The DXP Catalyst Update - July 3, 2025

INTRO
Welcome to This Week’s DXP Catalyst Update

With the holiday weekend ahead, I wanted to share a few predictions for the second half of 2025. These are based on recent conversations, projects, vendor moves, and what I’ve seen across client ecosystems. Some of these trends are accelerating quickly. Others are still early, but starting to take shape.

TRENDS & PREDICTIONS

What to Watch in the Second Half of 2025

1. GEO Becomes a Core Discipline

Search behavior continues to shift. Users are turning to conversational interfaces like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and voice assistants, as well as AI-powered summaries in traditional search engines. As this becomes the norm, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) will become more important.

GEO isn’t just SEO under a new name. It’s about structuring content and data in a way that generative systems can interpret and reuse. Schema, taxonomies, and knowledge graphs are now foundational.

What to watch: Tools like Squiz’s upcoming conversational search feature are signs of what’s coming. Still, GEO remains in the early stages for most organizations. The next six to twelve months will likely involve experimentation and foundational work rather than widespread execution.

2. AI-Assisted Composition Empowers Business Users

No-code and low-code tools are becoming smarter, allowing marketers and content teams to do more without relying on developers. AI-generated components, workflows, and even code can speed up iteration dramatically.

The intent here isn’t to replace developers but to shift routine work closer to the business and allow engineering to focus on higher-value efforts.

What to watch: With greater access comes new challenges. Organizations will need stronger governance, QA processes, and safeguards. Without them, decentralizing creation can introduce more problems than it solves.

3. Static-First, Edge-Delivered Experiences Pick Up Speed

Hybrid architecture continues to gain momentum. Many teams are embracing a model where portions of the site, especially content, are rendered statically at the edge while dynamic functions are layered on top.

This isn’t just about performance. It reflects a broader desire for simplicity and reliability, especially in global environments.

What to watch: For teams focused on speed, uptime, and cost efficiency, this model offers real value. That said, it’s certainly not a fit for every scenario. Sites with heavy personalization or complex backend logic may find the limitations outweigh the benefits.

4. Contextual Intelligence Refines Personalization

Personalization is evolving. The next wave is about contextual intelligence, where systems know not just who the user is, but when, where, and how to deliver something meaningful.

AI can now analyze real-time inputs like location, device type, journey stage, and behavioral history to power micro-moment targeting.

What to watch: Privacy concerns, regulatory requirements, and fragmented data remain major hurdles. Brands that can operationalize real-time context responsibly will gain an edge, but the path there involves thoughtful architecture and governance.

5. AI Becomes the Stack

AI is no longer just a tool layered on top of the marketing stack. It is increasingly embedded throughout, coordinating workflows, generating content, optimizing campaigns, and making real-time decisions. Platforms are starting to treat AI not as an add-on but as a core design principle.

What to watch: Many organizations still use AI in isolated ways, but that is starting to change. In the months ahead, expect a shift toward AI-powered systems that operate continuously in the background, shaping experiences and automations across the entire stack.

6. Orchestration Gains Traction in MACH Architectures

Composable stacks offer flexibility, but that flexibility comes at a cost. Connecting everything is only half the battle. The real challenge is managing logic and timing across systems.

Orchestration is becoming a top priority, especially for enterprise teams running MACH (Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native, Headless) architectures.

What to watch: Middleware costs, technical debt, and lack of orchestration talent will remain barriers. The next phase of tooling in this space needs to prioritize simplicity, interoperability, and reusability to reach broader adoption.

7. Multi-Agent AI and MCP Gain Traction

The rise of specialized agents for tasks like planning, content creation, testing, and segmentation introduces a new challenge: coordination. Model Context Protocol (MCP) and similar frameworks offer a way to define shared logic that allows these agents to work together and interact with existing systems.

What to watch: While production use is still limited, interest is growing quickly. In the second half of the year, expect to see more experimentation with agent coordination frameworks, especially in modular digital ecosystems where no single platform controls the entire experience.

Final Thoughts

Some of these trends will play out slowly. Others are already taking shape inside modern digital ecosystems. Either way, the second half of 2025 will offer clues about what will stick, what will evolve, and where digital leaders should place their bets.

Thanks for reading. Wishing everyone in the US a great holiday weekend ahead.