the top global vendors 2021

© 2021, Research In Action GmbH Reproduction Prohibited 1

Research In Action

February 2021 (Updated April 2021)

VENDOR SELECTION MATRIX™

DIGITAL EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENT

THE TOP GLOBAL VENDORS 2021

© 2021, Research In Action GmbH Reproduction Prohibited


VENDOR SELECTION MATRIX™:


Note: Potential numerical deviations due to rounding

STRATEGY EXECUTION TOTAL

1. ACQUIA 4.78 4.69 9.46

2. E-SPIRIT 4.66 4.69 9.35

3. CROWNPEAK 4.66 4.68 9.34

4. BLOOMREACH 4.60 4.68 9.28

5. OPTIMIZELY (EPISERVER) 4.56 4.69 9.25

6. COREMEDIA 4.43 4.69 9.11

7. SITECORE 4.50 4.58 9.08

8. SQUIZ 4.35 4.50 8.85

9. ADOBE 4.30 4.55 8.85

10. IBEXA 4.29 4.44 8.73

11. CONTENTFUL 4.08 4.26 8.34

12. OPENTEXT 4.08 4.23 8.30

13. MAGNOLIA 4.11 4.15 8.26

14. SALESFORCE 3.88 3.91 7.79

15. ORACLE 3.66 3.83 7.49

16. SAP 3.69 3.76 7.45


Every year, Research In Action surveys 10,000+ enterprise IT and business decision makers in order to gain insights

on strategy, investments and ongoing challenges of technology innovation in the IT and Marketing Automation realm.

These surveys give us access to a wealth of direct and unfiltered feedback from the buyers. It also helps us to

understand how buying decisions are made in today’s business environment. The Vendor Selection Matrix™ is a

primarily survey-based methodology for vendor evaluation where 62.5 % of the evaluation is based on a survey of

enterprise IT or business decision makers and 37.5 % on the analyst’s judgment. The analyst’s input is fed by a

combination of intensive interviews with software or services vendors and their clients, plus their informed,

independent point-of-view as an analyst. All of this combines to make Research in Action Vendor Selection Matrix™

reports so unique. This approach is one of the key differentiators of Research In Action in market research. For this

report we interviewed 1,500 marketing and business managers with budget responsibility in enterprises globally. We

selected those vendors which achieved the best scores from the buyers but disregarded those with fewer than 15

evaluations.

Our method of describing a business process and asking business managers to name software vendor(s) they

associate with it collates a list of those vendors most relevant for potential buyers of an automation solution. The

resulting vendor landscape for Digital Experience Management (DXM) is a broad mix of vendors with a wide variety of

claims: web content management, content management systems, digital experience, through to digital commerce. The

major enterprise application software vendors also offer their own DXM platform – the market feedback in report

shows that their solutions are not appreciated though.

The suitability of a DXM platform varies according to whether you are a medium-sized company or a large international

enterprise. Another important variable is whether the initiative is needed for a consumer business, B2B, or even to

communicate internally (B2E) and we have investigated this further in the report.

This report provides you with a useful guide to important Digital Experience Management Trends, names the Top 16

vendors as selected by 1,500 users based upon product, company and service quality, and will help you make an

informed decision regarding which vendors could best fit your requirements. This information can then be used for a

more detailed evaluation.

This report update reflects the Crownpeak acquisition of e-Spirit in March 2021

Always keeping you informed! Peter O’Neill

FOREWORD

Research In Action GmbH

Alte Schule

56244 Hartenfels

Germany

Peter O‘Neill

Research Director

+49 174 3210020

[email protected]


100,000+

Data

Points

LeadingVendors

20+

Reports

In 2021

62.5 %Survey

Results

37.5 %Analyst‘s

Opinion

OUR SURVEY DEMOGRAPHICS: MARKETING AUTOMATION

1,500Marketing &

Business

Managers


OUR MARKET IMPACT OVER THE LAST 12 MONTHS

15 press releases

1,200 clicks on average

400 vendors evaluated

20+ research reports

15,000 clicks on average

10,000+ enterprise

survey participants

Customer base:

150,000 IT Automation

100,000 Marketing Automation


WHAT TOOLS DO YOU USE TO CREATE THE VENDOR

SHORTLIST?

N = 3,750 Enterprise, Marketing and Business Managers with budget responsibilities.


WHAT IS DIGITAL EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENT?

