There are several benefits organizations see from a single customer view. A consolidated view helps with business intelligence, staff efficiency, marketing campaigns and effectiveness, collections in billing and the overall customer experience.

There are several reasons why organizations struggle to create a single view. First, many organizations house several databases, which collect unique data and are used by different departments. This siloed approach leads to duplicate database records, inconsistent data entry and less tailored customer interactions.

All of these scenarios lead to inconsistent data spread out across the organization. To leverage the information, organizations need to ensure consistent data entry across the organization, identify patterns of data errors and leverage matching technology.

Regular database maintenance needs to take place to ensure information is accurate and duplicate records are merged. This regular cleaning will help businesses achieve a single customer view and improve a variety of business processes.

While there are many components and challenges to big data, data quality needs to be a part of any strategy. With the proliferation of data via a greater variety of channels, organizations are working with more information than ever before, but it can be hard to keep all of that information accurate.

The concept of big data can be divided into 5 categories and data quality fits within each.

1. Volume is the amount of information stored and aggregated, which often lead to duplicate information and incorrect data entry.
2. Variety focuses on the assortment of information, including structured and unstructured varieties. Most organizations struggle to even format data, thereby affecting analysis.
3. Velocity is the speed at which data is acquired and accessed. Businesses need accurate data and a holistic view of the database to properly access data at the speeds required.
4. Veracity is the accuracy of information, which is certainly related to data quality.
5. Value is related to the business benefit for better data practices and aggregated analytics.

To gain the benefits of big data, businesses need to make sure the information feeding those analytics is accurate. Get as much structured information right within your system and put automated processes in place. These tools will allow you to ensure data quality and let staff spend more time on other aspects of your big data initiative.

To achieve a customer-centric strategy, many businesses are looking to tailored marketing, one-to-one customer service, brand loyalty and insight-led collaboration. All of these customer-centric strategies rely on accurate customer information and strong analytical abilities. Without accurate data, an organization may not be able to generate actionable intelligence.

There are several common road blocks to accessing the data required for customer-centric initiatives. First, information is often siloed. There are different databases and records based on individual channels or departments. It is difficult for organizations to aggregate and manage information in one central place.

Next, there may be poor data quality. Overall in the industry, there is a lack of verification techniques and a large number of individuals who can change information. In fact, a recent Experian QAS study found that 94 percent of businesses believe some of their customer and prospect information might be inaccurate.

Finally, businesses struggle to match new data to an existing record. Often, information is placed in a non-standard format that is difficult to consolidate and analyze.

To correct these road blocks, organizations need to create a plan around accurate data for their customer-centric strategy.

To correct these road blocks, organizations need to create a plan around accurate data for their customer-centric strategy. This should include standardization rules, verification techniques at the point of data capture and enhanced searching capabilities.

Customer-centric strategies are extensive and require many elements, just don’t forget the data quality in your planning.

Today, many businesses operate channels within siloed environments, segmenting information and interactions. Unfortunately, the consumer judges a business based on their overall experience and expects the same level of engagement regardless of the channel. If a consumer has a bad experience at one touch point, it will affect buying patterns across the organization.

As part of an omni-channel experience, businesses must create a consistent dialogue that extends across all channels and points of contact to produce a stronger brand identity. To achieve a consistent approach, businesses need to have parallel messaging, personalized call center experiences and better business intelligence. This will allow customers to interact with the organization in a positive way, central to their wants and needs.

However, to gain that business knowledge, stakeholders need to ensure the accuracy of consumer information. Here are two ways businesses can achieve this business knowledge.

1. Create a centralized, accurate data source – Often organizations segment information across departments. By having one database, staff can understand preferred points of interaction, the consumer purchase history and other preferences.
2. Ensure contact data quality – Contact information is consistent across records and can serve as a set of unique identifiers to help in consolidating duplicates. Ensure the accuracy of contact information to help create one record for each customer.

Sit down with your team to determine how accurate customer information can improve your omni-channel experience.

There are several trends in data quality to look for over the year ahead. For today’s post, I’ll focus on the trend of software-as-a-service. To get everyone on the same page, SaaS refers to a software distribution model in which applications and any associated data are hosted by a service provider and stored centrally, away from the client’s network.

This deployment model is becoming more prevalent. According to a recent Experian QAS study, 60% of respondents cited that some or all software is hosted in the cloud. The majority of these organizations house both on demand and on premise solutions.

SaaS deployments are particularly popular for data quality. These tools require less deployment resources and little maintenance. With data quality, there is also referential data to consider, which can take up a fair amount of space on local servers. With hosted solutions, there is no need to worry about that space.

Before deciding on a deployment model there are several questions stakeholders should ask themselves:

1. What is the company’s existing IT strategy and experience with SaaS?
2. What is the immediate and long-term budget for installation and maintenance?
3. What kind of response time does the company require?
4. Are there regulatory or compliance restrictions to consider?

Check back tomorrow for the next data quality trend of 2013!

