Digital transformation has enabled companies develop new competitive advantages by making use of the vast volume of data captured through software applications. These competitive advantages include unique offerings, enhanced customer service, and productivity improvement.
With clear objectives, successful companies capture the right data, then turn the data into useful decision-making information. Amassing data for the sake of doing so does not have any value.
Here are a few examples how transparency adds value.
From orders to revenue growth
Point-of-sale applications have evolved into all-in-one systems that help businesses manage different functions with ease.
In addition to the traditional sales processing functions, state-of-the-art applications offer inventory management, customer relationship management, online order management, and more.
With sales data for a customer easily accessible for analyzing purchase history, targeted loyalty programs could be created to entice repeat business. For the warehouse, sales data also allows it to be proactive in moving inventory to align with demand, avoiding stock-outs.
When sales data by customer segment and geographic region area are combined with demographic and economic data, business can make informed decisions on selecting a new store location or distribution centre.
From inquires to efficient customer support
Businesses offer multiple channels for customers to reach them. Customer support centre, email, chatbot, and community forum are common.
The customer support centre and email require agents which is costly. Many inquiries might not require an agent to tackle.
Chatbots are excellent for simple inquires that could be addressed by providing standard information or links. Otherwise, the inquirer gets into circular prompts and answers.
Community forums are useful when the inquirer has a lot of time to search through pages and pages of information. It is a time-consuming chore. Often, the customer might not find a direct answer.
Customer focused businesses adopt the appropriate channels and technologies for customer support.
Adopting technology for the sake of popularity without understanding the nature of customer inquiries is a waste of time and capital. Adopting technology for the sake of popularity without understanding the nature of customer inquiries is a waste of time and capital. Share on X
Constant Contact, the popular online marketing company, is top notch with their customer support. It offers live chat, call support, and a community forum. My experience has been positive every time. Agents can access my account instantaneously. They are well trained to respond to my questions expediently. The support is consistent doesn’t matter which channel I use.
From weighing to timely billing
Garbage weight is important to a waste collection service business because landfills bill the company based on tonnage. Dump fees is a major cost of operation for a waste collection service provider.
Despite the use of standard bin sizes, garbage weight could vary with the type of garbage and nature of the business served. By installing the technology to weigh each bin picked up, the service provider can determine whether an overweight billing applies.
Service providers that don’t have the technology would miss the opportunity to recuperate costs.
On the contrary, service providers with the appropriate technology can provide accurate data to their customers, enabling them to assess their respective situations. The evaluation might result in a shift to more suitable bin sizes and minimize overweight charges. For the service provider, overweight revenue data could be used to refine its pricing strategy.
Technology accelerates activities where the flow of data initiates tasks and better yet, executes the work automatically. The key is not just to gather data, but knowing what data is useful and making the concerted effort to build on that information for better decision-making. With the right data, transparency allows employees, customers and partners to act and make informed decisions.
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