BettercustomerinsightsTap into the connected enterprise

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Brochure | Better customer insights

59%of respondents said they conduct data mining of social media

77%of surveyed executives said increasing sales is integral to their companies’ marketing operations

“An Exploration of the Connected Enterprise”

Highlights from a Frost & Sullivan survey* of CMOs and executives.

Understanding customers is top marketing priorityWhen asked which strategies were most important to their companies’ marketing operations, 96% of the respondents said it was improving their understanding of customers.

59% of respondents said they conduct data mining of social media, with 81% planning to do so within two years. According to Frost & Sullivan, “When utilized properly, Facebook, Twitter, and other social platforms can give companies broad access to a wealth of information regarding how people feel about the company and its brand. However, marketers still have difficulty gathering and properly using that information”.

One obstacle is that only 19% of surveyed organizations have the in-house skills to work with unstructured data. They tend to have the skill to handle their structured data such as information in databases and spreadsheets, but organizations also have access to unstructured data such as phone conversations, video, and social media interactions. Utilizing the right data analytics skill sets and technology, organizations can gain actionable insights about customers from both kinds of data.

“To better understand customers, we recommend you partner with a team of customer analytics and big data professionals to help you find the most valuable pieces of customer information, define customer sub-groups, and identify and retain the higher value ones.”

Creating a consistent customer experienceProviding a consistent customer experience is becoming a necessity according to our research. 59% of surveyed marketing executives said that creating a consistent and seamless customer experience is integral to their particular operations, with 63% indicating it is integral to overall company operations.

A majority of executives thought they did a good job in this area, with 64% being satisfied with current efforts, and 72% expecting to be satisfied within two years; yet only 29% of surveyed organizations believe they dedicate enough resources to customer interaction at all levels. This is problematic, as the quality of customer interactions can make or break the overall customer experience.

In its research, Frost & Sullivan recommends that organizations “look for contact center agents with the right sets of skills. Whether hired internally or through external partnerships, these agents should be adept at handling a variety of channels, and should also have the education and experience to interact intelligently and effectively with customers”. So if you need skilled resources to upgrade interactions with customers, look for partners who can provide top to bottom services to improve customer engagement.

Increasing sales and customer lifetime value is a necessityIt’s not surprising that when asked which strategies are integral to their companies’ marketing operations, 77% of surveyed executives replied ‘increasing sales’. But as indicated by Frost & Sullivan, achieving this goal is easier said than done.

* Sponsored by HP Customer Engagement Management Services

36%

81%

of organizations maintain their customer connections over long periods of time

of respondents said that they do not have the in-house skills or technology to work with social media data

Brochure | Better customer insights

According to Frost & Sullivan, “Despite adoption of new technologies and techniques, organizations still struggle with understanding and connecting with customers, and responding to their concerns.” One problem is that only 36% of organizations maintain their customer connections over long periods of time. With the growing understanding of the lifetime value of a customer (LVC), this situation must be remedied to increase customer loyalty and sales.

“Look for a partner with a proven record in transforming contact centers into customer engagement hubs, to enable stronger and longer lasting connections with customers” is one recommendation.

Bring in the right skills to understand customers better“Marketers understand the key to their success will be gaining a better understanding of customers and how the company can meet their needs.” Gaining that understanding may require increasing the skills and technology expertise of contact center agents, utilizing data analytics to better understand the vast amounts of both structured and unstructured data they have available, and building strategies to increase the long-term health of customer relationships.

Frost & Sullivan says, “It’s often difficult to acquire advanced skills in-house, especially in rapidly evolving fields such as data analytics. Many companies can benefit from working with external partners who specialize in these areas.”

How HP can help

For companies to get their marketing efforts up to speed, they need to focus on making certain they have access to the right people, processes and technology available to operate in this new environment. HP Customer Engagement Management Services can help:

• Advise: Our global team of Customer Analytics and Big Data professionals can unlock your information and define customer sub-groups; using event-based marketing to help you segment customers while identifying and retaining higher value ones.

• Test your theories: Our Rapid Deployment Pilot (90-day pilot) looks at advanced customer analytics, using both structured and unstructured data and identifies return on investment strategies as well as “quick wins” for your marketing team.

• Transform: HP Global Customer Engagement Practice has a proven record of transforming contact centers into customer engagement hubs.

• Partner with you: HP provides outsourced end-to-end services for customer engagement. We provide the right skills to mine, analyze, and make customer data actionable to increase sales. Our “Brains in Seats” team of over 30,000 Customer Engagement professionals can provide much-needed analytical skills, and our Customer Care and Sales professionals are all trained in the omni-channel experience.

Learn more athp.com/enterprise/survey

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© Copyright 2014 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

4AA5-3520ENW, Updated: July 2014