places the customer at the center of all decisions and operations.

Role of Orchestration

Wright views orchestration as one possible path to enabling engaging customer experiences, but not a requirement.
Hattab sees orchestration as a tool for managing content and data delivery across channels, which is just one aspect of achieving customer-centricity.
Dwayne Remekie notes that orchestration is a necessary function of any tech stack to some degree and can help meet customer demands.

Key Takeaways

Customer needs should drive marketing strategies and technology choices.
Orchestration is a tool that can support customer-centric approaches, but it's not the only or primary focus.
There's a distinction between the overarching goal of customer-centricity and the technical implementation of orchestration.
The industry is seeing increased use of orchestration services to meet customer needs, but it's part of a larger customer-centric strategy.

The consensus seems to be that while orchestration is valuable, it should be viewed as a means to achieve customer-centricity rather than an end in itself.

Prediction 5: No more "lift and shift," only incremental migration

This prediction has been largely accurate for 2024. We've observed a significant slowdown in large-scale e-commerce migrations, with many businesses opting for augmentation instead.

That puts us at 3 out of 5 on the predictions!

CMS migrations have become more deliberate and phased, allowing for smoother transitions and reduced risk. Content migrations have also evolved into more strategic, long-term projects rather than one-time events.

Summary from the comments section on LinkedIn:

Incremental Approach

Justin Cook suggests that as awareness of modern frameworks grows, migrations will become less painful and more seamless.
Vamsi Kondabala notes a trend towards module-wise migration, allowing businesses to see quick results and learn from each stage.
Akshay Sura mentions that both parallel efforts and incremental approaches can work well, depending on the customer and situation.

“Lift and Shift”

Kent So argues that pure lift and shift or complete transformations rarely occur; most migrations involve a mix of changed and unchanged elements.
Sean Wright acknowledges that while digitally mature organizations have moved away from lift and shift, it remains a valid approach for some businesses, especially as a stepping stone to further evolution.

Contrasting Perspectives

Greg Dunlap's experience contrasts with others, noting that his clients typically prefer comprehensive migrations.
Sean Wright points out that some businesses still favor lift and shift due to challenges like product support, team skills, and legacy technology constraints.

Key Takeaways

Migration strategies vary based on business needs, digital maturity, and risk tolerance.
Incremental or module-wise migrations are gaining popularity for their lower risk and faster results.
Lift and shift can be a valid starting point for businesses needing a clean break from their current systems.
The industry is moving towards more flexible, evolving approaches to migration and transformation.
There's no one-size-fits-all solution; the best approach depends on the specific context of each organization.

Overall, the trend seems to be moving towards more agile, incremental migration strategies, but traditional approaches like lift and shift still have their place in certain scenarios.

Prediction 6: More accelerator "products" for integration and white-labelling

This prediction missed the mark for 2024. That puts us at 3 out of 6 on the predictions.

While we've seen numerous agencies develop accelerators, such as Apply Digital's CAFE, Orium's Composable UI, and Valtech's LEAP, these solutions are still in their early stages and relatively rigid, lack safety protocols, don’t have long-term support or SLAs, and bind content types to frontend components preventing reuse of components and content, effectively creating a new form of Monolith dubbed a “MACH-o-lith.”

The anticipated white-labelling trend hasn't materialized yet. Perhaps 2025 will bring more maturity and flexibility to these accelerator products.

Summary from the comments section on LinkedIn:

Accelerators and Integration

Importance of Accelerators: John Austin notes that accelerators are critical for speed to market and seamless workflow integration. They are becoming key to unlocking the adoption of composable architectures. Accelerators will continue to shape the future of CMS/DXP solutions as long as they avoid being rigid and hard-coded like their current iteration.
Integration Challenges: Makram Mansour notes that integration and customization work typically takes at least 3 months before production use. There's a need for more plug-and-play standardization across martech.

AI and Automation

John Austin highlights the importance of AI-driven automations in CMS/DXP solutions:

AI can enhance content workflows for SEO, accessibility, brand compliance, and omnichannel optimization.
AI-powered automation is seen as a major differentiator for CMS vendors.
It can reduce time and effort needed for content delivery and digital experiences, leading to significant cost savings.

Industry-Specific Solutions

Syed Hussain points out:

Opportunities for accelerators in the automotive vertical, particularly for dealerships.
Many existing accelerators in this space are built on legacy technologies.
Loyalty accelerators are another area of potential development.

Market Trends

Growing Recognition: Anton Koval observes that more people are recognizing the value of accelerators. Partners are increasingly considering building accelerators.
Integration in Practice: Paul Abdool confirms that multiple independent applications and platforms will be integrated in 2024. This integration makes it easier for buyers and strengthens product offerings.
Ecosystem Partnerships: John Austin notes that ecosystem partnerships are becoming more critical than ever.

Challenges and Solutions

Paul Abdool highlights: Service providers are building their own integrations to meet customer demands when vendors fall short.

These themes underscore the growing importance of accelerators in the martech landscape, the role of AI in enhancing CMS capabilities, and the trend towards more integrated, industry-specific solutions.

The comments reflect a positive outlook on the future of accelerators and their potential to address integration challenges and meet customer needs more effectively, despite the rigidity of current solutions in the market.

