By Aaron Demro
The XM tech stack is a sequence of applications that gather data from the cross-channel customer interactions with any given business. The XM tech stack defines which applications are required for state-of-the-art XM along with a strategy to meaningfully connect platforms to achieve scaled value.
Why should you care about this? First-party data will rule the world in the next 3-5 years. Due to privacy concerns, data regulations, tech giant turf wars, and customer demand, organizations can no longer rely on data sources other than their own to understand and influence their customers’ experience.
Know your customers better. Make better decisions. Retain and expand your competitive advantage.
The modern XM Tech Stack includes systems of collection, unification, understanding, orchestration, and action:
Collection
These are systems that collect data about anything related to a customer’s experience or interaction with a business. They may collect data passively (session replay, weblogs, event streams) or directly from customers (surveys, reviews).
Unification
Systems of unification bring together data from across an organization. They are designed to consume data from multiple sources and associate the collected information with individual customers. This category of systems includes Customer Data Platforms or data warehouses that combine data to generate robust customer profiles.
Understanding
Systems of understanding specialize in predictive analytics, statistical analysis, data visualization, and interpretation. They can be leveraged to derive & contextualize insights.
Orchestration
These are systems that personalize action based on customer behaviors and preferences. They include Customer Journey Orchestration platforms, content management systems, and tag managers that understand and interpret key moments along a customer journey.
Action
Systems of action transform experiences in real-time. These systems include any platform that conducts outreach or takes action to alter the client’s experience as they go about their journey.
How does commonFont help? At present, organizations have many applications serving very defined and niche purposes where the collected data travels a road that leads to nowhere. This leads to losses of insights, dampened agility, and revenue leakage—both for the customers they could otherwise hope to gain and those they hope to retain.
commonFont’s perspective on the XM stack is purpose-built to complete said roads, connect the data that matters, increase customer connection, cease revenue leakage, and accelerate growth. Our services support visioning, guiding, and also building the XM stack of the future.
Aaron Demro is commonFont’s Managing Director of Operations, where he leads the company’s implementations team and solutions strategy and capabilities practices. Aaron’s contributions to the organization are at the intersection of leadership, operations, and innovation. Prior to commonFont, Aaron cultivated his interest in data-driven decision-making while serving as an Infantry Officer in the U.S. Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment.
