Anirban Sarkar
Evaluating CDPs: Can you marginalize your competitors with more Customer Data?
Though research indicates that data can deliver the true customer experience, in reality, the Data and Analytics (D&A) teams in various organizations are constantly trying to evaluate the scope of Customer Data Platforms (CDP) and their optimal use cases.Many executives believe using customer data capabilities will allow them to gain an unbeatable competitive edge. The more the customers are, the more the data, which is analyzed with state-of-the-art machine-learning tools, will offer a better product that attracts more customers.You can collect even more data and marginalize your competitors as businesses with sizable network effects do. Often, this assumption of a vicious circle is wrong. Some Managers grossly overestimate the advantage that data confers [When Data Creates Competitive Advantage And when it doesn’t; by Andrei Hagiu and Julian Wright; Jan-Feb 2020].
In the existing fragmented markets, CDPs are continuously evolving and maturing with the new paradigms of the use cases getting unfold. The marketing teams look for implementable real-time seamless solutions in CDP, with a first-party data source, providing clean data, an explicit model, and a personalized audience.
The D&A leaders need to evaluate the requirements for CDP implementation. For this, the D&A teams must understand how the organization assesses the accuracy of the profile unification within a product. Further, it is necessary to understand the extent of efforts involved in establishing connections with the source. Also, how a product will track the permissions to market needs to be clearly understood. Finally, the auditability aspects of CDP must be figured out by the D&A teams. The overlap of CDP with the other IT-managed solutions creates a challenge for D&A teams to optimize their investments. Gartner classifies different CDPs as follows:
D&A leaders must evaluate why Marketing and CX teams need CDP technologies and whether the CDP can deliver the required capabilities. D&A leaders must examine whether the CDP solution fits their overall D&A strategy and operating framework. Mature D&A leaders tend to adopt a capabilities-centric approach to understanding marketing requirements. The Marketing, CX, and D&A leaders need a strong understanding of each other’s objectives before and while implementing a CDP.
Why Teqfocus: Teqfocus is a team of dedicated data cloud professionals who work with fast-growing customers to realize higher ROI on CDP investments. Our customers enjoy a higher market share growth by investing in services analytics for personalization and customer journey analysis.
This document is professionally hand-edited and has been driven by research conducted by experts from both industry and academia.
