Integrate a platform for a bright future
In the age of digitization, companies are forced to reinvent themselves. Where is optimization needed? How do you optimize best to keep up with the competition? Are you implementing enough strong ideas in the day-to-day business to connect the future with today's reality? In short, is your digital flow up to scratch? A holistic view and clear strategy are needed for dealing with this. Choosing the right digital platform for your organization is a critical element of your preparations for future innovation.
In order to meet the challenges ahead concerning customer experience, a thorough review of the underlying technological platforms is often required. Depending on the investment capacity and expected ROI, one option is to replace the existing system with a brand new platform by one of the leading platform providers such as SAP, Microsoft or Salesforce. These generally offer extensive ecosystems with integrated tooling covering a wide range of processes that are usually customized to get the most out of the data. Another option involves a more gradual approach. In that case, you choose a platform that focuses on the part of the IT that generates the most value. The wide range of options does not make the choice any easier. Here we list a number of criteria and compare two popular platforms.
The right fit for you: Liferay Commerce vs. Magento
Liferay Commerce is a plug-in for Liferay DXP, an open-source, Java-based platform that recently celebrated its 15th anniversary in the Enterprise market. The plug-in can be used for both B2B and B2C markets. It is a hub where different channels come together: it is central to the organization. More specifically, you can compare it to an advanced, interactive product catalog. The link with an ERP system makes it possible to integrate certain product master data, such as quantities and price information. Sales people can place orders for their respective customers. It is also possible to create a wish list for each customer with products that they tend to purchase.
Unique to Liferay's product portfolio is the fact that they have designed and developed everything in-house, without any acquisition. This ensures seamless integration between both products. Liferay DXP and Liferay Commerce are freely available as the Community Edition.
Magento Open Source is an open-source B2B/B2C commerce platform based on PHP. It was first marketed around 2008. Magento has always been freely available, which explains its popularity. Today, it is one of the most widely used B2C solutions on the market. In 2018, Magento was acquired by Adobe because it was still missing a Commerce solution in its Experience Cloud portfolio. Although Magento offers some basic functionalities for Web Content Management, it is important to note that Magento is not a complete DXP platform. If you also need DXP-like functionality, you have to use Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) as well.