Welcome to the future, home of the digital landscape, populated by smartphone users always seeking the newest technologies. For consumers this is a very exciting time, but for businesses it can be a bit daunting. With more and more options available for consumption, how do businesses adapt?

According to ecommerce-guide, 82.2 million Americans own smartphones. They use their phones to search the Internet, compare products and even make purchases. In fact, Neilsen.com predicts that nearly half of all the worldwide sales will be purchased on smartphones by 2013. So how can businesses be successful in this new digital landscape?

To be successful in a mobile world, you must create a mobile-optimized website.

To be successful in the now, think back to what you did to become successful when you launched your first website. It’s time to go back to the basics. To be successful in a mobile world, you must create a mobile-optimized website.

Think about your website now. What are the most popular pages, what path do you want your visitors to take? Picture how your visitors would use your website in an ideal world; now create a simplified version of your website highlighting those strengths. Shorten the text so that scrolling isn’t necessary. Add buttons and calls-to-action so visitors can easily call and email you. Include forms that are mobile-optimized and easy to fill out with a touch screen. By thinking about the consumer’s experience and implementing the things that you would look for on a mobile site, you will place your company ahead of the competition.

Another perk of a mobile website includes a faster site and load time. Because a mobile-optimized website is smaller with fewer pages and less options, it operates at a much faster speed and will create a much more enjoyable experience for your visitors.

In addition to improving the customer experience, it will also be easier for your customers to find your site. Google recognizes mobile sites and increases relevant rankings for people who are searching from their mobile device. Maybe your competition ranks above you on a PC, but if they don’t have a mobile site, then you will rank above them on a mobile device. So someone searching for your service from a mobile device will happily land on your easy to use mobile site.

In order to ensure success in the digital world, be sure to implement the same innovations and safe-guards you would put on your website as well. Invest in an m-commerce platform so that the purchase process from your mobile site is seamless and user-friendly. To account for consumers’ hesitations about buying on a mobile device, be sure to add data quality and security tools to your website and m-commerce platform.

According to a recent data quality study by Experian QAS, of those companies implementing digital techniques and collecting mobile contact data, only 30 percent manage its accuracy at the point of entry. This is worrisome in regards to the quality of the data companies are collecting from these types of sites. As mistakes are more easily made on keyboards and touch pads of mobile devices, companies should be taking extra caution that they are collecting only the most accurate information. By meeting the demands of the digital consumer, companies are broadening their audience. However, not employing data quality tools simultaneously will hurt the competitive advantage they are receiving.

Unlike in “Back to the Future,” we cannot hop in the DeLorean and return to 1985. The future is upon us and in order to be successful, businesses must adapt to the changing digital landscape. To succeed at this, companies need to remember one key thing: go back to the basics. Think about how companies became successful in the dotcom age and apply those learnings to now.

Create a well thought out mobile website. Optimize it for search and m-commerce. Ensure it is safe for users to use. Instill data quality best practices to keep your database clean. Most of all, think outside the box and innovate to remain ahead of the competition.

In a business to business situation this is often even more challenging. People are busy; they don’t have time to read something that will not benefit them. Therefore, in order to actually get your email read, you need to have a subject line that actually warrants a click and not an automatic delete. Don’t be too sales-oriented, tease them a bit, taunt them with what is inside the email until they can’t resist and have to click ‘Read’.

However, nobody likes a tease, so once you have the reader engaged, you need to actually deliver on our content. Whether it is a promotion, a whitepaper, or a webinar, make sure it is well-constructed and offers value to the reader.

Create an email campaign that engages the reader and causes them to look forward to receiving your emails in the future.

Another key point is to target your emails correctly. There is no sense sending an insurance report to a retail store. The information will not interest them and they will probably just delete the email and make a note to delete all of your emails in the future as well. Or if they do open your email they will be equally disappointed and feel as though you have wasted their time which could lead them to develop a bad stigma about your company.

Create an email campaign that engages the reader and causes them to look forward to receiving your emails in the future. Allow your readers to share your email with colleagues and business partners via email or social media. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of communication and by having a business share your content with another business, you are very likely to gain something out of it.

In conclusion, to make your emails stand out in an inbox remember these four things. Send your emails to a targeted list, have a catchy subject line, produce engaging content, and allow readers to share the email with others. These easy steps are sure to produce the desired results for your email campaign.

This postage-back guarantee will be offered to advertisers who already have a large budget but dedicate little of it to direct mail campaigns. Of the selected companies, those that send between 500,000 and 1 million direct mail pieces will be offered a $250,000 postage-back guarantee. This is available for all mail pieces sent first-class or standard-mail.

This new program comes at a time when direct mail seems to be regaining strength. Studies have proven that consumers are much more receptive to direct mail now versus in the past due to the much lower volume of mail they receive. Today’s consumers find advertisements all over the trains they ride and the stores they shop in. Additionally, their overflowing inboxes are stuffed with emails from every retailer they have ever considered purchased something from. Receiving a letter in the mail is now something out of the norm and consumers are much more likely to open it. The USPS® sees this as an opportunity and is hoping other companies will take advantage of it too.