7 Habits That Transform a Company into an Insights-Driven Business
Today’s organizations are more data focused than ever before, making data capture and analytics a priority in most departments. This focus has escalated the budget spend on data analytic capabilities and tools in an effort to capture and properly mine this information.
According to the most recent Chief Marketing Officer survey conducted by Gartner, CMOs allocate 9.2% of their total marketing budget on marketing analytics — the most of any capability. The report states, “this significant budgetary commitment is grounded in CMOs’ understanding that analytics is central to delivering customer experience.”
This begs the question: Are organizations reaping the benefits of this investment in data analytics? With this amount of spending, is the consumer experience improving within these businesses? Based on the current state of customer experience within many industries, it does not seem as though these efforts are yielding solid results.
In our research, 68% of marketers say they can analyze marketing performance in real time. However, organizations still struggle with turning the massive volumes of data they accumulate into actionable insights. While access to data is a core component of these initiatives, the key to success is much more transformational and requires organizations to become insights-driven businesses.
7 Habits of Insights-Driven Businesses
It takes more than accumulating large amounts of data. In fact, it takes more than simply analyzing that data. To become a truly insights-driven business, you must understand your customers’ real expectations. Adopting these seven habits can go a long way in bridging the gap:
1) Lead the Organization
An insights culture starts with the top-level executives of the organization who desire to take advantage of data and analytics across the entire enterprise. Leaders understand the power of turning data and knowledge into insights. By modeling the right behaviors, a new culture focused on insights and results-oriented actions will become a reality
2) Close the Loop
Insights-driven businesses use closed-loop processes which monitor and adjust business practices so they can respond to rapidly changing market conditions. They gather insights in real-time and recognize the leading indicators that drive growth in their business
3) Know the Issues
Insights are both available and actionable. Insights-driven businesses are not caught by surprise and are equipped to recognize problems. They know what
4) Share the Knowledge
Gone are the days when knowledge meant power. The real power comes from sharing that knowledge across the organization. Insights-driven businesses arm their employees with knowledge about market trends, customer preferences, competitor weaknesses, and their own organization’s performance. Cross-functional knowledge teams have access to data and – more important – the authority to take action based on insights.
5) Engage the Customer
Don’t rely solely on data and analytics. Augmenting data with human intelligence by engaging directly with the customers provides solid insights. “Voice of the Customer” is crucial, so insights-driven businesses have real conversations that add color and dimension to cold hard data. Insights aren’t discovered in the office. You have to get out into the real world and talk to real people to understand all the nuances requires
6) Know the Score
Before an insights-driven business enters a new
7) Crush the Competition
Insights-driven businesses leverage their knowledge of the market to identify the ideal customer segments and understand the competitive landscape to better position themselves to retain customers and lure customers away from their competitors. They understand their unique customer journey and all of their touchpoints. In so doing, they are able to deliver an exceptional experience.
The most successful companies understand how to transform data into actionable intel, and how to augment that with customer feedback to craft real insights. By practicing the 7 habits outlined above, your organization will become one of those highly successful organizations. If you choose to ignore these habits, then you will likely miss out on significant growth opportunities!
Not sure where to start? Complete an online Business Performance Assessment that will uncover the areas you need to focus on and receive recommendations of near-term actions that will set you on the path to becoming an insights-driven organization.
David Slatter
President at ExperiPro, EVP Insights & Strategy at DFW American Marketing Assoc.
David is a 30-year insights marketing veteran who has held a variety of senior management positions in Europe and the U.S. in strategic marketing, communications and market research. As president of ExperiPro, he leverages his many years of client-side experience to help companies solve their most complex business challenges. David has worked with dozens of companies and business leaders to develop powerful go-to-market programs, product launch initiatives and customer-centric solutions. Due to his customer-centric approach to his own business, ExperiPro was named a Small Business of the Year by the Richardson, Texas Chamber of Commerce.
Website: https://experipro.com/experienced-professionals/
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/dslatter