5 Ways in Which Big Data Can Help Leverage Customer Data

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By Arvind Rongala, Invensis.

Data is intertwined into almost every function and sector in the global economy and just like human capital and hard assets which are the critical factors of production, a large part of modern economic activity just would not take place without data. For business enterprises big data has the ability to become the basis for growth and competition by helping them increase the quality of products and services and in reducing waste which enhances their productivity and creates significant value for the world economy. Research conducted by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) and McKinsey & Company’s Business Technology Office has revealed that the economic relevance of the large volume of data that is generated, mined and stored for generating insights has increased significantly for businesses, consumers and the government.

Big data’s enormity is not only confined to velocity and volume but also variability, variety and complexity of the data. If business enterprises want to remain competitive they must seriously consider the potential of big data in creating value. But to realize the complete potential of big data, minor upgrades and tweaks will not be sufficient. For different business enterprises, the amount of data created by their customers through social media interactions, customer service and transactional points and product reviews is difficult to conceive. The benefits that business enterprises can accrue over time by leveraging the right tools is more than one can imagine. Smart business enterprises are investing heavily in big data in order to provide better services to their customers.

Here are the ways how big data can help business enterprises in leveraging customer data to provide better services.

1. Gain a better Understanding of the Customer

Business enterprises must know the true value of their customers. Marketing and sales data which enterprises have in abundance can tell a lot about their customers. Valuable analytics is provided by big data but to get a complete view of the customer, the information has to be first selected and organized. Reaching the right customer at the right time is all about efficient marketing and big data can be quite helpful in analyzing customer behavior, predicting purchases and gain a better understanding of the people who are purchasing the product. Knowing the most valuable buyers helps the enterprise in further focusing their efforts.

2. Improved Customer Service Interactions

Business enterprises with customer-facing employees or a call center receive complaints and feedbacks on a daily basis. Customers contact the enterprise via email, phone or chat and create massive amounts of data in the process. By gaining better understanding of the customers through big data, business enterprises can improve conversion rate by creating personalized messages. Moreover, complaints can also be handled faster or prevented completely.

When a customer reaches out, a representative from the enterprise can efficiently and quickly solve the problem if they have the right set of data with them. This will also ensure that the customer’s problems are solved with the least amount of questions asked. With big data, the customer service only improves with each interaction.

3. Providing Customized Promotions and Special Offers

Every customer will have their own unique preferences and therefore business enterprises cannot treat every customer in the
same manner. Same is the case with providing the customers with promotional and special offers. Personalizing each customer’s experience can have a huge impact on overall sales, long-term profitability and most importantly customer loyalty.

Big data can help business enterprises to successfully analyze customer, market and competitive data to provide customized offers and appropriately targeted marketing and ad campaigns. A study found that 29% of business enterprises have too little or no customer data that can be used for real-time decision making. By gaining real-time insights on customer data, business enterprises can ensure that the right promotions and special offers are sent to the right customers.

4. Identify and Solve Customer Pain Points

Business enterprises usually find a correlation between customer pain and customer problems or customer needs. Just like the people running a business enterprise customers are humans too. They appreciate the world around them through the prism of their experiences. They fail to sense the challenges (pain) that is bothering them and therefore cannot conceive of any solution (needs).

Most enterprises know their customer’s pain points and dig deep into the data they have to solve the customer’s difficulties thereby improving the customer’s experience. For example, iPod was first released by Apple when Napster was still famous and people shared songs with each other over the internet for free. But iPod’s success showed that consumers wanted to get music easily, quickly and most importantly legally. This led to the creation of iTunes which is one of the most successful products of Apple.

5. Creating New Products and Services

This is one of the most interesting uses of Big Data where new products and services are created by analyzing customer data. A large number of online and offline enterprises are doing it to provide improved customer experience. With business enterprises gaining a better understanding of their customers by analyzing big data, they can easily create innovative new products that meet the customer’s view point and their needs. For example, a sports equipment manufacturing company created a complimentary service for athletes to optimize their workout regime.

Business enterprises lose close to 20%-35% of their operating revenue due to bad data. There is no doubt that big data analytics is delivering value for business enterprises throughout the world. Various enterprise have successfully utilized big data analytics to leverage customer data to achieve increased profits, better decision making and bring out new offerings for their customers. The present big data era will provide enterprises with large number of business opportunities which the enterprises must leverage to provide the best possible customer experience.

Bio: Arvind Rongala is Manager, Business Development, and Marketing, for Invensis Technologies, an IT-BPO service provider that has been satisfying the business requirements of clients around the world since 2000. Invensis offers end-to-end mobile application development outsourcing services, including mobile app testing and design of user experience.

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