Looking back, moving forward

First of all, I'd like to wish you all a happy new year. It sounds like a cliché, but wow, time flies.

Looking back at 2021, we had our share of challenges, but overall we can be very satisfied with our results. We confirmed our three-pillar strategy, Think – Create – Accelerate, and we officially expanded to the Dutch market with our own Dutch company. We laid solid foundations for further growth in the coming years, strengthened our teams in both countries and look forward to the challenges of 2022.

At Blastic, we always try to be two steps ahead instead of reactive. Thinking about the trends for 2022 helps us stay as agile as possible. These are the trends I see.

I started my career in the enterprise application integration team of a large Belgian bank, so I know how important well-integrated applications and platforms are. When I started focusing on digital experience platforms at Blastic, I was very surprised to see that most of them ran on islands, without any integration with other applications.

That went against everything I learned at the start of my career. In an earlier article, I said: "A digital experience platform without integrations is like a bar without beer." I'm convinced the MACH Alliance will change the industry. It was founded in June 2020 to help enterprises find their way in the complex technology landscape, and shows the business advantages of open tech ecosystems that are Microservices-based, API-first, Cloud-native and Headless.

Can I get an amen?

For a very long time, I was the biggest fan of the all-in-one digital experience platform: one platform with one user interface, which lets marketing teams all over the world give their clients a personalised customer experience.

I still believe the all-in-one DXP has its place, but I'm also convinced there's room for composable DXPs: the best-fit products for specific tasks, like email marketing, personalisation and analytics, integrated with each other so the same marketing teams can do an even better job.

What's the best fit for you? That depends on your requirements and business goals: what do you want to achieve, how much effort do you want to put into the platform, and what return do you expect?

Time is precious. There's so much noise online, and the window to catch people's attention gets smaller every year. Whatever you sell, you need to offer the right content and context at the right time. Personalisation and a great user experience will keep gaining importance. When it comes to attracting customers, I no longer believe in "third time's a charm".

The pandemic had a major impact on B2C e-commerce in Belgium. Most people weren't used to ordering everyday household products online, and that changed enormously in two years. Yet B2B e-commerce still seems to lag behind.

What do we expect from B2B e-commerce? What investments does it need? Will it affect our sales team? How can we organise it in an eco-friendly way, and do much better than the B2C market? How much longer can we put off answering these questions?

We already see intermediaries selling producers' products at huge margins, just to make as much money as possible as fast as possible. But what about product quality, customer engagement and customer care? I think it's time for producers to go to market themselves, before intermediaries damage their product reputation. And since dreaming is allowed at the start of the year: could B2B e-commerce enable a more ecological and sustainable B2C e-commerce market?

Last but not least, the war for talent will stay huge. The expertise companies need changes very fast, so they'll have to rely on very talented people to keep up. When everyone fishes in the same pond, catching the right fish only gets harder.

To wrap up, I wish everyone happiness, health and success in 2022. If you made it this far, I have a little secret to share: this year, Blastic turns 10, and that's a milestone that can't go unnoticed. Stay tuned to see what we have in store!

I hope to talk to you soon.

Tom Hallaert