A Center of Excellence (CoE) is a team of specialized employees whose mission is to provide strategic planning, gain buy-in, and establish best practices surrounding a customer data platform or other strategic initiative.
CoEs serve to educate the company on a subject, motivate employees to collaborate, and align them around goals and KPIs. A strong CoE establishes data governance practices and drives adoption of tools like marketing automation across the organization.
Why Do Companies Need a CDP Center of Excellence?
Setting up a CoE is a great way to get people across the enterprise involved and get buy-in. Establishing a CoE will help expose where the gaps are in terms of skills and talent, and provide insights into whether you will need external support from an agency to supplement your team.
A CoE will have managers along with implementers to ensure all levels are being addressed in the group. A CoE can be temporary or permanent, pending on the business needs and internal skills sets.
Who Should be Involved with a CDP Center of Excellence?
Getting the right people at the table is critical, so you will need a cross-functional team with a well-thought-out plan and strategy. Here’s who to consider when setting up your CDP center of excellence.
- Data-Driven Project Managers
- Data Management Experts
- Technology/IT Teams
- C-Suite/Executive Leaders
- Marketing
- Sales
- Customer Service
- Legal
- CDP Implementation Partners (Professional Services)
- External consultants
How is a CDP Center of Excellence Used?
The CoE can be used to move the CDP into more formal, scalable operations across a company. It can also establish the strategy, process, roles, and support needed to get value from the investment. With the right people, skills, and process in place, your organization is ready to activate all your customer data for true business value through data activation and a unified customer 360 view.
For example, a CDP CoE would include key stakeholders like digital marketers, IT and technology, data specialists, line of business (LOB) reps, customer service, sales, channels, and operations. All would serve to benefit from a CDP implementation done right, ensuring seamless data integration across systems. If you are working with external vendors, having them and their technical implementation team in the group would be beneficial too.
Read more: Who Should be on Your CDP Implementation Team? | What is a Customer Data Platform (CDP)?
FAQ
How long does it take to establish a CDP Center of Excellence?
Setting up a CDP Center of Excellence typically takes 4-8 weeks for the initial formation, including identifying stakeholders, defining roles, and establishing governance processes. However, the CoE is an ongoing initiative that evolves as the organization matures its CDP capabilities. Early wins in the first 90 days help build momentum and secure continued executive support.
What is the difference between a CDP CoE and a CDP implementation team?
A CDP implementation team focuses on the technical deployment and configuration of the CDP platform, which is a time-bound project. A CDP Center of Excellence is a broader, often permanent organizational structure that provides strategic direction, best practices, training, and cross-functional alignment for ongoing CDP operations. The implementation team may operate within the CoE, but the CoE’s scope extends well beyond the initial deployment.
Does a small company need a CDP Center of Excellence?
Smaller organizations may not need a formal CoE structure, but they still benefit from the underlying principles — cross-functional alignment, shared KPIs, and defined data governance practices. A lightweight version with a few key stakeholders from marketing, data, and IT who meet regularly can deliver many of the same benefits as a full CoE without the overhead of a formal organizational structure.
Related Terms
- Data Democratization — Enables cross-team data access that a CoE governs and promotes
- Customer Data Management — The data practices a CoE standardizes across the organization
- Customer Data Unification — Core CDP capability the CoE drives adoption of