Could you tell us about your role and journey into Marketing Technology? What inspired you to join Crownpeak?

I’m the Director of Product, Digital Governance, at Crownpeak and a member of US Technical Advisory Group: Privacy by Design. At Crownpeak, we provide the leading enterprise-grade, Cloud-first Digital Experience Management (DXM) platform, and my role focuses on helping marketers meet their objectives in an era of growing data and privacy regulation, helping to define an international standard in consumer protection.

My fascination with the Advertising industry began when I started out managing national newspaper advertising accounts and from there I moved into overseeing integrated campaigns including digital media. I undertook a BS degree in Information Systems in my own time and then moved into technical IT recruitment and Project Management roles.

When the opportunity arose for me to help develop the world’s leading CMP as a specialist in digital governance for Crownpeak, three years ago, it was too good a chance to miss. Not only because it suited my digital background and my knowledge of the advertising industry, but Crownpeak also has long recognized the importance of privacy as part of the customer experience, and as privacy regulation has come increasingly to the forefront of the industry we are helping clients build CMPs that support that.

What is Crownpeak and how does it fit into the Publishing marketplace?

Crownpeak’s enterprise DXM platform allows businesses to manage their websites to provide the very best user experience while protecting privacy and complying with regulation. It has the world’s leading consent management platform (CMP) and governance platform, and it allows our clients’ sites to grow with the business – offering automatic upgrades, fast response times and full technical support. Marketing departments are no longer reliant on IT to achieve their goals, so they can focus on optimizing the user experience.

What role does trust play in MarTech? And is it more important in some areas than others?

Recent global regulations have served to make consumers aware of the extent their personal data and information is collected, stored and shared. High-level data breaches have also hit the news headlines – and indeed even Netflix has popularized the subject in The Great Hack film – to act as further warnings about what could go wrong when you share your information online. Any major data breach is likely to result in lost trust and consumers are exercising their rights to withhold data and avoid dealing with the brands involved.

So, trust plays a major role in establishing consumer relationships, enabling the user to have control over how they share their data and the experiences they’ll receive as a result. The current tendency is for companies to use a simple all-encompassing tick-box form of consent to give users access to content. This approach to compliance with the regulation is questionable, and users feel both distrustful and frustrated at being cornered in this way. Most just tick the box, but this does not equate to trust or enhanced customer experience.

For brands to achieve lasting trust, and with it a greater lifetime value for each and every user they need to openly explain the data exchange. This also includes feeding the consumer with the information they require at the relevant touchpoints, then requesting further information in exchange for further benefits or content to improve the user’s experience on their site. This isn’t just about making your site compliant, but it’s good Marketing practice.

How do you think the industry will develop over the next five years?

The privacy issue is likely to escalate to all corners of the globe, and affect all touchpoints on the consumer’s journey. Consumers will become increasingly aware of the value of their data and will become more astute in withholding it. They will, however, continue to have high expectations when it comes to user experience, so will learn to understand the need for a data value exchange. They will pick and choose the brands with which they want to enter into such an arrangement.

Brands will need to innovate to find ways to manage customer expectations. They will need to earn trust, of course, but alongside this, they must focus on customer needs and experience, and get into the hearts and minds of the consumer. They must become first and foremost consumer-centric. In order to achieve this, they’ll have to be prepared to disrupt the status quo, have clearly defined goals, and be intently focussed on the end result. For the agile, motivated and forward-thinking marketer, these will be exciting times indeed.