How Fast Can Your Brand Convert Customer Data into Insight and Insight into Action?

That is the question and, according to Tony Costa, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research, the answer is what separates middle-of-the-pack brands from great brands.

“The speed with which you can convert data into insight and that insight into action is now the defining characteristic of competition,” Costa said during his session, “Better Customer Experiences through Data-Driven Design,” at Forrester’s Forum for Customer Experience Professionals East last month in New York City. “This new way of looking at data and how it changes our perception of reality. People are designing experiences, which are relevant to customers and that’s being revealed each day in the data we see.”

Costa said the manner by which companies manage and approach data is being “radically transformed.”

The old model, Costa explained, “where we produced reports through formal data requests that took days and weeks and months to generate, where you sat down and reviewed data tables, reviewed charts, looked at the cross tabs, and tended to be project specific and had to go through data analysts to get it, this is under assault. This is crumbling.”

Costa said the old model is being replaced by a new model driven by highly agile startups.

“It’s not about reports, it’s about testing hypotheses,” he explained. “It’s about self-service whereby every employee has access to data. It’s not about reviewing data tables and cross tabs. It’s about discovering data in real time, following hunches, and digging deeper where it’s necessary. It’s about bringing data into every meeting and every conversation you have. There is no gatekeeper in this model because everyone is a gatekeeper.”

Being highly inquisitive and following personal hunches is becoming a theme among successful data-driven companies, Costa explained. Data collection is becoming highly scientific and, instead of relying on best practices, it’s about getting data to verify that data is relevant to a brand’s customers.

“It’s about wanting data to drive specific decisions, drive results, and drive solutions,” Costa said. “It’s about embedding that information into a business.”

Costa pointed to Disney for an example of innovative tracking technology−a rubber wristband embedded with microchips−that tracks customer habits pertaining to purchases. He said Disney plans to use that information to create and implement more relevant and personalized communications.

“Expectations around experiences are shifting,” Costa said. “Employees are being empowered to use this enlightened approach to data management.”

Costa told attendees that their respective jobs now should focus on starting a revolution. 

“Put the data in all the hands of your customers, all of your employees,” he said. “Get the data out. Empowering them to have the data allows them to effect change on a mass scale.”

The reality, Costa explained, is Big Data doesn’t scale across an organization.

“With small data you can have 500 employees pulling data, testing hypotheses, challenging assumptions, and making better decisions based on customer data,” he said. “It scales across an enterprise and lays the groundwork for behaviors when you start implementing Big Data.”

Tell customers how data is being used, he said.

“Data drives better customer experiences,” Costa said. “If you can give the customer a seat at the table for every decision, would you improve their business and customer experience? I think we all know this would improve it. How quickly you can make that change happen is the key competitive driver.”

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