In this post we will dive into the benefits and advantages of deploying a customer data platform privately. We get that the deployment method is not the most glamorous factor you’re considering while choosing a CDP. It is, however, one of the most fundamental.
We hope this article will prepare you to have more informed conversations with your potential vendors. And you’ll learn a few selling points you can bring to your IT security admins to get their buy-in for CDP adoption.
What does it mean to deploy privately? When we say “private,” we mean that your CDP is deployed single-tenant, in an Amazon Web Services (AWS) server owned and controlled by you, as opposed to a SaaS server controlled by Velocidi. (Find out more at What makes the Velocidi CDP “Private?” )
We chose this deployment model because of the following advantages it provides for our clients:
1. All data collected by the CDP is stored locally on your private server
If you’re using a first-party tag to collect data but storing it in your vendor’s cloud, it kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it? First-party data is, by definition, owned by the brand collecting it. But if the storage and management of the data takes place outside your premises, your “ownership” of that data is superficial.
We strongly believe that brands need to own their data to be competitive. If you don’t have your own first-party data in this new age of data privacy, then you’re facing a near future in which you have no audience for your marketing. We make sure you have exclusive ownership and control over the data you collect.
One of the advantages to owning your server is controlling the geographic location of where your data is stored. This helps you maintain compliance with regulations. Owning your data gives you confidence that you are doing everything you can to protect your customers’ data. Speaking of which…
2. You remain in control of security measures
When you set up a CDP in a SaaS environment, you are at the mercy of the vendor’s security procedures. If they suffer a breach and your customers’ data is exposed to unauthorized parties, there’s nothing you can do about it. But you’re still on the hook to notify your customers and take responsibility for the situation, and it will damage your customers’ trust. Most CDPs have security measures in place to keep your customer data safe. However, from your customers’ perspective, you’re still placing their data in the hands of a third-party that they don’t know or understand.
Deploying your CDP privately means you can place it behind your own firewall and maintain complete control over how it’s protected. This way, when your customers provide you with their information, they know that you can be trusted to protect it.
3. You have full transparency around operational costs
The SaaS business model provides a great cost advantage to vendors, allowing them to run multiple client instances on the same server. But that doesn’t necessarily translate to any savings for you.
Deploying on your private server means you have complete transparency around what it costs to own and operationalize a CDP. And you own the server contract directly rather than relying on a vendor. If you have a server ready to go, you are already saving money. If you need to set up a new AWS account to deploy the Velocidi CDP, we guide you through a very simple setup plan. In the end, you have a server free from typical markup costs that houses all of the first party data, collected by the Velocidi CDP, which you own and control.
4. You gain a native foundation for machine learning and predictive modeling
Machine learning(ML) is being a little over-hyped these days. However, one thing that industry experts agree on is that no ML will be practical or useful without a high-quality data foundation. That foundation is our guarantee with the private CDP.
The Velocidi CDP currently provides ML predictive modeling tools for specific use cases (more on this in the next issue), which are available to all our clients. The cost-saving and CX-optimizing benefits they provide are only made possible because of the robust foundation of owned data you accumulate with our CDP. Maintaining a high-quality data foundation of your own first-party data prepares you to draw practical value from ML now and in the future, completely independent from third-parties.
In a nutshell, what we provide is a platform that delivers the same value as a natively engineered system. In most cases the only companies with the resources to build a native CDP would have an army of IT engineers and analysts at their disposal. For you, we are that army. We’ve done the work for you, and will continue to support when you need it.
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