CDP Institute

Salesforce is offering a free version of its CDP-esq Data Cloud to Sales and Service Cloud customers, with the apparent goal of increasing use of Marketing Cloud.  The Data Cloud offers Marketing Cloud users a unified view of data in Salesforce clouds and other systems via no-copy access to cloud databases and Mulesoft connectors.  The company also unveiled a small business edition of Marketing Cloud.

Walmart has agreed to acquire VIZIO and its SmartCast Operating System for approximately $2.3 billion. The acquisition should accelerate Walmart’s media business, Walmart Connect, allowing it access to VIZIO’s CTV advertising solutions. VIZIO’s device eco-system featuring the SmartCast OS boasts 18 million accounts, a growth of around 400% since 2018.

The European Union has announced a formal investigation into TikTok over allegations that it has breached obligations to protect minors. Specific problems cited by an E.U. official include “addictive design and screen time limits, rabbit hole effect, age verification, default privacy settings.” TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, could be fined up to 6% of its global turnover if found in breach of the Digital Services Act.

Meltwater, a provider of media, social and consumer intelligence, announced it is partnering with Microsoft on an integrated communications insights solution. The partnership will integrate the data from Meltwater’s listening tools with Microsoft’s AI-driven capability to deliver data “as dialogue.” Microsoft will use Meltwater as its provider of global intelligence, while Meltwater has made a multi-year commitment to Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud platform.

Meta announced that businesses purchasing boosts for their posts on the iOS versions of Facebook and Instagram will need to pay a 30% service charge to Apple. Meta represented this as required by Apple guidelines. However, Meta did confirm that boosting posts on browser versions of its social media sites will avoid the fee.

Less than a fifth of customer support teams say their tools always meet their needs, according to a survey of over 2,000 customer support professionals. Three quarters of C-level support leaders say they’re always looking for new platforms, tools, and technologies, while 65% of executives and leaders are looking at new technologies because of AI. The biggest barriers to implementing new solutions are resistance to change and budget restraints.

Customer data and marketing platform ONEcount is teaming up with cloud software provider Upland and Specialized Fulfillment Services to offer an integrated “best-of-breed” CX suite. ONEcount will be providing 360 degree customer data and its ID graph, Upland will be contributing its PostUp email marketing software and SFS brings a range of tools including payment processing. Importantly, the three vendors will also be integrating their customer support, aiming at a “one vendor” feel.

CDP Bloomreach has acquired Radiance Commerce, an enterprise conversational commerce platform powered by generative AI. Conversations with Radiance guide customers through purchase journeys, assisting with product recommendations and discovery. Radiance’s technology will support the evolution of Bloomreach’s existing conversational tool, Bloomreach Clarity.

The European Union’s Digital Service Act, which places wide-ranging obligations on online platforms, including protections for minors, originally extended only to very large digital players such as Apple, Google and Meta. From February 17, it applies to all online platforms serving a European audience. The only exceptions will be very small businesses: fewer than 50 employees and annual turnover below 10 million euros.

Google’s immediate and brief response to a damning assessment by IAB Tech Lab of its Privacy Sandbox project was that it included “dozens of fundamental errors.” That response has now been expanded into a detailed and lengthy rebuttal. Google has also vowed to continue its work to develop alternatives to third-party cookies, restating the aim of deprecating them in Chrome by year end (unless regulators stand in the way).

Fifty-seven percent of B2C marketers say finding new customers is their key priority for 2024, with 44.9% prioritizing engagement and loyalty, based on a survey sample of more than 700. In good news for the B2C martech space, around 65% said they intended to increase their technology investments this year, primarily to improve the customer experience. The biggest factor in building a successful cross-channel strategy was identified as leveraging customer data analytics for targeted marketing decisions.

Most CX managers intend to outsource, at least partially, their generative AI programs, citing limited inhouse expertise, cost considerations and time-to-market. Almost half the 200 managers surveyed expect to deploy generative AI in non-voice customer support environments, with text generation identified as the highest use case for the technology. Forty-six percent are piloting or deploying text generation; code generation is in close second place (45%).