What Analyst Reports Really Tell You About DXPs

What’s the point of analyst reports? 

Every year, from January to April, the big names in research and advisory – think Gartner, Forrester  – release their latest verdicts on Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs). As of May 2025, we’ve got a fresh set of reports on the table.  

If your business is thinking about switching up its DXP, these reports are timely. Decisions like this aren’t just about next quarter’s goals – they can shape the next 5 years (or longer). And if you miss something in the decision-making stage? That mistake tends to catch up with you. It can derail budgets and impact the success of your transformation programme.

Are analyst reports worth the money?

They can be. Yes, the reports are often fairly broad, and with so much going on in the CMS/DXP space – from composable to headless/hybrid to SaaS and now AI – a single report won’t give you the full picture. Most focus on the enterprise end of the market, not every niche or edge case.

But that doesn’t make them irrelevant. They help you understand which platforms are scaling, innovating, and making moves that matter. 

Think of them like a pair of binoculars: they help you see the lay of the land, but they won’t tell you where to pitch your tent. 

So why aren’t all the vendors included? 

Short answer: the bar’s high. 

Forrester only considers CMS vendors with $30m+ in annual revenue. Gartner’s cut-off is $20m with 3% year-on-year growth, or they’ll accept less if you’ve grown 20% and gained 10 new customers in the last year. 

They also expect you to be visible across multiple global regions and to have a healthy partner and developer ecosystem. Oh, and your DXP needs to be sold as a standalone product – not bundled into a wider suite.

So naturally, that rules out:

• Smaller or regionally focused vendors
• Open-source or services-first platforms
• Solutions built for very specific, tactical needs.

That’s not a flaw in the reports – it’s just about context. These reports are designed to support enterprise-level decisions and help de-risk significant investments.

Will the tech actually suit my business?

That depends on your business.

These reports aggregate insights from hundreds of organisations across a wide mix of sectors. Some of them might be similar to yours, but many won’t. That’s why the reports shouldn’t be used in isolation – they’re one lens, not the full picture.

For example, Gartner tends to favour vendors with strong traction across multiple industries – like finance, media, retail and healthcare. That makes sense if you’re looking for broad capability. But it might not highlight vendors who are quietly doing a brilliant job in one specific vertical.

It’s worth looking at how the reports weigh different capabilities. If you’re all-in on composable, for instance, check how your shortlisted vendors perform across connected categories like DAM, CMP and commerce. Forrester’s scorecards offer a bit of that granularity – useful if you want to ask the right questions later.

What’s going on in 2025? 

There was talk that 2025 might be Gartner’s last DXP report. 

Instead, they shifted focus – acknowledging the rise of composable architecture and newer SaaS offerings from players like Optimizely and Sitecore.

The format of these reports has evolved (remember when we called it “Enterprise Content Management”?) – but the role they play hasn’t changed. They continue to give businesses a structured way to evaluate progress, performance, and positioning.

What does the future of DXPs look like? 

Hard to say – and even the analysts won’t pretend to have a crystal ball.

We’ve seen major players shift direction, shelve products, or choose to sit out a report. But when you compare year-on-year performance, trends start to appear. It’s a handy way to see who’s investing in the right areas, who’s building the right partnerships, and who might be drifting away from what you need.

At Mando Group, we’ve worked with Optimizely (formerly Episerver) for over 14 years. We’ve seen their positioning across the major analyst reports strengthen consistently – and that’s backed up by what we’ve seen on the ground, supporting clients who rely on their platform.

Key takeaways 

• Analyst reports won’t tell you exactly which platform to choose, but they’re a smart way to focus your shortlist.
• They give you data to benchmark vendors and spot gaps in functionality.
• They offer some reassurance that a vendor is in it for the long haul – especially if you’re making a big investment.
• Don’t just look at the latest version. Check how vendors have performed over time – growth and consistency matter.

What these reports won’t do 

• Define your requirements – that still has to come from your team, your stakeholders, and your customers.
• Map out how a platform fits into your existing stack – that’s a job for discovery sessions with vendors and implementation partners.
• Show you how your people will actually use the platform, or where it’ll create the most value – editor experience is a big part of that conversation.

If you're exploring a new platform or want to understand how to turn analyst insight into practical next steps, we can help.

Let’s talk about what your next platform should really deliver.