Data is transforming the way people interact globally. We now have access to vast amounts of information. But more importantly, we have access to details about a person’s character, buying habits, economic status, and more. Information like this is vital to financial planning and marketing campaigns.
On the downside, the abundance of available data isn’t being utilized properly for engagement and usability. Unstructured and unused collected data costs businesses millions, and trillions industry wide, in wasteful spend. The rapid data growth illustrates:
- Business data grows by 60% every year
- 90% of all data has been created in the past two years
This massive growth rate and access is of no use if data isn’t structured or collated for usability. More importantly bad data causes:
- Trillions of wasted dollars
- Time wasted sifting through unstructured data
- Reporting and forecasting limitations
- Unpreparedness for disaster
- Ineffective marketing efforts
- Inability to make factually based decisions
A huge amount of information regarding potential customers and sales doesn’t mean much when there is no understanding of how or which details to capture, or a way to keep it organised. More importantly, how to present it for clear value. It’s like being broke but having a million dollars in cash sitting under your bed. It’s accessible but not being used to invest, save, or even donate to a charity. It just sits there. It’s the same with unstructured and unused data. It’s an untapped goldmine.
Now that the world is being inundated with datasets, the next logical step is to evolve data collection that provides optimal data experiences. In its raw state, data can be incredibly overwhelming to sift through. Data in itself is not as helpful as a personalized data experience would be.
When a consumer visits a website, they might see a pop-up window that requires them to take action. Depending on their response within the window a personalized experience is created. Their response will demonstrate valuable information that when organised and displayed correctly can offer:
- Real-time sales augmentation as opposed to a monthly report with connection to a sales target list that send mobile notifications to the agent to call a prospect
- CEOs with a top line monthly figures mobile friendly report
- Traders a personalised morning email regarding market opportunities or impending risks to their portfolio
Companies should be able to drive value from their collected data through experiences like:
- Real-time reporting on dashboards that enable deep analytics
- Relevant data embedded in existing tools like Salesforce, Marketo, etc.
- Make decisions based on facts
- Design specific customer experience
- Data driven workflows
- Custom applications tailored to metrics
It’s safe to say that most consumers now expect personalization before they consider doing business with a company. But it’s evident that the way a user experiences data defines how effective the data is rather than inherent value. Creating algorithms to collect specific data upon visits or communications would make the value of that data priceless. A small dataset that is structured to offer insights and personalised experiences is worth a hundred times more than a collection of many unused large datasets
