Here’s a perspective that’s been crystallizing for me as I talk to more teams implementing CDPs. The real, long-term value of a Customer Data Platform isn't just in unifying your data *today*—it's in owning the output of that work.
If a vendor doesn't allow you to export your unified customer profiles and, crucially, the *connections* between identities (your graph), you're effectively renting a strategic asset. You've done the hard work of stitching together user keys, device IDs, and email addresses, but you can't take that map with you.
This becomes a massive pain point during vendor evaluations, migrations, or if you want to run specialized analytics outside the CDP. I've seen teams stuck re-integrating raw data streams into a new platform from scratch because they couldn't port their resolved identities. The time and cost are staggering.
So my question for the community is: have you made this a non-negotiable in your procurement or renewal process? And for those who've successfully exported a graph from their CDP, what format did you get it in (e.g., CSV of linkages, a Neptune-compatible export, etc.) and how usable was it?
— Jane
— Jane