While MarTech stacks keep growing, the true foundation for modern customer engagement is shifting beneath them — from packaged tools to powerful data warehouses. At the center of this evolution is the composable CDP.
In this episode of Data Driven Voices, we sat down with Adam Greco, a digital analytics pioneer and product evangelist at Hightouch, to explore how the shift from traditional digital analytics to warehouse-centric strategies is changing how teams operate, measure, and activate customer data.
In this blog, we summarize some of the key takeaways from the episode.
Why digital and customer analytics are finally converging
For years, digital analytics and customer analytics operated in parallel worlds — one rooted in web and mobile tracking, the other in CRM systems and marketing automation. But according to Adam, that’s finally changing.
“It’s getting harder to separate digital and customer data — the entire customer journey is becoming digital by nature, and that data lives in the warehouse.”
This convergence is driving a major transformation: analytics is no longer a tool for reporting web metrics. It’s the core engine for customer experience, segmentation, and activation — and it needs to reflect all customer touchpoints.
The real value of a composable CDP
Adam makes a compelling case for moving away from packaged CDPs — and toward a warehouse-native, modular approach. The benefits go well beyond cost and implementation speed.
“With a composable CDP, you’re not duplicating data. You’re using what’s already in the warehouse — which means faster time to value, better data quality, and less vendor lock-in.”
Among the key benefits:
- Lower cost (cloud storage vs. tool-specific limits)
- No data duplication
- Unlimited retention
- Modular architecture (choose your best-fit tools)
- Better privacy and governance
- AI readiness
But what does “composable” really mean?
As the term gets thrown around more and more, Adam draws a clear line:
“If you’re storing customer data in a separate system, you’re not really composable. True composable CDPs operate on top of the warehouse — not beside it.”
In other words, composable isn’t just a buzzword. It’s a way of work: fewer silos, more flexibility, and full control over your data infrastructure.
Real-time and AI: debunking the limitations
One of the most common critiques of composable CDPs is their ability to handle real-time data — but Adam disagrees.
“Packaged CDPs market themselves as real-time, but in practice, most aren’t. With the right setup, composable CDPs can activate in near real-time — and with much more complete data.”
He also explains how composable CDPs are inherently better positioned to support AI-driven decisioning and experimentation. When the warehouse is your source of truth, you’re feeding AI models with deeper, cleaner, and more complete data — the very thing generative and predictive models need most.
Use cases first, tools second
As with many of our guests, Adam emphasizes a theme that’s easy to forget in tech-forward discussions: value comes from solving real problems — not from implementing tools.
“The most successful companies are the ones that start with use cases — not platforms.”
The good news? With a composable CDP, time-to-use-case is dramatically shorter. You can activate your first audiences or ad optimizations in weeks — not quarters — and iterate from there.
Inspiration for marketing, sales, and data professionals
Data Driven Voices is a podcast where Avaus together with industry experts, thought leaders, and partners discuss how to harness data, technology, and strategy to drive meaningful change and business results in primarily marketing and sales. The podcast shares actionable insights, success stories, and thought-provoking challenges to help professionals with new perspectives.
