Have a best in class Analytics platform? Think Again.

In the previous post of our Think Again Series we covered the importance of really knowing your customer. Here we’ll be talking about how strong your analytics platform can be.

Data is everywhere. We may have said this over and over again in different ways, in many of our blogs. But it still is overwhelming – it’s just everywhere.

As a part of our offering, we do help set up platforms and help businesses dig deep and generate insights from this data. And when we do this, we have seen that brands often tend to get myopic when it comes to making use of their data. For example, when they are gathering transaction data from the stores, they tend to be fixated in looking at sales numbers as just numbers. % increases and ROI figures are not just numbers. They tell a story about your brand, your customers, and your industry. If you are not seeing this, then you are missing out, big time.

As a part of our 5-part series on demystifying the 5 dimensions that decide the success of your CRM program, we will focus this one on the 3 attributes that spell the success or failure of your analytics platform.

Insight Generation

It all starts here. Once you have successfully captured the data from all possible channels, the next step is to read them and find out trends that help predict your business direction. Unfortunately, even today, many brands depend on manual scouring of data to identify these trends. If you are still doing this, then you are going to be left behind, way behind!

With the power of AI comes the power of precise prediction. Analytics tools that are based on machine learning tell you in advance what is going to happen to your business and what you should be doing next. You want to be here!

Insight Democratization

If the right people are not seeing the right insights at the right time, then your analytics effort – AI or otherwise – is of no use.

All the stakeholders should have access to the data they should be seeing – not more, and certainly not less – at any time of the day. Depending on platforms that require the person to be on premise to analyze and gather insights is like having a mobile phone that can only be used at home – pointless and a complete waste of investment.

Ramp up your platforms, make it cloud based. And don’t worry about security. Many leading analytics platform providers have international security audits and standards that they maintain. So you can be sure that your data is safe, while you make it easily accessible.

Insight Based Action

Coming back to the topic of silos – separating your insights from your actions (like promos, campaigns etc) will undoubtedly lead to your CRM efforts failing and not bringing any returns.

Your insights generation and campaign planning need to go hand in hand to ensure you are dynamically responding to the customers based on their changing preferences, tastes and behaviors. Separating these two, or even a delay in using the latest insights to tweak your campaigns may mean you’re deliberately losing out on delighting your customers, garnering loyalty, and, ultimately, money.

Break the walls between the different sub functions of CRM and let the platforms communicate with each other. Use the power of technology to automate the customer communication so that your CRM is dynamic, relevant and ringing your cash registers like never before.

So there you are – three attributes to judge how strong your analytics platform really is. Find out how you fare in this and the four other dimensions of CRM. We will be happy to assist you through this and help understand how you can make things better.

Also, check out the part 4 of our Think Again Series – “Have an A-level Engagement Model? Think Again.”

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Marketing Manager, SEA at Capillary Technologies, Azmeen handles lead generation, content marketing and PR for the entire SEA region. She has also had extensive experience in helping brands such as Tunglok Group, Pizza Hut and KFC get consumer ready by implementing tech forward consumer experience and consumer relationship initiatives.