Problem 3: Analytics Need a Reboot
for the Modern Age
We need radical change in how we collect and analyze CX data.
The CEO turns to you. “These are beautiful analytics, Sam. Just one question. How are they going to help us achieve our goals?” Your life just got a lot harder.
We must make a quantum leap in analytic capabilities. We have to, so that quality of customer research, and of operational and financial data, becomes a proper foundation for great CX initiatives.
This is the third article in a series of ten. We are addressing the main problems that we have identified while assisting with the implementation of over one thousand CX initiatives. The prior article is Problem 2: Despite What You Think, It’s a Data Problem. You can read the whole series from the beginning, starting with Problem 1: Unrealized Potential; the Top-level Issue.
The word ‘analytics’ is so trendy, it’s worth taking a second to define it. Analytics are not about reporting. Most customer experience methodologies in use today can provide high quality, understandable reports of CX data to management and team members. Reporting is essential but insufficient.
“UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
-THE LORAX, DR. SEUSS
From reports to insights
Analytics transform data. They are a critical step on the road from data to insights. As a rule of thumb, expect a 20x to 50x improvement in value by the application of analytics to basic CX data. NPS is an analytic – albeit a simple one – but it has that transformative impact. Beyond that, many CX programs barely get further than key driver analysis. This is a useful but dated tool that provides at best directional indicators around future improvement possibilities.
A worse scenario arises when the foundational NPS analytics just don’t work for business to business companies. The supplier company then treats their client companies like consumers; as B2C not B2B. This mistake restricts both analytics and methodology.
When we look to the future of analytics, we see them structured around questions that management wants answered.
We recognize the need for a new approach
Analytics answer questions.
When we look to the future of analytics, we see them structured around questions that management wants answered. They will no longer rely on the data that just happens to be available. How is our business truly performing? How do we compare to our competitors? Which CX investment choices that we make will in fact change the financial outcomes of the business? Across which customer segments? How do we achieve our goals with confidence and in a reasonable timeframe?
Analytics will work out of the box
Corporations have invested heavily over the last decade in better and better toolkits to enable them to realize the potential of data and analytics.
There are data warehouses, business Intelligence systems, dedicated and expensive teams of data scientists. As these developments relate to CX, the results often fall short of expectations.
CX is a deep and rich domain. Wise decisions on how to organize, measure, and transform CX data are based on specific methodologies and processes. These processes developed over the last decade or so, based on experience and best practice. You can equip teams that lack that experience with better tools. But that action alone will not deliver the best solutions and insights.
There is also an important comparison to make with the general transition in the 1990s from custom, in-house software to packaged applications. As an example, there’s a very good reason that most of us use Word. Businesses today know that creating their own, in-house analytics capabilities does not serve their shareholders well. It’s just too difficult. Far better to obtain off the shelf solutions that have been built on a foundation of best practice. Then focus the efforts of the enterprise on execution, not re-inventing the data science. As with NPS, advanced CX analytics capacities will be available off the shelf, battle tested and ready to deploy.
But data and insights are not enough. We need action. Read the next problem statement, “Problem 4: Data Problems lead to Action Problems“.
ABOUT INSIGHTS FROM OCX COGNITION
OCX Cognition delivers the future of NPS. We ensure customer experience success by combining technology and data science with programmatic consulting. In our Insights section, we present a comprehensive and evolving collection of resources based on our research and expertise, collected for CX leaders committed to delivering business outcomes.