• Digital Experience Management1 (DXM) family of processes support the composition, management,

delivery and optimization of contextualized digital experiences. Increasingly, these platforms are deployed

to an ever-more complex, extensive and interconnected technology landscape. Businesses now need to

deliver highly contextualized experiences beyond the websites and mobile apps to an increasing variety of

interaction channels across the customer journey. Some vendors still call their products Web Content

Management platforms, reflecting their origin. It is a mature market but under disruption because of the

above-named trends. DXM is used in business-to-consumer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B) and

business-to-employee (B2E) scenarios, providing provide optimal digital experiences to a variety of

audiences, including prospects, customers, partners, employees, citizens and students.

• Most DXM vendors have rearchitected their platforms to offer headless and/or decoupled architectures.

The descriptor “headless” stands for the separation of content files from the presentation layer, allowing

other applications to request content from the DXM system using APIs; applications such emails, SMS

messages, video screens, augmented or virtual reality, or Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices like wearables.

Leading platforms now also include other components such as analytics, social capabilities, and online

forms.

• DXM processes play a leading role in eCommerce projects where the buyer experience across a myriad of

channels is a critical success factor. Measuring and optimizing the “experience1” is becoming a key

business measure of success in consumer marketing as well as in both business-to-business (B2B) or

business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) marketing.

1 Experience Management, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experience_management.


Plan & Manage Target Engage

Marketing Resource Management OrchestrationMulti-Channel Campaign

Management

Planning & Financials

Creative Production

Asset Management

Fulfillment Management

Performance Management

Content

Segmentation

Content

Lead Management

Audience

Push/Offer

Management

eMail

Mobile

Social & Video

Web

eCommerce

Sales & Partners

Adtech

Relationships (CRM)

Print

Analytics

Reporting

Dashboards

Predictive &

Recommendation

Data Mining

& BI

Audience

Insights

Closed-loop

Attribution

Econometric

Modelling

Mobile/Site

Analytics

Spend

Optimization

Data Management

CollectionTargeted

Audience

Look-alike

Audiences

Adaptive

Segments

Subscriber

Management

Audience

Scoring

Partner

Audiences

Consent &

Compliance

eMail

Social

Mobile

Web

Ads

POS

Known

customers

Registered

users

Unknown

visitors

Product DB Transactions Interactions Social Ad/Media Behaviour Geodata Other

THE MARKETING AUTOMATION MARKETEXTURE

Digital

Experience

Management


MATURITY S-CURVE FOR MARKETING MANAGEMENT

Matu

rity O

f Mark

etin

g P

rocess M

an

ag

em

en

t

Evolution Stage

PRM

MRM

Lead Collection

& Distribution

Content

DistributionSEM

Interactive

Marketing

DXM

Basic CRM

BCM

Ad-Hoc

Process

Universal

Content

Management

eMail

Marketing

WCM

PIM Content

Marketing

DAM

MLM

ABM

Social

Engagement

And Advocacy

CDM

CEM

TCMA

Attribution

Reporting

MPM

Chaotic14%* (15%)

Reactive33% (38%)

Stable30% (26%)

Proactive15% (14%)

Predictive8% (7%)

Our surveys and consulting work enable us to continually assess the maturity of marketing organizations (organization,

process and technology). Over time, initial Web Content Management matures to Digital Experience Management.

N = 3,000 Marketing and Business Managers with budget responsibility. All acronyms are defined in the report Appendix* Categories show adoption rates in 2021, (/) show changes from 2020.


These are the Top Five benefits

named by enterprise marketing

software buyers for DXM projects.

Over 50% selected “Better system

performance“; indicating that most

companies are replacing and/or

consolidating existing DXM (or

perhaps WCM) platforms in these

projects.

An important fourth priority, at 36%,

is the expected benefit of

supporting multiple digital

platforms, including mobile.

Buyers are most likely to engage

with those DAM vendors whose

messaging addresses these

motivations.

RESEARCH: THE KEY BENEFITS ACHIEVED OR PLANNED

BY USING DXM SOLUTIONS

N = 1,500 Marketing and Business Managers with budget responsibilities. Respondents could select three benefits.

32.1%

33.5%

38.5%

45.4%

52.5%

Presenting content on all possible customer touchpoints

Implementing a "mobile-first" strategy

Better customer experience

Improved customer satisfaction

Better system performance and responsiveness


These are the Top Four reasons


software buyers for consolidating

their DXM system.

