New platform helps businesses get the most from data lakes

Data is key to the competitiveness of modern enterprises, but the quality of that data determines how useful it is.

Customer data platform Segment is launching a new data architecture product built specifically to help companies deliver better customer experiences. Segment Data Lakes gives companies a foundation to produce advanced analytics, uncover customer insights, and power machine learning and AI initiatives.

"We all know that customer data creates a competitive advantage, but what companies sometimes fail to recognize is that the quality of their data architecture will determine just how significant that advantage really is," says Tido Carriero, chief product development officer at Segment. "Segment Data Lakes gives data scientists the foundation they need to unlock the full potential of their customer data, so they can build better products and provide world-class customer experiences."

Data Lakes is populated with customer data that has already been schematized and optimized, making it clean, accessible and easy for data teams to use. This enables users to get more value from the first-party customer data they collect via Segment, using it to power predictive analytics and machine learning as well as offering deeper insights into everything from customer engagement to marketing performance. By providing access to historical customer data, companies can see accurate year-on-year trends and better understand customer longevity.

Data Lakes can also help companies manage and reduce their storage costs by limiting the amount of data needing to be stored in third-party warehouses. Engineering teams can focus on building new products and features rather than having to spend their time building and maintaining an inefficient data architecture. It gives companies the option to de-couple compute from storage, and allows data scientists the flexibility to query raw data directly or plug in whichever analytical tools and processing systems best suit their needs.

Segment Data Lakes is now available to all Segment customers using Amazon Web Services. Support for Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud is planned to follow. You can read more on the company's blog.

Image credit: SergeyNivens/Depositphotos.com