Commentary

Most Real-Time Data Isn't Really Real Time

Not all offline data will integrate into so-called real-time systems in real time, because the systems that feed data into management platforms cannot process data as the transactions occur, according to Tony Giordano, executive vice president, technology solutions group, Merkle.

The topic of real-time data came up while talking about the Data Management Cloud platform Merkle launched last week.The solution integrates traditional offline and digital data, Giordano said. "We need to be realistic about the data we pull in, and that's why we need to accommodate the real environment of data integration," he said.

The industry is closer to real-time integration now than it was in 1989, or even 2009, but that's why Merkle engineers architected the cloud platform as they did, he said. "This is the honest-to-gosh truth," he said. Some data is real time, but not all. Some is batched, meaning a snapshot of data that resides in a holding tank until it gets used. Maybe soon the industry will see 70% real-time data, he said, but it's still not there.  

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Merkle's platform has four elements.  A data management platform (DMP) provides audience management capabilities for cookie platforms in real time. Merkle’s proprietary solution, cR, gives a longitudinal examination of "the event stream": customers' overall online and offline experience with a brand. The Insights Platform applies advanced analytics and data visualization to the integrated data. The traditional marketing database provides campaign management, business intelligence, and data access.

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