Tips for Utilizing Customer Experience Data.

Customer knowledge and experience data can provide a multitude of business intelligence for companies to make better business decisions, yet it is often an untapped resource due to the complexities of data management and budget restrictions.  Yet especially in tough economic times, it is crucial to have the ability to not only listen to our customer’s needs but respond to them quickly. 

Theresa Kushner, Director of Strategic Marketing Customer Intelligence at Cisco Systems, provides a few suggestions to make the most out of your untapped customer data:

• Make use of unstructured data, such as customer inquiries
  Connect data systems such as order-entry and sales
• Help Sales…

Customer knowledge and experience data can provide a multitude of business intelligence for companies to make better business decisions, yet it is often an untapped resource due to the complexities of data management and budget restrictions.  Yet especially in tough economic times, it is crucial to have the ability to not only listen to our customer’s needs but respond to them quickly. 

Theresa Kushner, Director of Strategic Marketing Customer Intelligence at Cisco Systems, provides a few suggestions to make the most out of your untapped customer data:

• Make use of unstructured data, such as customer inquiries
  Connect data systems such as order-entry and sales
• Help Sales, Service, Finance, and the whole company see the customer in totality
• Allow customer-facing people easy access to combined customer/company data
• Enable customers to define their profile and why they’re interested in the company
• Demonstrate to customers you can move with them as a partner

Can you think of any others?