The last few years have transformed the way organizations utilize data. Today, the volume, variety and velocity of data is taking the business world by storm. Organizations that are able to understand and act on the data – based on analytics, but with the relationship at the forefront – will emerge as winners.
Social media, cloud and mobile have added a layer of urgency to the big data wave. As the velocity of information increases, there’s a need to process the data, analyze it for use cases that matter to a business and to make strategic decisions based on those insights. However, gathering real-time data from various structured and unstructured sources and analyzing it is not easy, especially while keeping it human at the same time.
Smarter organizations understand this and invest in people, process and technology that enable them to use real-time analytics for strategic and operational benefits, while always keeping relationship enhancement at the forefront. Real-time analytics is not just for smarter marketing, but also for cutting inefficiency from operations, improving customer service and for watching trends that can impact the bottom line.
Operations | Customer Service
A technology service provider wanted to transform its reputation from a slow, sleepy company to one that is nimble, customer-responsive and attentive. They started by setting up teams that worked in two shifts, ensuring continuous and timely review and response. Next, they looked for a product that could provide social listening, real-time analytics such as share of voice, sentiments and time-to-resolution, workflow and reporting for their needs. After they selected the product and trained their team on it, they also defined the processes and business rules for handling and coordinating customer queries, issues and rants… and how to properly engage.
By using real-time analytics and organizing teams and processes for real-time response, their social customer service team was able to make a big impact on their customers as well as improve their brand reputation (“Your Brand/Business is what you do; your Reputation is what people Remember and Share” @TedRubin). The real-time response management and the ability to analyze their interactions provided them unprecedented insights into their customer’s issues, attitudes and behavior. For example, using social analytics, the team identified online influencers and brand champions and prioritized response to their concerns.
Real-time analytics was also of tremendous value to see any emerging issues (service down in a geography or delays in meeting service levels) and to prepare for responding to any incidents.
Along with operational benefits, the company also monitored their competitors and observed their weaknesses and strengths, in real-time. They were able to generate leads from customers who were unhappy with the competition or those who just moved into the target geography.
Within a few months, this company went from just another Internet and cable services provider to one that was considered agile, sensitive to customer needs and that responded to their customers within minutes of their post. They not only made their customer happy but also lifted their brand value and their status as a company where the relationship counts – all by smart use of real-time analytics. The company that provided their platform, worked with their team, and helped customize it for their specific uses was MutualMind.