CDP Institute

Sprinklr grew from a base in social media management, while Infobip started in telecommunications. But it also now offers a much broader solution, having just launched omnichannel customer engagement hub. The new module, called Moments, orchestrates campaigns across pretty much every digital channel and builds a unified customer database underneath.

At Salsify, CX stands for Commerce Experience – an extension of product information management to include sharing order and inventory data across retailers, distributors, online marketplaces, social commerce, and direct-to-consumer Web sites. The cross-channel unification enables manufacturers to respond quickly to demand changes wherever they appear.

Segment has released a new feature, Data Lakes, that automatically converts raw data into a structured format (Apache Parquet) and makes the metadata accessible via the Amazon Glue Data Catalog. The tool is aimed at data scientists who would otherwise need to develop those structures for themselves. It supplements existing Segment connectors that convert data into formats for specific target systems. It’s free to current Segment clients.

Neustar is teaming with Google to provide Android mobile phone users with better information about who’s calling. The hope is that people will pick up more calls when they know who’s on the other end. Android phone will display who’s calling, confirmation of their identity, brand logos, and a reason for the call.

The pandemic has destroyed many relationships. Its latest casualty is the Taboola-Outbrain merger, announced last October but reportedly about to be called off. Ad revenue is down and bankers are less willing to provide cash needed to support the merger process.

Not much usually happens on the Friday before Labor Day weekend, but Salesforce did let slip news that it is buying headless online storefront Mobify. It’s a nice extension of Salesforce’s existing ecommerce capabilities and another sign of increased competition as online sales take a larger share of retail pie.

Sticking with retail, Profitero is creating an “open ecosystem” to simplify sharing the data it captures about product sales and traffic on 8,000 on Websites around the world. Ecosystem partners include ad agencies, publishers, and analytics platforms. It’s all about breaking down silos and who could be against that, except maybe silo insurance companies?

Finally, the retail analytics gurus at dunnhimby have launched Model Lab, a Web-based data science tool on Microsoft Azure, which automates much of the tedious data preparation required to build predictive models. It’s sold through subscription, so it’s an example of cloud-based systems easing access advanced technology.

Apple is delaying enforcement of the iOS 14 privacy features that will require permission for advertisers to access its IDFA device ID. Advertisers in general and Facebook in particular were upset about the feature, which will severely limit tracking of individuals. Apple said the new feature would be deployed “early next year”.

If your programmatic media bingo card had “movie theaters” on it, you’re can check that one off: digital out of home ad network Vistar Media is teaming with Screenvision to sell in-theater ads. This assumes that people will actually attend theaters again.

I thought we’d just ease into the Labor Day weekend today but here’s some actual news: digital experience platform Episerver has purchased optimization platform Optimizely. It’s Episerver’s third acquisition since it was bought by private equity investor Insight Venture Partners in September 2018. Price was not announced.

Which is not a martech best practice: agile techniques, formal metrics, or hiring outside consultants? CDP Institute’s just-released member survey shares that and other keys to CDP success. We even reveal once and for all what’s the most important feature in a CDP. Vox populi vox dei.