The AXL Reference · § 9
Maturity model.
A five-tier classification of operator capability in personalization. Distinct from vendor capability, which is addressed separately by the conformance levels in § 6.
- Source
- § 9 of the AXL Reference v1.0
- Companion
- § 9 of the spec
The maturity model classifies the operating environment in which a personalization capability is exercised, ranging from a coordinated stack of discrete tools (M1) to a verified-conformant single-layer implementation (M4). A given vendor product may support deployments at multiple tiers; operators may sit at one tier while evaluating an architecture more typical of another.
§ 9.1Five tiers
M0
Tooled
You own the five-tool stack and operate it manually.
- CDP, segmentation, A/B, journey, and attribution operated as separate tools.
- Integration is bespoke. Operators construct segments, attach treatments, attribute outcomes by hand.
- Lift is measurable. Operational cost is measurable. The ratio between them is degrading.
M1
Coordinated
The five tools have been wired together. Workflows exist.
- Tooling integrations are in production: segments flow into experimentation; experiments flow into orchestration.
- A central team owns the meta-workflow. Most marketers operate one tool, not five.
- AXL pillars are recognizable but distributed across vendors.
M2
Decisioned
A single platform makes the treatment decision.
- Decide is collapsed into one system. Operators configure constraints; the system selects treatments.
- Perceive and Render may still be separate from Decide.
- Learn is structured: significance reporting, lift measurement, holdout discipline.
M3
Agentic
One system perceives, decides, renders, and learns in session.
- All four pillars operate inside a single decisioning surface.
- Identity-free perception by default; in-session decisioning at request time.
- Suitable for AXL L1 or L2 attestation.
M4
Reference
The implementation passes verified conformance against the full spec.
- All Required and Recommended capabilities of §5 satisfied.
- Published Appendix A benchmark reproductions.
- §7 agentic interface surface inspectable by axlspec.org reviewers.
- Eligible for L3 verified certification and AXL™ mark.
§ 9.2Use of the model
Buyers and procurement
The model is intended for use in vendor evaluation and procurement pre-reads. The operator's current tier informs the type of capability that will produce marginal value; a buyer evaluating a platform whose typical deployment is at a higher tier than the operator currently occupies should evaluate the gap explicitly. See /buyers-guide.
Vendors
Vendors may indicate the tier or tiers at which their platform is typically deployed. The model is not a stack-rank: platforms supporting M1 or M2 deployments are not made less useful by the existence of M3.
Analysts
The tiers in this section are distinct from the architectural patterns enumerated in § 10. The intent of the model is to provide a vocabulary for operator capability separately from vendor capability.