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Acxiom specializes in creating customer intelligence for a variety of industries, both highly regulated verticals, like financial services, healthcare, and insurance, and less regulated sectors like retail, automotive, technology, media, and entertainment. They help clients collect, manage, and use data in a way that is compliant and respectful, yet still allows brands to create engaging, relevant, and effective customer experiences.
“We create customer intelligence and empower companies to be more data-driven,” says Chad Engelgau, CEO, Acxiom.
In an interview with CIO Applications, Engelgau shared his insights on their simple, open approach of people-based marketing that connects systems and data to drive better outcomes.
What are the challenges that are currently emerging in the market, and how do you help your clients mitigate those?
As the rules and regulations on data collection—General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and other laws across the globe— increase, it is crucial for brands’ data practices to be compliant while also being respectful and transparent. In addition, with third-party cookies currently slated to go away by 2023, it’s paramount for brands to focus on collecting first-party data, which enables critical insights into customer journeys, preferences, buying habits, and lifetime value.
The pandemic has also pushed people to engage with brands in new ways, creating more opportunities for data exchange, for example, app-based ordering and delivery. This creates opportunities for CMOs, who want to manage and control CX, to work with CIOs to create the infrastructure, controls, and framework for building better CX.
The current environment necessitates CMOs and CIOs to work collaboratively to implement the right data strategies with the right technology solutions. This joint approach is how brands can understand customers and build relationships that last.
Could you tell us more about the approach you take while serving your clients?
We offer data management infrastructure that connects all customer data across the enterprise.
We offer our clients a data management infrastructure and foundation. Whether it is a marketing database, analytics environment, or a data layer, we help companies normalize it to analyze their current customers
Connected identity and data allow brands to recognize customer journeys consistently and execute strategies that improve customer engagement. We make this possible by enhancing a brand’s ability to collect, unify, and activate data seamlessly across applications, and we use our unified data models and standard connectors with critical ecosystem partners like Google, Adobe, and Salesforce. We also enable clients to analyze customer engagement data with a single unified audience model.
This work is complex and specialized, requiring unique skills. We help clients balance their own expertise and the integration of third-party applications to holistically manage their collective marketing capabilities, ultimately driving maximum value.
Could you provide us with a customer success story?
We work closely with a large auto manufacturer. They historically engaged with their prospects and customers in the digital ecosystem using a data management platform (DMP) that depended on third-party cookies. With the deprecation of third-party cookies, the client needed to redesign their strategy and wanted a future-resilient solution to continue to drive significant personalization for both prospects and customers.
We architected and implemented a solution that allows them to use their own first-party identity graph built from Acxiom’s Real Identity solution. This provided them with greater control and integrated the use of their valuable first-party customer data. As a result, the client can manage customer interactions seamlessly while controlling greater aspects of the data and plugging it in across multiple systems and driving better customer experiences across channels.
What is the key differentiating factor that sets you apart from others in the marketplace?
We love our clients, we’re committed to their success, and in return, they trust us with one of their most valuable assets – their customer data. In fact, over 95 percent of our contracts renew, and many of our clients have been with us for more than 15 years. As a trusted provider, we manage clients’ sensitive data, including data regulated by HIPAA and payment card industry(PCI). We believe in the ethical, smart use of data, identity, and technology, and our customers rely on us for our solutions. Our associates make what we do possible, and we are committed to a culture that works for everyone. We’ve also been recognized by Great Place to Work® as a 2021 Fortune Best Workplaces in TechnologyTM and a 2021 Best Workplaces for WomenTM.
What does the future hold for Acxiom?
We will continue to help marketers turn digital chaos into customer common sense. With a focus on helping brands drive owned data collection, first-party identity creation, and flexible data management, we will continue empowering brands to discover better insights, create better customer experiences, and deliver better outcomes for their businesses. We will also ensure our clients have clear, viable solutions for the replacement of the third-party cookie. Acxiom’s customer data platform facilitates personalization and integrates with leading platforms, like Google, Adobe, and Salesforce, to ensure our clients can control their analytics, insights, and audience definitions for use with both their owned and paid media.
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