80% of those consolidating are

doing so for cost-saving reasons.

The next-most important reason is

to extend the possibility of

engaging with prospects and

customers, through all digital

channels.

The trend to consolidation varies

greatly across the regions, the

global 68% splits into:

• 65% in North America

• 76% in Europe

• 49% in Asia

RESEARCH: THE MOST IMPORTANT REASONS FOR

CONSOLIDATING DXM SOLUTIONS

68% are consolidating DXM, for these reasons

N = 1,500 Marketing and Business Managers with budget responsibilities for the overall question.

N = 1022 Respondents who are consolidating for the “reasons” split (each could select two reasons).

15.6%

20.3%

49.2%

79.9%

Reducing the number ofsuppliers

Consolidation while modernizingour systems

Achieving a 360 degree view ofthe customer

Achieving cost reduction


These are the Top Four reasons

named by North American

enterprise marketing software

buyers for consolidating their DXM

system.







channels.




motivations.


CONSOLIDATING DXM SOLUTIONS – NORTH AMERICA


15.3%

24.7%

58.7%

73.2%





N = 575 North America Marketing and Business Managers with budget responsibilities for the overall question.



Over three-quarter of European

respondents are consolidating their

DXM systems. These are the Top

Four reasons named by European

enterprise marketing software

buyers.







channels.




motivations.


CONSOLIDATING DXM SOLUTIONS – EUROPE


N = 725 European Marketing and Business Managers with budget responsibilities for the overall question.


15.8%

17.8%

44.8%

93.1%






These are the top expectations


software buyers of their DXM

vendor, all chosen by over a fifth of

the respondents.

Nearly half selected “Price/Value

ratio“; indicating a very price-

sensitive, perhaps even

commoditized market.

One third are expecting to be able

to access local support resources,

either direct from the vendor or

through a services partner.

At number Seven, though still with

over 20%, is the availability of

implementation assistance.




motivations.

RESEARCH: THE KEY PRIORITIES WHEN SELECTING

A DXM VENDOR

N = 1,500 Marketing and Business Managers with budget responsibilities. Respondents could select three priorities.

21.5%

22.8%

25.7%

28.4%

32.8%

33.3%

43.1%

Implementation assistance

Vendor flexibility

Implementation cost

Solution flexibility

Solution fit to requirements

Local (regional) support

Price/value ratio


INSIGHTS: TOP DXM TRENDS 2021

• Digital experience investment has accelerated. The COVID-19 crisis has forced businesses in every sector

to re-evaluate their digital transformation plans and to adjust urgently to a customer base that prefers to

interact and buy digitally. This increased investment in digital transformation projects invariably results in a

DXM project; either to replace the existing DXM or WCM platform, or to consolidate.

• From professional services to citizen programmers. Traditional web content management had required

extensive professional services, often doubling the overall cost of a project. DXM platforms are lighter and

easier to use, so the cost of services is now a lower percentage of the overall cost. In addition, adopting a

Cloud version further reduces both cost and complexity. Some DXM solutions even have functions that can

be controlled by specialists in the marketing department instead of requiring IT resources.

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) is expected. Many DXM vendors have embedded AI

and ML functionality to improve the effectiveness of customer engagements and assist administrators and

marketers to create, import, and use content and digital assets. Use of AI and ML will further increase to

enhancing the ability of marketers to deliver highly relevant personalized content.

• Connection is critical. An important factor for buyers is the ease with which integrations can be built

between DXM and applications using the content. Some of these applications are backend systems, while

others are enterprise-built applications that render the content in new channels. This includes prebuilt

connectors to common ERP, CRM, marketing automation, and e-commerce applications.

• The DXM vendor landscape is rich and dynamic. There were many new entrants to the market in 2020 which

do not appear in this survey. Enterprises evaluating a DXM solution should carefully consider the

capabilities they require before matching them to those offered by vendors, because different approaches

and taxonomy may be used.


INSIGHTS: TOP DXM VENDOR TRENDS 2021

• Off with the head, and onto the Cloud. There is hardly a vendor left that does not promote the concept of

“headless” DXM. This is not a technological feature but now a vital element of any digital transformation

initiative. However, DXM platforms must also operate in a traditional coupled way for some applications, so

more of a hybrid solution is most suitable. A Cloud-native platform is also a must in a COVID-19 world with

enterprises needing agility and being able to quickly adapt to changing needs.

