“CDP” is best considered a practice, because software customer data platforms had no founding principles and no primary goal.
Technology providers naturally lean towards areas they are great at. This becomes problematic within the customer data platform space, since there are at least 5 ginormous areas of importance in an organizations CDP, and no provider does them all. You do.
Last year I developed a framework to discuss CDP requirements and improve upon an active CDP. These five areas get broken into all sorts of requirements, somewhat dependent on the situation.
We’ll use this solutions log to break it down from time to time, but the real education will come from our friends at CDP Resource. This post focuses on data storage as it relates to customer data.
Compared to the other four areas, “Storage” is a quick one to explain. Two base requirements take up the entire stage:
1) the capability for in-moment relevancy by way of real-time storage
2) a pipeline from a customer-oriented warehouse
These are intended to tie together as much as is feasibly possible to deliver the best experiences to your customers. Cuts are made all the time due to cost, effort, availability, regulations, etc., but a continuous customer data program dedicates time to revisiting for progress.
Approach and organizational understanding have become top priority when it comes to customer data. Building capacity for a continuous customer data program is more critical than the software selection itself. To an organization, the customer data program is a must, and the software is a means to that end.
CDP is three letters surrounded by decades of data and marketing know-how. Don’t sell it short.
