A recent survey of 400 UK companies found that 85% of them believe they would have avoided some of their business problems if they had a single customer view (SCV) strategy. Over half of them felt this would help overcome business inefficiencies. A whopping 90% of respondents thought that SCV would reduce their costs.
The Customers Viewpoint
The survey also covered 2000 UK consumers. Not surprisingly, some 84% of these would take their custom elsewhere if they encountered bad customer relations, which included people from a company who didn’t understand what they were looking for or how to meet their needs.
Here’s the Paradox
Despite all this awareness, under a quarter of businesses that responded had actually put a SCV strategy in place. Many had not even started to take action, were still thinking about it, or only just beginning to make plans.
Putting Things Right
Half of the companies’ responses mentioned a lack of support at the top. So it seems that it’s directors and senior decision-makers who need to be educated and persuaded of the absolute necessity of the single customer view.
Getting there is not rocket science. To achieve the SCV, you need the cooperation of everyone who handles sales and/or data, so the orders must come from the top. You also need the right data quality software to delete duplicates and ensure clean data. When you incorporate new data sources, merge purge software is essential.
The tools don’t cost a lot and will bring enormous benefits that will have a positive impact on the bottom line if they are properly used. Budget holders just have to recognise it.
Survey source: http://www.dmarket.co.uk/a/research-finds-uk-businesses-failing-to-grasp-data-nettle
