Digital third-party cookie deprecation; consumer tracking limitations across platforms; access to data from “walled gardens” such as Facebook, retail media groups, and Amazon; and privacy-preserving actions are all throwing a wrench into data-driven business decisions across functional groups. Data and technology leaders must act fast to determine how they can leverage new tools to foster data collaboration with their partners. Enter data clean rooms, the shiny new privacy-focused data collaboration tool that allows brands to share their sensitive customer-level data with trusted partners such as retailers or publishers.

Why would a brand want to share its customer data with a trusted partner? Better insights, of course. At the upcoming Data Strategy & Insights event, data and tech leaders will discover how they can help build an intelligence strategy through data, technology, organization, and process best practices. And a piece of building any insights strategy includes investing in data clean rooms, a technology that captivated marketing leaders as a potential way to combat the problem of data deprecation. The hope is that clean rooms can enable brands and partners to share sensitive enterprise data for specific use cases. For marketing, this means more precise ad measurement, creating targetable audiences, or enhancing ad personalization efforts. But clean rooms could be the conduit to connect a brand’s data with its partners’ data in a privacy-preserving environment so that brands can learn more about customer journeys and behaviors.

Before jumping into another technology investment, be warned: The jury’s still out on data clean rooms. While marketers see a huge potential upside to building partnerships through data sharing, questions about scale and capabilities remain unanswered. But can clean rooms support a brand’s global insights efforts as insights become essential differentiation in a highly competitive market? Maybe. In the meantime, it’s imperative for data and tech leaders to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of clean rooms.

Has the mystique of clean rooms caught your attention? If so, come join me at Forrester’s upcoming Data Strategy & Insights event, December 6–7, in Austin and online. I will be presenting on how data and technology leaders can better support their business partners by using clean rooms to unearth more complex customer insights.