Customer data platform Segment adds Looker Source to define audiences from multiple tools

A visualization of a nervous system.

Segment, the San Francisco-based customer data platform, is out with a new collaboration that positions it as a kind of virtual marketing automation platform.

Originally, Segment’s purpose in life was to act as a kind of data switchboard. Businesses can pipe data in and out of their various marketing and operational tools via Segment, instead of setting up separate APIs and other interfaces between each one.

This week, Segment and business intelligence provider Looker have announced a new product called Looker Source. It allows a brand to employ user behavior in various tools that connect to the Segment ecosystem, in order to drive actions in the other tools.

Segment CEO and co-founder Peter Reinhardt told me that Looker Source can currently ingest data from about 30 of the 200 or so tools in the ecosystem. The data is then used to create a target group that can be sent to any Segment-connected tool for action. He said his company is developing the interfaces for grabbing data from additional tools.

[Read the full article on MarTech Today.]

About The Author

Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.