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Customer Data Platform Article

<hr /> The martech landscape is, in a word, messy. And we don’t need <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://chiefmartec.com/2025/05/2025-marketing-technology-landscape-supergraphic-100x-growth-since-2011-but-now-with-ai/">Scott Brinker’s 2025 Supergraphic</a>, now a breathtaking pointillist painting of 15,384 discrete solutions, to tell us how confusing this morass has become.Marketers know this truth all too well. Data lives everywhere, scattered across CRMs, analytics dashboards, customer data platforms, CMSes, and dozens of other tools. Getting a complete view of their customers and campaigns has become a struggle, if not impossible.Along comes AI, and with it, the promise of finally unlocking personalization at scale with automated variants and streamlined workflows. But despite the eagerness of non-technical marketers to tap the fabric of AI, the lack of unified data has been a barrier to success. As such, their efforts are falling flat, and their content strategies feel more reactive than revolutionary.But <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.databricks.com/">Databricks</a> might have an answer to this conundrum. The cloud-based data and AI company recently announced the launch of its new Data Intelligence for Marketing solution, which combines its popular <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.databricks.com/product/data-intelligence-platform">Data Intelligence Platform</a> with a library of out-of-the-box integrations – connecting its capabilities to an ecosystem of leading marketing solution providers. Data Intelligence for Marketing leverages the proven power of Databricks to amplify and accelerate successful outcomes. By weaving AI across a bench of trusted marketing partners like <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/adobe-experience-manager">Adobe</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/salesforce">Salesforce</a>, anyone can access insights, personalize experiences, and run more effective marketing – all from a single, unified platform. “We’re launching Data Intelligence for Marketing to ensure every marketer, regardless of technical background, can get the data they need to make smarter decisions faster and run relevant, efficient campaigns,” said <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rischultz/">Rick Schultz</a>, CMO at Databricks. “By unifying customer and campaign data and using AI to reason on that data, this platform enables real-time, conversational analytics for marketers. This empowers marketers to make financially impactful decisions faster and drive more effective and efficient campaigns. It’s what marketers need to compete in today’s data-driven era.”Already deployed in global brands as the data and AI foundation for their broader martech stack, Data Intelligence for Marketing is giving teams an AI pathway that’s bolstered by Databricks. By combining customer and campaign data in real time, marketers can sidestep the complexities, self-serve deeper insights, and develop more relevant and efficient campaigns at scale. <h3 id="powered-by-an-ai-“brick-house”">Powered by an AI “brick house”</h3>Over the last few months, we've been covering the data frontier extensively, focusing on some big moves that vendors like <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/contentstack-just-acquired-lytics-a-real-time-customer-data-platform-heres-why-it-matters">Contentstack</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/u-cant-touch-this-cdp-hightouch-nails-80m-series-c-to-power-its-ai-decisioning">Hightouch</a> have made in purchasing or expanding their data capabilities at the DXP and CDP levels. In a composable world, increasingly more tools are being leveraged to augment digital experience stacks. And as <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://chiefmartec.com/2025/05/2025-marketing-technology-landscape-supergraphic-100x-growth-since-2011-but-now-with-ai/">recently codified on Martech Day</a>, AI has been a catalyst for significant growth in multiple dimensions, and data is the elemental fuel for the fire.Databricks is part of the growing <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.databricks.com/product/data-lakehouse">data lakehouse</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://docs.databricks.com/aws/en/sql/">data warehouse</a> ecosystems, and the company has been on a meteoric rise. Founded in 2013 by the original creators of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://aws.amazon.com/what-is/apache-spark/">Apache Spark</a> – an open-source, distributed processing system used for big data workloads – Databricks is a unified analytics platform for building, deploying, sharing, and maintaining enterprise-grade data, analytics, and AI solutions at scale. Why all the fuss? Because data systems are big – and only getting bigger. Enterprises are struggling to keep up, and marketers are drowning in the overflow. Databricks helps to unify and simplify this riptide of complexity by providing a fast, cost-effective, and highly scalable solution. There’s also the inherent flexibility. Databricks lives on top of existing cloud infrastructure, whether it’s <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/aws">AWS</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/microsoft-azure">Azure</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/google-cloud-platform">GCP</a>, or even a multi- or hybrid cloud combination. The Databricks Data Intelligence Platform integrates with cloud storage and security in a user’s cloud account, and automates the management and deployment of cloud infrastructure. The Apache Spark heritage is also a key asset, providing both speed and efficiency for large-scale data processing. Databricks is a clear innovator in the expanding AI landscape, and its Data Intelligence Platform is unlocking possibilities for leading global brands. Now, with the advent of its new marketing integrations, it’s making the promise of AI more attainable. <h3 id="unlocking-the-ai-potential">Unlocking the AI potential</h3>Marketers are hungry for AI. But they’re also cautiously optimistic – and sometimes, downright resistant. According to a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.brafton.com/ebooks/state-of-ai-adoption-in-marketing-teams/?utm_campaign=Saturday&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz--48LEY4V7WS3TcqHusrz9uJnUfJvH4bm3wYAx3hp-ielN7erV5V2wcizL8Uj3799cBZDwg_w2BJDU4owusHJWCG2UU6JFEKW2HxlMkN9NjMoXNhnw&amp;_hsmi=361878176&amp;utm_content=361870430&amp;utm_source=hs_email">recent