It’s a common story: many companies struggle to leverage their customer data effectively. Oftentimes, it’s not that they don’t have access to vast amounts of data. It’s turning that data into actionable insights that often feels like an uphill battle. At Transparent, we see a lot of examples of brands that have ample customer data, but fail to successfully utilize their data to help streamline marketing and business efforts.

Well to start, the data itself is often scattered across different systems and formats, making integration a major headache. In fact, “54 percent of organizations stated that their biggest barrier to leveraging data was fragmented or siloed data.” This fragmentation adds major challenges to the creation of any data-driven solution. This is true for Business Intelligence (BI) dashboards, that would empower marketers to make informed decisions. Additionally, there’s often a technical gap in the ability to analyze complex data sets. This slows down the process and can compromise the quality of insights. In other words, companies miss out on opportunities to deploy data-driven marketing strategies and build deeper customer relationships.

A whopping 91.9% of executives say that the biggest roadblock to becoming data-driven is managing all the changes that come with it. Yes, it’s true that marketer struggle to pull useful insights from their data. However it’s developing the business case for more sophisticated data products that comes with a lot of bureaucratic pushback. New ideas often sound a call for major changes in how people work and make decisions. And let’s be honest, not everyone is on board with that. It’s this type of resistance that leaves companies with tons of data ripe for decision-making floating around. Why? Typically because their data infrastructure inhibits the data’s accessibility. This is where most reporting-in-a-box solutions fall short. Effective solutions do more than sit on top of broken data strategies and rudderless organizational transition. The most effective solutions align with existing workflows while fully leveraging the benefits of current technology and data infrastructure.

Challenges on both the data strategy and change management side are extremely common. However it’s important to find a solution that sits somewhere in the middle. Develop solutions that strike the balance between operational workflow, while maximizing the benefits of the existing MarTech stack. Companies need to implement changes that align seamlessly with current operations. Doing so allows them to enhance their data capabilities without disrupting daily routines. By intelligently integrating new tools into established workflows, they can leverage their data more effectively and with minimal resistance.

Let’s break down TP’s approach into two main categories: strategic solutions and change management solutions. On the strategic side, we’ll tackle how to streamline data integration and enhance our analytical capabilities, addressing those pesky data silos and skill gaps. For change management, we’ll focus on how to roll out these new systems in a way that feels natural, not forced, helping everyone on board adapt smoothly. By dividing our solutions this way, we can ensure that both the technical and operational changes not only make sense but also make things better for everyone involved.

Strategic Solutions

  • MarTech Integrations: Marketing technologies are expensive, so it is important to get the most out of those services. Whether it be building an interactive dashboard on a business intelligence tool such as Power BI and Tableau, or leveraging CDPs such as Tealium or Salesforce for more in-depth insights, the solution ideally should work within the current available technologies.
  • Understanding the Audience: Who will be using this solution? Do they have any technical expertise? What problems are they trying to solve in their daily role? Talking with end-users is a crucial step and can help mold the way this solution is created. For users looking to better prepare for campaign deployment, for example, it might make sense to show users who are in their audience by creating audience profiles, and how they can reach their audience through channel segmentation.
  • Crafting the Right Solution: Once you understand the data, technology, and user needs, the final step is determining the most effective solution. This could be in the form of a BI dashboard using Tableau or Power BI, or in-house CDP data visualizations.

Change Management Solutions

  • Building Trust: “This looks great, but how can I be confident that the data is correct?” Even the most beautiful solution will be rendered useless unless the users trust that the data being presented is accurate. Being transparent about where the data is coming from is a very important component of any data solution.
  • Smooth Workflow Integration: A tool or product is only worth something if you can get people to use it. By doing an extensive assessment of the day-to-day work streams that happen in an organization, seamless integration is possible with minimal disruption.
  • Effective Socialization: In order to effectively integrate the solution within the current ways of working, we need to find ways to educate users about how and when to use it. Using a combination of robust documentation and live training demos, users were quickly adapting to and finding value in the new solution.

Overcoming technical barriers and managing resistance to change are crucial for companies that are eager to maximize the potential of their customer data. By addressing challenges like data silos and technical skill gaps with smart technological solutions, and integrating these changes into existing workflows, organizations can significantly improve their data-driven decision-making. This balanced approach not only eases resistance but also opens the door to more effective and insightful marketing strategies. Ultimately, the end goal is clear: to transform data into a strategic asset that drives growth and innovation, ensuring the transition is seamless for everyone involved.

Our team at Transparent Partners can bring a unique perspective to your current customer data ecosystem and help drive your organization to maximum customer data value. Balancing the integration of strategic solutions with minimal workflow disruption is no small task, but we can help navigate this process and unlock the potential of your customer data. Get in touch with us today!