Let me open by acknowledging that I dislike “how to” or “review” articles that are really just advertisements for a source company.
With The PTP Report we aspire to go beyond this, to keep the information as useful and entertaining for you as possible, so in that spirit, let me lead with this, and get it out of the way:
PTP provides world-class Adobe consulting and implementation. We have over 120 certified Adobe experts and more than 26 years of experience. If you’re looking for a partner, there are significant reasons to consider PTP.
And as you may have heard, Adobe’s had a bad month, being targeted by the US Federal Trade Commission for cancelation fees and getting blowback on terms of service that imply creative content could be used in AI training (Adobe says it won’t).
Against this, earnings have been great, with a stronger outlook than ever before. Adobe’s cloud and digital experience subscriptions are way up, with a 13% bump in revenue and an impressive 60% increase in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM—see below) subscriptions over Q2 of 2024.
Adobe has also long been invested in AI, partnering with Nvidia back in 2018 (with Adobe Sensei AI) and this integration has been another reason for their success.
So whether you’re a current AEM customer seeking to maximize your ROI—or curious to see what the experience could offer—read on for a deeper look at Adobe’s business solutions and the benefits in working with Adobe certified consultants.
The Adobe Experience
Acrobat and Photoshop have been the cornerstones of the Adobe name for decades (also Flash, Illustrator, Premiere, Dreamweaver, After Effects, ColdFusion). Long at the center of digital arts and web development, Adobe is increasingly a force in CXM and CRM, with their AEM and DAM!
Did you follow that? There are a lot of offerings (and acronyms), so let’s drop this first and then dig in:
Most companies currently use a variety of solutions to meet these needs, which can mean trying to move across frustratingly separate silos.
The goal of the Adobe platform is to bring everything together, in a customized experience that’s right for your needs.
In short: comprehensive customer support and resource management, with data management, analysis, and insight. With global customers including Coca-Cola, ASICS, Cisco, Henkel, Prudential, T-Mobile, Volkswagen and more, they’re finding success in this arena in a big way.
Generative AI is increasingly central in their offerings. Adding a new partnership (announced in March) with Microsoft Copilot, Adobe’s AI provides:
- Advanced analytics, and predictive insights
- Natural language interface for answers to questions
- Automation for data ingestion, schema creation, fields mapping and more
- Simulation for performance, audience, and conversions
But let’s step back and look at some of the tools under the AEM umbrella in brief. (Their seamless integration with one another is one of the big value points.)
Adobe Commerce Cloud brings e-commerce with personalized B2B and B2C experiences, across brands, helping you tailor experiences with actionable insights.
Adobe Data Collection, including tools Adobe Analytics and Adobe Audience Manager, helps businesses gather and manage customer data across numerous sources.
The Adobe Experience Cloud currently manages some 40PB of customer data, processing 5 billion edge interactions daily, with a unified customer at the heart.
Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) is equal parts digital asset management (DAM), and content management system (CMS). With AEM you can create, manage, and deliver personalized content across all your channels, sites, and apps, with consistent structure. Used correctly, AEM can vastly reduce complexity and redundant work, saving you time while improving your message.
The Adobe Experience Platform Edge Network is a single gateway across your Adobe Experience Cloud. This means streamlining your processes, with data consistency provided by the Experience Data Model (XDM). This helps facilitate requests within and beyond Adobe products, giving you faster responses and consistent logging.
Adobe’s Digital Asset Manager (DAM) is a centralized repository for your digital assets (management and distribution). As with the entire suite, it provides clean organization with improved consistency, simplicity, and efficiency.
Adobe’s AEM offerings can mean consistent brand messaging, unified customer profiles, and actionable (real-time) data, all with the goal of personalizing your customer interactions, streamlining workflows, and improving overall marketing effectiveness.
That sounds pretty great, right? Also a little overwhelming.
The potential is there for a truly radical transformation, if implemented, and managed, correctly.
But the less effective the implementation, the greater potential for inefficiencies, data management issues, and fragmentation in your customer tracking.
It’s a complex tool that can offer enormous simplicity.
Meeting Your Needs
Whether you’re kicking the tires on AEM or already deep into your investment, you need a clear understanding of what you’re after. Despite the potential, it’s easy to not maximize its available capabilities.
Understanding the Starting Point
What are your pain points and top needs? Where is your current solution failing you? Clearly outlining these specific requirements is a must.
The more detailed the understanding of your content and infrastructure, the better, to help project potential problems in transition or expansion.
This should include hardware needs for scalability and performance, with sufficient architectural understanding for the needed security, with a determination of whether an on-prem or cloud-based solution is right for you.
Budget Considerations
As with any implementation, cost is a key factor, both in selecting from solutions and configuration, and with potential partnerships for implementation. The long-term benefits of a well-implemented (custom) solution can be significant, but budget will inform the timeline.
You need key markers and a highly detailed plan, with attainable steps.
Your Transition Team
Determine the stakeholders and teams that will be involved, and chart clear roles and expectations.
How much custom development will you need?
Engaging an Adobe implementation partner is a common path through this transition (Adobe’s own sites also detail steps for finding and locating the right partner) as the system can be extremely complex to put into place effectively.
To maximize your ROI, you’re going to need some AEM expertise. Here are some benefits in choosing a consulting partner wisely:
Finding the Best Adobe Consulting Partner for You
The right partnership can build you the foundation you need, saving money in implementation and maintenance. It can also provide customization, and help you better leverage and manage the investment.
Some questions to ask an Adobe consulting firm:
- Experience and Expertise: Look for consultants with verifiable, completed work implementing Adobe solutions, ideally in your industry. They should have available portfolio samples, and be able to clearly explain the options available to you (and the cost)!
- Technical Skills: Adobe offers certification at various levels, and your partners should have certified Adobe experts with real-world experience, who can directly engage in your implementation. Also consider development skills for the customizations you need, and if they have the bandwidth in areas of need for you to scale as required.
- Communication and Collaboration: Get to know the potential firms—you’ll be spending a lot of time together! Effective, open communication and documentation are essential to a successful implementation. What collaboration tools will you be using? Have they demonstrated flexibility in the past? They should be able to clearly explain how your interactions will be smooth and as seamless as possible, even across teams.
- Training and Ongoing Support: Do they offer both? And if so, assess their actual commitment to each. Effective training is essential for your team to make the most of the tools, and ongoing support will be needed keep the system running through all the inevitable, unforeseen events that are sure to arise.
Conclusion
Adobe’s AEM offerings are rapidly growing and improving, and represent an enormous opportunity to transform your organization for the better, but at a sizeable investment.
As with any suite of tools working across so many areas of need, what’s essential is getting (and keeping) a good return on your investment (in reality, not just in potential).
Where the rubber meets the road, an effective Adobe consulting partner must mesh with your culture, needs, and methodology.
For your organization, this may or may not be PTP, but with our proven track record of success in Adobe consulting, development, optimization, customization, integration, migration, training, and critical support, it would be wise to at least give us a look.
References
Adobe is having a terrible month, Business Insider
Adobe’s hidden cancellation fee is unlawful, FTC suit says, Ars Technica
Adobe Shares Surge as Revenue Climbs. Is It Too Late to Buy the Stock?, The Motley Fool
Adobe and Microsoft Partner on GenAI Capabilities, Destination CRM
New AI Integrations in Adobe Experience Platform, Adobe Summit
AEM Implementation Best Practices: From Strategy to Execution, AEM Development
