“Composable CDP is not a thing. Composable architecture is,” my workfellow Craig Howard antecedently penned successful an interior missive. He explained that customer information platforms (CDPs) gained traction erstwhile organizations could not instrumentality their ain cloud-native lawsuit information store and could acquisition a commercial, off-the-shelf solution — a “packaged” CDP — that could assistance them recognize the benefits of unreality technologies by managing their lawsuit data. 

But things person changed much recently:

• IT organizations person evolved and built skills astir unreality technologies. 
• Data integration needs person often surpassed the CDP capabilities. Many CDPs conflict to negociate analyzable information structures oregon grip answering analyzable questions astir the data.
• Policies and a patchwork of planetary laws person introduced complexity astir privacy, consent and information residency.

Brands are present creating their azygous lawsuit presumption with cloud-native individuality resolution, information integration and information retention capabilities. CDPs are adjusting to this paradigm, the information clouds and the resulting composable architectural pattern, calling themselves a “composable CDP.” 

Packaged vs. composable

A composable CDP is based connected an architecture anchored connected a unreality information store for lawsuit data. In composable, the CDP becomes an orchestration level — managing audiences and journeys and activating the lawsuit data. 

Yet, deciding to spell with composable vs. packaged CDP is not straightforward. First, if you’re buying for either, your caput is successful the close place. Activating first-party information crossed channels is the future. If your determination is composable vs. standalone, determination is overmuch to unpack.

Convergence

In 2021, 1 had to take betwixt reverse ETL (composable) oregon CDP. Today, that prime is not clear-cut. Many CDPs and selling technologies tin query a database.

For example, Lytics, ActionIQ, mParticle, Blueshift and others person made strides toward connecting natively to a lawsuit information warehouse and the invaluable information that lives successful it. One tin efficaciously signifier composable with immoderate CDPs antecedently considered packaged.

Implementation

It sounds elemental — slap a reverse ETL implicit an existing information warehouse. Yes, “composable” whitethorn beryllium easier to implement. Time to worth is typically faster if you person the following:

• All cardinal information streams easy accessible successful your information warehouse.
• Identity solution strategy worked out.
• An engaged analytics oregon endeavor information team.

Thus, a composable CDP pushes dependencies to the lawsuit information warehouse. A CDP whitethorn supply comparable oregon superior clip to worth if you bash not conscionable the supra criteria. For example, an individuality solution strategy is established during onboarding with galore packaged CDPs. 

Additionally, communal connectors for email platforms and different martech whitethorn supply the lawsuit with datasets it hadn’t antecedently stored. This caller information and the individuality solution strategy springiness galore clients a “customer 360” arsenic a value-add. 

Dig deeper: Where should a CDP acceptable successful your martech stack?

Composable vs. packaged CDP usage cases

The usage cases achieved successful a composable attack bash not fundamentally disagree from packaged CDP. There are exceptions — CDPs specified arsenic Lytics and BlueConic connection elemental tract personalization. 

If the information underlying the conception is reliable for selling purposes and the individuality solution strategy permits activation successful a fixed channel, usage cases are constricted lone by the capabilities of the squad utilizing the tool. However, packaged CDPs whitethorn person built-in instrumentality learning (ML), reporting and enactment for real-time that composable practitioners whitethorn request to lick for separately.

Identity resolution

A composable solution volition not make individuality resolution. Composable architectures trust upon pre-existing articulation keys, cloud-native individuality solution for disparate information sets oregon a pre-existing lawsuit array with each applicable segmentation criteria. 

CDPs tin enactment with a pre-existing individuality solution strategy, akin to composable architectures — oregon they tin make an individuality solution strategy for the lawsuit arsenic portion of their implementation. Often, determination is simply a hybrid attack wherever a CDP utilizes the client’s pre-existing individuality solution strategy and past maps caller channels and information streams into that individuality solution strategy.

Dig deeper: A usher to the unusual caller satellite of individuality resolution

Segmentation

Many packed CDPs connection no-SQL beforehand ends, and composable reverse ETL solutions person made advancement connected this front. Likewise, not each CDPs are created arsenic and immoderate spot much method load connected the extremity user. 

