You know the brief.
“We just need a new CMS.”
“The old one’s clunky.”
“We can’t update the homepage without logging a ticket.”
“We’re not replatforming, we just need to move faster.”
I’ve heard versions of this in nearly every kickoff meeting for the last decade. And here’s the truth:
Most businesses who think they need a CMS… actually need a Digital Experience Platform (DXP).
Not because they’re wrong. But because their problems aren’t about publishing - they’re about performance, orchestration, and customer experience.
Here are the 3 telltale signs.
1. “We want to personalise content for different users.”
If you’re thinking about segments, journeys, or serving different experiences to logged-in vs. anonymous users - you’re not talking about content management anymore.
You’re talking about:
- Personalisation rules
- Customer data layers
- Decisioning engines
- Testing what works for different audiences
A CMS alone won’t get you there. A DXP will.
2. “We want marketing to self-serve without dev.”
This is less about “freedom to publish” and more about autonomy to optimise. A DXP empowers marketing teams to:
- Launch campaigns without waiting for IT
- Run A/B or multivariate tests
- Use AI to recommend content
- Build dynamic pages with drag-and-drop tools
With platforms like Optimizely + Opal AI, marketers aren’t just publishing faster. They’re learning and improving in real time.
3. “We want one platform to do more.”
This is where the “just a CMS” story falls apart. If you’re also trying to solve for:
- Email targeting
- Digital commerce
- Multi-language delivery
- Product content integration
- Customer data and analytics
- Workflow approvals and governance
You don’t need a CMS.
You need a platform that unifies those capabilities - or plugs into them seamlessly.
That’s a DXP.
Final Thought
We’ve migrated countless Sitecore environments to Optimizely, and the pattern is always the same:
The client didn’t just want to publish faster.
They wanted to deliver smarter.
They wanted scale, speed, and self-serve.
So if your business is “just looking for a CMS,” take a moment to ask:
Do we want to publish content… or do we want to deliver outcomes?
Because that’s the difference between a CMS and a DXP.
Is your CMS still fit for purpose?
