Decoding the Experience Market. - Prabhu Kaliaperumal

Everyone Sells Experience

A few years ago, if you had asked me what “experience” meant in the IT industry, I would have given you a straightforward answer: it’s about how users interact with technology. A smooth UI, a fast-loading app, or a seamless video call—those were the markers of “experience,” right? Simple.

But then, something changed. Suddenly, “experience” became a buzzword that exploded across the industry. Everywhere I turned, I saw terms like Customer Experience (CX), Employee Experience (EX), Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs), Digital Employee Experience (DEX), Application Experience, Network Experience, Total Experience (TX), and more. It felt like every technology company had rebranded itself as a seller of “experience.” The more I heard, the more confused I became.

How could one word mean so many different things?

As I dug deeper, I realized the experience industry had become incredibly diverse and fragmented. Every company seemed to have its own definition, approach, and metrics for measuring experience. This complexity made understanding the market not just difficult but overwhelming.

To make sense of it all, I needed to take a step back. A simpler, clearer way to classify and group these “experience” players in a meaningful manner was essential

The Complexity of Experience Segments

The experience industry isn’t just broad—it’s deeply fragmented. Companies align themselves with various “experience” labels, creating significant overlap and confusion. To make sense of it, I found that companies could be classified using different frameworks depending on the lens applied:

Experience Segments Classified

Based on End-User Type	Customer-Focused: CX, E-commerce Experience, Subscription Experience. Employee-Focused: EX, DEX, Learning Experience Platforms (LXPs). Industry-Specific: Patient Experience (Healthcare), Developer Experience (DevEx).
Based on Type of Experience	Digital: DXPs, DEM, Virtual Experience Platforms (VXP). Physical: Guest Experience, Service Experience. Cultural/Social: Brand Experience (BX), Environmental Experience.
Based on Digital Components	Application-Centric: APM, DevEx. Network-Centric: NPM. Cloud-Centric: CPM. Device-Centric: DEX.
Based on Business Goals	Customer Acquisition & Retention: CX, Subscription Experience. Operational Efficiency: DEX, CPM. Employee Satisfaction: EX, VoE, LXPs. Brand Building: BX, Content Experience.
Based on Interaction Lifecycle	Onboarding: LXPs, EX. Engagement: CX, DXPs. Retention: Customer Journey Analytics.
Based on Emerging Trends	AI-Augmented Experiences: TX with AI-driven insights. Sustainability-Oriented Experiences: Environmental Experience
and more…

Why this Matters?

Understanding the structure of the experience industry is not just an academic exercise—it’s a strategic necessity. In a market where “experience” has become the cornerstone of customer and employee satisfaction, businesses need clarity to:

Identify Opportunities: Recognize which segments align with their goals.
Streamline Investments: Avoid wasting resources on redundant tools or misaligned strategies.
Enhance Focus: Deliver experiences that genuinely impact end-users.

Selfishly speaking, I often find myself put on the spot when a customer or partner throws out the name of an “experience-associated” company and probes, “Are they your competitors?” This recurring situation highlights the need for a clear and concise understanding of where these players fit within the ecosystem.

Without a clear framework, businesses risk getting lost in the noise, investing in tools that fail to deliver meaningful value.

A Retrospection: Why Experience?

At its core, the purpose of the experience industry must be to add tangible value to the real audience—the actual users. Whether the users are employees or customers depends on the context of the environment, but the goal remains consistent: to deliver a meaningful, impactful, and desired experience.

This realization led me to a fundamental question: What is the purpose of this “experience” that companies are striving to create? The answer became clear—it’s either about providing users with a great experience or ensuring that what they experience meets their expectations and needs.

That clarity gave rise to an even simpler way of looking at this market: Are these companies delivering a great experience, or are they managing and ensuring that the experience is great and desirable?

This question became the lens through which I could finally simplify and classify the complex world of the experience market.

The Two Core Categories of Experience Players

Once I applied this simple question, the market started making a lot more sense. Companies naturally fell into one of two distinct categories:

Delivering Experience Players

These companies create the actual touchpoints that customers and employees interact with daily. They design products, platforms, and environments that shape user experience directly.

Examples: Zoom (collaboration), Apple (devices), Salesforce (CRM), Adobe (DXPs).

Managing Experience Players

These companies operate behind the scenes, ensuring that experience remains seamless, reliable, and optimized. They provide monitoring, automation, analytics, and self-healing technologies.

Examples: Nexthink (DEX ), ThousandEyes (network monitoring), Dynatrace (APM), Datadog (cloud performance).

This classification was a game-changer. Instead of getting lost in countless overlapping categories, I could now instantly identify whether a company was in the business of delivering experience or managing it.

Here’s a simplified snapshot of how key players align within this ecosystem:

Mapping the Experience Ecosystem

	Segment	Group	Example	Market Leader
1	Customer Experience (CX)	Delivering Experience	Salesforce, Zendesk, HubSpot, Freshdesk, Oracle CX	Salesforce
2	Employee Experience (EX)	Delivering Experience	Qualtrics, Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, BambooHR	Qualtrics
3	Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs)	Delivering Experience	Adobe Experience Cloud, Sitecore, Acquia, Optimizely	Adobe
4	Application Performance Monitoring (APM)	Manage Experience	Dynatrace, New Relic, AppDynamics, Splunk, Instana	Dynatrace
5	Network Performance Monitoring (NPM)	Manage Experience	ThousandEyes, SolarWinds, LiveAction, Kentik, LogicMonitor	ThousandEyes
6	Digital Employee Experience (DEX)	Manage Experience	Nexthink, SysTrack, Lakeside, 1E, HappySignals	Nexthink

Looking Ahead

By reframing the experience industry through delivering vs. managing experience, I could break through the confusion and develop clearer strategies for understanding and leveraging experience-driven solutions.

Which category do you think your organization fits into—delivering or managing experience? Start evaluating your current strategy through this lens and see how it aligns with your business goals.

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