Focused on a specific problem/challenge. Most customers come to us with some specific use cases or issue they need to resolve, and we end up breaking up the capabilities of our CDP to solve those specific challenges, and work to expand their sophistication with the CDP over time. For example, they may come to us for a data management project, where they’re looking to enrich leads after trade show season. Or they’re interested in creating a model to help score their account for an ABM effort. We think about the CDP at 3 levels: Data Management, Recommendations/Scoring, and Activations. It’s hard to get buy-in to implement at all 3 of those levels, when you.
Transitioning off of point solutions (e.g. Data.com). A slightly nuanced version of the previous challenge, some customers are just looking to replace a component piece of their tech stack. They may already have a predictive vendor in place, but are looking to enrich their database, replacing Data.com or another enrichment solution. They may not immediately see the value (or have the budget) to invest in and implement a full CDP solution. They’re just looking to plug in something as similar to their previous setup as possible, and prevent a big disruption.
Integration into existing processes/workflows, business processes. Perhaps a latent challenge in some of those already mentioned. Most B2B go-to-market teams manage a complex set of technologies, processes, and workflows. Many of these have been adjusted and tweaked over time to the point where small changes can become large endeavors. When it comes to implementing a CDP with new, different data, there are tactical challenges in making sure scoring, routing, lead management, territories, etc. all continue to work correctly and don’t break. Like any big project, there are often some unforeseen challenges that will require additional work and problem solving.
Alignment between teams. Because of the potential for complexity and change, B2B go-to-market teams implementing a CDP need to be aligned across departments, and even across the company. Marketing is often the epicenter of a CDP initiative, but their job overlaps with many other departments. And because these teams are often using a CDP to more effectively manage inbound, outbound, and ABM efforts, there are significant impacts to Sales and Sales Ops. If these two teams in particular are not aligned, it will be a steep road.