What is a User Experience Platform

The term “User Experience Platform” was popularized by Gartner, and has often been associated with platforms developed from web portal technology. In 2011, UXPs were framed as the next evolution of horizontal portals, with the ability to achieve the in-depth personalization and integration that enterprise portals have always promised. Analysts predicted that UXPs would achieve this through the consolidation of many technologies into core platforms, suitable for enterprise-scale business initiatives.

One key differentiator of UXPs was the promise that they would be easy for enterprise users to manage. While some platforms can produce incredible front-end customer experiences, they can also have frustrating and counter-intuitive management systems that slow down internal business processes and marketing efforts. UXPs aimed to solve both the problem of a consistent presentation layer and of back-office usability.

Today, the term has been replaced by Digital Experience Platform, which encompasses a broader set of technologies that are brought together to accomplish the demanding goals of digital transformation. Though one could argue that there are still nuances between the two terms, they use similar methods to achieve the same goal: enabling digital businesses to deliver rich user experiences by leveraging the strengths of multiple technologies from one central platform.