The Ultimate Guide To Data Management Platforms

You cannot spell Data Management Platforms without data and data management; so, let's first comprehend these terms.

We have read that "Data is the new gold; Data is the new oil.” Such business data can be related to customer browsing habits, financial transactions, survey responses, or any other type of crucial information, which is accessed by the defined customers, online or even offline. At the same time, audience data management is the process of collecting, organizing and storing information to make it easier to manage, understand also interpret. As more organizations can use customer data platforms for decision-making, data management has become an inseparable part of multiple functions such as finance, marketing, analytics, HR, etc. Henceforth, businesses are looking for better ways to manage it. That's exactly why Data Management Platforms are here for!

Data Management Platforms for your business is as important to you as the several assistants were to Adrian Monk in the television series Monk. Yes, you read it right! Adrian Monk, the titular character of the series was a renowned former homicide detective for the San Francisco Police Department. He had obsessive-compulsive order (OCD) and multiple phobias in the series. His phobias and OCD make him dependent on his assistants - to drive him around, run errands, organize his consultancy work and sometimes investigate cases themselves.

In the same way, Data Management Platforms extract first-party data from various sources, build on the details provided and suggest the data sets focus on. Gartner defines that "marketers turn to DMPs mainly to get the multi-dimensional view of their customers and prospects. They also set up rules to trigger ads and messages and make the measure more precise." So, they (read as DMP) help you in making vital decisions, seeking insights and managing your data management errands. Adrian, see - this is how it is done...

As we have learned about what is data management and how Data Management Platform works - let's head to our next section and understand Data Management Platforms in detail.
 

Decoding The Meaning Of Data Management Platforms

In the words of Jim Bergeson, President and CEO of Bridgz Marketing Group in Minneapolis,'' Data will talk to you if you're willing to listen to it.'' So, why not employ Data Management Platforms for listening better?


Data Management Platforms are ideal for companies who need to collect and process large enterprise data sets from different data sources in a shorter period. Data warehouses, analytics platforms or business intelligence insight apps are some nicknames of DMPs. They are designed to help companies store, analyze and share their data efficiently. A robust Database Management Platform can be used across programs and with all types of customer data, namely first-party data, second-party data and third-party data. What are these first-party, second-party and third-party data, you ask? Here we go, Adrian!
 

• First-party data 

  (just like the secretary of Adrian who works on first-hand things such as necessary errands) is information collected directly from your defined audience profile or customers. This campaign data includes customer behavior, actions, preferences which could be demonstrated on your website, your Customer Relationship Management system, subscription data, social data or even a simple inquiry form.

• Second-party data

  (like the one who organizes your consultancy, Adrian) is essentially someone else's first-party data. This type of data is somewhat like first-party data; the only difference is that this data is collected from some advertiser source rather than the target audience. Businesses directly purchase second-party data from the company that owns it. Second-party data includes activity on websites, polls, surveys, mobile app usage, etc. 

• Third-party data

  (last but not least Adrian - this is your rented chauffeur) is information collected from outside sources that are not the original data collectors. Brands often buy this data from the vast data aggregators that pull it from other platforms (or, say, from first-party sources). Data pulled from demographic surveys of customers' recent studies on trends by marketing websites are examples of 3rd party data.

After this detour to understand the important concepts of Data Management Platforms, let's catch a glimpse of their evolution.
 

Unfolding The Evolution Of Data Management Platforms:

Nah, Nah... we do not want to be like you Adrian (searching for clues) but it is essential to have a fair understanding of what we are getting into... right? Allow us to take you down memory lane.

During the 1950s, data management was a significant issue. It was an era when computers were not so fast-paced, automated and they required a massive amount of manual labor to operate. However, as the saying goes, problems are not stop signs they are guidelines; the issue of data management found its solution when data management came to light.


In the 1960s, the Association of Data Processing Service Organizations (ADAPSO) put forth data management advice, emphasizing professional training quality assurance metrics. During the same period, International Business Machines Corporation, popularly known as IBM, developed an Integrated Management System, a standard database system. In the meantime, in the 1960s, cloud data management and cloud data storage were introduced and slowly, it became a reality.

In the 1970s, Edgar F. Codd developed Structured Query Language (SQL) and engrossed in relational databases, delivering reliable data processing and decreasing the amount of duplicated data. It was standardized in 1985. These database systems are the predecessors of Data Management Platforms used to date.

