We all want our tools to unlock business value and increase our return on investment. Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) is a long-recognized contributor to business value. This article examines historical and current evidence of AEM’s business value, as well as how to unlock business value for your company.
- How have we unlocked AEM business value in the past?
- How are we unlocking AEM business value in the present?
- How will you unlock your own business value in the future?
Unlocking Business Value: The Past
In February 2018, Melissa Webster and Matthew Marden authored an Adobe-sponsored white paper for IDC. The white paper is entitled “The Business Value of Adobe Experience Manager Sites” (PDF on the Adobe website). At the time, the authors identified a “daunting challenge.” Companies had to deliver of delivering an engaging experience across multiple platforms (computers, tablets, smartphones) and channels. Add the need to address multiple languages and markets and to personalize the experience. The marketing challenge was indeed daunting in 2018.
For this white paper, Webster and Marden focused on Adobe Experience Manager Sites (AEM Sites) and its users. The white paper specifically noted the features available to AEM Sites users in 2018 that unlocked business value. These included management of multiple sites, campaigns, and mobile content; workflow and integration functionality with commerce and analytic engines; and robust personalization capabilities.
IDC white paper findings
IDC discovered the following after analyzing companies using AEM Sites:
- Customer use of AEM Sites streamlined and accelerated content creation while maintaining overall consistency.
- AEM Sites empowered employees and increased their productivity by 23%.
- Prospects and customers increased their engagement with AEM Sites content by 10% per month.
And these improvements unlocked business value.
- Companies realized a 348% return on investment over a three-year period.
- These same companies realized an annual average business value of $3.92 million per organization.
But while companies achieved these results in 2018, can companies still unlock business value in 2025?
Unlocking Business Value: The Present
If you attend this year’s Adobe Summit in Las Vegas, you can learn for yourself how AEM is unlocking business value today.
On Thursday, March 20 at 10:30 am PDT, attend session S404, “Unlock ROI: Highest Value Use Cases for Content Creation and Production.” The scheduled presenters are Stephanie Gorski of Accenture and Tamara Pienknagura Beitsch of Adobe.
What has changed since 2018?
Since 2018, Adobe applications now include generative artificial intelligence (generative AI). This has expanded AEM’s capabilities and unlocked business value. The session abstract states:
- “[L]eading organizations are leveraging gen AI to unlock ROI within creation and production in the content supply chain.”
- “[G]en AI empowers marketing leaders to drive efficiency, agility, and creative impact at scale.”
- AEM users can “optimize content workflows, reduce production costs, accelerate timelines, and elevate content quality and personalization, all while maintaining brand integrity.”
- Adobe has not only incorporated generative AI into AEM, but also into associated offerings such as Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Express, Adobe Firefly, Adobe GenStudio, and Adobe Workfront.
Session S404 is “not found” if you try to attend it online. This session is only available in-person in Las Vegas. There’s still time to register for the Adobe Summit.
Unlocking Business Value: The Future
But what about the future, and unlocking business value for YOUR company?
I am hosting an online event on Thursday, March 14, in advance of the Adobe Summit. My LinkedIn Live event is entitled “Future-Proofing AEM: Strategy & ROI for Decision Makers in 2025.”
Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) is a powerful platform for managing digital experiences, but many mid-sized enterprises struggle with increasing implementation costs, slow ROI, and ongoing maintenance challenges. With AI-driven automation and evolving cloud capabilities, decision-makers need a clear strategy to ensure their AEM investment delivers measurable business value.
This invite-only pre-summit workshop is designed for IT leaders, digital transformation executives, and marketing decision-makers responsible for ensuring their AEM implementation is efficient, scalable, and aligned with business goals.
What You’ll Learn:
– Maximizing ROI: The true cost of stalled AEM projects and how to get back on track
– AI-Powered Efficiencies: How generative AI is reshaping AEM automation, content, and personalization
– Reducing Costs: Strategies to optimize AEM maintenance and scale effectively
– AEM as a Cloud Service: When to migrate and what it means for your business
– Security & Compliance: Addressing key risks when integrating AI with AEM
Who Should Attend?
– IT Directors & CIOs – Align AEM strategy with business priorities
– Marketing Leaders – Unlock AEM’s full potential for engagement and conversion
– Digital Transformation Executives – Drive operational efficiency and scalability
– Decision-makers evaluating AEM Upgrades & AI Integration
This workshop is the perfect opportunity to gain insights before Adobe Summit 2025, ensuring you are prepared to make informed decisions about your AEM implementation.
To register and learn how you can use AEM to unlock business value for your company, go to the LinkedIn Live invitation and click “Attend.”