Acxiom

See which workplaces made this year's list.

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Employees say:"The people I work with are very nice and understanding. They are also extremely knowledgeable and good at their jobs. I do feel like part of a team, and we are always ready to help each other. My manager cares about us as people and understands our needs in and out of work. She's the best manager I've ever had and it's difficult to give that up."

Best Large Workplaces in Technology

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Employees say: 
 
"Acxiom has a great wor-/life balance and genuinely cares about its associates and their families. Managers at all levels recognize that work-life balance is important and never look down upon associates for taking time off for any reason. If an area has been impacted by a natural disaster, the leadership team is immediately emailing associates in the area to ensure they and their families are okay. Teams also rally around teammates who may be experiencing a hardship to support them and cover for them so they can focus on whatever they are going through."

GPTW Information Technology Large 2022-Acxiom LLC

Employees say: 
 
“No matter where you go in the company, you have a team. On top of that, everyone here is willing to help you learn, help you grow, and help you excel at what you do. There is not a single space in this company that will not welcome you with open arms and treat you as if you have been here your entire life.”

The companies on this annual list make a conscious effort to be supportive, inclusive workplaces.

GPTW Women 2022-Acxiom LLC

Employees say: 
 
“This is a family and community friendly company -- we have 40 hours allocated for "volunteer work" annually!! A new hire can start with a 4-week paid day off for the 1st year, and one extra week will be added when you complete the 5th year. The longer you stay, the better it gets. On top of that, parents can attend their children's school functions, after school sports events, or impromptu events at any giving time as long as you let your team know that you have a plan to get your share of work done. And, you can work from home to care for a sick child or pamper yourself when you are under the weather. There is a great trust among people and strong support for each other on our campus. I appreciate the company!”

100 Best Large Workplaces for Women

Caring leaders at the Best Workplaces in Technology have been preparing their companies to thrive as the business world emerges from the COVID downturn.

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Employees say: 
“This is a very family-oriented company. Managers are very understanding and proactive about my career growth. I feel very accepted. I enjoy that the work I do is related to my skill set and that I've been able to learn new tools.” 
Read the Great Place to Work review .

The companies on this year's list make a conscious effort to be supportive, inclusive workplaces.

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Employees say: 
 
“I love all of the diversity and inclusion seminars and emails. I like knowing my company stands on the right side of history. That's very important to me.”

Best Workplaces In Technology

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In a landscape where consumer trust is fragile and tech investments must deliver ROI, executives face a high-stakes challenge: how to unlock the full value of data without compromising privacy or brand integrity.
At Fuel Up With Fortune in Cannes, Jarrod Martin, CEO of Acxiom & KINESSO, Kaveri Camire, CMO of DXC Technology, and Michael Lacorazza, CMO of U.S. Bank joined Fortune's Ruth Umoh to share candid insights and real-world lessons on rethinking data governance, optimizing investments, and reaching more consumers.