Prediction 7: No-code capabilities for integration frameworks will continue to emerge

Another prediction that is mixed about coming to fruition in 2024. While some tools have emerged, the no-code integration space hasn't taken off as expected.

We’ll give this a half point for accuracy. That puts us at 3.5 out of 7 on the predictions.

It seems that the focus on AI has overshadowed this area, with many hoping that AI will automate integration tasks in the future.

Summary from the comments section on LinkedIn:

Rise of No-Code Integration Frameworks

John Austin confirms the prediction about the rise of no-code capabilities in integration frameworks, noting its alignment with the demand for faster and easier solutions.
Briana Sim acknowledges this trend but suggests it might not be fully realized by 2025 for their vendor under current and active development.

Vertical Solution Accelerators

John Austin emphasizes the significant progress in vertical solution accelerators, with many Composable-focused digital agencies using them as a go-to-market strategy.
I (Andrew) am less convinced that these solution accelerators do nothing more than create a “MACH-o-lith” but remain optimistic that industry-aligned solutions will come to light in 2025.

Simplification vs. Complexity

Briana Sim expresses concern about oversimplifying the concept of "integrations," noting that they are not one-size-fits-all.
She also worries about potentially devaluing the skill level of integration specialists due to the perceived ease of no-code solutions.

AI and No-Code

Anton Koval suggests that AI might allow skipping no-code altogether, using tools like Replit to generate and implement full code.
Andrew is less convinced that the AI solutions for code generation are at a good enough quality to tackle this work yet without a human in the loop.

Empowerment and User Experience

Makram Mansour highlights the importance of no-code integration and prompt interfaces for unlocking velocity, citing bolt.new as an impressive example.
Mihaela Mazzenga emphasizes that empowerment, regardless of delivery method, is key.

Data Utilization and Personalization

Syed Hussain stresses the importance of no-code integration frameworks for building 1:1 campaigns and maximizing first-party data usage.

Validation and Scalability

Makram Mansour points out the need for no-code validations to handle different personalizations and experimentation experiences at scale.

Technology Selection

Akshay Sura notes that this prediction is important for organizations when selecting technology.

These comments reflect a general agreement on the growing importance of no-code solutions, while also highlighting concerns about oversimplification and the need for balancing ease of use with the complexity of integration tasks.

Prediction 8: AI quality will improve

This prediction has been spot-on for 2024. We've seen remarkable improvements in AI quality, usability, and the capabilities of professionals to create effective prompts.

That puts us at 4.5 out of 8 on the predictions. D’s get degrees, right?

The impact of AI on content creation and management has been substantial, and its quality continues to impress. As an example, I used AI to synthesize notes, discussions, and comment threads to draft the initial version of this article, and the results were impressive.

Summary from the comments section on LinkedIn:

Integration with Existing Processes

Roy Lee emphasizes that AI implementation is "always about making it work for the legacy business process," highlighting the importance of adapting AI to existing workflows.

Quality Improvement

Paul Abdool and Syed Hussain both acknowledge that AI quality has improved. Paul states, "The quality improved," while Syed notes, "AI quality has definitely improved."

Financial Considerations

Paul Abdool points out that the financial impact of AI is yet to be fully understood, saying, "The Finance guys will chime in soon when the bills start to come in."

Ongoing Development

Syed Hussain suggests that despite improvements, "there's more work to be done," particularly in the quality of content and creative output.

Evolution of AI Usage

Akshay Sura observes an improvement in how people use AI, noting, "Rather than taking the output and using it, there is now thought and a process after getting the AI output." This indicates a shift towards more thoughtful and refined AI implementation.

These comments reflect a nuanced view of AI's progress, acknowledging improvements while recognizing areas for further development and the need for careful integration with existing business processes.

Conclusion: 2024 Predictions on the Future of CMS

As we conclude our examination of the predictions made at the CMS Kickoff conference, it's evident that 2024 has been a year of both progress and challenges in the content management landscape. While some predictions, such as the need for platforms to coexist and the shift towards customer-centric approaches, have largely held true, others have not materialized as anticipated.

The ongoing tension between traditionally siloed structures and emerging collaborative practices reflects the complexities organizations face in adapting to new technologies and methodologies. Furthermore, while incremental migration strategies have gained traction, the anticipated rise of no-code capabilities and flexible accelerator products remains a work in progress, indicating that the industry still has significant ground to cover.

Looking ahead to 2025, there is cautious optimism that many of these trends will continue to evolve. The integration of AI into CMS solutions presents both opportunities and challenges, as businesses seek to enhance their capabilities while navigating the complexities of implementation.

As organizations prioritize customer needs and strive for seamless interoperability within their tech stacks, the insights gathered from this year's discussions will be invaluable. By fostering collaboration, embracing innovation, and remaining adaptable to changing market demands, stakeholders can position themselves for success in an increasingly dynamic digital landscape.

The journey is far from over, but with continued focus on these key areas, we can anticipate a more integrated and customer-centric future for content management systems.

A heartfelt “thank you”

Thank you to the following contributors and collaborators on this post, all of whom are industry and subject matter experts!

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