How Customer Analytics has evolved...

Customer analytics has been one of hottest buzzwords for years. Few years back it was only marketing department’s monopoly carried out with limited volumes of customer data, which was stored in relational databases like Oracle or appliances like Teradata and Netezza.

SAS & SPSS were the leaders in providing customer analytics but it was restricted to conducting segmentation of customers who are likely to buy your products or services.

In the 90’s came web analytics, it was more popular for page hits, time on sessions, use of cookies for visitors and then using that for customer analytics.

By the late 2000s, Facebook, Twitter and all the other social channels changed the way people interacted with brands and each other. Businesses needed to have a presence on the major social sites to stay relevant.

With the digital age things have changed drastically. Customer is superman now. Their mobile interactions have increased substantially and they leave digital footprint everywhere they go. They are more informed, more connected, always on and looking for exceptionally simple and easy experience.

This tsunami of data has changed the customer analytics forever.

Today customer analytics is not only restricted to marketing for churn and retention but more focus is going on how to improve the customer experience and is done by every department of the organization.

A lot of companies had problems integrating large bulk of customer data between various databases and warehouse systems. They are not completely sure of which key metrics to use for profiling customers. Hence creating customer 360 degree view became the foundation for customer analytics. It can capture all customer interactions which can be used for further analytics.

From the technology perspective, the biggest change is the introduction of big data platforms which can do the analytics very fast on all the data organization has, instead of sampling and segmentation.

Then came Cloud based platforms, which can scale up and down as per the need of analysis, so companies didn’t have to invest upfront on infrastructure.

Predictive models of customer churn, Retention, Cross-Sell do exist today as well, but they run against more data than ever before.

Even analytics has further evolved from descriptive to predictive to prescriptive. Only showing what will happen next is not helping anymore but what actions you need to take is becoming more critical.

There are various ways customer analytics is carried out:

·       Acquiring all the customer data

·       Understanding the customer journey

·       Applying big data concepts to customer relationships

·       Finding high propensity prospects

·       Upselling by identifying related products and interests

·       Generating customer loyalty by discovering response patterns

·       Predicting customer lifetime value (CLV)

·       Identifying dissatisfied customers & churn patterns

·       Applying predictive analytics

·       Implementing continuous improvement

Hyper-personalization is the center stage now which gives your customer the right message, on the right platform, using the right channel, at the right time

Now via Cognitive computing and Artificial Intelligence using IBM Watson, Microsoft and Google cognitive services, customer analytics will become sharper as their deep learning neural network algorithms provide a game changing aspect.

Tomorrow there may not be just plain simple customer sentiment analytics based on feedbacks or surveys or social media, but with help of cognitive it may be what customer’s facial expressions show in real time.

There’s no doubt that customer analytics is absolutely essential for brand survival.

Go Digital or Die - What will you chose?

Just before 2007, we didn't have access to smartphones like iPhone or social media apps like Instagram, Whatsapp, and even email was much more limited only to desktops. 

Zoom in to Today - Digital Transformation has revolutionized everything we do. It has been one of the hottest topics for every business. It’s a subject that keeps the CEOs awake. 

Today it is Digital or Die.

Digital is happening fast and forcefully, whether businesses are ready for it or not. You can’t hide from it. There is a possibility that five of out ten businesses like Blockbuster, Kodak, and Borders will become the digital dinosaur because of their lack of ability to adapt.

Going digital is not about moving to a specific technology like Cloud or Big Data, Analytics but it is really about accommodating a change of how technology enables the business. Billions of people across the world are attached to a global high-speed, real-time Internet. 

There are over 7+ billion mobile connections worldwide. In a couple of years, Millennials will make up half of the working population. They expect highly personalized products and services, they want instant gratification and they are omnichannel, online anytime, anyplace and any device. Using Mobile first as your strategy to go digital is a no-brainer.

As technology becomes an increasing part of our everyday lives, it also becomes a vital part of business strategy to become more efficient in customer service and disrupt the market with exemplary customer experience.

Business models are changing, from products to services and have to have a sharp focus of extraordinary customer experience with digital, like Apple. To transform into digital, companies must place the customer experience at the center of digital strategy.

Customers really want access to support via digital channels without the intervention of customer reps unless they don’t find what they are looking for at the first point of contact or something goes wrong with the product which needs to be fixed quickly.

Burberry was one of the first players to turn their fashion shows into digital happenings. The company used the buzz around the events to lure its customer base, interact with and strengthen relationships with customers, and attract new ones.

