Five Questions to Ask Salesforce as They Reveal a CDP Offering at Dreamforce 19

When Salesforce kicks off its annual Dreamforce conference on November 19, you can expect to hear lots of publicity about its plans for a customer data platform (CDP). After all, Adam Blitzer, the new CEO of Salesforce Marketing Cloud (MC), called the CDP offering “the key pillar” of their MC solution.

From predictive analytics to personalization at scale, CDPs promise to solve some of the most complex challenges marketers face. That’s why the CDP market grew at a breakneck pace in 2019. And it was only a matter of time for Salesforce to promise a CDP solution themselves.

No doubt, Salesforce will devise a compelling story about their CDP’s future capabilities. And for those who’ve already invested in the Salesforce ecosystem, their CDP offering may seem like the most obvious choice. But does that mean it is ready for the limelight or that it fits the specific needs of your organization?

There remains significant confusion about what CDPs are, what they should do, and how well providers are able to deliver on specific use cases.

To help you assess Salesforce’s CDP, here are 5 questions to help you measure the completeness and readiness of its solution.

#1

How will Salesforce accelerate their CDP development to close the gap with existing vendors in the marketplace?

Insight it Yields
Evidence that Salesforce understands the sophistication of use cases that leading vendors fulfill, and a development plan to enable them with their CDP.

#2

Do I have to license multiple Salesforce products in order to achieve the standard three capabilities of a CDP (producing the single customer view, surfacing predictive insights, and orchestrating campaign journeys)?

Insight it Yields
Trust that Salesforce is prioritizing employee efficiency in day-to-day campaign operations, reducing the number of integrations and hand-offs required between teammates.

#3

What customer stories are available to illustrate the completeness of the Salesforce CDP?

Insight it Yields
Evidence that Salesforce has a product that organizations are currently using and receiving value from.

#4

What customer stories are available to illustrate the completeness of the Salesforce CDP?

Insight it Yields
Evidence that Salesforce prioritizes white-box, highly-performant models that enable competitive differentiation.

#5

What enhancements are on the short- and long-term roadmap for Customer 360?

Insight it Yields
Evidence that Salesforce can be honest about which capabilities exist today.

The stakes are too high not to ask the right questions. And when you get your answers? Schedule time to speak to an ActionIQ expert who can help you decode what they are really saying. Visit our Meet the Experts page to set up a time to speak