At Informatica World 2015, Marge Breya, EVP and CMO of Worldwide Marketing and Education at Informatica Corp., sat down with John Furrier and Jeff Frick of theCUBE.

The discussion started on the subject of the event itself. Breya noted that Informatica World had grown, and now they hosted more than 2,500 people with around 5,000 hands-on lab sessions. “This year is our biggest show, and we’re sold out for the first year ever,” she said.

A real-time understanding

The discussion came around to the topic of customer data.

“Today it’s not enough to merely have a site that knows what your customer has done with you,” Breya said. “It’s important to understand the context and engagement of the customer.”

Toward that end, Informatica has built a new website that generates a customer profile and uses data to power predictive algorithms to show consumers useful products. Another vital strategy is reaching the customer. Breya mentioned the company’s approach was a channel-by-channel plan, but it also invested in merging those channels together.

Creating a community

The discussion turned to addressing new ways of marketing to customers. Breya related some of the new techniques, like collaboration and gamification. The idea is to create a safe community where people can share and engage.

“It’s about a conversation,” Breya said. To have that conversation, companies must offer content that earns credibility, they have to engage the customer, and it’s important to understand that people might sometimes say things that aren’t so great. That’s how you bring your customers into an authentic conversation.

“The question is,” she said, “are you part of the conversation, or are you not?”

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of Informatica World 2015.