survey conducted by Brafton</a>, AI tools are creating a lot of difficulty, even if the potential for value is clearly understood. This is especially true for marketers, who have mixed feelings about the role of AI in their content and marketing operations. On the upside, there’s been an abundance of adoption for streamlining manual tasks. But the struggle is real: Over half of Brafton’s respondents admit to challenges with content personalization, and a quarter find it difficult to generate specific content formats. Some of the friction with onboarding and managing AI tools is also a contributing factor. It can take time to assess AI platforms from a usability and performance perspective, and fully leveraging the capabilities can take time. There’s also the need to create the right internal policies and governance for marketing teams – and how they should use AI-powered resources or generated content. This also includes navigating the complexities of external regulatory requirements for data privacy. Finally, there’s the soft challenge: marketers are underwater. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.marketingweek.com/career-overwhelmed-emotional-exhaustion/">According to a recent survey</a>, over half of them feel overwhelmed, undervalued, and emotionally exhausted. While AI has the propensity to complicate the matter, it could also be part of the solution.This is where simplification is essential, and Databricks stands to make its greatest impact. By connecting marketing data substantively, marketers can streamline processes and insights in new ways, giving them greater confidence in their strategies. Adding conversational analytics further eases the complexity of engaging with data and cutting through the noise. <h3 id="leveraging-key-partnerships-to-scale-ai">Leveraging key partnerships to scale AI</h3>Along with unifying marketing data, Databricks is democratizing broad insights for everyone. Now, marketers can easily access a complete view of customers and campaigns to improve segmentation, personalization, and conversion. With on-board AI that reasons on your customer and campaign data and understands the semantics of your business, enterprises can empower every marketer – not just technical teams – with tools to explore and act on data in real time. And by integrating with meaningful tools, Databricks can help streamline and accelerate the overall AI horizon.Built with open standards and out-of-the-box integrations, Databricks allows marketing teams of all sizes to maximize the value of their existing martech tools and services. The company has partnered with industry-leading technology platforms across multiple categories like analytics, customer data platforms, data management, customer engagement, data privacy, and more:<ul><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/adobe-experience-manager">Adobe</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://amperity.com/">Amperity</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.braze.com/">Braze</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.getcensus.com/">Census</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://deepsync.com/">DeepSync</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.epsilon.com/us">Epsilon</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/hightouch">Hightouch</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.onetrust.com/">OneTrust</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/salesforce">Salesforce</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://snowplow.io/">Snowplow</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://tealium.com/">Tealium</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.uniphore.com/">Uniphore</a></li></ul>Databricks has also aligned with key integrators to provide custom solutions and consulting expertise in critical areas like data decisioning, data science, customer analytics, and AI solutions for specific industry verticals:<ul><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://celebaltech.com/">Celebal Technologies</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en.html">Deloitte</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.latentview.com/">LatentView</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://lovelytics.com/">Lovelytics</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.slalom.com/us/en">Slalom</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.tredence.com/">Tredence</a></li></ul>Given the challenges and resistance marketers face in the shift to AI, this partnership model provides a unique asset for marketing organizations. It helps ensure seamless workflows and innovation at scale while helping businesses unlock the full potential of their marketing data.<h3 id="realizing-value-with-data-intelligence-for-marketing">Realizing value with Data Intelligence for Marketing</h3>For marketing professionals, it’s all about efficiency. AI can’t be part of the problem, and Databricks is working to address that. With Data Intelligence for Marketers, teams can adopt AI quickly with fewer barriers––allowing them to run more effective campaigns using real-time, accurate data to power recommendations, triggers, and automation they can trust.Marketing teams at leading global brands are already seeing the impact of Data Intelligence for Marketing while maintaining compliance with global privacy standards like GDPR and CCPA. Based on figures from highly visible customers, the investment appears to be paying off. For example, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.databricks.com/customers/skechers">Skechers</a> – the global footwear brand – uses <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.uniphore.com/products/actioniq/">ActionIQ</a>, a composable CDP, with Databricks. The combo helps personalize customer journeys that boost lifetime value, resulting in a 324% increase in CTRs, a 68% decrease in CPC, and a 28% increase in return on ad spend.