Why the CDP is failing in your organization
If you have implemented a CDP in your organization, maybe more than once, and it is not going as you were sold on or originally planned for then I am here to tell you, You Are Not Alone. I don’t care about the Gartner and Forester stats or what CDP vendors claim the success that a CDP will bring to your business, I have seen it fail so many times to the point that I decided to write this blogpost.
I consider myself a lucky person in this industry where I have seen the evolution and adaption of the CDP from every angle:
And when you think the space is oversaturated, a new CDP appears. The CDP Institute is keeping busy. But if there are many CDP’s and they are the center of attention of every conference, why so many people are struggling with them?
In this blogpost, I will share with you my observations and my recommendations.
Data Readiness
It should be no surprise that most of the CDP Implementations fail due to lack of data readiness. You are sold on the idea that CDP will bring data together into a single view of your customer and allow you to build audiences and activate on them. That’s true if your data is ready to be stitched together to create that single view of the customer. CDPs are designed to support as many general use cases as possible which means the specificities of your data will likely not match up to what the CDP can offer. A few things that I encourage you to check on when assessing readiness:
Technology Readiness
Often people will lump data and technology into one, but I think these are distinctly different things to account for. Technology readiness has to do with your own technology and whether it is ready to execute on the use cases that the CDP is lined up for. The most common example of this is real-time. A lot of your use cases might be around real-time profile updates and real-time activation, but your own stack is still in nightly batches. There won’t be a path to real-time unless your technology supports real-time. The same applies to executing a successful abandoned cart journey that doesn’t have access to your inventory or sending valid offers without an offer management solution. Your technology is evolving and likely will always be behind compared to enterprise solutions but set the right expectations early and produce a solid product roadmap that supports the company vision, use cases and the “reality” of what is possible. Yes, reality and not the dream.
Momentum
This might sound weird to you, but it is true. I often see the energy behind a product die down after the implementation phase. Typically, you have the A-team from the System Integrator, A-team from the Software Sales Team and the A-team from the client side during implementation. There is so much energy and excitement about this. Suddenly, as you transition from implementation to operation the flame dies down. The A-teams transition to other projects and things slow down. Without the right momentum, projects and products die down. My recommendation is to figure out the post-implementation phase well before the implementation is wrapped up. This gives you the time to hire, train and prepare to have the right energy behind the CDP as you transition from implementation to operations.
Ownership
I often see that different teams within an organization fight over the CDP during the presale and implementation phase but then take a back seat and wash their hands of the product after. I sense that the reason behind this is because product ownership also entails product ROI and value realization. Something that is difficult to measure with a product that touches different aspects of the organization and has deep dependencies. Defining the right ownership is key to define the strategy, roadmap and ensure execution is carried on properly. Should ownership sit within IT or Marketing? Wrong question. Ownership should sit with the person that understands the CDP, is connected to different parts of the organization (Data, Systems, Business and Leadership) and most importantly is passionate and invested in the CDP success.
Process
You can have the best CDP, the most impactful use cases and the best team to execute but your success will be short lived without the right process to integrate the CDP into the DNA of your organization. In my opinion, process has 2 sides here. Internally, you need to ensure that there is a process to run and operate the CDP successfully when it comes to execution. In simple words, the right process to operate within the walls of the CDP. The other side is externally and outside of those walls. Everything from having the right in-take form, governance, impact showcase and product roadmap. This what makes the CDP rooted within your organization.
Timing
I have seen clients implement a CDP and then 3 years later shut it down with zero impact to their business. You might think that this is a clear indicator that the CDP wasn’t implemented right, or it wasn’t the right fit but in reality, it is the timing that was not right. Timing of company maturity, structure or ownership. It is the same story of having a Ferrari in your garage in the middle of winter. It is not the right time to drive it as there is snow outside. You don’t know how to drive a Ferrari. You can’t afford gas to take it out. There are a lot of reasons to why sometimes it is not the right time for the CDP. Don’t ignore the signals and instead ensure that it is the right time. Hint: The right time is when you have Readiness, Momentum, Ownership and Process in a good place.
I hope this doesn’t discourage you from going ahead with your CDP plans. On the contrary, my hope is that you account for these points in your CDP venture.
