What If the Front End is the Real Problem?
I’m Headed to Composable Conference with 3 Questions for Members. Here they are:
What is the core issue with front-end infrastructure in MACH/Composable commerce?
1 - Is your front end serving the business team? There is a lot of stones being thrown at MACH which end up - more often that not - focused on an overly complex front-end infrastructure which does not serve the needs of the business. Namely - nav and landing page and personalization changes in theory can work if a miracle happens. It’s not just about the CMS. It’s not just about the SI overly complexifying the front end. It’s not just about the client who cut their implementation budget. It’s about a failure of all combined. If you spend the first month of your project debating chakra vs MUI UI frameworks in my mind, you have already completely failed the business. A new way forward is needed.
What is the most telling question to ask about a company's infrastructure?
2 - If you were to build your infrastructure again, what would you change? This is always a telling statement. And the answer will always depend on who you ask.
Where are organizations typically least composable?
3 - if you zoom out and look at any infrastructure, it is almost always composable at some level. Where is it not? The answers I hear most? PIM (Product Data) - it’s almost always a hot mess of something no one will ever touch. As a former CEO of a PIM company, it is one software “opportunity” that remains a mirage. PLM (Product Creation) - a new turnaround CEO hired to kickstart innovation almost always starts with product. Only to find a Byzantine set of processes, procedures, and protocols just to birth a new SKU. which is half the reason no one ever does it. If your infrastructure is older than 10+ years, I start to hear different answers, and indeed some monoliths in certain cases, but still this is what I hear the most.
Where are replatforming discussions most commonly taking place?
And this is before we get to the replatform discussions. Indeed these are happening in rare cases in D2C. More common in B2B as new builds.
out of service platforms
legacy custom platforms (still out there) which has started to have downtime.
new B2B revitalizations
Outside of this, you have a tremendous number of tire-kickers with no hope of closing soon. Much to the chagrin of platform sales reps everywhere.
Expert Consulting: How Will You Grow Your eCommerce Company?
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