We are excited to feature Indah Mustikasari, Marketing Technology Manager at Xero, in our Speaker Interview series. Indah brings a wealth of expertise in CDP integrations, MarTech stacks, and product analytics, with experience in leading fashion & lifestyle e-commerce companies in Southeast Asia. At Xero, she drives the business roadmap for CDPs, aligning strategic priorities to maximise impact.
At the MarTech Summit Asia 2025 in Singapore, she will join the Day 2 B2C Track Panel Discussion | [Customer Data Platform (CDP)] Democratising Data and Building a Customer-Centric Culture with CDPs, where she will share insights on how CDPs foster a customer-centric culture, democratise data, and drive personalisation and collaboration.
About Xero
Xero is a leading cloud-based accounting software company headquartered in New Zealand, providing accounting solutions for small businesses, accountants, and bookkeepers worldwide. With a focus on automation, data integration, and user-friendly design, Xero helps businesses simplify financial management and enhance decision-making.
Quick Q&A Indah Mustikasari
Could you please give us a quick introduction of yourself?
I’m Indah Mustikasari, Marketing Technology Manager at Xero, a cloud accounting software company headquartered in New Zealand. Over the years, my expertise has centred on CDP integrations, martech stacks, and product analytics in the largest fashion & lifestyle e-commerce company in Southeast Asia. My current role at Xero revolves around enabling CDP, driving its business roadmap, and aligning strategic priorities for maximum impact.
Why did you choose to participate in this summit?
I always say yes to connecting with like-minded professionals. Summits and conferences are where the magic happens—where competitors become collaborators, and where the best ideas often emerge over casual conversations. Whether I’m on stage or in the audience, these events fuel learning, inspire innovation, and help foster genuine connections.
The term “marketing technology” is still underrated—despite blending marketing and technology, its true scope extends far beyond. It touches data infrastructure, system architecture, engineering, analytics, business strategy, value measurement, tactical campaigns, and so much more.
In your experience, what are the key factors that help drive cross-functional collaboration using a CDP?
Senior Leadership Buy-In
A CDP is a game-changer—but it needs champions at the top. Leaders who take the financial leap to onboard a CDP tend to have an experimentation mindset, embracing wins and learnings rather than fearing failure. More importantly, they are ready to challenge outdated tech stacks and drive optimisation and efficiency. Once leadership is on board, it paves the way for a cultural and mindset shift, empowering teams through upskilling and ultimately enhancing the end-user and customer experience.
Co-Ownership of the Tool
A CDP should never be locked away by a single team. Instead, it should be co-owned across multiple departments, keeping it dynamic and continuously evolving. Shared ownership fosters accountability, promotes transparency, and builds trust, encouraging teams to collaborate with their expertise, exchange ideas, and optimise the platform collectively. This not only ensures long-term success but also drives greater engagement and innovation.
Fostering Value Creation
CDPs aren’t just about managing data and integrations; they’re about delivering measurable value. Every initiative should be backed by a solid hypothesis, clear success metrics, and projected uplift. A structured approach to measuring impact ensures the CDP stays relevant, helps justify its ROI to leadership, and inspires teams with success stories that demonstrate tangible business benefits.
How have you seen the role of Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) evolve in recent years, and what trends do you anticipate in the near future?
One question I always love asking other professionals: What does your CDP integration dashboard look like?
A company’s CDP snapshot is like a fingerprint—unique, interesting, and definitely not one-size-fits-all. Best practices that work seamlessly in one industry can be a major challenge in another. The conversation around CDPs has shifted. It’s no longer just about tech stacks, data sources, and destinations—it’s increasingly about advocacy, democratisation, mindset shifts, organisational structure, and internal adoption.
Surprisingly, onboarding a CDP doesn’t just shake up the tech stack—it disrupts people and processes, too. It forces organisations to rethink workflows, redefine ownership, and embrace a more collaborative, data-driven culture. The real challenge? Ensuring that everyone—from tech teams to internal users—not only understands the tool but actually uses it to drive impact.
Composable Tech Stacks are Favored
Gone are the days of rigid monolithic CDPs. As businesses evolve, they need composable architectures—plug-and-play solutions that integrate seamlessly with existing tools. A composable approach offers greater flexibility, vendor agnosticism, and adaptability, ensuring businesses can evolve their stack without costly overhauls.
Verticalised CDP
While major CDP players dominate the market, their roadmaps often cater to their biggest clients—typically retail, e-commerce, and B2C businesses—leaving niche industries underserved. There’s a growing demand for industry-specific CDPs with built-in solutions for many-to-many data modelling, data compliance, consent management, and release management. Specialised CDPs can reduce implementation time, improve operational efficiency, and provide deeper industry relevance—proving that the future of CDPs isn’t just about scale but smart, tailored solutions.
The Rising Demand for CDP Experts
With CDPs becoming the backbone of modern marketing stacks, demand for skilled professionals is growing. Companies need talent who can implement, manage, and optimise CDPs, making it a prime area for upskilling. If your company is onboarding a CDP, get hands-on! The expertise may seem niche now, but in a world rapidly embracing AI-driven personalisation and automation, it’s set to become an essential skill within the next three years.
Embracing the Technology & User Privacy
Just as we embraced social media decades ago—reshaping how we connect and share—we should welcome CDPs and their evolving capabilities. These tools empower organisations to innovate, move faster, and make smarter decisions, all while ensuring data is handled responsibly.
At the same time, as technology advances, user privacy has never been more critical. Just as social media platforms now offer more privacy controls, giving users greater say over their personal information, businesses must also embrace privacy-first practices. Transparency and user control should be at the heart of how data is managed. Because the future isn’t just about what technology can do—it’s about how we use it ethically and thoughtfully.
Join Us at the The MarTech Summit Asia @ Singapore!
The MarTech Summit Asia, our flagship event, returns to Singapore in April 2025! This two-day summit will feature top marketing and technology leaders from diverse industries, discussing the latest trends in MarTech, customer experience, data, analytics, and sales enablement.
📅 Date: 8 & 9 April 2025
📍 Venue: Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
🔹 Language: English
Join CMOs, Heads, and Directors from across Asia for insightful discussions, networking opportunities, and real-world case studies on marketing technology’s evolving landscape.
➡ Register now! https://themartechsummit.com/singapore-registration
➡ Interested in becoming a partner? Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at sponsor@themartechsummit.com.
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See more MarTech Thoughts interview pieces here!
Last updated: March 2025
