Making sense of a land of confusion
We recognise for many businesses, understanding the many different (and often overlapping) components of an Enterprise Comms Management Ecosystem can be a daunting task.
Our brief guide below provides a basic overview of some of the major elements. If you are keen to understand more please chat us using the button below & one of our SMEs will be glad to help.
Enterprise Ecosystem Elements
CCM
Customer Communications Management
CCM is the plan & processes organisations follow to curate, deliver, store and retrieve outbound customer communications. It involves using centralised systems to interact with customers in lightweight digital formats like email, SMS texts or Push notifications and more complex page-based documents delivered by 'paperfree' or print & mail channels. Automated CCM systems are typically deployed to organisations with high volumes of regulated/mandatory 'operational' or 'servicing' communications (e.g. Financial Services, Utilities & Government). Organisations have historically deployed CCM systems to centralise, digitize and deliver persistent high-volume within a cost-efficient, risk-controlled environment.
Customer Experience Management
CXM is the practice of strategically managing & improving every interaction a customer has with a business/brand throughout their entire relationship. CXM's purpose is to create engaging, personalized & consistent experiences that improve customer satisfaction, increase loyalty and advocacy. Unlike CCM (which enables a low-cost 'meet the business need' one-directional interaction with a customer) CXM involves capture & analysis of customer feedback, using technology & data to fine-tune & personalise customer interactions. Businesses utilising CXM aim to deepen relationships with their customers by placing personalisation & Customer Experience (CX) at the heart of their journey creation
CXM
Interaction Experience Management
A relatively new concept, coined by leading industry analysts Aspire CCS in 2024, Interaction Experience Management (IXM) is part of a CXM ecosystem, focusing on how enterprises can collect information from customers, employees and agents/ intermediaries acting on their behalf and communicate more efficiently and effectively to deepen relationships.  IXM systems look to shift the dial from low-cost one-dimensional risk-based delivery of CCM-driven comms to a more personalised, impactful bi-directional communications interaction, facilitating curation of messages in real-time for delivery at the customers convenience via their channel of choice.​​
IXM
Customer Relationship Management
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a process (and typically a system or software) in which a business or other organization administers its interactions with past, current and future customers, using data analysis to mine large amounts of information. CRM systems collect & compile data from a range of different communication channels, including a company's website, telephone email, live chat, marketing materials and social media. They enable businesses to learn more about their target audiences and how to better cater to their needs, thus retaining customers and driving sales growth.​ CRM software can provide a single customer view typically via a simple, customizable dashboard enabling business users to view all customer interactions (their products, comms history, outstanding customer service issues and more).
CRM
Content Management System
A Content Management System (CMS) is software that helps users create, manage, store, and modify their digital content. This all-encompassing system is typically used for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Web Content Management (WCM) is a 'one-stop shop' to store content—such as apps, images, and websites in a user-friendly interface that is customizable to an organization’s needs and their employees. A 'headless' CMS is a back end-only web content management system that acts primarily as a content repository. it  makes content accessible via an API for display on any device, without a built-in front end or presentation layer. Whereas a traditional CMS typically combines a website's content and presentation layers, a headless CMS comprises the content component and focuses on the administrative interface for content creators, the facilitation of content workflows and collaboration, and the organization of content into taxonomies.
CMS
Digital
Asset Management
Not to be confused with a CMS, Digital Asset Management (DAM) is a system that complements a CMS but the two are not interchangeable. DAM software supports an organization by storing its digital assets in one centralized location. In other words, a CMS builds and manages the content for a brand’s website, while a DAM is just the system to organize and store the brand’s digital files.
DAM