---
title: What is Customer data platform?
url: https://markin.ai/glossary/customer-data-platform
category: Data and activation stack
aliases: CDP
---

# Customer data platform

> A customer data platform collects customer data from multiple sources, resolves it to unified profiles and makes segments available to downstream tools. It is an assembly and distribution system: it answers who a customer is, not what is worth doing for them.

## Why it matters for ARPU

Most enterprises that stall on ARPU already have a CDP. The missing layer is the one that decides, which is why unification projects so rarely produce revenue on their own.

## Related terms

- [Decision layer](https://markin.ai/glossary/decision-layer), A decision layer is the system that sits between the data warehouse and the execution tools and decides, per customer, what deserves to happen next.
- [Reverse ETL](https://markin.ai/glossary/reverse-etl), Reverse ETL syncs modelled data from a warehouse back into operational tools such as engagement platforms, CRMs and ad networks.
- [Customer 360](https://markin.ai/glossary/customer-360), Customer 360 is a consolidated view of everything known about a customer across systems: profile, transactions, interactions, service history and consent.
- [Feature store](https://markin.ai/glossary/feature-store), A feature store computes, versions and serves the model inputs used in training and in production, guaranteeing that both see the same definition of a feature.

## Go deeper

- [Customer decisioning vs CDP](https://markin.ai/compare/customer-decisioning-vs-cdp), The boundary, precisely.
- [Data warehouse vs CDP vs decision layer](https://markin.ai/compare/data-warehouse-vs-cdp-vs-decision-layer), Three systems, three jobs.

Source: https://markin.ai/glossary/customer-data-platform