Enterprise teams are consolidating customer data, analytics, and AI into the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform. Customer profiles, behavioral signals, transactions, and predictions increasingly live in one governed environment that supports analytics, machine learning, and enterprise controls at scale.
Marketing teams, however, still need to deliver personalized, real-time experiences across every channel. The challenge is no longer data availability, but the disconnect between where intelligence is created and where customer experiences are executed.
Insider One and Databricks are partnering to close that gap. Together, we enable a lakehouse-native approach to customer activation that allows brands to use governed, AI-ready data from Databricks to power personalized customer engagement across every touchpoint, without duplicating data or adding architectural complexity.
Why Brands Are Moving From Packaged CDPs to Lakehouse-Native Customer Intelligence
Many organizations are moving away from closed systems that isolate customer data and toward lakehouse-native architectures designed for unified analytics, AI, and activation.
Customer data now supports analytics, experimentation, forecasting, personalization, and AI. Maintaining multiple downstream copies introduces inconsistency, governance risk, and operational overhead.
Machine learning and AI workflows are also shifting upstream. Data teams build features, predictive models, and LLM-driven insights directly in Databricks, close to the data and under centralized governance through Unity Catalog.
Marketing teams still need speed and flexibility. They want to activate insights as soon as they are available, without waiting on new pipelines or re-modeling work.
In this model, the lakehouse becomes the customer intelligence layer. Activation must work natively with it.
How Insider One Fits into the Databricks Ecosystem To Power Real-Time, Personalized Customer Engagement
Insider One serves as the cross-channel activation and personalization layer that operates directly on top of the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform.
Instead of ingesting customer data into a proprietary store, Insider One connects to Databricks and activates data as it is modeled by enterprise data teams. Ownership, governance, and identity strategy remain unchanged.
Databricks continues to serve as the system of record for customer intelligence. Insider One focuses on orchestration, personalization, and execution across engagement channels. This creates a simpler, more scalable architecture where data stays centralized and activation becomes faster and easier to manage.
How the Insider One and Databricks Integration Works
- Direct Access to Delta Tables
Insider One reads modeled Delta tables from Databricks, including customer profiles, behavioral events, transactional data, product catalogs, calculated features, and predictive outputs. No additional transformation or remodeling is required. New attributes become available for activation as soon as they exist in the lakehouse.
- Identity Aligned With the Lakehouse
Insider One uses the primary identifiers defined by the customer’s data team. There is no secondary identity graph and no parallel stitching. Identity governance, permissions, and lineage remain managed through Unity Catalog.
- Omnichannel Activation at Scale
Lakehouse data powers personalization and orchestration across email, SMS, WhatsApp, onsite and in-app experiences, mobile push, and cross-channel journeys. Segmentation and journey logic are driven directly by governed lakehouse intelligence.
- Engagement Data Flowing Back to Databricks
Engagement and performance data can be sent back into Databricks through existing integration flows, with native support planned. This supports reporting, attribution, and continuous model improvement within the same governed environment.
From Lakehouse Intelligence to Real-Time Experiences
Centralizing customer intelligence in the lakehouse makes activation more precise and responsive. Marketing teams work with the full breadth of enterprise data rather than a simplified subset. Predictive scores and features developed by data science teams influence experiences across channels in near real time.
For example, a churn prediction model built in Databricks can identify customers at risk. Insider One can use that signal to trigger personalized journeys across email, mobile, and web experiences. Engagement outcomes flow back into the lakehouse, improving future predictions and decisioning.
Why Marketing Teams Love It
- Use complete enterprise customer data in near real time. Build segments, journeys, and personalized experiences using governed lakehouse data.
- Activate predictive insights with ease. Use churn risk, propensity scores, and lifetime value models created in Databricks.
- Move faster without engineering bottlenecks. New attributes become usable as soon as they exist in the lakehouse.
- Deliver consistent omnichannel experiences. A unified customer view supports personalization across every touchpoint.
- Improve performance with better inputs. Richer data leads to more relevant messaging and stronger engagement.
Why Data Teams Love It
- Centralize governance and access control. Permissions, lineage, and compliance remain managed through Unity Catalog.
- Strengthen analytics and AI with feedback loops. Engagement data flows back into Databricks for reporting and model training.
- Extend the value of the lakehouse. Databricks investments directly support customer engagement outcomes.
How the Insider One and Databricks Drive Shared Outcomes
When marketing and data teams operate from the same intelligence layer, organizations see broader impact:
- Higher return on data and AI investments
- Faster and more accurate activation of predictive insights
- Lower operational cost and technical overhead
- A single source of truth across analytics, AI, and engagement
- A complete customer feedback loop from insight to action and back again
Looking Ahead
As organizations build more intelligence in Databricks, including feature stores, predictive models, LLM workflows, and agent-based systems, the need for lakehouse-native activation will continue to grow.
Insider One and Databricks are building toward a future where customer engagement is predictive, automated, and fully governed, with marketing, data, and AI teams aligned on the same intelligence foundation.
Get Started
To learn more about the Insider One and Databricks integration, explore the documentation, connect with your Insider One or Databricks team, or request a technical walkthrough.
Customer activation is increasingly driven by the lakehouse. Insider One and Databricks make it possible to act on that intelligence at scale.
