CI leaders who have harnessed the power of the unified view of customers will use the enhanced knowledge to drive revenue growth, according to a report from Forrester Research titled, ““The Age of the Customer Requires a More Intelligent Enterprise.”
“Companies across the globe and from every industry are building teams to translate mountains of information into a better understanding of their customers,” the report says. “In the age of the customer, knowing your customers and quickly translating and applying that knowledge across the entire enterprise is no longer a competitive advantage, it’s a competitive necessity if you are to win, engage, and retain customers.”
But according to the report, leaders lack real commitment to customer-centricity. Many firms deliver little more than lip service to customer-centricity. A line in a mission statement about exceptional customer experience is pointless and impossible to achieve if the firm doesn’t know its customers’ current and future needs.
Firms that operate with inadequate CI staffing, substandard tools, and a lack of visible executive support will fail to meet customer expectations, the report says.
· Silos create a disconnected view of the customer: When channels or departments deliver differing views of information, leaders lose confidence in the company’s data, resulting in delays, dissension, and disappointment.
· Insufficient technology investments slow progress: Firms of all sizes are failing to enable their CI teams with appropriate tools and technology. SQL, Excel, SPSS, and Access are no longer adequate, as CI professionals struggle to meet internal expectations with multiplying volumes and varieties of data.
Chief information officers (CIOs) and chief marketing officers (CMOs) alike must shift budgets and talent to interpret, analyze, and automatically act on the massive amounts of customer data collected, the report notes. Left unchecked, this underinvestment will result in a crippling inability to act at the speed of business, and it will leave leaders to rely on guesswork to drive marketing and business decisions.
Intelligent enterprises put the customer at the center of everything; they embrace change; and they understand the importance of business agility, the report says. The intelligent enterprise leaders share a common passion to enable the firm to meet its goals and objectives by applying customer knowledge to the business. These leaders consider their CI teams to be a strategic weapon and depend on them for an unvarnished view of customers.
The one consistent message heard from CI professionals is the need to educate executives about the power of the unified insight they can create, the report says. Some leaders have heard the message and have charged CI with the role of strategic advisor to the firm. By aligning with customer-facing sales endeavors and assisting them in gaining more ground, faster, CI teams will move from an internal support organization to a strategic partner.