This is the fourth in a five-part blog post series that delves into modernizing marketing strategies through the integration of advanced marketing platforms. I had the pleasure of interviewing Shaun Memon of Munvo for this series, where we discuss a wide range of topics, from fragmented MarTech stacks, first-party data use and cross-channel marketing to modern marketing journeys and complex decisioning. This blog will focus specifically on using SAS Customer Intelligence 360 for orchestrating customer journeys.
What makes building consistent omnichannel journeys so challenging, and what changes when orchestration happens from one place instead of separate tools?
Shaun Memon: Most teams stitch journeys together across separate tools. Segmentation occurs in one place, triggers are in another, and outbound delivery takes place in a third. Some systems pull live data from on-site sources, while others require pushes into a vendor cloud. Every handoff introduces more teams, more skills, more APIs that break when events or attributes change, and more latency to manage – plus higher costs associated with integrating so many items. The result is fragile orchestration that pushes marketers toward simple, email-heavy flows instead of dynamic, cross-channel journeys.
When orchestration happens in one place, the picture changes. Audiences, offers, events and creative are defined once and reused everywhere. Marketers work in a single UI, respond to live signals, and adjust logic without opening tickets. Fewer handoffs reduce delays and errors. Journeys become truly omnichannel across digital and physical touch points, with messaging that pivots in the moment and measurement that is consistent end to end.
How does SAS® Customer Intelligence 360 unify journey orchestration across digital and physical touch points, and how are online and offline signals used together in a journey?
Memon: Marketing is no longer just media and coupons. Every touch point is part of the customer experience, including frontline staff, call centers and in-store teams. SAS Customer Intelligence 360 unifies these digital and physical interactions by coordinating journeys from a single platform.
Audiences created in the software can drive email, SMS, push and web personalization immediately. The same segments and rules also inform offline touch points. SAS Customer Intelligence 360 ingests real-time events from systems (e.g., POS and call centers), updates context and returns the next-best action so staff see the right offer or guidance immediately.
Because orchestration occurs in a single interface, the logic behind eligibility, prioritization and creative stays consistent across channels. Online activity can trigger an in-store follow-up, and an in-store event can adjust web and mobile experiences within the same journey. The result is a cohesive, phygital experience where every channel works from the same audience, the same decisions and the same source of truth.
How does the SAS Customer Intelligence 360 journey tool let marketers build and manage journeys without heavy IT or multiple disconnected systems?
Memon: It coordinates web, mobile, email, call center and in-store from a single interface. Live events from both environments update context in the moment so offers and messaging reflect what just happened online or at the point of sale. Journeys stay synchronized as customers move between channels.
There is some initial IT involvement to connect digital and offline channels, but these are one-time integrations. Once the end points are configured, marketers can build and manage journeys entirely within the software.
From there, everything runs through a marketer-friendly interface. Create outbound tasks for delivery channels and define inbound event triggers for signals like site visits, app actions or POS interactions. These reusable tasks become building blocks you can use on their own or assemble into larger journeys. No ongoing API work, no rewiring per use case and no new tickets each time you add a branch or offer. Marketing stays in control while IT maintains a stable, low-maintenance connection.
How does the solution’s real-time decisioning handle complex offer selection across touch points, and how does it improve journey outcomes?
Memon: Real-time decisioning matters because customer context changes. A static journey, even if well designed, will miss moments where a different offer is more valuable to the customer and the business. Real-time decisioning is an advanced capability to adopt once the foundational pieces are in place. Not every customer fits well into the propensity models; even when they do, a customer’s context may not always stay valid for the duration of a planned journey.
For example, a customer may be in a birthday campaign with a specific promotion. However, they instead look for winter gear and you have a higher value winter coat promotion coming up. In that moment, the winter offer is the better fit.
The goal is to capture real-time signals from digital and in-person channels, use a decisioning engine to choose what to showcase, and orchestrate that choice consistently across channels. This shifts you from static, journey-based offers to responding to current needs and thinking in terms of lifetime value.
Can you walk through a real-world example of a journey that demonstrates speed, control and real-time orchestration?
Memon: Sure, let’s expand on the birthday campaign mentioned earlier. Mary is a loyalty member and a month before her birthday she gets an email and a push message that lets her know there’s a birthday offer waiting. When she visits the website, she’s greeted with the same message. If she stops by a store, the POS and associate view show the birthday offer so the frontline team can acknowledge her, reinforce the perk, and make the experience feel personal. As her birthday gets closer, the cadence and creativity tighten, moving from awareness to reminder to a clear “use it now” nudge.
Now context shifts. While Mary is in the store, her mobile browsing and location signals show she’s spending time in the winter jackets section. This is where real-time decisioning earns its keep. SAS Intelligent Decisioning reads the signals, checks eligibility and business rules, and ranks the winter-coat promotion above the birthday offer for this moment. SAS Customer Intelligence 360 carries that choice everywhere: the associate sees “winter-coat promo” first, with the birthday offer still visible as a secondary option.
Frontline staff and CSRs see the recommended offer order on their screen, along with the birthday perk still available. That visibility empowers the associate to say, “I can apply the winter jacket promotion today, and you still have your birthday offer for your next visit.” The conversation becomes consultative, not transactional, which builds customer trust.
On the way out, Mary gets a short thank-you SMS and sees her updated loyalty balance. The journey continues automatically. On the website and mobile app, she sees complementary accessories rather than repeated birthday offers. In paid and social, she sees messages that match what just happened. As her birthday approaches, reminders resume with fresh creativity so the experience stays relevant without feeling repetitive.
In retail and financial services, this customer journey example is especially powerful since customer intent can change fast and the cost of getting it wrong is high. Real-time decisioning enables you to pivot gracefully and ensures that the right offer shows up when it matters.
This approach is what marketers strive for. We stop optimizing for a single send and start thinking about the customer’s full life cycle and lifetime value. SAS Customer Intelligence 360 keeps every touch point – email, web, app, POS, call center, paid media – aligned so staff are informed, customers feel understood and the relationship strengthens over time.