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://hightouch.com/customers/petsmart">PetSmart</a>, a leading pet retailer, also tapped Hightouch on Databricks. By juicing the CDP capabilities with AI, the company’s marketing team orchestrates personalized journeys at unmatched scale while powering its broader marketing and loyalty initiatives. “We’re syncing millions of records directly to SFMC every single day to orchestrate personalized journeys for the 65+ million members in our loyalty program,” said <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tinotomasone/">Tino Tomasone,</a> Senior Manager, Database &amp; Audience Management at PetSmart. “We’re powering thousands of audiences and over four billion emails every year, and that’s not even factoring in what we do across other channels.”<h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>We all live in a data-driven world, and it's getting spicy. Digital leaders are feeling the heat, but data intelligence platforms are providing a life ring of enhanced data management and insights. By employing AI models to deeply understand the semantics of enterprise data, brands and organizations are deriving faster insights, optimizing their decision-making, and scaling data analytics workflows with ease.Marketers stand to benefit significantly from AI-powered systems that unify data. That said, AI fatigue is a real phenomenon. And while marketers are wrestling with the need for more AI, they’re also struggling with onboarding greater complexity. What we need is less confusion, so marketers can do their jobs more efficiently. That’s where Databricks is potentially easing the burden. As an AI pioneer, the company has long focused on the essential layers of data that power effective AI. With its Data Intelligence for Marketing, it now brings the best capabilities of data lakehouse architecture to unify data, analytics, and AI while simplifying the value for marketers. Databricks is also greasing the wheels with purpose-built integrations that align with data-centric platforms and applications. They're also balancing the complexity equation by partnering with SIs and consultancies that can provide a foundation through the journey, which includes the perilous challenges surrounding data privacy and governance. This all translates into greater confidence and fewer limiting concerns when it comes to scaling marketing programs with AI.I have questions about the fabric of the partnership model and the roadmap for future additions, but harnessing AI successfully requires expertise – and this feels like the right approach for delivering product and support.From a content and digital experience perspective, we’re already seeing the potential for evolution. CDPs have been crucial components in the DXP composition, and Databricks is helping to augment their value through tangible use cases. This could have big implications for the CMS and DXP landscape as platforms continue to innovate with AI along a composable edge. One of the things I really like about Databricks is the spectrum of usability. At its core, it's designed to simplify the modern data stack by eliminating data silos and facilitating data access and insights. But it does this for everyone, whether you’re a non-technical marketer or a data scientist immersed in deep learning. This announcement is relatively fresh, so we can anticipate more details to emerge. In the meantime, do the intelligent thing with this data – and check it out.   <hr /><h4 style="text-align:center" id="looking-for-guidance-on-databricks?-talk-to-an-expert.">Looking for guidance on Databricks? <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/contact">Talk to an expert.</a></h4><hr /> <h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:33.07%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/05/contentcon25-logo-1747412490394.png" /><h4 id="contentstack-contentcon-25"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.contentstack.com/contentcon">Contentstack ContentCon 25</a></h4>June 3-5, 2025 – Chicago, USAThe future of digital is waiting for you! Contentstack presents ContentCon, the premier event for digital teams and industry leaders who are reimagining the future of digital experiences. Join us for two days of transformative presentations and workshops designed to help you put personalization and AI strategies into action. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://contentcon2025.site.zuddl.com/">Register today! </a> <img style="width:31.83%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/01/cms-connect-2025-logo.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-connect-25"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">CMS Connect 25</a></h4>August 5-6, 2025 – Montreal, CanadaWe are delighted to present the second annual summer edition of our signature global conference dedicated to the content management community! CMS Connect will be held again in beautiful Montreal, Canada, and feature a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. Join vendors, agencies, and customers from across our industry as we engage and collaborate around the future of content management – and hear from the top thought leaders at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference exclusively focused on CMS. Space is limited for this event, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">so book your seats today.</a>

From Data Chaos to Campaign Clarity: Databricks Delivers AI for Marketers

matt-garrepy

U Can’t Touch This CDP: Hightouch Nails $80M Series C to Power its AI Decisioning

<hr /> Since 2018, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/hightouch">Hightouch</a> has been “high touch” when it comes to data. The pioneering composable customer data platform (CDP) and AI decisioning company has been on a tear recently, doubling its revenue<a target="_blank" href="https://getlatka.com/companies/Hightouch"> </a>and growing its team.Hightouch is finding success with enterprises that prefer flexible, composable alternatives to traditional CDPs, which are often plagued by rigid and costly infrastructures. By leveraging data and AI across their organization, Hightouch enables its users to deliver personalized customer experiences, optimize performance marketing, and move faster.This unique approach – turning data warehouses into marketing engines – has earned it a growing list of high-profile customers, including PetSmart, Warner Music Group, Calendly, Spotify, and GameStop.Now, Hightouch is tapping the human power of a seasoned analytics veteran and industry thought leader as it aims to drive more growth. Today, the company announced that it has hired <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamgreco/">Adam Greco</a> as Product Evangelist, where he will focus on supporting Hightouch's mission to empower marketing and data teams.If you're “tuned