So, what does the future hold for Data Management Platforms?

Nearly all Data Management Platforms were created to solve a unified set of primary tasks – get data in, unify your data assets into a single platform where your assets can be used to enhance targeting, personalization and measurement by creating segments, and send data out. Four years later, much has changed in the space and vendors have adapted to the different needs of their customers and made strategic bets on what marketers in the future will prioritize when making buying decisions.

At Oracle, we have a clear perspective on what should and will matter most to marketers using a Data Management Platform – effective identity management and harnessing data to enrich customer profiles. Unsurprisingly, these areas correspond to criteria that Oracle performed well in during this assessment (highest scores possible in identification, normalization, and matching ID signals, Onboarding and Converting PII to non-PII data and Device Identification are notable examples), which we recommend you read. However, we would also like to provide our perspective on why these areas will have outsized importance in dictating the future success of Data Management Platforms.

For one, the average US consumer can have 25 different digital IDs and this number will only increase as time passes. Vendors without a heavy focus on identity resolution will leave their marketers with a fractured view of who their customers are and will make it nearly impossible to message them without wasted spend or opportunity. Somewhat ironically, identity resolution also has a direct impact on the marketer’s ability to garner analytics to accurately measure efficacy of spend in general. This problem also extends into another key area of analytics, generating critical customer insights that are the backbone of any effective marketing program. Analysis is futile without an accurate foundational understanding of a customer’s identity across cookies, MAIDs, walled gardens and more.

Our second critical capability, harnessing data to enrich customer profiles, is about enabling marketers to extend their understanding of their customers. At a basic level, this is helping marketers leverage their 1st party data effectively. That being said, this view of a customer is limited to the direct interactions between the individual and a brand. Vendors need to be able to provide a view of the customer that extends beyond traditional 1st party data in order to drive valuable insights and deeper customer understanding.

How is Oracle backing up this vision of the future?

Through the acquisition of best of breed solutions like Crosswise and Datalogix, and millions of development hours. One of the most obvious examples of this being the Oracle ID GraphTM. The Oracle ID Graph is a proprietary identity technology that was built from the ground up to allow marketers to establish, connect and validate IDs at tremendous scale, and with the highest quality standards. This has largely been made possible because unlike any other solution, the Oracle ID Graph is built based on the actions of real people, making real transactions, using real information, at a global scale. It has been rigorously tested by major advertisers and media platforms across the industry and has garnered glowing reviews. You don’t have to take our word for it though 3rd party analysts have recognized Oracle for its strength in this area

So what’s next?

We are grateful to be recognized as a leader in Forrester’s Data Management Platform Wave; however, we do not take the recognition for granted! We remain focused on catering to the needs of our customers and helping them to better navigate the unpredictable waters that digital marketers live in every day.

Having an industry leading Data Management Platform is critical in serving this mission, but it is not the only critical component. In recognition of this, the Oracle Marketing Cloud has invested billions of dollars assembling a broad portfolio of marketing tools that are not only best of class within their individual categories, but also lead the industry as a unified digital marketing suite. When it comes to digital marketing, the whole really is greater than the sum of its parts. We are fortunate not only to be named a leader in this Wave but also a leader in the most recent Enterprise Marketing Suite and Cross-Channel Campaign Management Forrester Wave[1]. This consistently high performance across the board serves as confirmation, in our opinion, that our vision, defined by our strategic investments, uniquely aligns with the complicated needs of today’s digital marketer.

Click here to learn more and download The Forrester Wave™: Data Management Platforms, Q2 2017.

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