In today's ever-connected world, marketers are inundated by the number of technology options used to understand customer interests. At the same time, consumers are bombarded with brand interactions that need to be connected.

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Chad Engelgau, CEO of Acxiom, a customer intelligence company, explains how he is working to bridge this gap by helping companies use consumer data to solve business challenges and create meaningful customer experiences.

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"Our clients are looking for us to help them solve business challenges – how do they respectfully reach their customers, how do they deal with a deluge of disconnected data, how do they know what's working (or not) in their marketing, and – perhaps most importantly – how to adjust."  

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Although the marketing space is congested, Engelgau shares how they cut through the noise by embracing a people-first approach to data collection, management, and use.

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"Acxiom helps brands take all the data and information they have about people, create that into very usable data sets that they apply to make their marketing more efficient, understand their customers and lifetime value better, and enhance their customer experiences. Then, we enable them to activate that data across all the places that they interact with people."

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By helping people find brands that align with their needs, Acxiom reinforces the symbiotic power between the customer and the brand.

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"The importance of data is only growing because when brands intelligently and ethically use data, it can create a tremendous amount of value for the people that they're serving and is going to help them become more efficient and effective in their marketing which is going to produce more growth," Engelgau said.

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While driving growth is incredibly important to the businesses Acxiom works with, data collection isn't just for the brand – people must understand the value exchange that exists when data is shared.  

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Encouraging data transparency is a top-down priority for Acxiom – it’s embedded in everything they do. Engelgau shares the importance of being "hyper-focused" on respecting people’s rights, safeguarding data, and enabling trust. He encourages companies to "always consider not just the benefits data creates for a company but is it fair and equitable to the person as well?"

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Their dedication to "open and connected" solutions extends to people and clients, big or small, as they navigate the industry and, ultimately, generate growth.

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"As a company, we're focused on reducing bias in datasets and algorithms used to create and scale marketing audiences, as well as extending the amount of data assets tied to our identity spine. We're also building out new data, identity, and analytics solutions across marketing clouds so our clients can gain more meaningful insights from their paid media and direct marketing," Engelgau explains.

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Furthermore, Acxiom places significance on the importance of collaborative innovation by transforming data into actionable solutions for top Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) in the market like Adobe, Salesforce, and Sitecore, while partnering with major cloud providers such as Google Cloud Platform, Snowflake, and AWS.

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Looking to the future, trends in the customer experience space will only become more intertwined with people’s everyday lives. 

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"Experiences are fueled by insights built on a solid data and identity foundation. Brands who focus on delivering experiences that delight and surprise their customers in the best possible way will ultimately be the winners, no matter how the technology evolves,” Engelgau said.

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