Optimizely (formerly Episerver) continues its recent acquisitions with Zaius, a customer data platform (CDP). As of March 22, 2021, Zauis joins the Optimizely product lineup. Zaius adds a more mature CDP to Optimizely, effectively replacing Optimizely’s homegrown CDP, formerly known as “Visitor Intelligence.” Zaius, founded in 2012, had raised $50.8 million in funding by 2018. Their series B was led in part by Insight Partners. Of course, Insight Partners is the venture capital firm behind Optimizely.
In a nutshell, CDPs are concerned with these primary tasks: data collection, data unification, data activation, and data insights.
Salesforce.com
The addition of Zaius furthers Optimizely’s push for superiority among Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs). Zaius, as of April 2021, is already being woven into the Optimizely product line up under the name “Optimizely Data Platform” or ODP. Importantly, this continues to increase platform feature parity with Adobe Experience Cloud, Salesforce, Sitecore, and Acquia. Where Adobe already has established its “real-time customer data platform,” now Optimizely has a legitimate contender in this category. Likewise, Acquia acquired AgileOne CDP (now Acquia CDP) in December of 2019.
Clearly, investors recognize a need to provide a solution to connecting the ever-increasing digital touchpoints. With mountains of data captured but frequently siloed into many platforms, CDP is a newer category. In 2018 Zaius was marketed as a type of CRM. As the space is rapidly evolving, this category promises to connect the data from web, mobile, social, commerce, and other sources in a singular platform that can, in turn, allow marketers to target audiences with the assistance of machine learning and AI.
CDPs are really just an evolution of CRM, finely tuned for the high-scale, real-time requirements of the digital-first modern B2C marketer…CDPs share CRM’s goals of managing customer data to drive relevant and productive experiences.
Salesforce.com
Salesforce also has its CDP called Customer 360 Audiences. While Salesforce may not come to mind as DXP, with the acquisition of Demandware (now Salesforce Commerce Cloud) in 2016 its seems even the CRM players are interested in the future of e-commerce and customer data. Data is currency, and many are making investments in controlling it.
Adobe Experience Platform
Sitecore’s Boxever CDP
Sitecore also acquired a CDP in March 2021 after a massive billion-dollar funding round in January 2021. With the accelerated investment across the DXP space acquisitions are coming fast. Sitecore’s CPD is Boxever.
Of course, as a digital strategy consultant in the e-commerce space, it is very exciting to see these startups acquired by high-growth companies backed by venture capital. The future of the internet is unfolding.
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