• Less can often be more. Many DXM offerings are extensive platforms with a wide range of technologies,

but this is often not the right answer for an enterprise that already has systems in place. So, a solution

providing fewer capabilities and complementary technologies is often instead, which tends to mystify the

losing vendor(s) but is understandable; buyers will not pay for features they do not need.

• The DXM vendor landscape is rich and dynamic. The greater interest in DXM is reflected in an increasing

number of vendors offering solutions, especially as other technology areas are consolidating. Even the

large enterprise application vendors have DXM claims but the market response, as shown in this survey, is

not appreciative. There were also many new DXM entrants (start-up and major vendor alike) in 2020 which

do not yet appear in this survey. This variety of choice often results in the marketing and promotion of DXM

functions becoming quite fluid or creative. Vendors should carefully research and consider the taxonomy

used by enterprises to be able to match it.

• Many DXM vendors talk technology, not business or even marketing. Despite the relative maturity of the

topic, some DXM vendors struggle to differentiate themselves. Tending to debate about their own

competing technologies, they do not help marketers to understand what is being offered.



DIGITAL EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENT VENDORS 2021

* These vendors did not provide a direct briefing to the Research In Action analysts.

These are the Top 16 vendors as selected by 1,500 users based upon product, company

and service quality.This list is alphabetical and includes all

relevant DXM solutions named by the survey

respondents.

Also named but considered not relevant:

• LIFERAY

• JAHIA

• SDL

• KENTICO

Additonal vendors that were cited but did not

list in the Top 20, or had less than 15 ratings:

• DOTCMS

• SQUARESPACE

• PROGRESS SOFTWARE

• WEEBLY

• WIX

Note: Episerver rebranded to Optimizely in

February 2021. The survey respondents were

scoring the Episerver brand.

Update Note: Crownpeak acquired e-Spirit in

March 2021. The survey respondents were

scoring each brand separately.

VENDOR NAME PRODUCT(S)

ACQUIA Open Digital Experience Platform

ADOBE Adobe Experience Cloud

BLOOMREACH Bloomreach Experience

CONTENTFUL Contentful

COREMEDIA* CoreMedia Content Cloud

CROWNPEAK Crownpeak Digital Experience Management (DXM)

E-SPIRIT FirstSpirit DXP

OPTIMIZELY (EPISERVER)* Episerver Customer-Centric Digital Experience Platform, Optimizely

IBEXA (EZ SYSTEMS) Ibexa DXP

MAGNOLIA Magnolia Digital Experience Platform

OPENTEXT* OpenText Experience

ORACLE Oracle Content and Experience Cloud

SALESFORCE* Salesforce Community Cloud

SAP* SAP Customer Experience

SITECORE Sitecore Experience Platform

SQUIZ Squiz Digital Experience Platform



DIGITAL EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENT:

VENDOR QUICK FACTS

* The Research In Action Recommendation Index (RI) is collected and calculated by asking the survey participants (see page five)

“Would you recommend this vendor in this market to your peers - Yes or No?”.

NOTE: Revenue numbers (and growth) are estimated specifically for this market by Research in Action and do not reflect overall

company revenue numbers (and growth).

VENDOR NAME STAFF REVENUE GROWTH RI* GOOD TO KNOW

ACQUIA 800 > € 100 m 20% p.a. 99% The open source digital experience company that empowers the world’s most ambitious brands.

ADOBE 22,000 > € 200 m 20% p.a. 95% The enterprise leader in content creation, management, and delivery.

BLOOMREACH 250 > € 25 m 20% p.a. 98% Powering connected digital experiences for people and business.

CONTENTFUL 400 > € 50 m 80% p.a. 95% Building for the digital-first era, our next-generation content platform powers great digital experiences.

COREMEDIA 300 > € 100 m 20% p.a. 97% Enabling brands to create powerful digital experiences, and become an iconic global brand.

CROWNPEAK 150 > € 25 m 20% p.a. 99% Deliver stunning digital experiences on any channel with the world’s only cloud-native platform.

E-SPIRIT 200 > € 25 m 50% p.a. 99% Turn Your Customers into Lifelong Fans with the FirstSpirit Digital Experience Platform.

OPTIMIZELY (EPISERVER) 1,100 > € 200 m 40% p.a. 98% Empowering companies to compete digitally by creating digital experiences that puts customers first.

