Role of Big Data Analytics enhancing the SuiteCRM

Big data is huge, it has surely arrived and it is a true Pandora’s box!

But often in a bid to adopt big data capabilities, companies neglect the very fundamental linkages that will help them harness the true power of the insights from big data.

• Real-time data analysis
  

  Silos of data, when analysed in hindsight, can give businesses limited results. Shifting focus to real-time analytics and translating them into immediate actions can help in addressing problems as they occur and also help to increase customer satisfaction. Big data has a high velocity as well as variety, so to tap its full potential, businesses need to have agility in their CRM systems to react to this constant live stream of data.

  Often, this is due to lack of technology, tools, skills or a combination of all three. Data scientist skills are still quite rare in the market, since this is a relatively new field. Machine-learning, AI, and an attitude to change are the technological as well as human aspects that are important factors to consider in this regard. At the same time, myopic vision, traditional company management and organisational politics sometimes themselves play havoc.

• Important strategies
  

  Proactive action is key to engaging in meaningful benefits from big data. A plain reaction to, say, posts from social media platforms will never be able to drive major business decisions.The leaders should be looking for ways to engage various social media channels as part of their key customer strategy. Each channel should be linked to a well-defined measurable objective for customer engagement that should be mapped to a business goal.
  

  Often, the SuiteCRM experts are forgotten when social media planning is underway. This can be a big mistake, as one might learn a little too late. The insights from CRM’s perspective and experience can help companies put themselves on the right social media track, with visibility on how each media channel can help to engage, cross-sell, up-sell or service its customers.
  

• Increase interaction
  

  Interaction with customers is what the final leg of deep analytics and insights entails. And it is this very interaction that is surprisingly quite lacking in many business scenarios. Following up and reaching out proactively to customers is a thought process that needs to be cultivated, a culture that needs to be nurtured, throughout the organization.

  There may be tools that can scan and scrape through social media platforms and analyse them via software intelligence or by human experts. So, enterprises can understand customer’s concerns, sentiments, issues and needs. But, the actual interaction with the customer base lying within the CRM is somehow missing. More focus needs to be put here to ensure that the customers stay, feel more engaged and buy more products and services, which is the ultimate aim of the synergy of big data and CRM.

The stages to ensure that the above-mentioned as well as other key aspects are really incorporated into your business for reaping the real benefits of Big Data and CRM can follow this roadmap.

Plan your strategy
Identify the CRM-based business objectives and then involve all stakeholders for their buy-in. Map it to what you want to deliver to your customers vis-à-vis your competition.

Measure
Define how you will monitor and measure the data from structured and unstructured formats and link it to the CRM’s goals. The methodology and math required for the same as well as the tools to be used should be clearly specified. Finally, you will need to apply smart analytics to be able to truly ‘measure’ these for some actionable insights.

Report
Communicate and share the findings via dashboards and meaningful report formats to the various stakeholders and key users. Simple and intuitive digitised reports and graphics can help everyone digest the huge numbers easily and quickly get down to addressing the required actions.

Change
It is necessary to drive new actions via change. This may mean new optimal or revamped business processes, performance improvements and fresh implementations of business process management techniques.

Surely the transition from being in a position where one understands the customers (with CRM) to being able to predict what the customers will like is a powerful asset that can be brought about by inclusion of big data analytics.  All data sources, when connected, will help organisations to embark on a 360-degree consumer-centric journey of business transformation.

More info about Big Data and CRM: Is it a smooth journey?