Many companies overpay for digital tools. Headless solutions integrating these tools are meant to enhance accessibility and efficiency across channels but often end up costing more than expected. Headless should be a feature, not a religion. Headless hybrid DXP, not the headless CMS, might be the answer you are looking for. 

 Large companies often have a MarTech stack with dozens, even hundreds of tools for various purposes. Headless aimed to enable businesses to use specialized capabilities from different, top-tier best-of-breed resources rather than relying on a single, clunky system that might be great for creating blog posts but not necessarily for creating newsletters. 

In practice, it's mainly large companies with ongoing software developer support that can effectively integrate such a multitude of applications, ensuring seamless collaboration among marketing, analytics, content creation, and sales teams. And even in these large companies, marketers and editors are not necessarily satisfied with such a high dependence on developers.
 

ONCE AGAIN, WHAT HEADLESS REALLY IS AND WHAT IT'S NOT

A headless CMS decouples the content and its presentation layer. It makes it easier to manage and update the content on a website or app without messing up how it looks to the person using it. Content is created in one place and, using the API, displayed on various screens - pages in the browser, applications on the phone, interactive kiosks in the store, etc. 

It allows for content "recycling" and minimizes the governance. Yet, many marketers and editors value the ability to manipulate the content's presentation layer, a feature traditional CMSs provide. They wish to tailor their campaigns to different formats while maintaining a harmonious blend of form and content.

When handling digital assets, they may also not prefer switching between various interfaces, even if these interfaces belong to top-tier, best-in-class, unique tools.

"Headless" is a buzzword frequently echoed by digital industry analysts. Nevertheless, it's not a remedy for traditional CMS's limitations or the way to revolutionize digital journeys; it's merely a valuable feature.

HYBRID DXP = MORE FREEDOM TO MARKETERS AND CONTENT EDITORS

In both large and medium companies, marketers and content managers share common expectations:

• Gain independence from developers for more autonomy.
• Swiftly adapt to current situations and market shifts.
• Utilize a single platform encompassing all necessary functions, with the flexibility to easily incorporate new ones.

Hybrid Headless DXP is the answer to these needs. The "headless" part of this solution is merely a functionality that empowers organizations to deliver content across various digital channels.

So, in general, a hybrid headless DXP allows you to:

• Develop websites using both headless and traditional approaches.
• Choose between a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) or a modular method.
• Build a diverse portfolio of websites that can be managed from a single platform.
• Reuse and distribute content across multiple customer engagement channels: email, social media, chatbots, and mobile apps.
• This capability facilitates innovation and experimentation with emerging channels, enhances productivity, and helps you maintain control over management costs and efforts.

Both Kentico and Umbraco are heading in this direction, and we're actively collaborating with them. We'd be delighted to discuss how to efficiently integrate hybrid DXP solutions into your organization, streamlining the workflow for marketing teams, internet traffic analysts, sales professionals, and content managers.