Building a Unified Customer Data Platform with Databricks and HubSpot

In today’s customer-centric world, businesses need a unified view of their audience to power every go-to-market (GTM) motion—marketing, sales, and customer success. Traditional Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) often fall short, locking data into inflexible silos or duplicating it across systems. Enter the composable CDP: a modular, future-ready approach built on your existing data infrastructure. By combining Databricks’ Lakehouse architecture with HubSpot as the all-in-one customer platform for GTM teams, you can create a scalable, powerful CDP that unifies data and drives action across your entire customer lifecycle.

What is a Composable CDP on the Lakehouse?

A composable CDP leverages your data infrastructure—here, the Databricks Lakehouse—as the single source of truth for customer data, paired with a flexible front-end platform like HubSpot to activate it. Unlike standalone CDPs, this approach avoids redundant data storage and rigid schemas, integrating seamlessly with your tech stack. Databricks handles data ingestion, unification, and analytics, while HubSpot serves as the central hub for all GTM teams—marketing, sales, and service—to engage customers effectively.

Here’s why this Databricks-HubSpot partnership shines:

1. Your Data, Your Rules
   Databricks centralises all customer data—structured or unstructured—in the Lakehouse, eliminating the need to replicate it elsewhere. HubSpot then taps into this data to fuel every GTM workflow, from lead generation to post-sale support.
2. Schema Freedom
   With Databricks, you define customer entities (e.g., accounts, users, or subscriptions) that match your business, not a vendor’s template. HubSpot adapts this data into its CRM, enabling GTM teams to work with a tailored customer view.
3. End-to-End Interoperability
   Most companies have fragmented tools—analytics platforms, CRMs, or campaign managers. Databricks unifies the data backbone, and HubSpot connects it to every GTM function, creating a cohesive strategy without gaps.
4. Efficiency at Scale
   Why pay for an all-in-one CDP when you can build one? Databricks processes data at scale, while HubSpot’s comprehensive platform empowers GTM teams—keeping costs lean and value high.

Why Databricks and HubSpot?

Databricks brings the Lakehouse’s data unification and AI capabilities, while HubSpot redefines the customer platform for all GTM teams—not just marketing, but sales and service too. Together, they deliver a CDP that’s complete (covering the full data-to-action lifecycle) and composable (adaptable to your needs).

• Databricks: The Data Foundation
  Databricks’ Lakehouse consolidates raw and modelled customer data—think web events, purchase histories, or support tickets—into a governed, scalable environment. Its analytics and AI tools enrich this data with insights like customer lifetime value or churn predictions.
• HubSpot: The GTM Powerhouse
  HubSpot isn’t just a CRM; it’s the operational hub for marketing, sales, and customer success. With tools like Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, and Service Hub, it turns Databricks’ data into actionable strategies—campaigns, deal pipelines, and support resolutions—all in one platform.

How to Build Your Databricks-HubSpot CDP

Here’s how to construct this composable CDP, step by step:

1. Unify Data in Databricks
   Ingest all customer-related data—CRM exports, event streams, transaction logs—into Databricks. Use Delta Lake for reliability and governance. For example, an e-commerce company could merge customer profiles, order data, and browsing behaviour into a unified dataset.
2. Model Data for GTM Insights
   Leverage Databricks’ SQL, Python, or ML tools to transform raw data into actionable entities—like “high-intent leads” or “at-risk accounts.” This flexibility ensures your CDP reflects your business logic, not a one-size-fits-all mould.
3. Integrate with HubSpot
   Sync Databricks’ modelled data to HubSpot via APIs, webhooks, or integration platforms (e.g., Fivetran or custom workflows). For instance, push a segment of “engaged prospects” to HubSpot’s Sales Hub for immediate follow-up, or send “VIP customers” to Service Hub for priority support.
4. Activate Across GTM Teams
   With data in HubSpot, GTM teams take over:
   • Marketing: Launch multi-channel campaigns (email, ads, social) using Marketing Hub’s tools, targeting segments from Databricks.
   • Sales: Prioritise leads and manage deals in Sales Hub, enriched with Databricks’ predictive scores.
   • Service: Resolve issues faster in Service Hub, armed with a full customer history from the Lakehouse.
5. Loop Back Insights
   Capture engagement data—campaign responses, deal outcomes, support ticket resolutions—from HubSpot and feed it back to Databricks. This creates a continuous feedback loop, refining your data and powering smarter GTM strategies.

Real-World Example: A B2B SaaS Playbook

Picture a B2B SaaS company. In Databricks, they consolidate user activity, subscription details, and support interactions into the Lakehouse, modelling data to identify “expansion opportunities” (e.g., accounts ready for upsell). This syncs to HubSpot, where:

• Marketing runs nurture campaigns for trial users.
• Sales targets high-potential accounts with personalised pitches.
• Service proactively supports at-risk users flagged by Databricks’ churn models.
  Engagement data flows back to Databricks, enhancing future predictions and GTM efforts.

Benefits of the Databricks-HubSpot CDP

• Holistic Customer View
  Databricks unifies complex datasets—like multi-user accounts or cross-channel interactions—while HubSpot delivers a 360-degree view to every GTM team.
• GTM Agility
  HubSpot’s intuitive tools let marketing, sales, and service act on Databricks’ data in real time—no IT bottlenecks.
• Scalable Customisation
  As your business grows, Databricks scales your data operations, and HubSpot adapts its hubs to new GTM priorities.
• Data Governance
  
  Databricks ensures compliance and transparency, while HubSpot’s secure CRM keeps GTM actions auditable.

This Databricks-HubSpot CDP puts your Lakehouse at the core, with HubSpot as the GTM command centre. It’s a unified, adaptable solution that empowers every customer-facing team with the data they need to succeed.

Want to dive deeper? Set up a call with one of our Solution Architects today.