Data Cloud. Is it for me or not?

I have started to poke around with Data Cloud and try and figure out where it fit in the ecosystem of Salesforce Products. Below is a bit of a decision tree chatgpt gave me through some refinements with the prompt. And I believe it is quite relevant.

Salesforce Data Cloud License Decision Tree

Start

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1. Existing MDM/iPaaS?

• No → Proceed to Data Cloud evaluation (Step 2)
• Yes → Does your system fully support identity resolution, unified profiles, segmentation, activation, AI, consent management?
  • Yes → Data Cloud likely not required
  • No → Proceed to Step 2

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2. Multiple Data Sources?

• No → Data Cloud likely unnecessary
• Yes → Continue

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3. Need Profile Unification & Identity Resolution?

• No → Skip to Step 5
• Yes → Continue

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4. Require Data Governance/Consent Management?

• No → Proceed to Step 5
• Yes → Data Cloud beneficial for governance & compliance

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5. Using or Planning Salesforce MC/Personalization/Intelligence?

• No → Consider Data Cloud Free Tier first
• Yes → Continue

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6. Require Segmentation, Insights, Activation, Actions, BYOL?

• No → Delay Data Cloud license
• Yes → Continue

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7. Need Einstein AI Features (Inference, Studio)?

• No → Proceed without AI
• Yes → Confirm AI infrastructure readiness

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8. Budget & Governance Ready for Credit-based Pricing?

• No → Start with Free Tier
• Yes → Purchase Salesforce Data Cloud license