In Forrester’s 35-criteria evaluation of data management platforms (DMPs), Forrester identified the 11 most significant ones – The ADEX, Adform, Adobe, KBM Group, Lotame, MediaMath, Neustar, Nielsen, Oracle, Salesforce, and Turn – and researched, analyzed, and scored them. This report shows how each provider measures up and helps B2C marketing professionals make the right choice.

B2C marketing pros are exploiting data for a 360-degree view of their consumers

The data management platform market is growing because more B2C marketers are tapping into data resources to develop a more holistic view of their consumers. Their initial application of the resulting intelligence is more efficient, more effective media buying. Increasingly, however, marketers are relying on data to power decision-making across the enterprise.

Marketers Have a Choice: Stay Tactical or Think Long Term

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Integrations, second-party data exchanges, and strategy are key differentiators

Marketers focused on delivering on their brand promises across all customer touchpoints require data management platforms with a full array of integrations, the ability to facilitate second-party data programs, and the strategic understanding of the current and future direction of the enterprise. Marketers who are primarily focused on media buying have a wide array of options.

Data Management Platforms the Leaders

Salesforce will be the enterprise-level intelligence engine with the acquisition of Krux. Krux, acquired by Salesforce in late 2016 and rebranded as Salesforce DMP in May 2017, approaches data management differently from other DMPs. In the Forrester scoreboard comparing current offering, strategy and market presence scores the highest on data analytics and their all over strategy. Only Salesforce could demonstrate strong client base and global presence.

Adobe is a smart choice for marketers focused on extending control across channels. In 2011, Adobe acquired Demdex, the core technology of its DMP Adobe Audience Manager, as a step towards its vision of a converging adtech and martech stack.  In the Forrester scoreboard, Adobe scored the best Data ingestion, sync prioritisation and syndication and also in data analysis. The corporate strategy is seen by Forrester best but Adobe looses out in customer references.

MediaMath’s proprietary data is good for marketers focused on media buying. The company’s acquisition of Akamai’s data co-op business, announced in 2013, facilitated its ability to offer real-time media execution. In the Forrester scoreboard, MediaMath could score best in data analysis behind Adobe and Salesforce and leads with more customer references before Adobe.

Neustar’s IDMP makes it a strong choice for marketers seeking identity resolution. Neustar, through its onboarding capabilities, has access to offline personally identifiable information (PII) at the individual and household level, including names, street addresses, phone numbers and email addresses derived from over 200 sources, amassed over the past 20 years. This lies at the heart of the company’s identity capabilities and its vision of a connected world impelled by data-driven intelligence. In the Forrester scoreboard, Neustar could reach the highest points for data analysis and corporate strategy.

Oracle’s integrated data cloud is a differentiator. Oracle believes that the future lies in platforms that supercharge customer data and it has acted upon that mission with a string of acquisitions including AddThis, BlueKai, Crosswise, Datalogix, Maxymiser and now Moat. In the Forrester report, Oracle could score best with their strategy.

Reading the report I can read out that nobody convinced with their data classification. Only Adobe could demonstrate the best implementation in Data ingestion, sync prioritization, and syndication. This brought Adobe also the spot #1 with the highest ranking of 4.9 all over.

Data sources used in this Forrester Wave

Forrester used a combination of three data sources to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each solution. We evaluated the vendors participating in this Forrester Wave, in part, using materials that they provided to us by 11 May 2017.

›› Vendor surveys. Forrester surveyed vendors on their capabilities as they relate to the evaluation criteria. Once Forrester analysed the completed vendor surveys, we conducted vendor calls where necessary to gather details of vendor qualifications.

›› Product demos. We asked vendors to conduct demonstrations of their products’ functionality. We used findings from these product demos to validate the details of each vendor’s product capabilities.

›› Customer reference calls and surveys. To validate product and vendor qualifications, Forrester also conducted reference calls with three of each vendor’s current customers and surveyed all additional current customers provided by the vendor.

For a detailed report visit the Forrester homepage.

www.forrester.com