vendor selection matrix™ – web experience management saas...

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Vendor Selection Matrix™ –Web Experience Management SaaS And Software: The Top 20 Global Vendors 2019

Peter O’NeillResearch Director

May 2019


Vendor Selection Matrix™ – Web Experience Management:The Top 20 Global Vendors

Top 5 (alphabetical order)

6 to 10 (alphabetical order)


AcquiaBloomReachEpiserverSDLSitecore

AdobeAmplienceContentfulCrownpeake-SpiritProgress

CoreMediaeZ SystemsIBMKentico SoftwareMagnoliaOpen SourceOpenTextOracleSquiz

1 Two of the evaluated vendors achieved the same score at the 10th postion.


The Research In Action GmbH –Vendor Selection Matrix™ MethodologyData Summary:Ø Unique, primarily survey-based methodology for comparative vendor evaluation.Ø At a minimum, 60% of the evaluation results are based on enterprise and SMB buyers’ survey results.Ø Analyst’s opinion accounts for a maximum of 40% of the evaluation results (not close to 100% as in

most other vendor evaluations).Ø More than 45,000 data points were collected.Ø Data was collected in Q4 of 2018 and Q1 of 2019, covering 1,500 business and IT managers (with

budget responsibilities) in a combined telephone and online survey.Ø The Top 20 vendors of Web Content Management SaaS and Software solutions (selected by the survey

respondents) were evaluated.Ø The evaluation results and forecasts are based on customer and vendor feedback, publicly available

information, triangulation, as well as the analyst’s opinion.


Industry breakdownEnergy 98Financial Services 247Government & Non Profit 102Healthcare & Chemicals 198Manufacturing 303Media & Telecoms 126Consumer Packaged Goods & Retail 123Technology & Professional Services 200Travel & Transportation 103Total 1.500

Country breakdownDACH 200United Kingdom 150France 150Benelux 50Europe (Rest) 150North America 500The Americas (Rest) 50Australia and New Zealand 30Asia Pacific (Rest) 220Total 1.500

Company size breakdown (Revenue more than € 250 million)Headcount below 2.500: 252Headcount 2.500 to 5.000: 312Headcount 5.000 to 10.000: 336Headcount 10.000 to 50.000: 499Headcount over 50.000: 101Total 1.500

The Research In Action GmbH –Vendor Selection Matrix™ MethodologySurvey Instrument:

Job title breakdown (Buyer role)CEO 142CMO 119General Manager 113CTO 114VP Sales 108VP Marketing 105Project Manager 100BU Head 97Client Engagement Manager 95BU Marketing Manager 91COO 88CIO 85IT Manager 83VP IT 59Supply Manager 43CFO 29IT Operations Manager 17Others 12Total 1.500


Decision Makers use a mix of traditional and online tools

What Tools Do You Use To Create The Vendor Longlist?

MQ/VSMPressPeers

VendorsSocial Media

N = 3.000 Business and IT Managers with budget responsibilities


Market Definition: Web Experience ManagementØ Web Experience Management1 (WEM) is an integrated set of core technologies that support the composition,

management, delivery and optimization of contextualized digital experiences on websites. 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 now traditional websites and mobile apps to an increasing variety of interaction channels across the customer journey. Some vendors therefore call their products Digital Experience Management platforms; most of them used to be labeled as vendors of Web Content Management. It is a mature market but under disruption because of the above-named trends.

Ø Most WEM 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 WEM using APIs; applications such emails, SMS messages, video screens, augmented or virtual reality, or Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices like wearables.

Ø The WEM platforms can also include other components such as analytics, social capabilities, and online forms.

Ø WEM applications can 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 both business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) capacities.

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


Market Overview: Market Trends 2019

What is your number one investment area in the Web Experience Management space for 2019?


Notes• Most want to modernize

or upgrade/migrate their WEM system toSaaS/Cloud

• System performanceranks high


Are you planning to implement or replace your Web Experience Management solution in the next 1-3 years?



Notes• Mature market with 95% of

companies having a system installed

• Majority of users reluctant to change systems but ….

• … One third of firms have already decided to switch


Which new digital channels do you plan to support from your Web Experience Management system (3 answers)?



Notes• Over one quarter of

companies need to support POS devices

• Internet of Things, AR and VR devices are significant requirements now


What are your top three priorities when considering Web Experience Management system (3 answers)?



Notes• As well as having suitable

product, vendors must demonstrate business competency and provide local services

• SaaS adoption is a major driver for WEM investments


Market Overview: Macro-Trends Affecting Web Experience Management Projects in 2019/2020Ø Market size and growth. The over 100 active software and SaaS vendors offering WEM solutions include a multitude of Open

Source providers plus vendors active only in their local markets. Across the 2 billion websites worldwide, the overall WEM market-leader is the Open Source WordPress solution at 23% share. But the globally active list of vendors used by businesses is under 30. In 2018, the total global annual software license, maintenance and SaaS revenues for WEM totaled over $ 5 billion, growing annuallyat around 16%. As in all software markets, there is a clear market-driven trend to Cloud based solutions.

