The Most Important Learning About Data at Meta: How Live Data Transforms Business Performance

Introduction

Noha Rizk, CMO of Incorta and former Global Head of Marketing at Meta AI, brings a unique perspective on how live data fundamentally changes business operations. With 25+ years of marketing leadership experience and deep insights from scaling products like Facebook Marketplace during critical growth periods, Rizk reveals why 54% of companies increased their data analytics investments last year—and why most are still getting it wrong by relying on outdated dashboards and stale reporting systems.

Breaking Free from Legacy Data Systems

The modern data stack is fundamentally broken. As Rizk explains, organizations remain trapped by legacy systems they've invested millions into, creating a fragmented, slow, and costly infrastructure. "People are just committed to legacy systems that they've invested large amounts of money and time to putting together and changing those systems is difficult," she notes. The real problem emerges when companies try to layer AI on top of these outdated foundations without addressing core co ectivity and context issues.

The Human Side of Data Migration

Migration isn't just a technical challenge—it's a human one. Rizk draws parallels to the early internet days when companies built static websites that mimicked physical brochures rather than leveraging the web's interactive capabilities. Today's organizations make the same mistake with AI, attempting to automate existing processes instead of fundamentally rethinking their approach to data. The key is identifying where incremental value exists within your organization and focusing migration efforts on those high-impact areas.

Real-World ROI from Live Data Implementation

Live data delivers measurable business impact across specific verticals where timing matters. In retail, one of Incorta's food retail customers with 3,000 physical branches uses real-time analytics to optimize inventory movement and reduce waste. By tracking item movement throughout the day, they can push geo-targeted promotions to move perishable inventory before it spoils and transfer products between locations based on demand patterns. This single use case translates to hundreds of thousands of dollars in recovered revenue.

Manufacturing and Supply Chain Optimization

Manufacturing companies leverage live data to monitor production across multiple facilities, where "every cent counts in hundreds of thousands of dollars in terms of their revenue and their cost of manufacturing." Real-time visibility into factory floor operations enables immediate adjustments that compound into significant cost savings. Finance teams use live data for optimal trading signals and risk management, while retail organizations improve customer experiences by ensuring advertised products remain available in real-time.

The Creative Power of Unlimited Data Access

The true value of live data extends beyond operational efficiency to unlock human creativity and i ovation. Rizk shares a compelling example from her time at Meta, where access to real-time user behavior data enabled the Facebook Marketplace team to pivot during COVID-19. When the pandemic halted in-person transactions, the team identified signals that users were seeking alternative exchange methods. This insight led to the introduction of subsidized C2C shipping, transforming Marketplace from steady growth to "hockey stick growth" and making it one of Facebook's largest drivers of daily active users.

Balancing Structure with Exploration

While unlimited data access enables creativity, organizations still need North Star metrics and clear KPIs. The power of live data isn't in replacing strategic focus but in enabling rapid investigation when trends shift. As Rizk emphasizes, business users who understand their specific domains need the ability to query data without waiting for IT to redesign entire pipelines. This democratization of data access allows those closest to the problems to identify solutions quickly.

Key Takeaways for Marketing Leaders

The shift to live data infrastructure represents more than a technical upgrade—it's a fundamental change in how organizations operate and compete. Success requires identifying high-value use cases where real-time insights drive measurable ROI, whether through waste reduction, inventory optimization, or enhanced customer experiences. Marketing leaders should focus migration efforts on areas where timing directly impacts business outcomes while maintaining strategic KPIs to guide exploration. Most importantly, live data unlocks the creative potential of teams by enabling rapid hypothesis testing and discovery of unexpected opportunities, as demonstrated by Meta's Marketplace transformation during an unprecedented global crisis.