This week, we’re reviewing a recent article by Richard J. Snow, VP and Research Director at research firm Ventana. In his article, “Customer Analytics Research Reveals Required Capabilities for Software,” Richard reiterates the importance of finding the right customer analytics tool for your company, especially since today’s customer data comes from so many different sources. In an age where customers are engaging with your company across numerous devices and platforms, Snow says that it’s essential to use the right customer analytics tools to help improve customer service and the outcomes of this engagement.
Ventana’s research explores the amount of time companies spend on customer analytics, the most important customer analytics, and new technologies for customer behavior analytics to explore usefulness and influential factors. From the data, they have found that the majority of this time is focused on data-related activities. This includes:
Preparing data (47%)
Reviewing data (43%)
Analyzing outputs (34%)
Determining root causes (34%)
Building models (30%)
Additionally, Ventana’s research pinpointed the most vital parts of cohesive customer analytics. Companies surveyed ranked the following as 1st priority for quality customer analytics:
Real-time (21%)
Advanced (19%)
Statistics (14%)
Predictive (12%)
Visual (10%)
The 2nd ranked priorities for best analytics were rated as:
Real-time (14%)
Advanced (11%)
Statistics (14%)
Predictive (18%)
Visual (8%)
Companies studied also ranked what they valued most in new technologies to use for customer analytics. Results showed:
Collaboration (business & social) (62%)
Big data (60%)
Cloud computing (44%)
Mobile technology (38%)
Social media (35%)
Commenting on the research, Richard states that, “people now engage with companies increasingly electronically, often using smart mobile devices – they are more connected and can do things much faster than ever before, including look elsewhere if they are not satisfied with a company.”