in” to the data and analytics space, Adam's name needs little introduction. With more than two decades of experience driving innovation and strategy in the field, he's been shaping the roadmap at leading tech firms like <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/salesforce">Salesforce</a> and Omniture – which was <a target="_blank" href="https://techcrunch.com/2009/09/15/breaking-adobe-to-acquire-omniture-for-approximately-1-8-billion/">acquired in 2009 by Adobe</a> for $1.8 billion. In the wake of that acquisition, Adam wrote the definitive book on Adobe Analytics. During his most recent tenure at <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/amplitude">Amplitude</a> – a leading product analytics platform provider – I spoke with Adam about the evolution of CDP, the value of data, and how critical these technologies are within the stack. "CDPs should be more insights and analytics-driven, capable of looking at problems in experiences," he said. “Every vendor will need a CDP of some kind because they want to collect data from every touchpoint: mobile apps, OTT, web, etc. Pulling it all together and creating action is key.”<h3 id="doubling-down-on-growth-and-disruption">Doubling down on growth and disruption</h3>At its core, Hightouch is a data activation platform that specializes in synchronizing customer data from data warehouses into a variety of high-utility tools. These include CRMs, email and marketing automation platforms, and advertising networks (to name a few). Founded in 2018 by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshcurl/">Josh Curl</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/guptakashish/">Kashish Gupta</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tejasmanohar/">Tejas Manohar</a>, Hightouch started life outside the CDP boundaries as a travel booking Slackbot. The company pivoted during COVID-19 circa 2020, after developing reverse ETL technology to sync data from warehouses to SaaS tools. The move to the CDP space has certainly proven lucrative: the space is projected to grow to $15.3 billion by 2026.Since the transition, Hightouch has been enabling organizations to transform high-value data assets into actionable insights and strategies without the need for extensive engineering. This is accomplished through an elegant suite of no-code features – making data activation easier, so almost anyone can build audiences, orchestrate customer journeys, and uncover customer insights.As of 2024, Hightouch has <a target="_blank" href="https://sacra.com/c/hightouch/">raised over $92 million</a> across its Series A and B. Powered by this funding, the company has invested heavily in advanced AI and machine learning capabilities, unlocking even more opportunities for marketers to activate their data and drive measurable results. Hightouch positions itself as an alternative to more traditional CDPs like Twilio's <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/twilio-acquires-segment-for-3-2b-adds-market-leading-cdp-for-building-data-driven-apps">Segment</a>, which typically require data to be stored in their proprietary systems. This approach of leveraging existing data warehouses as the central data repository has resonated with companies looking to avoid data duplication and maintain control over their data infrastructure. For this reason, large enterprises like Warner Music Group have chosen Hightouch over a traditional CDP, even after performing a three-year evaluation process.As a CDP, Hightouch has been focusing on AI for quite some time, exploring more efficient ways to automate processes and scale its capabilities across large pools of data. In August of last year, the company announced the launch of <a target="_blank" href="https://hightouch.com/blog/introducing-ai-decisioning">AI Decisioning</a> – its new AI marketing product – which is also available as a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.snowflake.com/en/data-cloud/workloads/applications/native-apps/">Snowflake Native App.</a><h3 id="a-modern-day-legend-in-the-data-world">A modern-day legend in the data world</h3>Adam's arrival comes at a pivotal moment as Hightouch continues to redefine what’s possible for enterprises in the customer data space. As Product Evangelist, he will support Hightouch’s continued expansion and help users unlock the full potential of their data. He will also focus on educating and empowering customers to lean into new data and AI technologies safely and scalably.Adam's career reads like a blueprint for success in the analytics and data industry. As one of Omniture’s first customers and employees, Adam has been at the forefront of digital transformation for decades. His skills include hands-on expertise in online marketing, website design, voice of customer (VOC), and CRM integration with digital analytics. His contributions to the field are vast, and he has helped thousands of marketers optimize their digital experiences. As such, he will likely elevate Hightouch's perception as a market-leading authority. Over the years, Adam has become a trusted voice, sharing his insights as a speaker and board member for several data technology organizations. His leadership roles at companies like Salesforce and <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/amplitude">Amplitude</a> have further cemented his reputation as an innovator who understands the practical and strategic sides of data. To date, Adam has written over 200 blog posts related to Adobe Analytics. He also penned <a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/Adobe-SiteCatalyst-Handbook-Insiders-Guide/dp/032185991X">The Adobe SiteCatalyst Handbook: An Insider's Guide</a>, which has enjoyed positive reviews since its original publication over a decade ago. This followed his tenure at Omniture, where Adobe's acquisition revealed its focus on integrating management and metrics to drive its future strategy – and it appears that the deal is still paying off. "I've been through more than anyone on planet." That's how Adam described his 25 years in the Adobe Analytics world. As Adobe's reign over the digital experience space expanded, he consulted around the AEM product and continued to roadmap the critical role of analytics.Adam has also been active in supporting the broader industry. In 2019, he joined Further's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.apolloplatform.com/">Search Discovery</a> practice, where he supported digital analytics customers in doing more with data. He also played an instrumental role in the growth and development of Search Discovery's <a target="_blank" href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=2638129-1&amp;h=2362026&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.searchdiscovery.com%2Fapollo%2F&amp;a=Apollo">Apollo</a><a target="_blank" href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=2638129-1&amp;h=1357526835&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.searchdiscovery.com%2Fapollo%2F&amp;a=%C2%A0solution"> solution</a> and its related service offerings.