As easy and intuitive as the dashboards may be, the risk of aggregating too much data, some of which useful only for certain sectors, and of getting lost in interpretation is high. The commercial division, the marketing, but also the administration or the logistics team need to embrace a new culture, the “data culture”.
This is a fundamental change of vision, because putting the customer first means interpreting their new desires and acting quickly to satisfy them, before the competition does. And the signs of the new needs come precisely from the interpretation of the data that the application platforms provide us.
In a nutshell, the approach of all employees in a company must be agile, resilient, responsive to consumer mutations. For this reason, a company that aspires to become data driven, together with the implementation of technology, must provide for a deep training activity.
Training for a correct data culture
It is certainly necessary to provide a specific training course on the use of the new platforms, but not only. Building a data culture for the whole company means conveying the message that no employee can ignore the signals coming from the market. Furthermore, we must push to change the operational dynamics, insisting on the importance of an immediate, agile reaction that is not held back by long and convoluted hierarchies or decision-making mechanisms.
In Salesforce’s Guide to Digital Transformation, its president and Chief Product Officer, Bret Taylor – former creator of Google Maps, former Chief Technology Officer of Facebook, former Twitter who later joined Salesforce – writes:
“The stronger this data culture, the better your teams are able to make decisions (and faster), and the more your customers will reward you by providing you with more data. The more this happens, the greater your ability to understand and anticipate customer needs before they communicate them. ”
A correct approach to data is obtained by changing the mindset of employees. From asking if the strategy of launching an offer is correct, we must move on to “listening to the data” and looking for an answer to the question: what do customers want? What are the hidden desires behind a contact with the support team or following a browsing session on the ecommerce site?
The digital transformation process requires a review of the staff that includes a figure or a super partes team to take care of provide the most useful interpretations of the data to each individual department. Because the sales team will need certain information and the logistics team others. Being able to filter those useful to each team allows you to be quicker in adjusting the actions to be performed during the race.
The importance of dialogue around data
But it is equally important to be able to intertwine the data. To give an example: from a good mix between those of logistics competence and those of the assistance team, an immediate response to the customer on the availability of a certain product arises. A data driven company provides an answer in real time and, in addition, understands that perhaps the production or distribution of a specific product needs to be accelerated.
Thus, the most appreciated function of modern customer engagement platforms is the ability to intertwine data, to provide customized views but, above all, to draw from a single management console that normalizes them and avoids confusion.
Finally, it is essential that company meetings no longer focus on operations relating to a product activity but, rather, on the analysis of the information acquired and on how to adapt operations to their evidence.
Finally, the Salesforce document proposes a checklist for the key actions to be taken:
- Create a center of excellence. All employees must become knowledgeable about the data. They have to master the technology and have full access to it. The center of excellence serves to steer this cultural evolution and create data-driven business collaboration.
- Listen to the employees. A company must not only listen to customers but also to employees. It is essential that everyone has the freedom to express their observations and make suggestions to improve operations and strategy. There is a need for a single tool for internal use that collects this feedback and, above all, it is essential that it is collected and analyzed.
- Check the approach. The technology available is designed to be customized and continuously improved, based on employee and customer feedback. It is therefore important to provide for punctual process control cycles to improve activities, technological platforms and, finally, strategies.
In conclusion: is there an alternative to the transition of a company towards a data driven perspective? The answer is no, there isn’t. Because the need to reduce time to market and compete in a global market does not give much choice. Being able to predict the wishes of customers with a correct approach to the data they provide is the only way to anticipate the moves of the competition.