Nike had moved on from a sports apparel company to fitness has driven personalized wearables like FuelBand manufacturer.

Apple, Disney, Nordstrom, and Nestle are just a handful of the household names that have mastered digital.

It’s a never-ending program of improvement. As important as the technologies and channels, are the employee training and mastering the skill set that empowers them to thrive in this more integrated and ‘digital first’ environment. 

Working from home is adopted by many organizations and moving to cloud-based systems enables your employees to do that more effectively. They can access all relevant work content and more. 

Digital should not be a bolt-on to homegrown age-old systems but must be a central theme for every touchpoint to the customer and internal processes.

Every company is a technology company today. The pace of digital is rising exponentially, making it very difficult to be the leader in the market. Your threat is not your traditional competitor but someone who comes up with innovative ideas to steal your customers.

As Charles Darvin once said - It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives, it is the one that is the most adaptable to change

It is Digital or Die. You are easy prey if you don’t change.

How to measure Digital Transformation maturity?

The digital revolution has created significant opportunities and threats for every industry. Companies that cannot or do not make significant changes faster to their business model in response to a disruption are unlikely to survive

It is extremely important to do digital maturity assessment before embarking on digital transformation.

Digital leaders must respond to the clear and present threat of digital disruption by transforming their businesses. They must embed digital capabilities into the very heart of their business, making digital a core competency, not a bolt-on. Creating lasting transformative digital capabilities requires you to build a customer-centric culture within your organization.

This requires new capabilities that organizations need to acquire and develop which include disruptive technologies like Big Data, Analytics, Internet of Things, newer business models.

Digital maturity model measures the readiness of the organization to attain higher value in digital customer engagement, digital operations or digital services. It helps in the incremental adoption of digital technologies and processes to drive competitive strategies, greater operationally agility and respond to rapidly changing market conditions.

Business can use the maturity model to define the roadmap, measuring progress on the milestones.

The levels of maturity can be defined as per multiple reports available and adopt the ones which make more sense to your business.

·     Level 1: Project-based solutions are developed for a particular problem, no integration to homegrown systems, unaware of risks and opportunities

·     Level 2: Departmentalized projects but still not known to the organization, little integration

·     Level 3: Solutions are shared between the departments for a common business problem, better integration

·     Level 4: Organization wide efforts of digital, highly integrated, adaptive culture for fail fast  and improve

·     Level 5: Driven by CXOs, customer-centric and complete transformation changes happen to the organization

Here are the 7 categories on which business should ask questions to all the stakeholders to gauge the maturity of Digital Transformation and identify the improvement and priorities.

1.   Strategy & Roadmap - how the business operates or transforms to increase its competitive advantage through digital initiatives which are embedded within the overall business strategy

2.   Customer – Are you providing experience to customers on their preferred channels, online, offline, anytime on any device

3.   Technology – Relevant tools and technologies to make data available across all the systems

4.   Culture – Do you have the organization structure and culture to drive the digital top down

5.   Operations – Digitizing & automating the processes to enhance business efficiency and effectiveness.

6.   Partners – Are you utilizing right partners to augment your expertise

7.   Innovation – How employees are encouraged to bring continuous innovation to how they serve the customers

Finally, you know when you are digitally transformed?

·             When there is nobody having “Digital” in their title

·             There is no marketing focused on digital within the organization

·             There is no separate digital strategy than the company’s business strategy

How Augmented Reality is improving Digital Age!!

Augmented reality (AR) means amplified reality with graphics, sounds, haptic feedback and smell to the natural world as it exists. Virtual objects and information are displayed on top of the physical world, will make its way to our phones.

Just like the Internet ofThings & Big data, Analytics, augmented reality is going mainstream. Search engines are already expanding on image search, allowing you to point your camera at something and search for information based on what the lens takes in.

Both video games and cell phones are driving & exploiting the development of augmented reality. Everyone from tourists to someone looking for the closest McDonalds can now benefit from the ability to place computer-generated graphics in their field of vision.

Unlike Virtual Reality, which creates a totally artificial environment like you are on the top of Eiffel tower or looking at Taj Mahal right now from your living room couch, augmented reality uses the existing environment and overlays new information on top of it.

Pokemon Go released in 2016 was the most successful game to use AR to superimpose Pokemon on physical background and all children and adults were mad chasing them in real world.

Recent innovation, Heads-Up Display (HUDs) glass with AR superimpose crystal-clear driving directions on top of the real world so you can easily navigate without taking your eyes off the road. It’s like Pokemon Go but all the adorable monsters have been replaced by driving directions.