Executives Turning First-Party Data into a Strategic Advantage

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Uh, so at Fortune we interview C-suite executives, uh, at Infinitum, and I'm sure you all have heard, uh, the adage that Ze is oil. Data is the new oil. Companies are obsessed with collecting more and more data. I, however, would argue I would posit. That most companies today are actually drowning in data, uh, but starving for insight. So first question, just to kind of level set and kick things off, how are each of you ensuring that your data strategy actually drives measurable performance, uh, and doesn't just become another nebulous call center? Perhaps you can kick this off, Kari. Sure, um, thank you for having all of us here. So for me, I think, uh, you know, I come from 20 to 30 years of just B2B world where everything is data. Data is around how we look at our customers, how we derive value from, uh, the customer set. But I think in my mind right now for my teams, especially in the era of AI that everybody's talking about, we got to really look at. Get rid of the noise, cut the noise, and really sharpen our focus on what truly matters and how you look at data that actually drives value. But for me, the biggest thing of that is customer centricity. There's so much data out there, but I think we've we have to pause and listen. And that's something that we're not doing that much of, and my biggest focus for the team right now is think about what our customers are saying. Think about what our customers want from us. Think about the problems they are looking to solve for, and that's the golden nugget that I want to look at from a data perspective, and there's a ton of technology out there today to advance that and leverage that for real value. Uh, quick follow up there, uh, you. Firm, what are customers telling you? What are they craving? What pain points are you trying to address? Yes, I'll give a quick view. DXC is 120,000 people. It's a global company. We're operate in 60 countries. Fortune 500 Fortune 500 company. Thanks Fortune. And it's, it's really about understanding. We are a global company at scale, but we also are very focused on local excellence, and what I mean by that is there are cultural norm. responses there's data sovereignty. There's so many discussions that are happening, especially around AI right now, but customers are asking for answers. Nobody knows all the answers. There is a lot of hype. There's a lot of promise, but I think for us what's really important is we work with some of the largest brands in the world if it's Mercedes, BMW, Allianz, um, you know, American Airlines United, the data for each of these customers is the life. Line because it's dealing with patients, it's dealing with passengers it's dealing with people's lives and they are asking us, and we're very fortunate that we've lived in the notion of trust. Our customers have trusted us for decades, so we've been around for a long time. We've been through many cycles internet, cloud, mobile, AI is next. Probably Quantum will be the next one, and I think the single thread of focus is we trust you journey after. Journey helping us with the innovation. So that's what they're asking us. Show us the path on how do we advance in AI, but how do we do it ethically and safely? And that's what the trusted left for DXC is really important. Yeah, well, we'll momentarily zero into that to that angle on trust. Curious to hear from you, Michael, how you're using data to really pull out meaningful impactful insights for the US banks. Yeah, I'd love to build on that point around customer centricity. Uh, you know, there, there's no substitute for understanding your customers, what's important to them, what problems you're solving, how they make decisions, how does their journey come to life, and our, our, you know, larger companies like us have massive amounts of data on our on our clients and we um. We have also an expectation that we're going to do something productive with it and something meaningful and valuable to to make the customer experience better. So it starts with that kind of level of understanding and then what we start to think about is what do we know in our data that can help us deliver a superior customer experience that differentiates us in the market. You know what kinds of solutions, products and services are most valuable at what moment in time and you know when are those channels, those touch points when we serve them, and that's that's the foundation of where we start. And then from there it's then analyzing and understanding what signals you have that can enable that because there is, there is a lot of noise and you have to find the nuggets that really make a difference. And when you say signals, what do you mean by that? Yeah, so you know, there might be some examples of how a client is moving, moving money. Um, that could, could signal some sort of a life change where they need a piece of advice or guidance and enabling to do that. And so if we understand that from just how they're working with us, then we can proactively reach out and be of service. I was just going to say like these are all really great points. I think you know advertisers are obsessed with too obsessed with collecting data to your question. And I think focusing on what matters is really important and what drives results and being customer centric is really important as well, so I'm not going to duplicate all of those really great points. What I would say though is on top of that is an enabler of these things is being able to connect the data together. So most advertisers would say they have more than enough data to make decisions, but they don't have it in a form that they can use to make decisions with. And so by connecting that data together, what do I mean by that, creating an identity spine that allows you to connect different lines of business together to connect different touch points between earned and earned media channels that enables you to really recognize the consumer and treat them as an individual and recognize their journey with you. That's really the key for me on top of these great points is having that connected ecosystem that can then power both both personalization at scale but also. Um having a way of Allowing consumers to control their own destiny. So if you've got a single repository of data that's connected, if a consumer wants to opt in or opt out of anything, it's a really simple process to give them that control and to show them in marketing that you're listening to their feedback. I say that that's the whole point. Like, are you listening? You're hearing a lot, but are you actually pausing and listening, and that's your point on like having those connective tissue and the dots of like, let's look at all the different facets and take a minute and listen. Yeah, I mean an example might be like email can be a bit of a bugbear for some people where email doesn't cost much money to send, so everyone gets their inbox spammed, right? But email might pick up signals from the consumer about who they are and what they like. Let's just say they opt out of that email. Now what the smart thing is to do is to not send them any more emails, but. But then recognize what you've learned from those emails to better inform the other channels that they still want to speak to you through. If you do that, you're managing the best of both worlds. You're creating the customization, but also the control. Uh, Kaveri brought up trust earlier and that's really at the crux of this conversation. So let's lean in, uh, there, Michael. I want to turn to you. US Bank, obviously, uh, a financial institution ostensibly highly regulated, so you cannot afford to treat data carelessly. Uh, what is your internal scorecard for evaluating third party data partners and, and just what's your overall framework for trust, for quality, for compliance, and how that shapes your marketing? Yes, and at US Bank, trust is at the center of our brand. And it's one of those, it's one of those elusive type of, you know, emotional connections where it takes a really long time to earn it and if you make a mistake you can lose it really, really quickly and data and caring for that data is at the center of that and the expectation that we will care for it, so. With respect to how we onboard third party data, we have a very, we have very well established processes and procedures to to to evaluate, you