Flexibly Orchestrating Business Processes in Fragmented IT Landscapes

Composable Commerce promises companies the flexibility to integrate their technologies seamlessly. But what often goes unmentioned is the high effort and growing complexity involved. Moreover, Composable systems face limitations when it comes to orchestrating business processes. The AI-driven Commerce Orchestration Platform from Emporix is the more cost-effective and future-ready alternative.

TL;DR – Key Takeaways

• The Problem: Fragmented systems create friction, media discontinuities, and high manual effort. End-to-end process logic is often missing.
• The Result: Fragmented processes lead to inconsistent customer experiences, limited scalability, and operational inefficiency.
• The Challenge: Monolithic systems are rigid and expensive, but even Composable architectures don’t automatically solve the problem.
• Without a shared understanding of business processes, even modular IT architectures - and the processes they support - remain fragmented.
• The Solution: The AI-driven Orchestration Engine from Emporix connects commerce systems through a central process logic.
• The Outcome: IT dependencies and operational costs are measurably reduced, and the agility required for rapid, flexible innovation is achieved.

The Problem

Fragmented systems cause friction, media breaks, and high manual workload

In many retail businesses, the IT landscape consists of specialized systems that perform well individually - such as for Product Information Management (PIM), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), pricing, or Configure Price Quote (CPQ). However, when these systems interact, weaknesses become evident: media discontinuities between sales channels, manual data reconciliation, and redundant workflows are common. These disconnects lead to delays, increased coordination overhead, and unnecessary strain on departments.

Despite modern tools, cohesive process logic is often missing in digital business

Many organizations are already equipped with powerful tools for specific tasks and are consistently investing in innovative software solutions. What’s often missing, however, is true integration into cohesive, well-structured business processes. Without unified governance, each system remains isolated - preventing maximum value creation through coordinated operation. Operational gaps emerge that can’t be fully bridged by additional systems or interfaces alone.

Fragmented processes lead to inconsistent customer experiences, limited scalability, and inefficiency

These structural gaps directly affect customer experience: inconsistent information and processes, and long service times. Operational efficiency suffers - technical changes are slow, and processes are hard to standardize or expand. Scalability becomes a serious challenge, as each new channel, market, or service must be painstakingly adapted to existing systems. As a result, digital transformation remains fragmented - costly, slow, and often underwhelming in its outcomes.

The Challenge

Software monoliths are rigid and expensive, but modular architectures don’t fully solve the problem either

Many companies have recognized the drawbacks of monolithic software systems: they’re expensive to maintain and difficult to adapt. Transitioning to modular “Composable” architectures seems like the logical next step, promising greater flexibility, less vendor lock-in, and faster innovation. In reality, though, Composable Commerce does not automatically result in cohesive process landscapes. On the contrary: complexity increases, along with development and maintenance burdens.

Without shared process logic, modular IT architectures remain fragmented

In service-oriented architectures (SOA), systems like Shop, CRM, ERP, and PIM are technically interconnected. While decoupled services enable individual evolution and easier component swaps, they don’t inherently lead to harmonized processes. Without a central process understanding that functionally connects these systems, a new kind of fragmentation arises: systems communicate via APIs, but the business processes remain disjointed, inconsistent, and difficult to manage. Managing these interfaces can also become a significant operational burden.

CRM, PIM, Shop, and CPQ may be technically integrated, but they’re not orchestrated across domains

Modern modular IT architectures do enable systems to be connected via APIs and aligned functionally. However, as previously discussed, a major drawback of Composable Commerce is the typical lack of a central instance that coordinates, adjusts, and automates interactions between these systems. Such an orchestration layer is essential for end-to-end process alignment - from first customer touchpoint to delivery and post-sale service. Without it, every change, expansion, or optimization remains a complex, resource-intensive project that hinders innovation.

The Solution

Emporix’s AI-driven Orchestration Engine connects systems through a central process logic

To achieve seamless commerce processes within fragmented systems, a layer is needed that not only transfers data but orchestrates cross-service workflows. This is precisely what the Emporix Orchestration Engine delivers: it enables end-to-end process logic that links various systems and governs them along defined business workflows. Unlike traditional integration solutions, it’s not just about communication between systems - but about modeling and managing the entire process landscape based on specific needs.

Model and automate digital commerce processes without custom code

A core advantage of the Emporix Orchestration Engine lies in its flexible modeling capabilities: processes can be orchestrated using graphical tools and rule-based logic - no custom coding required. Business teams can define and modify workflows independently, such as when launching new product lines, adjusting pricing strategies, or entering new markets. This flexibility allows companies to respond more quickly to change and opportunity without constantly diving deep into their system architecture.

The Result

Lower IT dependency and operating costs, with the agility to innovate

Orchestrated process management not only simplifies internal operations and reduces development overhead, it also cuts structural dependencies. This mitigates key weaknesses of Composable Commerce architectures: IT teams are relieved from building custom interfaces and managing complex process adjustments. Operating costs drop, as new systems can be integrated more easily and standardized processes reused. Most importantly, agility increases - allowing companies to execute digital transformation and innovation projects faster and with less risk.