The useful question is what changes for users, developers or buyers, and whether the announcement stays industry context or becomes something people can actually use.

Okta’s *Mistaken Identity* podcast welcomed Sophie Crosby, co-founder of Paso Consulting and former executive at Ticketmaster, Salesforce, and LiveNation, to discuss leveraging identity data for customer trust. Crosby emphasized that successful customer experiences depend on collaboration between marketing, technology, and product teams, rather than isolated efforts. She highlighted her career journey, including roles in music marketing at Sony Records and strategic leadership at Salesforce, where she worked to align product development with business outcomes.

Crosby explained that products often emerge from a ‘what if’ scenario, but without clear vision and cross-functional alignment, teams may build solutions that miss user needs. She cited an example of a Belgian recruitment company that used employee feedback teams as early testers for new initiatives, ensuring alignment with user expectations. Crosby also noted the emotional and cultural challenges of adopting new technology, such as retraining customer service staff at IKEA to become digital interior design consultants, demonstrating how technology can unlock new roles and opportunities.

Marketing has undergone significant changes in recent years, driven by the decline of third-party cookies, rising customer acquisition costs, and the rise of video and influencer marketing. Crosby stressed that marketers must now focus on first-party data and progressive profiling to deliver personalized experiences. She pointed to advancements in data processing platforms like Databricks, Snowflake, and Salesforce Data Cloud as tools that enable deeper customer insights, but noted that many marketers still struggle to access or integrate this data effectively.

Crosby identified friction between marketers and technology teams as a major barrier to personalization. She described how marketers often wait weeks for data segments from engineering teams, receiving only raw data that lacks actionable context. This disconnect stems from misaligned priorities and resource constraints, leaving marketers unable to leverage customer data efficiently. Crosby advocated for shared roadmaps and collaborative models to bridge this gap, ensuring that marketing, technology, and product teams work toward unified goals.