How IT addresses business users’ needs in a composable commerce rollout

When it comes to implementing a commerce platform, IT often leads the selection process, if not entire purchasing decision. After years of shadow IT and unchecked technology spending, IT is taking back control over major purchases like commerce systems. At the same time, the shadow IT hangover is real, and has uncovered a fundamental distrust issue for business users. They want to know: Can IT deliver on all of the things the business needs, on a timeline that makes sense?

These larger dynamics are changing the way composable commerce rollouts happen. There’s a big cultural shift from the top-down commerce implementations of the past. Business users play a prominent role in determining which features come first, while IT steers the deployment process and helps users get the most value out of their composable commerce system. When managed successfully, a composable commerce rollout can make it easier for both IT and business users to accomplish their goals.

Let’s take a look at how IT brings business users along the implementation journey and ensures that both parties' needs are met.

Business users’ and IT’s hierarchy of commerce needs are often different

The idea of IT/business alignment sounds euphoric, but it often goes wrong when one group doesn’t understand the other’s needs. For example, in commerce, merchandisers prioritize revenue drivers (sales, conversions, margin protection) and usability (due to the repetitive nature of daily activities). IT focuses on operational efficiencies and long-term platform scalability.

Successful composable commerce rollouts account for both sets of needs, and are highly collaborative. Many teams make a valiant effort to bridge these priorities, by focusing first on high-impact, low-effort wins for both sides. In most cases, composable commerce allows you to home in on a business pain point, while achieving IT operational goals.

For example, merchandisers and marketers often face technical limitations with their commerce platforms, such as difficulty with SKU management, rigid catalog structures, and a lack of flexibility in promotions. Many composable commerce applications are user-friendly and can cut down on IT overhead in making day-to-day changes. If business users can manage content, merchandising, and attributes without developer involvement, then everyone wins. Things like catalog management, bundling, subscription offer creation, and promotions setup can become turnkey for business users, saving technical talent for more complex, custom development needs.

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Typical deployment paths (and why they work for composable commerce)

The most successful composable commerce rollouts we’ve seen from customers tend to follow a few different patterns.

• Strangler pattern: Choose one piece of the existing software platform and replace it with a composable architecture. Continue to replace pieces of the legacy software platform, component by component. For example, most teams start with the most urgent pain point, such as replacing their cart and checkout to reduce abandonment rates and improve conversions.
• Start small with satellite sites: Select a single brand or geography within a portfolio as a proof of concept (PoC), and test it entirely on a composable architecture. After ironing out the details, continue to replatform each brand or geography using composable commerce technology. For example, you might relaunch one brand on a composable commerce system to test backend composable features with an existing frontend.

Above all else, it’s important to embrace an iterative problem solving approach. With composable commerce, you can experience quick wins and make changes if things aren’t working as expected. For example, if you’ve solved your checkout issues, you can then expand to merchandising pain points.

The mindset shift driven by composable commerce

Managing a successful composable commerce rollout requires a strong technical leader to communicate technology's value in meeting business goals. This person leads the change management process — providing a new point of view on legacy business processes and constraints. More often than not, legacy business processes and constraints no longer need to exist. A technical leader should help business users adapt to new workflows, and avoid replication of inefficient processes by helping them understand composable commerce’s full potential.

Perhaps most importantly, a strong technical leader knows how to reverse-engineer business needs. They can start from pain points and desired customer experiences, and map these back to technology solutions. Ideally, composable commerce offers a way for both IT and business users to meet their objectives. It represents an opportunity to change your organization’s mindset about what can be done with your commerce system — to break legacy patterns of thinking — ultimately positioning the business to move faster and act on the latest trends.