Digital transformation is changing the way businesses collect data. Yet, many still find that they have unorganized and scattered data. This is because they lack the appropriate technology necessary to leverage this transformation and drive business outcomes.
So, how can your organization develop a strategic data collection plan to optimize the customer experience and stay on top of market trends?
Adapting to digital transformation requires extensive planning for budget, regulations, and resources. Before initiating the transition to new digital technology, it’s essential to accommodate change management controls. As Chirag Deshpande, Client Services Director at Search Discovery, says, “It involves a lot of team members, involves a lot of people, processes, changes, adoption, education. So you definitely have to account for all of those elements as part of your implementation. So it’s not just, hey, here’s the platform.” You have to allow for getting acclimated to the platform.
Change management involves bringing in multiple team members within IT and web development to learn how to use the platform and administer technology governance. By undergoing a rigorous education process, you can minimize software glitches, alterations, and technical errors.
Another significant aspect to keep in mind when exploring new software is determining how your data is connected and where it originates. Countless organizations find their data spread across millions of individual profiles, consequently losing track of customers.
What can you do to separate your data?
To start, you can merge your company’s databases with your customer relationship management data (CRM). To accomplish this, try applying a data mapping strategy to determine the information you have on hand and what information you need to make an effective transition. With data mapping, you can identify patterns in your data that can help you solve business problems and prepare for future data sources.
By organizing your data in this fashion, Chris Sessoms, Manager of Web Technology and Infrastructure at Red Hat, maintains that you can “Do some progressive [data] profiling and fill in some holes in [your] first-party data.” Profiling will enable you to establish the most relevant data to incorporate into the software.
Adobe Experience Platform (AEP) is a customer data platform (CDP) that allows companies to consolidate their data into a single profile.
This platform creates a seamless customer experience across multiple channels to promote business growth. Patty Behre, Optimization Tech Manager at Red Hat, mentions that her organization implemented AEP to limit data inefficiency and garner insights from customer data for individual use cases.
As a result, Red Hat achieved “a 3,000% ROI” “by using first-party audiences,” according to Patty. With this automated technology, you no longer have to worry about losing track of customer data. Instead, you can focus on successfully integrating and utilizing that data to scale up in a dynamic market environment.
