In the modern enterprise, there’s an unspoken tension brewing between marketing and IT—a silent war over customer data. On one side, IT leaders are pushing for “zero copy” architectures, intent on consolidating all enterprise data within their data warehouses—Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery. On the other, marketing teams are gravitating toward endpoint platforms like Braze and Salesforce, places where they can execute quickly and feel in control.
Stuck between them is the CMO—tasked with driving customer-centric growth, yet too often sidelined in the technology conversation.
This is the moment for marketing leaders to step up and reclaim ownership of customer data.
The Broken Promise of the Composable CDP
Composable CDPs, championed by IT, promise flexibility and cost efficiency by building customer data infrastructure with modular components. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: composable still doesn’t empower marketers.
Yes, IT gets to keep everything “clean” and centralized, but marketing ends up waiting—on backlogged JIRA tickets, on engineers, on someone else’s timeline. By the time the data is available, the opportunity has often passed. The customer has moved on.
A CDP was never meant to be an engineering project. Its original promise was simple: give non-technical users—marketers, product managers, CX leaders—direct access to all customer data so they can act on it in real time.
The Intelligent CDP: Built for Speed, Powered by AI
Imagine a different model—what we call the intelligent CDP. It sits on top of your data warehouse, speaks directly to your marketing tools, and is powered by AI. It doesn’t require data to be copied or moved. Instead, it connects, cleans, unifies, and activates data on the fly.
You want to build a new segment? The system pulls what’s needed from the warehouse, enriches it with behavioral attributes, and makes it instantly available for targeting—in paid media, email, SMS, web personalization. All from a marketer-friendly UI.
Better yet, with capabilities like Audience Agent, even non-marketers—finance, supply chain, executive teams—can query customer data in natural language via Slack or Teams. No logins, no training, no complexity.
This isn’t just self-service. It’s enterprise-wide customer centricity.
Real-World Proof: Breaking the Logjam
Here’s a real story.
One global brand had successfully deployed its CDP across multiple regions. But expansion into North America stalled for a single reason: one IT leader insisted on zero copy. No exceptions. The result? Marketing teams couldn’t do what they needed. The CDP was paralyzed.
Then that IT gatekeeper left. Suddenly, data started flowing. Marketers gained access. Activation skyrocketed.
The takeaway? When marketers are empowered to access and activate customer data, results follow. It’s that simple.
The CMO’s New Mandate: Own the Data
It’s time for CMOs to stop deferring. You wouldn’t let IT choose your media agency or write your brand positioning—so why let them control your customer data strategy?
Ask for ownership. Demand access. Insist on platforms that move at the speed of marketing, not the speed of engineering.
Yes, customer data lives in the warehouse. But it’s marketing that should control how it’s used. AI and automation can now handle the complexity behind the scenes. What matters is giving your teams the power to act.
Final Thought
This isn’t a technical debate. It’s a strategic one.
In the battle between composable and intelligent CDPs, the real question isn’t architecture. It’s control. And if CMOs don’t take it, someone else will.
