Get to know the newest member of Amperity's leadership team, Barry Padgett. Barry has been growing and leading companies in the US, Europe and Asia for the last 25 years, with experience in a variety of roles across engineering, sales & marketing, and product & strategy. We're thrilled to have him on board, and we took the chance to catch up and get some of his perspective on the business.
When you’re telling friends outside of tech about what your new company does, how do you explain it?
BP: I ask friends to tell me about a recent experience where a company they gave their business to left them completely frustrated and questioning whether they would come back, because that company showed that they clearly didn’t know anything about them, their history with the brand, or the preferences they expect the brand to know and act on. I then simply tell them I’ve joined a company that fixes that!
Where do you see the Customer Data Platform space going in the next few years?
BP: Couple of things here. Firstly, I think more and more consumer brands are going to be escalating and promoting their CDP projects to react to the changing consumer behavior we see in light of Covid and the digital transformation acceleration that is becoming the new norm. Secondly, I think there will be tremendous consolidation in the next few years given how robust the CDP space is overall — and it is imperative we continue to deliver for our customers to ensure we are the consolidator and not the consolidated :-)
How do you see the relationship between consumer brands and customer data evolving?
BP: I think consumer brands are some of the most sophisticated data consumers on the planet. They are rapidly moving to 1st-party-data-only initiatives to ensure real personalization, they are balancing the changing regulatory environment with legislation such as GDPR and CCPA and they are doing it without the ‘creepy’ factor...ensuring we as consumers get the best of them and enhancing our overall experience rather than profiting from our information alone.
What made you want to come to Amperity?
BP: I worked in the travel and expense space at a company called Concur for 20 years. One of the things I loved most was how relevant the solutions were to the people I met and to me personally. Everyone that has travelled for business knows the pain of cancelled flights, missed connections, middle seats, inefficient logistics, impersonal experiences, expense reports, etc. It was so easy to connect the work to the pain. With Amperity, I feel the same way — we all have stories of companies that leave us wondering if they know or care about us as customers — Amperity is fixing that and I couldn't be more passionate about that topic, personally as well as professionally.
What’s something most people don’t know about you?
BP: Whenever I’m watching a movie on a plane... I end up crying over the lamest scenes. Maybe I feel the most vulnerable and mortal when in a metal tube at 35,000 feet rolling at 580 mph… but say someone in the movie can’t find their car or something similar, I’m in tears! Embarrassing when the person next to me can see the movie, but otherwise I own it.