Rising interest in a composable martech architecture is due in part to organizations demanding greater flexibility to respond to rapid market innovations, such as generative AI. When the need for continuous innovation aligns with use cases for delivering exceptional customer experience, the concept of composability might specifically refer to an integrated, composable customer data platform (CDP).
We’ve covered the composable architecture concept in previous articles where we detail the features and functions of a tech stack architecture composed of different best-of-breed technology solutions, brought together through APIs to operate as a whole in a cloud-based open ecosystem of services and platforms.
This article will address composability more from the point of view of a marketer or IT, specifically how a fully integrated composable CDP such as Redpoint enables continuous innovation. It does this, in part, because a composable platform wraps self-contained and complete business functions within the composable service. There is tremendous value for a marketer in being able to accomplish a complete business process in a small set of steps in one environment without having to duplicate their efforts elsewhere. It is similar to the services of popular travel sites – the Expedia’s and Kayak’s of the world – where a customer can do everything (explore destinations, select options, book flights, hotel and car, plan activities) all in one environment rather than have to go to different websites to compare prices and try to cobble together an itinerary. As a user of the system – in this case a marketer – it simplifies innovating in areas you care about like trying new campaigns rather than having to focus resources on having to navigate from app to app or solution to solution to build out a process.
The catch is that a single environment only works if the user can trust that the available flights, rooms and travel packages are accurate and up-to-date. Accuracy is ensured through a careful and thorough vetting of the underlying data. The same holds true for building transformative CX; built-in data quality and identity resolution ensure that processes in a composable environment are built on high quality data that represent a real-time, accurate view of the customer.
A Composable Architecture and an Intelligent Hub
Once the data in a composable environment is cleansed and fit-for-purpose, another aspect of a composable environment in a CDP is how well the system architecture enables the orchestration of a consistent, omnichannel CX.
To some extent, every martech stack is composable in that it will consist of systems from multiple vendors. The difference in a fully integrated composable CDP is that it will not only make inbound/outbound connections as automated and as capable as possible, it will manage the orchestration of experiences across every channel.
In a fully integrated system, an email marketing team, a website team and a loyalty app team no longer have to operate in a siloed fashion, focused mostly on whether the data they care about is updated. Instead, a central source of truth allows each team to see and validate how one experience impacts a broader customer journey. An intelligent hub is more closely aligned with the real purpose of a CDP; it’s not just to push data out, it’s about designing a perfect CX through the coordination of experiences across channels. Next-best actions, product recommendations, loyalty recommendations, etc., are all driven by the same intelligence. A real-time decisioning engine – the heart of a digital experience platform – advances the concept of composability from simply swapping out components to an idea in which best-of-breed connectors are configured with a goal of optimizing the single point of operational control.
Innovation is an API Away
Optimization is, of course, a continual process, particularly with dynamic customer journeys always seeming to veer off in new directions. To take generative AI as one example, there are already dozens of use cases where the technology is being used in real-time decisioning to enhance CX, such as with personalizing the dialect or conversational tone of a chatbot.
A fully integrated composable CDP will enable capturing the latest and greatest trends to make better offers, generate better content and to better analyze and evaluate customer behavior because new models can be up-and-running in days, not weeks. A fully integrated digital platform future-proofs CX. Users can bring their own models and interact with the real-time interaction engine at the API level, enabling continuous innovation to match the ever-changing consumer across a dynamic omnichannel journey.
Flexible and adaptable at a microservices level, a fully integrated composable CDP meets an organization’s changing needs and requirements to drive transformative CX with a customer-centric approach.