IBEXA (EZ SYSTEMS) 100 > € 20 m 50% p.a. 96% Helping B2B companies to transform traditional sales strategies into frictionless buying experiences.

MAGNOLIA 100 > € 50 m 20% p.a. 95% We make digital experiences faster and more flexible.

OPENTEXT 15,000 > € 20 m 10% p.a. 95% Create customers for life by delivering intelligent, relevant and efficient omnichannel experiences.

ORACLE 135,000 > € 50 m 10% p.a. 86% Personalized experiences with a unified, cloud-based CMS to create/manage/distribute digital assets.

SALESFORCE 35,000 > € 50 m 20% p.a. 90% Engage any audience, fast, with sites, forums, and apps on the Customer 360 platform.

SAP 100,000 > € 100 m 10% p.a. 91% Engage with seamless, personalized experiences.

SITECORE 1,300 > € 200 m 20% p.a. 97% Nurture customers throughout their journey with personalized content in real-time, across any channel.

SQUIZ 350 > € 30 m 10% p.a. 97% A suite of open, fast and flexible technologies to build personalized digital services and experiences.



DIGITAL EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENT: MORE FACTS

1 This analysis reflects the vendor’s product history and current solution emphasis. 2 The Research In Action estimated revenues for each vendor by global region in the DXM market specifically.

VENDOR NAME GLOBAL FOOTPRINT2

B2B B2C B2E NA EMEA

ACQUIA Strong Strong Some 70% 25% 5% CPG, Pharma, Retail

ADOBE Medium Strong Some 70% 20% 10% All

BLOOMREACH Strong Strong Some 80% 10% 10% All

CONTENTFUL Some Strong Some 30% 60% 10% CPG, Retail, Media, Travel/ Hospitality/ Entertainment

COREMEDIA Some Strong None 20% 60% 20% CPG, Financial Services, Media, Retail, Travel, Utilities

CROWNPEAK Some Strong None 80% 10% 10% All

E-SPIRIT Strong Medium None 30% 60% 10% E-Commerce/Retail, Financial Services, Manufacturing

OPTIMIZELY (EPISERVER) Strong Strong Some 60% 30% 10% CPG, Financial Services, Industry, Media, Retail, Technology, Utilities

IBEXA (EZ SYSTEMS) Strong Medium Some 30% 50% 20% Financial Services, Manufacturing, Media, Pharma

MAGNOLIA Some Strong None 70% 20% 10% CPG, Financial Services, Media, Retail, Travel, Utilities

OPENTEXT Some Strong Some 65% 25% 10% CPG, Tech, Retail

ORACLE Some Medium Some 65% 25% 15% All

SALESFORCE Some Medium Some 60% 25% 15% All

SAP Some Some Some 45% 40% 15% All

SITECORE Medium Strong Some 50% 35% 15% All

SQUIZ Medium Strong Some 7% 25% 68%

TARGET INDUSTRIESUSE-CASES SUPPORTED1

Public, Higher Ed., Financial Services, Communications/Media/Services

APAC


STRATEGY

Vision And Go-To-Market 30% Does the company have a coherent vision in line with the most probable future market scenarios?

Does the go-to-market and sales strategy fit the target market and customers?

Innovation And Differentiation 30% How innovative is the company in this market?

Does the solution have a unique selling proposition and clear market differentiators?

Viability And Execution Capabilities 15% How likely is the long-term survival of the company in this market?

Does the company have the necessary resources to execute the strategy?

Recommendation Index 25% Would customers recommend this vendor in this market to their peers?

EXECUTION

Breadth And Depth Of Solution Offering 30% Does the solution cover all necessary capabilities expected by customers?

Market Share And Growth 15% How big is the company's market share and is it growing above the market rate?

Customer Satisfaction 25% How satisfied are customers with the solution and the vendor today?

Price Versus Value Ratio 30% How do customers rate the relationship between the price and perceived value of the solution?

NOTES:62.5% of the evaluation is based on the survey results, 37.5% is based on the analysts’ assessment.

• 40% of the evaluation is based on the survey results: (1) Recommendation Index, (2) Customer Satisfaction, (3) Price Versus Value.

• 15% of the evaluation is based on the analysts’ assessment: (1) Viability And Execution Capabilities, (2) Market Share And Growth.