“Adam knows what it takes to do digital transformation at the world’s biggest companies, and we’re beyond excited to have his expertise at Hightouch,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/briankotlyar/">Brian Kotlyar</a>, VP of Marketing at Hightouch. “He uniquely pairs a big vision with pragmatic, hands-on knowledge of how to make it real for marketers in any company. His passion for helping organizations use data to drive growth aligns perfectly with our mission.”<h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>Hightouch is challenging traditional CDPs and redefining how businesses think about data activation. As the world of marketing and data continues to evolve, the need for scalable, flexible solutions has never been greater. Hightouch’s vision of a composable, AI-driven future is no longer just an ambitious goal – it’s a reality. CDP has also been an incredibly lively sector in 2024, particularly as digital experience platforms (DXPs) have sought to leverage their own capabilities as part of their differentiated value. Most recently, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/contentstack">Contentstack</a> – a headless CMS turned composable DXP – <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/contentstack-just-acquired-lytics-a-real-time-customer-data-platform-heres-why-it-matters">purchased Lytics</a>, a key player in the customer data landscape.Brass tacks: Adam is an unmatched commodity in the realm of data and analytics. His expertise and leadership will undoubtedly benefit Hightouch and likely lift its brand perception upon his hiring alone. But given his track record, the company can reasonably predict a greater long-term impact on its roadmap.With Greco’s guidance, customers can expect even more innovative solutions to help them stay ahead in an increasingly data-driven world. His deep knowledge and leadership can further solidify Hightouch as a go-to platform for enterprise marketing and data teams seeking to unlock the full potential of their data."I'm thrilled to join Hightouch and help drive the future of data activation," he exclaimed. "The potential to transform how organizations leverage their data is immense, and I'm excited to work alongside the talented Hightouch team to help customers navigate the complexities of modern data infrastructure."CDPs have proven essential to the enterprise stack. As competition and choice escalate, pure-play platforms certainly have their work cut out for them in a fragmented marketplace. But Hightouch continues to differentiate itself against key players like Segment with its composable offering – an asset that will serve them well as they look to further disrupt the competitive landscape. If they maintain those attributes and execute, they might want to consider a new tagline: “Can't touch this.” <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:30.46%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/11/cms-summit-25.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-summit-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">CMS Summit 25</a></h4>May 13-14, 2025 – Frankfurt, GermanyDon't miss the first European edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community! CMS Summit 25 will bring together top-notch speakers, our renowned learning format, and engaging social events. Hear from leading practitioners like Deutsche Bahn, Dr. Oetker, and more – and join customers, agencies, and CMS vendors as we discuss current trends and what's ahead for the content and digital experience fields. Connect and network at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference focused on CMS. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmssummit25">so book your seats today.</a> <img style="width:31.83%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/01/cms-connect-2025-logo.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-connect-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">CMS Connect 25</a></h4>August 5-6, 2025 – Montreal, CanadaWe are delighted to present the second annual summer edition of our signature global conference dedicated to the content management community! CMS Connect will be held again in beautiful Montreal, Canada, and feature a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. Join vendors, agencies, and customers from across our industry as we engage and collaborate around the future of content management – and hear from the top thought leaders at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference exclusively focused on CMS. Space is limited for this event, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">so book your seats today.</a>

Hightouch Taps Adam Greco as Product Evangelist, Strengthening Its Leadership in Composable CDPs

It would be impossible to cover any news this month without acknowledging <a href="https://www.economist.com/ukraine-crisis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the crisis in Ukraine</a>. 
As many CMS and DXP vendors rely on the incredible talent and resources of the people in this region, the events of the last few weeks have hit especially close to home. Even as we publish our February recap, things continue to unfold – and our hearts go out to the people of this magnificent country.
Of course, this tragedy is evolving just as many countries are emerging from the worst of the <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/when-will-the-covid-19-pandemic-end" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Covid-19 pandemic</a>, with many businesses poised for a return to normalcy (what that looks like still remains to be seen). Still, the lasting impact of the omnichannel revolution is being felt across all digital transformation strategies, giving way to more headless, composable, API-driven solutions as companies plan for a more digital future.
When it comes to movers and shakers, 2022 is starting much the same way as 2021: with big investments.