know, the veracity of the chain of control. Do we have the proper usage rights, do we have the proper, you know, IP protections and so forth, and, and so for for a partner that ends up in our ecosystem, you know, they, it's a pretty high bar. Uh, let me turn over to you, uh, Jared, because you, you alluded to this at the top of the conversation. Everyone is chasing personalization at scale. I think we're in the era of hyper personalization. What does it actually take to do that well, kind of make this really sticky for for those in the room? Yeah, I mean, personalization at scale is an easy thing to say. It's a difficult thing to do. I think we talked about creating a connected data environment to enable that personalization. That's a really key infrastructural element. I think we also talked about marrying the personalization with the control that the consumer has so that they can opt in or opt out whatever they like. I think the other thing to think about is that a lot of advertisers might personalize because they can, not because they should, and I think we should think about what elements of personalization are actually driving results versus what elements are driving complexity. The way I think about things is, is we need to bifurcate our thinking between how we operate as a business, as an advertiser versus how we appear to an end consumer. We can be increasingly sophisticated under the water. But we need to be increasingly simple above the water and increasingly customized to that consumer. So personalization at scale is around simplifying the end user experience, focusing on what matters to that consumer, while having complex decision logic and data sets to sit underneath that. A similar question for you could vary, you know, Seeds, as you already noted works with clients like Mercedes-Benz, like United Airlines, uh, like Lincoln Financial. These are all brands with vast and complex, uh, data ecosystems. So how are you helping them to unlock value while still balancing innovation with integrity? Yeah, so I think this goes back to what you were saying. Um, I think we would not exist if our customers. did not trust us and value us for taking them to these risk-driven journeys, uh, in technological advancement. tech is moving at such a crazy pace and such a fast pace. Um, the way we look at DXC and how we are operating with all of our customers is, uh, it's not just about ROI, it's trust ROI. Because if we don't have that trust ROI, it's not going to work for us. We have governments, we have, uh, you know, like I was saying, we have airlines where lives of passengers matter. We have banks where people's, uh, you know, money is sitting in those banks, and I think a slight glitch in the system is not just unacceptable, it is existential. You can't operate in an environment where you don't have that. So from a marketing perspective, I'll just say something as simple as we just had a client advisory council a couple of months ago where we brought closed door sessions, something it's sometimes it's even nice to just go to simple things that existed in the past that we don't do anymore. Let's get in a room, talk to our customers. And I asked them a simple question, where you're headed? What is your biggest challenge? And the third was, how do you like to communicate with us and how do you communicate on a daily basis? What is the tool or the platform that you use the most? Is it long lead blogs? Is it videos, is is a text? You will not believe they all said we don't want long form things first. We would prefer to look at videos, and this is C-suite, CIOs, CTOs, CEOs. Time is money, and they're constrained. So I think those are the things that we're starting to do is really listen to hear how our customers who are some of the most, you know, in the most mission critical spaces are consuming information. They all said video, start with small video. Give us the TikTok version of the story, and then if you want to lean in more, we will come to you. They want digestible. You said you also asked that cohort, what are the biggest challenges and obstacles? What did they say were the were the pain points, any trends that emerged there? So in the room without naming, there were banks. There was a bakery, believe it or not, they are using robotics to distribute thousands and thousands of loaves of bread. And they are all trying to figure out how do they drive efficiency with AI. A lot of them have very private focused networks with an AI right now because they're not kind of sure yet of is their data going to be exposed. So this goes back to my point where they are working with us and leaning on us to show them, uh, opportunities and direction of. Take advantage of AI, but our goal is to take advantage of AI in the right ethical way, which is going to take them to the next level. So that was a big question like show us how, how do you find the balance uh between helpful personalization and perceived surveillance, you know, the, the privacy conversation, and he thought, Michael, and I'd actually be curious to hear from all of you. Absolutely, yeah, yeah, well, you know, surveillance is for me if defined you're listening in in a in a sort of cynical way, right? And um with with if if we get personalization right, we're listening to our clients, we know it's important to them and we're using the data and the signals to to improve their experience with us to deepen those relationships, um. You know, I, there are several examples out there where, you know, one was, you know, a woman was shopping for, you know, one particular item and it signaled that maybe she was pregnant and then the brand starts to serve diapers and it's like to me that's that's crossing the line, right? And that's like that could be felt as too invasive and personal and surveillance, but But um, but if you but if you find a way to do it where um you're delivering value, you know, value exchange for the information that you're acting on, then you've kind of got it dialed in. Let's talk financial metrics um as as as we begin to wrap this up, uh, what would you say is the most important question a CMO or even a CEO should ask before making their next big data, uh, or more tech investment? I would say um. Is it going to simplify and connect what I have today, or is it going to complicate and further add cost to my business? I think when we talk about marketing ROI, we talk about the cost of the communication versus the benefit that that communication drives. What we don't talk about is the underlying cost of the infrastructure that's used to create those communications, and we don't actively manage the total cost to try to make it work better for us. If we can unlock the billions of dollars that are spent in Martech around the world. And make those work harder for us. That marketing ROI on a net net basis will go through the roof. I have two simple things I ask my team all the time. Show me how it's going to get us closer to the customer. Show me. Give me examples right off the bat. And the second one is, um, let's not just invest for investment's sake. Ask yourself what's the outcome that you're getting at, because I think sometimes we're All just moving at such hyperbolic speed that we're not stopping and thinking, what am I trying to get at and what these are some very basic questions, but I think oftentimes to your point where you said, we're investing and we're not thinking about it, you have to ask yourself what is the outcome that we want to get at, um, you know, and for us it's global. Most of our implementations and executions are global, so you've got to really, really be thoughtful about what's your outcome. Call us out, please. Yeah, so. I would say before you you contemplate adding on any sort of analysis tool or technology on top of what you're trying to achieve, is your, do you have the right data sets and are they in the right condition and format to be able to act upon? Because if you don't have that foundation in place, then you can put any fancy technology, AI, whatever on top of it and it won't matter. So you start getting that, get in that place first, then you can start to begin to contemplate what you put on top. Fantastic way to end. thank you all, uh, lots of great takeaways. Uh, trust is not optional when it comes to data and you have to be outcome oriented, really cutting out the noise. So thank you, thank you, thank you.

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