The Customer Data Platform Institute educates marketers and technologists about customer data management. The Institute publishes industry news and educational materials, provides vendor comparison reports, builds directories of industry vendors and service firms, and offers Webinars, workshops, and consulting on related issues. Customer Data Platforms are defined as “packaged software that maintains a unified, persistent customer database which is accessible to external systems.” They are the only types of packaged software specifically designed to create and share a complete view of each customer. The CDP Institute’s RealCDPTM program certifies systems that meet the Institute’s definition.