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/bloomreach-reaches-2-2-billion-valuation-following-175-million-investment-from-goldman-sachs/">Bloomreach</a>, a leading content and search platform focused on commerce, announced a $175 million round of funding – exploding its valuation to $2.2 billion. <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/elastic-path-secures-60m-in-funding-for-composable-commerce-growth/">Elastic Path</a> also made waves by securing $60 million in financing to grow its composable commerce solutions. We also saw <a href="https://www.pymnts.com/acquisitions/2022/ecommerce-platform-bigcommerce-acquires-software-firm-b2b-ninja/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BigCommerce</a> purchase B2B Ninja, an e-commerce platform, in an effort to energize quoting and other commerce services in their ecosystem. (Hint: we have more investment news below...)
As always, we try to recap some of the news you might have missed this month. There's a lot happening across our industry, and on a brighter note, we'll be announcing the winners of the CMS Critic Awards next week – both the People's Choice and Editor's Choice categories. We had a lot of great engagement over the last month across our social channels, and we're looking forward to sharing the results. 
<h2>Twilio Segment releases its 2022 CDP Report, finds CDPs booming as businesses look beyond cookies</h2>
We're all asking the same question: what happens to data in a post-cookie world?
Segment – a leading customer data platform (CDP) purchased by Twilio<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/twilio-acquires-segment-for-3-2b-adds-market-leading-cdp-for-building-data-driven-apps/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> in November of 2020</a> – is helping to shed some light on that query with the release of its third annual <a href="https://segment.com/the-cdp-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Customer Data Platform Report </a>(CDP).
Based on anonymized platform usage data of Segment's 25,000+ customers between 11/1/2020 to 11/1/2021, the report finds aggressive adoption of CDPs over the past year as businesses build digital-first customer engagement strategies and reduce their reliance on third-party data. 
Covid-19 shifted consumer behavior on a number of levels. In response, organizations changed how they interacted with their customers. As more digital engagements ensued, so too did the amount of data being generated. This spurred an explosive demand for CDP layers, particularly as it related to the broader CMS and DXP ecosystems.
Along with the unimaginable growth in data, the volume of API calls has also skyrocketed. <a href="https://www.postman.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Postman</a> – a leading application platform for API testing – conducted a <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/postman-releases-2021-state-of-the-api-report-shows-global-trend-towards-api-first-digital-era/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> last year that showed the world is moving to an "API-first era" as integrations and endpoints expand exponentially. As an example, the API calls through Segment have been growing steadily year-over-year since 2017, but 2020-2021 was an inflection point – with API calls in their system reaching over 1 trillion per month. 
Another reason CDP popularity has rapidly exploded is the impending "death" of third-party data. With increasing privacy regulations and the shift to a cookieless future across apps and browsers, businesses are embracing first-party data as a focal point. 
Segment's findings validate that customer data has become an integral part of how organizations are powering their digital experiences. The report also lists 2021's fastest-growing apps. For more details, you can access the full report at: <a href="https://segment.com/the-cdp-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://segment.com/the-cdp-report</a>.
<h2>Headless commerce provider fabric announces $140 Million Series C funding led by SoftBank</h2>
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fabric</a>, the fast-growing headless commerce platform, announced the closing of a Series C funding round of $140M led by Softbank, with participation from Forerunner Ventures, Glynn Capital, and existing investors Redpoint Ventures Norwest Ventures, and Stripes. 
This latest round of funding closes a mere 219 days after its Series B – and now positions fabric's value at approximately $1.5B.
"Retailers need to meet modern consumers wherever they are – whether online, offline, mobile, social, or any future entry point. This means merchants of all sizes, and especially mid-market and enterprise, need the right commerce platform to keep pace with evolving trends," said Robert Kaplan, Investment Director at SoftBank Investment Advisers. "We believe that fabric has built the industry's best API-first modular commerce platform and accompanying commerce applications to give merchants unrivaled power and flexibility, all in a manner that reduces the pain of migrating over from legacy, outdated commerce platforms."
Funds from the Series C round will be utilized for accelerating product development largely through automation and intelligence and geographic expansion. 
<h2>Netlify announces Netlify Graph: A faster way for teams to develop web apps with APIs</h2>
Netlify, a Git-powered static site generator and headless CMS that's all the rage in the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-jamstack-static-site-generators-for-2021/">Jamstack</a> community, has <a href="https://www.netlify.com/blog/announcing-netlify-graph-a-faster-way-for-teams-to-develop-web-apps-with-apis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced Netlify Graph:</a> a GraphQL-powered experience designed to help developers build interactive and connected web applications faster.
The shift to API-first development has created an ecosystem where apps are modular and reusable. While the API-first approach is developer-friendly, it has also introduced new complexities such as discovering, securing, learning, and governing APIs. Netlify's Graph is designed to make this experience easier for developers, allowing them to use APIs without writing undifferentiated glue code, learning every API's unique structure, or composing endless amounts of endpoints to get data from various APIs into your app.
Netlify Graph is in public beta and available globally. It starts with a catalog that includes some of the most frequently requested APIs that development teams use, such as GitHub, Stripe, and Salesforce. The company plans to add more in the coming months. The Netlify Graph beta is available to all Netlify users and can be accessed from your <a href="https://app.netlify.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Netlify team dashboard</a>. Once logged in, simply select "Graph" from your Netlify site dashboard menu.