During the 1990s and 2000s, Salesforce and Amazon popularized the concept of internet-based services in which Data Management Platforms played a vital role (because no DMPs mean no data management!).

One of the first companies to use Data Management Platforms was Resonate, which was trying to find new ways to target its advertising. DMPs helped Resonate collect data on who had visited their website and then display relevant ads for those individuals. This allowed them to increase their customer conversion rates by 20-30%. At present, Data Management Platforms have become the backbone of brands, allowing them to draw detailed user profiles that drive digital advertising, design successful ad campaigns and marketing campaigns.

Fun Fact: According to Gartner's 2018 Marketing Survey, every four out of five marketing organizations had DMPs implemented in their systems.

Now that we have studied the evolution of DMPs let's take a quick ride through its process. Hop on!
 

Unboxing The Process Of Data Management Platforms

 
“How you gather, manage and use information will determine whether you win or lose.” - Bill Gates.
 
Data is the final frontier for your business. Data Management Platforms are here to help you manage it wisely.

 

• Step 1: Data Collection

  Data Management Platforms gather diverse types of data from multiple channels: first-party data, second-party third-party data. For instance, to collect internal data, DMPs collect information from customer analytics, Customer Relationship Management Software, Customer Data Platforms, etc. At the same time, third-party sources are used to accumulate data from external sources and different audience profiles.

• Step 2: Data Segmentation And Analysis

  Once the data is collected, DMPs build the profile of each customer. Data is bifurcated based on similar audience segments, customer insights, attributes, preferences and behaviors. After proper segmentation of this data, the data is analyzed in the context of contemporary trends and resources available within the organization. 

• Step 3: Data Allocation

  DMPs then automatically share the acquired data with digital ad platforms and in-house teams to clarify what type of ads and content should be served to which audience. Going ahead, DMPs analyze the performance of these ads and content to enhance future purchases through better, more tailored recommendations.

Now, it's time to shed some light on the benefits of DMPs. 
 

Re-ignite Your Business With These Benefits Of Data Management Platforms

Here's how DMPs can benefit your business.
 

• Data Hygiene Has Never Been Easier

  No data is clean but most are useful. - Gorge Box, a well-known statistician. How about cleaning all your valuable data? It sounds like a win-win, right? Data Management Platforms benefit you by offering support for data cleansing by altering data to assure it is correct by removing duplicate copies and getting rid of deceased data files.

• It's Time To Fire Up New Ways

  Where there is data smoke, there is business fire. - Thomas Redman, data expert. Now, it's time to fire up new ways with the help of Data Management Platforms. These platforms offer your businesses, data backup and some of them step in with flawless disaster recovery features, allowing you to retrieve data in case of system failure. Long story short, DMPs are essential to fuel your business, helping you with modifying data of lookalike audiences and continuing updates with no disruption or downtime at all!

• Pocket Friendly Is A Win

  “The goal is to turn data into information and information into insights.” - Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard.
  How about getting sound insights on a budget that suits you? Some Data Management Platforms step in with flexible pricing plans, while some could be used for free trials. Besides this, DMPs save a considerable chunk of your time, effort and funds by making the entire process of data collection automated.

So, that's how DMPs benefit businesses in the present; let's dig a little deeper into its future. Shall we?
 

Unleashing The Future Of Data Management Platforms

Here's a thing or two about the mystical future of Data Management Platforms. 

From data lakes to data warehouses and then finally to the cloud, Data Management Platforms have come a long way and AI-enabled tools have played an important role in it! Both data warehouses and data lakes have helped move data physically from one place to another with the help of storage and computing power to manage everything in no time at all. However, many businesses face challenges when data is widely distributed between geographical locations. The future of Data Management Platforms is up with a solution called data fabrics! 

Data fabric is not a single service but an entire ecosystem. With the help of data fabric, a distributed environment will connect all the data to be seamlessly accessed by data management services and used by end-users and applications. This trend will help businesses and marketers avoid dependencies on multiple flows and lack of atomicity. The future of DMPs look bright!
 

It's A Wrap!

Managing your data can be difficult when you have so much of it with different sources, formats and locations. Henceforth, companies search for better ways to collect their data to generate insights more quickly and efficiently. In this article, we learned that Data Management Platforms are vital for many enterprise infrastructures to consolidate data from various sources and make it readily available for analytics.