• 45% of the evaluation is based on a combination of survey results and analysts’ assessment: (1) Vision And Go-To-Market (2) Innovation And Differentiation (3) Breadth And Depth Of Solution Offering.

The Research In Action Recommendation Index (RI) is collected and calculated by asking the survey participants (see page four)

“Would you recommend this vendor in this market to your peers - Yes or No?”.


EVALUATION CRITERIA




Note: Potential numerical deviations due to rounding

STRATEGY EXECUTION TOTAL

1. ACQUIA 4.78 4.69 9.46

2. E-SPIRIT 4.66 4.69 9.35

3. CROWNPEAK 4.66 4.68 9.34

4. BLOOMREACH 4.60 4.68 9.28

5. OPTIMIZELY (EPISERVER) 4.56 4.69 9.25

6. COREMEDIA 4.43 4.69 9.11

7. SITECORE 4.50 4.58 9.08

8. SQUIZ 4.35 4.50 8.85

9. ADOBE 4.30 4.55 8.85

10. IBEXA 4.29 4.44 8.73

11. CONTENTFUL 4.08 4.26 8.34

12. OPENTEXT 4.08 4.23 8.30

13. MAGNOLIA 4.11 4.15 8.26

14. SALESFORCE 3.88 3.91 7.79

15. ORACLE 3.66 3.83 7.49

16. SAP 3.69 3.76 7.45



DIGITAL EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENTE-Spirit turns your customers into lifelong fans with the FirstSpirit

Digital Experience Platform.•General: Founded in 1999 in Dortmund, Germany, e-Spirit is now located all over the globe with 80+ partners and

over 1,000 customers. its FirstSpirit Digital Experience Platform (DXP) is based around its hybrid headless

content management system with AI-driven personalization and omnichannel capabilities. e-Spirit‘s customers

cluster to manufacturing (two of the top 5 global manufacturers), retail and financial services and its business is

spread evenly across the globe with offices in Europe, North America and Asia. In the last year, the vendor has

been able to take advantage of the accelerated interest in digital marketing and selling in B2B sectors.

•Strategy: e-Spirit tends to be missed by the large research organizations: The vendor is stealthy in the US with

just one office but its customer base there is expanding rapidly beyond the original retail and manufacturing

focus. FirstSpirit can be used by IT-centric developers as a headless DXM technology but e-Spirit has also

designed and messaged its solutions so that marketing staff (the emerging population of “citizen developers”)

can use the software too. Our survey respondents scored e-Spirit’s very highly for innovation/differentiation. It is

also closely aligned with all leading eCommerce platforms and to PIM systems (often neglected by marketing

technology), perhaps because of its many manufacturing use cases.

•Execution: The vendor tells a “Digital Experience Edge” story, encouraging B2B companies specially to examine

their own competitive edge challenges in a digital world. It supports rapid deployment and innovation and

empowers organizations by providing smart data-driven decision support. e-Spirit reports that over 90% of their

new business is Cloud-based but they also have a large installed base who prefer to remain on-premise, reflecting

their European heritage. It works with an extensive partner ecosystem of system integrators and, most

importantly, marketing agencies. As well as being a Market Leader in this survey, e-Spirit also scored the highest

of all vendors with their Recommendation Index of 99%. The survey also returned the maximum possible score for

e-Spirit’s Breadth and Depth of Solution Offering.

•Bottom Line: e-Spirit has the most customer-centric marketing messaging among the vendors in this survey. They

are technologically state-of-the-art and well-equipped to ride the current “commerce plus content” wave,

especially in B2B markets. Stronger image marketing and business-oriented thought leadership could thrust it

even further forward in this market.

STRATEGY RESULT

Vision And Go-To-Market 4.50

Innovation And Differentiation 4.75

Viability And Execution Capabilities 4.25

Recommendation Index 5.00

4.66

EXECUTION RESULT

Breadth And Depth Of Solution Offering 5.00

Market Share And Growth 4.75

Customer Satisfaction 4.50

Price Versus Value Ratio 4.50

4.69

Scores from 1 to 5 (maximum)



DIGITAL EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENTCrownpeak delivers stunning digital experiences on any channel

with the world’s only Cloud-native platform.•General: Crownpeak formed in 2001 in Los Angeles, CA, as a hosted service for content management and re-

launched as a full SaaS provider in 2004. Now headquartered in Denver, CO, (with offices in London, New York,

and Salt Lake City) it has over 200 employees and is funded for further growth and expansion into Europe.