To learn more, head over to the <a href="https://github.com/netlify/labs/tree/main/features/graph/documentation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Netlify Graph docs.</a>
<h2>BigCommerce acquires B2B Ninja to make online selling easier for B2B merchants</h2>
<a href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/?utm_source=Business+Wire&amp;utm_medium=press+release&amp;utm_campaign=BigCommerce+Invests+in+Becoming+World%E2%80%99s+Most+Powerful+B2B+Ecommerce+Platform+with+Acquisition+of+B2B+Ninja" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BigCommerce</a>, a leading cloud e-commerce platform, <a href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/press/releases/bigcommerce-invests-in-becoming-worlds-most-powerful-b2b-ecommerce-platform-with-acquisition-of-b2b-ninja/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> the acquisition of <a href="https://www.b2bninja.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">B2B Ninja</a> (formerly Quote Ninja) – an enterprise software solution that provides leading business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce capabilities for merchants of all sizes.
<a href="https://www.forrester.com/playbook/The+B2B+eCommerce+Playbook+For+2018/-/E-PLA370" target="_blank" rel="noopener">According to Forrester</a>, U.S. B2B e-commerce transactions are expected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2023. This is creating a groundswell of opportunity for e-commerce platform providers to deliver focused solutions to this segment of the market. A longtime BigCommerce partner, B2B Ninja brings its best-in-class quoting solution to help streamline transactions by delivering powerful e-commerce functionality to B2B merchants.
"B2B Ninja is an excellent addition to our already strong B2B capabilities," said Brent Bellm, CEO of BigCommerce. "Complementing our recent launch of B2B Edition, this is the next big step in providing a platform that is easier to use and faster than legacy B2B solutions and more flexible and powerful than other SaaS platforms. We continue to invest in ways that make BigCommerce the best platform for merchants of all sizes regardless of who or where their customers are or where merchants are selling."
B2B Ninja is available to any BigCommerce merchant on any plan to enhance the customer experience and easily manage quotes online.

CMS Monthly Recap: Big Investment News, Segment Releases 2022 CDP Report, Netlify Graph Launches and More

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<a href="https://www.bloomreach.com/en">Bloomreach</a>, a leading Digital Experience Platform (DXP), has announced their acquisition of <a href="http://www.exponea.com/">Exponea</a>, a Customer Data and Experience Platform (CDXP). This news comes just months after both companies publicized a <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/bloomreach-and-exponea-announce-strategic-partnership-to-energize-digital-commerce-experiences/">formal strategic partnership</a>.
With the acquisition, Bloomreach could very well become the next SaaS “unicorn” of the digital experience stack, integrating their market-leading e-commerce capabilities with Exponea’s best-in-class customer data (CDP) and marketing automation platform. This combination has the potential to accelerate the creation, personalization, and optimization of powerful commerce experiences – and drive rapid growth for both B2C and B2B brands.
The last two weeks have seen a dramatic news cycle from across the DXP stack, with major investment announcements from industry leaders like <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-embarks-on-1-2b-investment-plan-to-accelerate-growth/">Sitecore</a>. As Covid-fueled digital transformation continues to drive market activity, companies are leveraging billions to fund their expansion strategies. To support the acquisition of Exponea, Bloomreach also announced an investment of $150 million from Sixth Street Growth.
“We have been incredibly impressed by the leadership teams of both Bloomreach and Exponea and look forward to partnering with them as they continue to develop and capitalize on their market-leading platform,” said Michael McGinn, Partner at Sixth Street and co-head of Sixth Street Growth. “Technology serving more bespoke customer experiences is a rapidly expanding market and we are pleased to join Bloomreach in its leadership of the digital commerce experience and marketing sector.”
The investment from Sixth Street Growth will also fuel the ongoing growth of Bloomreach’s digital commerce experience platform. Bloomreach Experience Platform (<a href="https://www.bloomreach.com/en/products/bloomreach-experience">brX</a>) drives over $200 billion in digital commerce experiences across many of the world’s largest online retailers, brands, distributors, and B2B manufacturers – representing 25% of retail e-commerce in the U.S. and U.K.
<h3 id="from-partnership-to-acquisition">From partnership to acquisition</h3>
As noted, Bloomreach and Exponea had only recently announced a strategic partnership – a calculated first step towards integrating the companies. By working with a shared customer base, it’s fair to say that the alliance served as a testing ground for combining Bloomreach’s rich catalog of DXP capabilities with Exponea’s customer-centric approach to unifying data.
As digital technologies evolve at an accelerated pace, enterprise organizations are doubling down on solutions that enhance the value of data. While third-party platforms will continue to have a role in every ecosystem, brands are struggling to stitch together multiple solutions with manual effort – and falling behind. By integrating the digital experience and customer data layers, businesses will have greater control over personalizing and optimizing the customer experience.
