Roughly half (51%) of global enterprise companies are currently using a customer data platform (CDP), with larger enterprise organizations (those with annual revenues of at least $500 million) being more likely than smaller ones (annual revenue of $50-$500 million) to have a CDP in place, per data from a new report [download page] by London Research and BlueVenn.
Overall, larger and more mature enterprise companies are more likely to have the analytic capabilities in place to take advantage of their CDPs. Three in 5 larger enterprise companies surveyed agree that they host and manage big data, compared to 43% of smaller enterprise companies. In addition, a larger proportion of larger enterprise companies (56%) are using machine learning for real-time decision-making and data analytics than smaller enterprise companies (41%).
But what both larger enterprise companies and smaller ones have in common is a deficit in advanced analytic expertise. This is particularly true with smaller enterprise companies, with only 23% agreeing that they have the expertise that is required to make the most of their technology – a figure around half that of larger enterprise firms (46%). According to data from Forbes Insights and Treasure Data, some of the skills required to get the most value out of customer data platforms are softer skills such as presentation and sales skills.
Most Larger Enterprise Companies Have A Full View of Their Customers
Enterprise companies don’t just have the technology to accumulate customer data, they are putting it to use. Business leaders continue to strive for a single customer view as they believe it drives factors such as improved customer experience, operational efficiency, strategic decisions and increased customer retention. Many are reaching this oft-elusive goal: almost two-thirds (64%) of respondents from larger enterprise companies and nearly half (49%) of smaller enterprise companies say they have a full view of their customers across digital and offline interactions with their brands.
As data quality remains a challenge for marketers, with only half of B2B marketers saying they actually trust their data, having staff to look after the quality of data is beneficial. The majority of larger enterprise companies have just that, with 3 in 5 (60%) agreeing that their marketing team has a ‘data champion’ who focuses on data quality, integrity and accessibility.
A report from Harvard Business Review Analytics Services found that while customer experience is the responsibility of the CMO, customer experience technology is more than likely owned by either the CTO or CIO in larger companies. However, this new survey shows that many larger (57%) and smaller (48%) enterprise companies agree that marketing can function independently of IT for customer data management and access.
CDPs Enhancing Customer Experience
For those enterprise companies using CDPs, 3 in 10 strongly agree that they use attribution to improve their paid media performance, and a relatively equal percentage (29%) strongly agree that they use first-party customer data dimensions for offsite audience targeting/retargeting and bid strategies.
Identifying and tracking customers across channels are major focuses of time and effort for marketers this year. However, enterprise companies with CDPs may be ahead of the game. About half (51%) strongly agree that they have a business function in place that has cross-channel responsibility for customer experience. Two-fifths (41%) also agree that they have a coordinated approach to online and offline campaign activity and more than one-third (38%) strongly agree that they set up and execute multi-channel campaigns from a single technology platform.
To read more, download the report here.
About the Data: The report is based on a global survey of 194 organizations with annual revenues of at least $50m. Respondents who qualified for the survey were those working client-side for both B2B and B2C organizations across a range of business sectors with 70% of respondents being based in the US.
