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Activation and orchestration
CEP
Customer Engagement Platform
A CEP coordinates customer interaction through audiences, journeys, decisions, and channels. Its center is acting on the customer, not keeping all history as the source of truth.
- When it applies
- It appears when the main problem is orchestrating messages and decisions across channels with shared operational state, frequency, eligibility, and contextual response.
- What it is confused with
- Some CEPs maintain profiles and segmentation, so they can resemble a CDP. The useful distinction is which state they own and which operating responsibility they assume.
- Architecture consequence
- Durable history must be separated from interaction state. If the CEP becomes the source of truth by accident, changing channels or platforms becomes more expensive.