Data Dilemma: How Silos and Legacies Limit Customer Analytics Success

Companies face difficulties in delivering real-time, digital customer interactions while maximizing the use of related data, according to a recent survey from Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, SAS, Intel and Accenture Applied Intelligence. The resulting report, titled “Real-Time Analytics: The Key to Unlocking Customer Insights and Driving the Customer Experience,” indicates that legacy systems create most of the problems here. However, businesses are planning to increase their customer analytics spend, so addressing legacies could emerge as part of the solution. More than 560 global business leaders took part in the research. This slide show presents highlights from the survey, with charts provided courtesy of the organizations behind the report.

Seven of 10 respondents said their organization has increased its customer analytics spending over the last year. And 32 percent of those respondents said this spending has increased “significantly.” Only 1 percent said they’re seeing a decline in spending.

Three of five respondents said their organization currently has the ability to deliver real-time customer interactions across touch points and devices. Nearly four of five said their organization would be able to do this within two years.

Despite having the tools to do so, only 16 percent of respondents said their company is “very effective” at delivering real-time customer interactions across touch points and devices. Three of 10 even said their organization was “not effective” at this.

When asked to name the top drivers of increased investment in real-time customer analytics, 69 percent of respondents selected the ability to scale customer-centered decisions and actions across business functions. The designing of contextual engagements across the customer journey ranked second, as chosen by 62 percent of respondents.

When asked to name the biggest customer analytics challenges, 36 percent of respondents cited legacy systems. Other top challenges include data silos (as cited by 33 percent of respondents), organizational silos (29 percent) and multichannel complexities (26 percent).

The findings reveal that 83 percent of respondents feel that its “very” important for their business to translate data into actionable insights at optimal times. However, only 22 percent said their organization is successful in doing this.

Four of five respondents highly prioritize data accessibility—getting the right data to the right people at the right time. But just over two of five said their company effectively provides this.

Nearly three-quarters of respondents said that it’s “very” important to seamlessly access and use all available data—such as that related to customer activity. But only 18 percent said their organization commands this capability.

More than three of five respondents highly prioritize organizational support for experimentation. But just 23 percent said their company effectively provides this support.

Three of five respondents highly value the capability to deploy proven analytics models and test new ones. But only 17 percent said their company succeeds in doing this.