Ø WEM platforms are now strategic to companies. Originally a product supporting the appearance of just one or a handful of websites with essentially static content, WEM buyers now need a broader platform to broadcast across many digital channels and render dynamic content on hundreds of websites. Plus integrability to their other marketing systems.

Ø Switching vendors is a challenge for many. Most users tend to stay with their vendor as migration costs are perceived to be high if they have been creating web content for several years. Vendors looking to capture new market share must offer migration services and/or focus on new business initiatives where brand new WEM platforms could be deployed. The other opportunity is when a company is committed to a digital transformation, then all platforms are under review.

Ø Marketing users will prevail over IT developers. As the web experience becomes the primary business presentation of a company, business users will insist on more ability to control and configure that experience. They know and understand the needsof their customers and prospects better than the IT department or teams of web developers. Even in large companies that have built up resources of web developers, there will be a drive to provide the WEM platform directly to staff in Marketing Operations. This will require some vendors to change their go-to-market language and approach.


Market Overview: Web Experience ManagementMarket PredictionsØ Marketing content needs more personalization and context. Advanced marketers want to provide content that is as personal as

possible to the target audience. Industry or business-function level content customization will become table-stakes. Marketing buyers will want to leverage personal and/or behavioral data to further target the content used in marketing programs.

Ø Marketing attribution becomes a business fundamental. Attribution remains a priority for B2B and B2B2C as the proliferation of available customer touchpoints mount. For companies with significant omni-channel marketing operations, accurate attribution to the worthy communications channel, and associated investment, is an economic priority. Some WEM olution providers will develop truly advanced, multi-touch attribution functions beyond basic attribution like first-touch, last-touch, etc..

Ø Product labeling has become confusing and unhelpful for buyers. Integration is a key virtue of a WEM platform; integration to systems like BCM, e-Commerce, CRM, CMS, MLM, and the PIM1. Curiously, smaller WEM vendors can support this better because larger vendors have their own products in those categories. Some of the specialist WEM vendors now even label their solutions as “marketing automation” or even “e-Commerce”; to be comparable or because they provide “just-enough” functionality. Vendors willneed to rationalize their expectation setting to avoid customer churn.

Ø Shift to Content-as-a-Solutions architecture. This is the next consequence of the preference for “headless CMS” and called “content infrastructure” by one of the more evangelical vendors. Future WEM will be split between base, corporate or product assets, managed once only in enterprise content systems or even PIMs; and dynamic presentational content, collated on-the-fly and incorporating instant content assets configured by AI-driven orchestration. Future WEM systems will therefore include additional editorial/staging functions for test and proofing of the rendered content in anticipated scenarios.

1 BCM - brand content management, CRM – customer relationship management, CMS - content management system, MLM - marketing lead management, PIM - product information management.


Vendor Selection Matrix™ – Web Experience Management SaaS And Software: Evaluation Criteria

StrategyVision & 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 markets and customers?Innovation & Partner Ecosystem 20% How innovative is the company?

How is the partner ecosystem organized and how effective is the partner management?Company Viability & Execution Capabilities 15% How likely in the long-term survival of the company?

Does the company have the necessary resources to execute the strategy?Differentiation & USP 35% Does the solution have a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and clear differentiators?ExecutionBreadth & Depth Of Solution Offering 30% Does the solution cover all necessary capabilities expected by the customers?Market Share & Growth 15% How big is the market share and is it growing above market rate?Customer Satisfaction 25% How satisfied are customers with the solution and the vendor?Price Versus Value 30% How do customers rate the relationship between the price and perceived value of the solution?


Evaluated Vendors and Solutions:

Vendor Selection Matrix™ – Web Experience Management: The Top 20 Global Vendors

Name Product(s)Acquia Acquia LightningAdobe Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Experience Cloud, DreamweaverAmplience Amplience Dynamic Experience PlatformBloomReach BloomReach Experience Manager, HIPPOContentful ContentfulCoreMedia CoreMedia Content CloudCrownpeak Crownpeak Web Content ManagementEpiserver Episerver CMSe-Spirit FirstSpiritDXPeZ Systems eZ Platform Enterprise Edition , SymfonyIBM IBM Web Content ManagerKentico Software Kentico EMSMagnolia Magnolia CMSOpen Source Wordpress, Joomla!, Concrete5, SubrionCMS, Drupal, MODX, ProcessWire, ExpressionEngine…OpenText Teamsite, WEMOracle Oracle Content and Experience Cloud , LightCMSProgress SitefinitySDL SDL Tridion SitesSitecore Sitecore Experience PlatformSquiz Squiz Matrix


Vendor Selection Matrix™ – Web Experience Management:The Top 20 Global Vendors

Top 5 (alphabetical order)



AcquiaBloomReachEpiserverSDLSitecore

AdobeAmplienceContentfulCrownpeake-SpiritProgress

CoreMediaeZ SystemsIBMKentico SoftwareMagnoliaOpen SourceOpenTextOracleSquiz

1 Two of the evaluated vendors achieved the same score at the 10th postion.


The Research In Action GmbH –Vendor Selection Matrix™ MethodologyVendor Selection Matrix™ Disclaimer:

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 merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

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.


Contact

Peter O‘Neill+49 174 [email protected]

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