Crownpeak’s Cloud-first Digital Experience Management (DXM) provides content management, personalization,

search and hosting. In addition, its Digital Quality Management (DQM) solution can ensure brand integrity and

meet compliance requirements.

•Strategy: Crownpeak promotes itself to marketers, or developers who want to provide a tool to marketers, by

stressing capabilities in governance, quality management and compliance – particularly in highly regulated

industries. It also argues that it is the only “Cloud-native” vendor. It has an ecosystem of reseller and consulting

partners. Its DXM platform also offers adjacent but increasingly relevant capabilities such as consent

management, compliance, governance and security.

•Execution: The vendor offers a very open pricing schema which enables customers to grow their usage in terms

of volume and complexity at their own pace. Crownpeak’s multitenant SaaS model is tailored for midsize

organizations with few internal IT resources supporting Cloud infrastructures or application development. As well

as being a Market Leader in this survey, Crownpeak also scored the highest of all vendors in the Customer

Satisfaction category. It also scored the highest of all vendors with a Recommendation Index of 99%. The survey

also returned the maximum possible score for Crownpeak’s Breadth and Depth of Solution Offering.

•Bottom Line: Crownpeak is most prevalent in the financial services, consumer industries, and the

pharmaceuticals and healthcare sectors. CrownPeak now has several SaaS management veterans as top

executives and the vendor continues to appeal to marketing professionals, who often cite usability as one of

Crownpeak’s top qualities. It is suitable for multisite enterprise projects that requires strong governance and

compliance and connects well with most eCommerce platforms. The vendor struggles with brand awareness

though and it is often not invited to bid for projects where it would be the most suitable solution.

STRATEGY RESULT

Vision And Go-To-Market 4.50

Innovation And Differentiation 4.75

Viability And Execution Capabilities 4.25

Recommendation Index 5.00

4.66

EXECUTION RESULT

Breadth And Depth Of Solution Offering 5.00

Market Share And Growth 4.25

Customer Satisfaction 4.75

Price Versus Value Ratio 4.50

4.68

Scores from 1 to 5 (maximum)



DIGITAL EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENTIn March 2021, Crownpeak acquired e-Spirit •General: The financial transaction is described as an acquisition because Crownpeak, Inc, has acquired the e-

Sprit AG subsidiary from the German IT services provider adesso SE. The merger will combine the strengths of

two long-established vendors of DXM solutions with a combined experience of 42 years in the market.

Crownpeak was founded in 2001 and e-Spirit in 1999. The new organization will have nearly 300 employees and a

truly global footprint, with offices across North America, Europe plus Singapore to cover the APAC region. The

two vendors were compatible in that respect: Crownpeak is more North America-centric with a good customer

base there; e-Spirit started in Europe and the majority of their customer base is European (with some of those

European customers having international installations of FirstSpirit) including a significant partner ecosystem.

Both companies have strong partner ecosystems in their home region, adding further opportunities for growth,

including an agreement for adesso SE, with their 5,000 employees and 39 offices around Europe, to continue to

implement projects with the complete product family.

•Product. There is some overlap in product offerings as both have a Content Management System and support

Digital Experience Management. But there are several opportunities for synergy: in our analysis, Crownpeak is

strong at B2C use cases, while e-Spirit is strong is B2B. While the Crownpeak product set is built on .NET

technology and strongest of all in the content management aspects of DXM, the e-Spirit software is built on Java

technology and strongest for its AI-powered personalization, search and integrations into ecommerce platforms.

•Bottom Line: The initial impact of the merger will be to increase the global footprint and market reach for both

DXM solutions. This can happen through effective cross-training of the sales and customer success teams as well

as enhancing the partner agreements. Due to the regional differences and target customer bases, there was little

direct competition between the two vendors in the market. Over the next months, expect the companies to be

publishing a product roadmap and a release plan that, ideally, brings together the best of both worlds and does

not disrupt the existing customer bases.

Crownpeak

Both Crownpeak & e-Spirit

Both Crownpeak & e-Spirit


THE RESEARCH IN ACTION GMBH

VENDOR SELECTION MATRIX™ METHODOLOGYVendor Selection Matrix™ Disclaimer:

The Vendor Selection Matrix™ is a primarily survey-based methodology for comparative

vendor evaluation. Research In Action GmbH does not endorse any vendor, product or

service depicted in our research publications, and does not advise technology users to

select only those vendors with the highest ratings. The information contained in this

research has been obtained from both enterprise as well as vendor sources believed to be

reliable. Research In Action GmbH’s research publications consist of the analysts’ opinions

and should not be considered as statements of fact. The opinions expressed are subject to

change without further notice. Research In Action GmbH disclaims all warranties,

expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of

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property of the respective companies.

