Customer Data Platform articles and analysis

The CDP split is official (and it’s not the one vendors were selling)

For years, CDPs have been stretched like the industry’s Spandex. Data foundation one moment, orchestration layer the next, now even the “context brain” for AI. In this year’s Magic Quadrant, Gartner finally names the split. And it changes how everything should be read.

Reading this year’s Gartner Magic Quadrant for Customer Data Platforms gave me a familiar feeling.

Not, not that of reading a short novel, with its 46 pages. Not excitement. Not disbelief. More the quiet recognition you get when something you’ve been circling for a while finally lands on paper. The conclusions didn’t come out of nowhere. They arrived right on time for the category.

For years now, CDPs have been asked to stretch in every possible direction. Think of them as the industry’s Spandex. One moment they’re a data foundation. Then an orchestration layer. Then

Meet the CDP Simulator, the easiest way to finally understand your data stack

The CDP Simulator is a free, interactive way to see how customer data actually moves through traditional, composable, and hybrid stacks. Click, explore, and watch the architecture come alive without needing a single slide.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve tried to explain a CDP diagram that looked like someone spilled spaghetti on a slide. If you’ve ever been in a meeting where five people are discussing “real time” and each one means something completely different, you probably know the feeling.

So instead of drawing yet another arrow-filled diagram, I built something people can actually play with.

CDP Simulator displaying David Chan's inspired Hybrid architecture.

The CDP Simulator is now live. It’s free, and you can get started in about three seconds. No signup, no

Negotiating the New Martech Economy

Most Martech vendors talk about “transparency,” yet the real negotiation is about who ends up carrying the complexity. Part 3 explores how ownership, definitions, velocity, and data reality shape what you can truly negotiate in today’s CDP/CEP market.

The reactions to last week's part 2, The inherited costs of the composable stack, revealed something important about Martech today. People disagreed with one another, yet they were all touching the same truth from different angles. Some pointed out that composable savings mostly show up in use-case velocity rather than infrastructure. Others argued that cloud costs are a black box, no matter what you buy. A few reminded us that the data warehouse remains the gravitational center regardless of whether your CDP is composable or packaged.

What everyone circled around, though, was the same underlying question: who

Should your CDP take a year to implement? Zeotap CEO Elad has thoughts

A lively, no-nonsense chat with Zeotap’s ZEO Elad Simchon. We talk CDPs, audience boosting, European data culture, why US vendors misread Europe, and what’s coming next in AI-powered marketing.

If you ever wanted to hear two grown men bond over Bayern Munich, data sovereignty, and the existential mystery of why CDP projects take a year and a half to get going, you’re in the right place.

This week on Couch Confidentials, I sat down with Elad Simchon, CEO – sorry, ZEO... of Zeotap. Yes, ZEO. I accidentally coined the term mid-recording, and Elad immediately claimed it for the brand. Fair play.

Our chat was one of the most jovial conversations I’ve had all season. We wandered everywhere: his “midlife-crisis startup,” Germany’s secret basketball empire,

CDP & CEP pricing strategies for the uninitiated

CDPs charge for the data you hold. CEPs charge for the actions you take. “Usage” sounds simple, but every vendor defines it differently. The Hidden Logic of Martech Pricing reveals what those definitions really mean for your budget and your business.

Every vendor promises the same thing “you only pay for what you use”.

It’s a comforting line, one that suggests control and fairness. But in Martech, especially when you look at Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) and Customer Engagement Platforms (CEPs), the definition of use changes depending on who you ask.

Most CDPs still price around data management, how many profiles you store, how many events you collect, or how many systems you connect. It’s a model born from infrastructure.

Meanwhile, CEPs are leading the move toward usage-based pricing, a model

Crossing worlds: Teik Chua on Martech, culture, and the global CDP perspective

Teik Chua from O2 Virgin Media reflects on how Martech and CDP strategy differ across regions, and why culture often defines transformation more than technology. A grounded conversation about growth, context, and perspective.

When you’ve spent most of your career in one market, it’s easy to assume Martech challenges are universal. But move across regions, and suddenly familiar frameworks start to look very different.

That’s what struck me while talking to Teik Chua, now Head of AdTech & Audience at O2 Virgin Media, who previously worked across Southeast Asia with Accenture and other large consulting projects. Teik has seen Martech maturity through several lenses, from fast-moving experimentation in Asia to slower, highly structured transformation programs in Europe.

“Consulting gives you frameworks, but leading Martech in-house teaches you patience.

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