Organizations are always looking for ways to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. An often-overlooked source of differentiation is housed within an organization’s collective data. Products can be examined and copied but what really makes an organization unique and drives competitive advantage is the data, information and knowledge contained within its collective conscience and its many data silos. The key features of the next great product release or business-building marketing campaign may be right under your nose, if only you could find it. Collected data is a competitive advantage but only if you can access it and use it effectively. To unlock the value contained in this data, workers must be able to access it, relate it and derive meaning from it an efficient manner. Search is the most common means to unlock this store of knowledge however its effectiveness is often undermined by the specter of fragmentation.
Posts Tagged ‘Information Optimization’
Navigating Corporate Data Silos: Unlocking The Data Differentiator
Monday, April 16th, 2012People Skills in Customer Experience
Tuesday, April 10th, 2012Memorable customer experiences are hinged on great customer-facing professionals (CFPs). People buy from people. Thus, the CFPs that bring true empathy and personality to interactions win. Research shows that seventy percent (70%) of customers left because of a lack of attention from front-line employees. The number one trait for CFPs is empathy. True empathy happens when CFPs are empowered with knowledge.
Field Notes
Thursday, March 29th, 2012As a product manager one of my favorite parts of the job is visiting customers and prospects. These past weeks I was doing just that—visiting several of our clients and prospects getting a firsthand look at how they’re beginning to leverage our solutions within their businesses environments, their challenges and some of their victories. I thought I’d share two of these with you as some of these challenges may very well be within the walls of your company.
Operationalize Insights to Drive Business
Tuesday, February 7th, 2012According to Annette Franz [@Annettefranz], “A key component of a VOC Initiative is getting the right feedback at the right time from the right customers. Then glean insights, create action plans, and drive it all back to the right departments and the right employees who take action at the right touch points at the right time.” This was the basis of a recent #CXO chat as we discussed, “Operationalize Insights to Drive Business” with guest Annette Franz, Seasoned Client Services (CX, VOC, SaaS) executive.
Leveraging Information Assets to Optimize Customer Value
Monday, November 21st, 2011When asked to identify the greatest barriers to improving multichannel customer experience, “Thirty-four percent of respondents identified difficulty unifying different sources of customer data.” This would indeed be a barrier as understanding your customers’ needs is intrinsic to delivering an exceptional customer experience. To understand the customer, organizations must take each morsel of information left at touch-points across the organization and weave them together to create the customer’s story. The need for information optimization and big data applications then becomes vital. I had the honor of being in the hot seat as we explored this topic at one of our tweet chats. Here is a glimpse into our discussion:
Culture Must Meet Structure
Monday, November 14th, 2011Recently I heard a sales representative say, “We use a CRM and I didn’t visit it once to prepare for my sales meeting.” Interesting, yes? The sales rep went on to say that he would probably enter details about the meeting later in the CRM system—not to improve how he interacted with the customer but so that his manager could view the outcome of the meeting. Unfortunately, many organizations have Customer Facing Professionals (CFPs) with this mindset. A big piece in this equation is understanding what creates this mindset and solving it.
Big Data = Information Optimization
Monday, October 31st, 2011Everyone is talking about “big data” yet we each have a slightly different view of what it means and its impact. One thing we all can agree on is that we must devise strategies to handle and leverage the “Forty percent projected yearly growth of global data.”
One of the things I have heard is, “Well, we have a lot of information scattered throughout, so if we put everything we own in a single, distributed processing system like Hadoop—which is meant to house massive amount of information efficiently—we can start making sense of it.” I want to shake my head, “No, no, no!”
Orchestra Seats: Investing in the Best View of our Customers
Monday, September 19th, 2011While researching whether or not to pay extra for Orchestra seats, I read an insightful value statement, “You see the show from the perspective the playwright and director saw it. You are seeing the show the way it was created to be seen.” As a product manager, this got me thinking about whether our customers experience the full value of our products they way we had envisioned. How can I help ensure that my customers always have an orchestra seat as they leverage our solutions? And moreover how can I ensure that my own organization is seeing our customers when we develop our products and our brand message?