About:

Research In Action GmbH is a leading independent information and communications

technology research and consulting company. The company provides both forward-looking

as well as practical advice to enterprise as well as vendor clients.


APPENDIX: MARKETING PROCESS DEFINITIONS

• ABM (Account based marketing). A process of leveraging collected behavioral and profile data on target companies (accounts) or even

individual buying decision-makers.

• Attribution Reporting. The ability to recognize the contribution of individual pieces of marketing investment (campaigns, events, specific

content assets) to business success. The success factors include metrics like deal progression through the funnel, deal value increase,

deal velocity increase and deal closure.

• BCM (Brand Content Management). Process to control the brand messaging, from corporate brand to individual messaging statements

around products. Companies in a more distributed (or local) marketing environment use BCM systems to manage content across internal

organizations, subsidiaries, and/or all business partners.

• CEM (Customer Engagement Management). The full orchestration process, support by personalization, of providing and supporting an

ongoing digital relationship with individual customers across the full customer lifecycle and organization.

• Content Distribution. Process and systems that collate, manage and distribute marketing content both from internal and external sources.

• Content Marketing. Publishing digital content on the company website but also on other sites to generate additional web traffic.

• CRM (Customer Relationship Management). In most companies, CRM was set by Sales Ops and/IT and has little marketing value. But

integration to the CRM database is necessary for marketing/sales alignment.

• DAM (Digital Asset Management). The process of consolidating and aggregation of all data from disparate systems in the company about

customers - a Marketing-led initiative to ensure the data unification project is focused directly on marketing requirements.

• DXM (Digital Experience Management). Creating and updating content, as personalized as possible to the consumer, and rendering it

through all required digital communications channels (web, social, POS, etc).

• eMail Marketing. The process of setting up campaigns via eMail to purchased or built-up lists of contacts.

• Interactive Marketing. Digital marketing programs that provide responsiveness and deep personalization.

• Lead Collection and Distribution. The process of collecting and qualifying inbound marketing leads from the increased web traffic

generated by content marketing. Distribution of appropriately leads to Sales.


APPENDIX: MARKETING PROCESS DEFINITIONS

• Lead Collection and Distribution. The process of collecting and qualifying inbound marketing leads from the increased web traffic

generated by content marketing. Distribution of appropriately leads to Sales.

• MLM (Marketing Lead Management). Often called just “Marketing Automation”, especially in the US, this is the backbone process

family to share content and run digital campaigns, nurturing and progressing leads through all digital channels.

• MRM (Marketing Resource Management).The budgeting and reporting processes for marketing executives consolidate

management of all asset projects plus human and financial resources to support business analytics focused on the marketing

organization.

• MPM (Marketing Performance Management). Dashboard and reporting that consolidates data from MRM, DAM and attribution

reporting to list the financial return on individual and aggregated marketing investments.

• PIM (Product Information Management). Maintaining all product data on one system to optimize product presentation across sales

and marketing channels.

• PRM (Partner Relationship Management). Processes around the channel partner (reseller, distributor, etc) relationship :

recruitment, registration and classification, contractual details, information exchange, and more.

• SEM (Sales Engagement Management). A process where marketers provide relevant digital assets to a salesperson to support their

customer interactions, supported by training and coaching delivered on-demand.

• Social Engagement and Advocacy. Processes to manage and leverage interested parties within communities and on social media.

• TCMA (Through-Channel Marketing Automation). Management of brand content, plus programs and campaigns, promotions, and

even leads, both down and up the distribution channel of business partners.

• Universal Content Management. Combination of content management, DAM and PIM into one common system of record and

management. It-centric organizations call this Master Data Management.

• WCM (Web Content Management). The process of creating and updating content on the company website.


CONTACT

Peter O‘Neill, Research Director

+49 174 3210020

[email protected]

RESEARCH IN ACTIONindependent research & consulting

Research In Action GmbHAlte Schule

56244 HartenfelsGermany

Office: +49 2626 291251Fax: +49 2626 2248904

Email: [email protected]

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