The combination of Bloomreach and Exponea will deliver the market’s only true commerce experience platform, unifying the full spectrum of customer and product data. Bloomreach’s real-time, AI-based recommendations and actions will allow clients to drive purchases and enhance loyalty, while Exponea’s customer data capabilities will augment relevance and improve performance. Further, Exponea’s leadership in consumer data, privacy, and security will ensure that customers can securely access and manage this powerful integration of data.
For information on how Exponea’s data privacy will be handled post-acquisition, click <a href="https://exponea.com/legal/data-privacy/">here</a>.
<h3 id="what-s-next-for-bloomreach">What’s next for Bloomreach?</h3>
DXP is on fire – and the Covid-19 pandemic was the match. As companies and brands pivoted towards digital at a breakneck pace, technology providers were crushed under the weight of a decade of transformation.
Consolidation continues to be a core strategy: in the past six months alone, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/hyland-acquires-alfresco-focuses-on-cloud-and-global-expansion-of-enterprise-cms/">Hyland acquired Alfresco</a>, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/twilio-acquires-segment-for-3-2b-adds-market-leading-cdp-for-building-data-driven-apps/">Twilio acquired Segment</a>, and most recently, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/episerver-rebrands-as-optimizely-following-acquisition/">Episerver acquired Optimizely</a>. Meanwhile, enterprise DXP providers such as <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/acquia-digital-commerce-unifies-data-content-commerce-and-digital-merchandising/">Acquia</a> and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-embarks-on-1-2b-investment-plan-to-accelerate-growth/">Sitecore</a> released major new products and services. While acquisition is key, many leading DXP platforms (along with CMS, CRM, and more) are investing in innovation to compete beyond 2021.
With competition getting so fierce – particularly amongst enterprise players – Bloomreach is exerting more dominance in the e-commerce category. However, while other DXP and CMS platforms pose a threat to market share, one of the biggest existential challengers is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/">Amazon</a>.
By combining capabilities, Bloomreach and Exponea are continuing to fortify the beachhead against the world’s largest online retailer – and enabling brands to shape their e-commerce strategy to compete more effectively. This could give them a significant edge in the coming years, especially as Jeff Bezos steps down and Andy Jassy, the head of AWS, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/02/02/andy-jassy-to-become-amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-to-become-executive-chairman.html">takes the reins as Amazon’s new CEO</a>.
“Incredible e-commerce experiences happen when we reach a customer with exactly the right product at the right time on the right channel, and that requires a deep understanding of products and people which hasn’t been possible until now,” explained Raj De Datta, CEO, Bloomreach. “The coming together of Bloomreach and Exponea positions Bloomreach to be the market-leading commerce experience platform in a multi-billion-dollar market that is expanding quickly. As a solution, Bloomreach is now uniquely at the intersection of marketing, commerce, and AI.”
<h3 id="about-bloomreach">About Bloomreach</h3>
<a href="https://www.bloomreach.com/en">Bloomreach</a> is a digital experience enhancement platform that enables highly personalized digital experiences for retailers, banks, distributors, manufacturers, public service agencies and other enterprises. It powers brands representing 25% of US and UK e-commerce. Its flagship product, brX, is a digital experience platform built specifically for brands, retailers, and B2B companies who want to grow their revenue online while delivering each of their customers a premium, personalized commerce experience. brX combines content management capabilities with market-leading commerce-specific, AI-driven search, merchandising, and personalization in one flexible, API-first next-generation platform. Bloomreach serves over 500 global brands including Albertsons, Staples, Bosch, Puma, FC Bayern München, and Marks &amp; Spencer.
<h3 id="about-exponea">About Exponea</h3>
<a href="https://exponea.com/">Exponea</a> is a Customer Data and Experience Platform (CDXP) that collects and unifies data from all customer touchpoints into a unified Single Customer View and utilizes this data to help e-commerce businesses to convert and retain customers by acting on customer signals with the right message at the perfect time through the preferred channel. Built from the ground up (i.e. no acquisitions) for retail and e-commerce, Exponea collects and unifies data from all customer touchpoints to give businesses the insights and action opportunities they need to execute campaigns that deliver real results.
<h3 id="about-sixth-street">About Sixth Street</h3>
Sixth Street is a global investment firm with over $50 billion in assets under management and committed capital. Sixth Street Growth is the firm’s dedicated platform for making customized, non-control private investments in growth-oriented companies. The Sixth Street Growth team partners with companies and management teams to provide bespoke, accretive financing solutions that often fall between traditional growth equity and commercial debt. Sixth Street has invested over $4 billion in more than 40 companies in its growth investing strategy since inception. Select current and past representative Sixth Street Growth investments include Airbnb, AvidXchange, AvePoint, Gainsight, and MDLive.

Bloomreach Acquires Exponea, Secures $150M Investment to Power E-Commerce SaaS Expansion

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