Battered but not beaten by COVID-19, companies found resurgence through digitalization, connectivity, and emerging technologies for a better consumer interface. Data today is indispensable for business expansion and consolidation, as well as to exceed customer expectations through an innovative approach.
To get an insight into how honchos strategized to win back their customers’ trust and rebuild their brand after surviving one of the worst catastrophes, a representative survey of 100 data, analytics, and CX leaders from enterprises in North America, Europe, and Australia was carried out by Precisely and Corinium to identify major challenges staring at data-driven CX executives today. Also, emphasis was laid on the transformation of customer experiences in a highly-competitive business environment by tracking down their needs and preferences.
Talking about data-driven trends and advising firms to make the most of the deluge of information to boost customer satisfaction, Vishal Bhalla, SVP and Enterprise Chief Experience Officer and Market Chief Human Resource Officer, Atrium Health, said, “We have this treasure trove of data; we have to be able to leverage that and operationalize it in a very simple manner so that the right data goes to the right teammate at the right time.”
The pandemic changed the fabric of digital transformation, with companies scrambling to get accustomed to the new normal. During 2019-21, e-commerce sales grew by 50.5%. Many organizations shuttered in-person locations, including 28% of survey participants. The retail landscape changed overnight, with 42% more firms expected to follow suit in the coming 12 months.
As a result, companies moved towards online channels and invested in digital touchpoints that created a positive CX. In fact, 65% of leaders surveyed said they had already created digital touchpoints to serve as an alternative to in-person touchpoints, and 34% are expected to follow in their footsteps over the next year.
As per the survey, only 37% of survey participants believe they have a well-developed enterprise data architecture that enables high-quality, data-driven, and personalized CX. For many, data becomes siloed across the various touchpoints, making it difficult to access information (48%).
Of the data that is accessible, 45% of survey participants believe it is not relevant or current, and they believe an insufficient investment in CX is the problem (41%).
“Legacy systems are the most common theme holding organizations back from achieving their CX goals – and 54% of survey participants agree. Many organizations have very siloed teams when it comes to managing data, and don’t have powerful enough data organizations to analyze incoming information and translate it into actionable insights,” said Greg Van den Heuvel, EVP and General Manager, EngageOne at Precisely.
Collecting and storing enterprise data is necessary to create data-driven CX, but it is far from sufficient. There are several key challenges that businesses are facing as they attempt to operationalize their data. The top three challenges that are preventing organizations from creating data-driven customer experiences are lack of data accessibility (48%), lack of relevant, current data (45%), and insufficient investment in CX (41%).
The lack of a well-developed data architecture is likely a key reason that this potential goldmine of data is siloed in data stores, or inaccessible between disparate departments.
“Most companies have a ton of data, but many will say, ‘we’re pretty early on in the evolution of our customer experience programming, and I wish we had more data to analyze and draw insights from, but unfortunately we don’t and consequently can’t do all that much yet’, when in fact they do!” said Lawrence Levinson, Director & GM, Wave HQ.
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