Digital Marketing will get a boost with AR.  A new augmented reality campaign from Pepsi Max have stunned people in London, giving experiences like a prowling tiger, a meteor crashing, an alien tentacle grabbing people on the street, the bus stop window serves as a scarily realistic screen to bring these scenarios to life.

With AR, you can view your living room on a smartphone and see how virtual furniture would fit into the real world and decide what is good to buy.

Artificial Intelligence has brought virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, Cortana, Google to life but AR can put a face to it and beef up the experience. Microsoft Hololens is currently leading the AR headset race. 

There are several industries that will benefit from AR applications, including healthcare, tourism and entertainment. However, it is retailers who are the ones to use it more. With AR, your retail website is brought to life with a 360° online presentation of your store. In-store, augmented reality can easily display information and other visuals on packaged items with a simple image scan.

Lego’s “Digital Box” Provides Customers with an Interactive 3D Digital Experience. Aside from kiosks in stores, soon they will have mobile devices to be equipped with the capability to instantly bring up relevant information about any product in real-time.

Fashion retailer Forever 21 had put up a giant billboard which features a model walking in front of an image of the crowd below. The model occasionally leans over, and pluck someone out of the crowd. Sometimes, she drops them in her bag and happily walks off.

French cosmetic super chain Sephora is one of the leaders in AR marketing area. Their mobile apps & AR mirrors allow people to see how clothing, jewelry, and accessories look on them.

Augmented Reality cleverly blurs the line between the digital and the real by way of specially designed apps and unique visual ‘markers’ to intuitively visualise 3D virtual forms in physical realms.

We are still in the very early days of AR, and all of the future possibilities are difficult to imagine at this point. As this technology advances and gets more affordable, it will be easier for businesses to take advantage of it. AR helps to bridge the divide between the digital and offline world.

How to build a successful Digital Transformation roadmap?

Digital Transformation is a phenomenon that every company must deal with and it is a reality. It is a top priority for boardroom executives. Most companies know that digital transformation is vital to survival.

Customers are demanding new instant experiences, partners want more visibility & greater access, and employees want greater convenience and work from anywhere.

Many companies are claiming that they have started it but those initiatives are isolated or tactical.  If not executed properly the only result is a failure.

As you will look at weather reports, travel times, flight connections, hotel reviews before going on a holiday, similarly you will need a road map for navigation from point A to point B.

The digital roadmap has 3 main leavers:

·        Strategy: to make it completely clear how digital transformation support overall business strategy,  define 30,60,90 days & beyond plan for measurements

·        Technology:  what are the tools and technologies you will need to go from current state to future state – big data, analytics, mobility, IoT, cloud, microservices etc, dedicated hardware, software innovation labs, standards, guidelines, security

·        Processes & People: who are the leaders to drive the digital, what is the organization structure, operational integration of all processes, how to change to customer-centric culture, training to employees and empower them

It is all about starting with baby steps, gaining trust from the business by delivering quick value and celebrating and marketing the successes to generate internal buzz.

The roadmap begins with a digital vision, mission & assessment of the digital maturity of your business today. Once the assessment and vision are completed, the next step is to identify the systemic gaps that need to be filled. 

Here are the broad milestones of a successful digital transformation roadmap:

·        Boardroom/Senior management buy-in, decision to go Digital and drive it across the organization

·        Cultural alignment & commitment to Digital from the board of directors to entry-level employees

·        Identify and assess the current state of the organization on Digital

·        Put Customer first - Prepare customer journey maps to identify all the touch points with organization

·        Find out pain areas at each touch point and respective stakeholders involved who can correct them

·        Prioritize and break them in small projects to adopt fail fast approach. If anything did not work, just accept the failure, publish the learnings and move on.

·        Seek partners to help you in your journey, who take shared risk and shared rewards

·        Deploy agile implementation approach for quick results

·        Market your successes to the whole world and repeat the process for next pain area

Transformation programs may be massive and take place over multiple years, but understanding the ROI for each phase helps keep a multi-year journey on track. With a structured approach, all of the moving parts can be managed and progress sustained throughout this journey.

Finally, you know when you are digital transformed?

·        When there is nobody having “digital” in their title

·        There is no separate digital strategy than the company’s business strategy

·        There are no posters or marketing focused on digital within the organization

Enterprises that adapt, evolve and exploit this new digital reality will thrive, while those that do not, will be lost to the sands of time like Dinosaur.