96% of business leaders acknowledge that data and analytics significantly enhance decision-making capabilities. However, 94% believe they could derive even more value from their data, indicating a substantial opportunity for improvement and optimisation.
Data is the new currency, and businesses are striving to capitalise on the large amounts of information they accumulate. Salesforce Data Cloud — renamed Data 360 in late 2025 — presents itself as a transformative solution, reshaping how organisations view and utilise customer data.
In essence, a CDP is a software platform that acts as a central hub for all your customer data. It gathers data from diverse sources, cleans and unifies it, and creates a single, unified customer profile for each individual. This profile encompasses a customer’s demographics, purchase history, website activity, app usage, support interactions, and any other relevant data points you collect.
Today’s complex, omnichannel customer journey generates a vast amount of data, but its true value lies in unifying and analysing it to gain a comprehensive understanding of your customer base.
Imagine the difference between trying to understand a customer based on fragmented bits of information scattered across different departments and systems, versus having a 360-degree view presented in one place. A CDP empowers you to do just that, offering several compelling benefits:
1. Enhanced Customer Understanding: By unifying customer data, you gain a deeper understanding of individual preferences, needs, and behaviours. This allows you to segment your audience and target them more effectively.
2. Personalised Customer Experiences: With a comprehensive customer profile in hand, you can deliver personalised experiences that resonate with each individual.
3. Improved Decision-Making Saves Time: CDPs provide valuable data insights that can inform strategic decision-making across the organisation.
4. Increased Operational Efficiency: By breaking down data silos and centralising customer information, CDPs streamline operations and improve internal communication.
5. Enhanced Regulatory Compliance: Complying with regulations like GDPR and CCPA is crucial. CDPs often come equipped with built-in features for managing customer consent and data privacy, helping businesses meet these regulatory requirements more effectively.
In simpler terms, a CDP acts as your data translator. Salesforce has repeatedly been named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Customer Data Platforms on the strength of Data Cloud — which has left many people wondering: what is Salesforce Data Cloud? There are many CDPs available, but choosing the right one will transform your fragmented customer information into a unified language that empowers you to understand, engage with, and ultimately delight your customers.
Salesforce Data Cloud goes beyond the traditional CDP by providing a comprehensive data foundation built directly into the Salesforce platform. At Dreamforce 2025, Salesforce renamed Data Cloud to Data 360, reflecting its expanded role: no longer just a customer data platform, but the data layer that unifies structured and unstructured data across the business — and feeds it, in real time, to Salesforce’s Agentforce AI agents. You’ll still see “Data Cloud” used widely, but Data 360 is the current name, and the two refer to the same evolving product.
Here’s how Data Cloud works:
1. Connecting and Unifying Data:
Data Cloud acts as a central hub, seamlessly integrating with a wide range of data sources, including:
Once connected, Data Cloud employs sophisticated techniques to transform raw data into usable insight — eliminating inconsistencies arising from different formats and entry methods, and resolving identities across sources to create a comprehensive, accurate profile for every customer, encompassing demographics, purchase history, website activity, app usage, support interactions, and more.
2. Real-Time Data Activation:
Data Cloud operates in real time, meaning any new data point is instantly reflected in the unified customer profile. This capability enables:
3. Data Management and Governance:
Data Cloud empowers businesses to take control of their valuable customer information within the Salesforce ecosystem. It provides data management and governance features, including:
When Data Cloud launched, it was described as being powered by the “Einstein 1 Platform” — Salesforce’s then-name for its unified AI and data foundation. That branding has since evolved. Salesforce’s AI layer is now Agentforce (packaged with the wider platform as Agentforce 360), which moves beyond Einstein’s predictive tools into autonomous AI agents that can handle real work: answering service cases, qualifying leads, and orchestrating marketing journeys. The familiar Einstein capabilities — sales forecasting and opportunity scoring, marketing personalisation and campaign optimisation, service case classification and agent recommendations — live on inside it, as we explored in our look at Sales Cloud Einstein. The crucial point for this article: none of it works well without unified data, which is exactly what Data 360 provides.
While Data Cloud shares many core functionalities with other CDPs, it sets itself apart in several key aspects:
These unique features empower businesses to not only gain the basic benefit of unifying data, but also leverage actionable insights to drive personalised experiences, optimise operations, and achieve sustainable growth. And Salesforce is still building out this picture: its recently announced acquisition of Contentful is designed to add a structured content layer alongside the data layer — we’ve unpacked what that means for your roadmap.
Salesforce Data Cloud enables organisations to deliver exceptional and personalised experiences. Here are a few examples of how organisations in the travel & transport sector are leveraging this technology:
Enhancing Customer Support at Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines leveraged Salesforce Data Cloud to expand their customer support channels beyond traditional phone and email, introducing in-app chat to align with customer expectations. By piloting this initiative with a select customer group, they gained valuable insights into user interactions and employee feedback, refining the chat service before a full rollout. This approach highlighted their commitment to rapid innovation and customer-centric enhancements using Salesforce’s capabilities.
Transforming Customer Engagement at Heathrow Airport
Heathrow Airport utilised Salesforce Data Cloud to revolutionise passenger experiences. By integrating this technology to gain a comprehensive, up-to-date profile, Heathrow could offer personalised services that cater to the unique needs of each traveller, significantly enhancing customer satisfaction. The Director of Marketing and Digital at Heathrow Airport stated: “With Salesforce, we can provide personalised experiences that meet passenger needs – even if they are one in 70 million.”
This shift towards a more tailored approach not only improved passenger interactions but also boosted the efficiency of the customer service team. As a result, staff could allocate more time to assist a greater number of passengers, demonstrating the profound impact of Salesforce Data Cloud in optimising customer support and engagement within the aviation sector.
Salesforce Data Cloud provides a wealth of possibilities for businesses seeking to unify customer data, personalise experiences, and drive growth. However, implementing and maximising its potential requires expertise and a deep understanding of your unique business needs.
This is where Remarkable steps in. As an experienced Salesforce Consultancy, we have the knowledge and experience to guide you through every step of the Data Cloud journey — from strategic planning and seamless integration to ongoing optimisation. We understand that every organisation’s goals and processes are unique, so we don’t offer a one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, we collaborate closely with you to develop a customised Data Cloud strategy that aligns with your business goals — and positions your data estate for the agentic, AI-driven era Salesforce is building towards.
Contact us to find out how our experts support enterprise-level organisations with customer data platform strategy, implementation, and optimisation — and whether Salesforce Data Cloud is the right fit for your organisation.
