The biggest challenges of Azure Data Lake and the solution with a Customer Data Platform (CDP)

Organizations increasingly aim for a Single Source of Truth (SSOT) with Azure Data Lake. This is understandable, yet it may lead to bottlenecks and challenges. The reason is that creating a complete customer view and making it accessible to employees and applications is more complex than expected.

That’s why they often choose a combination of Data Lake and a Customer Data Platform (CDP). This approach offers flexibility and ensures that the most up-to-date data are always accessible without leaning heavily on scarce IT resources. This is particularly beneficial for departments such as customer care, finance, and marketing.

In this article, we’ll discuss the challenges of moving customer data to Azure and creating a comprehensive customer view. We highlight the possibilities and benefits of a Customer Data Platform, discuss five strategies for working with both software solutions, and share insights to help you effectively use them to achieve significant improvements.

What is Azure Data Lake?

Azure Data Lake is a scalable data storage service available in the Azure Cloud, designed to collect, store, and analyze large amounts of data. It supports storing data in its original format, which means you can apply analyses and machine learning directly to the data without the need to convert or move it first.

Azure Data Lake is often used as a data store, comparable to how FTPS was used in the past, but with increased functionality. It’s frequently linked to a CDP for the exchange of data.

The challenges of creating a customer view in Azure

Data fragmentation and specialization

Customer data are often fragmented across diverse systems and sources. They need to be merged and structured to get a complete customer view. However, specialist knowledge is required for collecting, modifying, and loading these data.

Data integration

Due to the different formats and structures, combining data from various sources and systems is complex. Even though Azure provides tools such as Azure Data Factory, tight planning and execution remain crucial. However, finding specialists for long-term management and maintenance is difficult.

Scalability

Organizations with large amounts of customer data struggle with scalability. This data requires modern processing, analysis, and storage infrastructure, which leads to rapidly rising storage costs.

Privacy and compliance

The collection and processing of customer data must comply with privacy and regulations, including creating a customer view. However, data in Azure can be fragmented, making adhering to these rules complex. That’s why centralized management and control over these data streams are essential.

Analysis and insights

Analytic tools and skills are necessary to gain valuable insights from customer data. For this purpose, Azure offers diverse services, such as Azure Synapse Analytics and Azure Machine Learning. Yet, you need to know how they work to use them appropriately.

The solution: a Customer Data Platform (CDP)

Thanks to a CDP's possibilities, this platform technology marks the perfect addition to Azure Data Lake. A CDP centralizes, structures, and manages all customer data, enabling you to create a complete 360-degree customer view.

The benefits of a CDP

• Simple data integration: it seamlessly integrates with all data sources, regardless of the formats or structures, allowing employees direct access to data.
• Flexibly unlock data: employees single-handedly unlock data sources via the ETL process. This brings more flexibility and control over data management.
• Affordable scalability: cold data storage is used for cost-saving storage and is also expandable to meet an organization’s growing needs.
• GDPR-proof data management: customer data are available in real-time within personal environments. This way, customers have control over their data. The information remains secure, resulting in compliance with the GDPR and other laws and regulations.
• Accessible analytics tools: it offers user-friendly tools for analyzing customer data. These insights can be directly applied to campaigns and other ends.

Read why a Customer Data Platform is indispensable

With a Customer Data Platform (CDP), you use your customer data to its maximum potential. We give you 8 reasons why a CDP is essential for understanding, reaching, and serving customers.

Read the article

Azure Data Lake & a CDP: 5 strategies for success

A solid plan is paramount for working with Azure Data Lake and a CDP. Start small and expand gradually with a phased approach. It’s also wise to consult expertise outside your organization and look for partners with experience in Azure Data Lake and CDP implementations.

There are multiple helpful strategies to apply both solutions effectively :

• Set clear goals: determine what you wish to achieve with Azure Data Lake and a CDP. This will help you choose a direction and measure success.
• Streamline data integration: ensure all data flows smoothly between Azure Data Lake and the CDP. Use handy tools such as APIs and data pipelines.
• Implement data governance and security: create processes that safeguard the data’s quality, consistency, and security.
• Train your users: see to it that employees are familiar with the solutions and understand how to work with them before they start using Azure Data Lake and the CDP.
• Continuously monitor and evaluate the use: keep a sharp eye on how the implementation progresses and adjust the approach where needed.

Conclusion: invest in a CDP for a cast-iron customer view

Creating a customer view in Azure can be complex due to integrating data sources, processing large amounts of data, privacy limitations, and the necessary expertise. Fortunately, with the correct planning, tools, and expertise, organizations can shape a solid customer view to gain valuable insights and offer personalized experiences.

It’s important to consider what data you store in Azure Data Lake and which processes and tasks you execute via Azure. Maybe there are alternatives available for this. Specifically, a Customer Data Platform (CDP) is a powerful solution for the challenges that come with Azure. A CDP centralizes customer data, simplifies management, and makes it possible to integrate data seamlessly with other systems. Features such as advanced data analysis, direct data linking for marketing campaigns, and user-friendly dashboards make a CDP a fundamental solution for a customer-centric organization.

Discover how a CDP solution helps you overcome your data challenges

Learn how our Customer Data Platform bundles all your customer data into one unique customer view. In our no-code platform, you set the rules and learn to manage customer data, with our advice at your disposal when needed.

Contact us today to learn how we can help you optimally apply and use your customer data.

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