cXm Professionals Association

cXm Professionals is an industry community of customer communication experts, solution partners, and experience-minded thought leaders. It’s you, our members—industry professionals from enterprise organizations, technology partners, and service providers —who are the heart of this community, dedicated to advancing the fields of Customer Communications Management (CCM) and Customer Experience Management (CXM). Our mission is to foster industry awareness, amplify the messaging from our members, promote knowledge-sharing opportunities, connect customers with solutions, and champion best practices that drive meaningful customer engagement.

Through collaboration, continuous learning, and certification programs, we are dedicated to advancing industry professionals, organizations, technology partners, and service provider organizations. We aim to inspire you to modernize strategies, future-proof communication management platforms, embrace digital transformation, and deliver customer-centric experiences across the channels of the customer’s choosing.

cXm Professionals Association (CXMPA), a not-for-profit association, proudly carries forward the spirit and legacy of Xplor International. This community has long championed industry awareness, knowledge sharing, and the modernization of customer communications. While we honor that foundation, CXMPA is expanding the mission to meet the needs of today’s digital community and customers.

The Xplor EDP Certification program remains a cornerstone of professional excellence, upholding its respected name and rigorous standards while embracing the industry’s evolution from CCM to CXM.

Join us, the CXM Professionals Association, as we take the lead in shaping the future of the customer communications industry.

Our History

Xplor

Xplor International, also known as Xplor® and The Electronic Document Systems Association®, was a not-for-profit association dedicated to the education, evolution, and success of the Customer Communications Management (CCM) industry.  The members design, produce, implement, deliver and manage high-volume, highly regulated and highly personalized communications across all channels and in all formats.

Mission

Xplor’s mission was to provide the education and resources necessary for the development of engaging customer communications.

Enhance organizational success and advance the careers of members by providing research, analyst access, industry certification, professional development, and educator guidance.  Global members benefited from in-person annual summit, virtual events, and networking opportunities.

Evolution of Xplor

Xplor began as a Xerox 9700 User Group in the late 70s, becoming a not-for-profit association in 1981, opening the doors for other vendors to participate. Xplor is an acronym for Xerox Printing Liaison ORganization.

Originally headquartered in Torrance, California, Xplor’s membership and annual conference grew over the years. In 2004, the Xplor conference in Dallas, Texas had 160,000 square feet of exhibit space with over 9,000 attendees.

After September 11th, participation at tradeshows began to taper off due to budget and personnel restraints. It was then that Xplor decided to get out of the tradeshow business and focus on their core competency, education. The 2004 Dallas show was the last big show that Xplor held.

Starting in 2005, Xplor began co-locating with other venues and made the decision in 2008 to do their own stand-alone conference with a small vendor forum. In 2014, the conference was rebranded as Xploration.

From 2008-2013 the conference event was held at the TradeWinds Island Grand Resort in St. Pete Beach, Florida. Due to the growth of the event, the location moved to the Wyndham Orlando Resort International Drive in 2014 and 2015 before heading to the Caribe Royale Orlando for 2016 and 2017, and then the Rosen Plaza in Orlando, Florida for 2018.

2019 was an experimental year in heading to the west coast, where we partnered with the ISA Sign Expo in Las Vegas.  The annual conference returned to the east coast in 2020, although due to COVID-19, we held a virtual event that fall.

Thankfully, we were able to offer an in-person event in November 2021.  We returned to the TradeWinds Island Grand Resort in St. Pete Beach, Florida for our 2021 and 2022 conferences.  In 2023, we reimagined, rebranded and relocated our event.  The first-ever Xplor CCM Summit was held at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando, Florida in November 2023.  The event showcased a restructured agenda to better promote the exchange of information, ideas and different perspectives to drive strategic conversations.

In 2024, Xplor held its final annual summit event, marking over 40 years of educational programs, webinars, local events, scholarships, and the EDP certification program.

After over 40 years of serving the customer communications industry, Xplor International ceased operations on March 31, 2025. The Xplor Certification Program continues under new management, and the community continues forward through an Xplor Educational Track and Pavilion at the 2025 PRINTING United Expo.