Some CDPs request to flatten oregon representation information to bounds analyzable joins. This is to bounds the dimensionality of the information and supply real-time responses. 

The real-time quality of this architecture whitethorn beryllium an vantage to some. However, it places existent limitations connected the quality to inquire analyzable questions of the data. If real-time is important, packaged CDPs whitethorn person an advantage. If analyzable questions and little onerous information mapping successful implementation are critical, composable whitethorn enactment amended for you.

Data governance

Complex ineligible requirements for consent, information storage, information residency and rights to access/deletion are apical of caput for galore decision-makers successful the composable architecture vs. packaged CDP decision. In this area, composable enjoys an advantage.  

Composable puts the information warehouse astatine the halfway of the selling universe. Cloud information warehouses connection flexible controls for consent and information residency. Composable solutions tin enactment wrong a pre-existing governance framework, including multi-region support, information expiration and column-level protection.

Packaged CDPs often recreate cardinal aspects of lawsuit information successful a CDP-managed environment. This creates process issues for things similar GDPR- and CCPA-related requests. They are besides forced to enactment with client-provided consent attributes oregon integrate with third-party consent platforms. Some CDPs effort to mitigate this by installing their CDP “on-prem.” 

Time to value

Time to worth varies each excessively wide by client. As mentioned above, theoretically, clip to worth is faster with composable if definite organizational criteria are met. If those criteria are not met, the packaged CDP has immoderate structural advantages. 

However, CDPs cannot ever assertion success. We’ve seen clip to worth successful arsenic small arsenic 30 days and we’ve unluckily been called successful to rescue multi-year efforts with small worth provided. Though, if you person a multi-year contented with nary success, the contented is astir apt not the exertion arsenic overmuch arsenic your usage lawsuit strategy, your process to follow the caller exertion oregon deficiency of skills, availability oregon continuity successful your staff.

Data subject and instrumentality learning

The composable attack relies upon an endeavor bringing their ain quality oregon a best-of-breed solution to the information set. Many CDPs connection out-of-the-box information science. In our experience, CDP-provided capabilities are constricted to the squad utilizing the platform. If the squad is advanced, they whitethorn beryllium capable to extract worth from information subject features. 

We judge information subject should beryllium well-ingrained wrong a selling operation. If your squad hasn’t recovered inferior successful the ML capabilities they have, you person the incorrect squad oregon the incorrect process. If your squad doesn’t person ML capabilities, enactment with an adept who tin assistance you modernize your selling processes.

Dig deeper: Measuring CDP adoption: A broad framework

Key questions to see earlier going with composable CDP

The determination to spell composable oregon packaged CDP is highly nuanced. The distinctions overlap and determination are circumstantial dependencies of a brand’s information warehouse, complementing technologies (BI, instrumentality learning, etc., etc.) and desired usage cases. 

Before deciding connected an approach, brands should inquire themselves immoderate of the pursuing questions:

• What usage cases americium I trying to lick for? Considerations astir the deletion of third-party cookies, the request for real-time usage cases and connectivity to the existing martech stack indispensable beryllium considered.
• Do I person each the cardinal information already nonmigratory successful my information warehouse? For example, bash I person my email, website and cardinal information from stores oregon different owned channels disposable astatine a lawsuit level? Can I articulation these information sets unneurotic for a reasonably-reliable lawsuit presumption already?
• How mature is my reporting and analytics capability? Can they easy enactment reporting of the audiences I mean to build, usage cases I mean to deploy and ROI associated with these efforts?
• Do I person the tooling needed to enactment ML-based decisioning successful my audiences?

When we enactment with companies deploying a CDP, our squad has mostly made an organizational committedness to deploy first-party information astatine scale. This inherent committedness has helped the velocity and occurrence of CDP deployments. 

It’s aboriginal to archer however reverse ETL solutions volition interaction first-party lawsuit information deployment astatine scale. However, the aboriginal is agleam for accelerated time-to-value applications and the quality to let for information residency and privateness concerns.