Nathan Gower, Senior Director, Enterprise Asia-Pacific, Boomi, on the challenge facing traditional B2B enterprises in managing an overwhelming volume of customer data.
A shift is underway. Australian companies traditionally anchored to reseller-driven, business-to-business (B2B) models are increasingly moving to a combination of partner and direct go-to-market strategies. They’re doing this to better reach the consumer.
Cochlear, for example, was once a pure B2B business. It now operates its Connected Care program, which allows the company to directly engage with hearing implant patients and create better connectedness throughout patients’ lifetime.
Australian health supplement company Blackmores engaged in a similar transition. Blackmores added direct online sales and personalised wellness services to its resume, allowing the Australian organisation to cultivate a deeper understanding of its customer base and personalise offerings.
In a consumer world dominated by experience, the transition from B2B to B2C is largely motivated by the desire to ensure customer experience is informed by richer, more actionable data at every stage of a company’s product or service lifecycle.
This means the floodgates have opened, and a rush of consumer data is pouring through to traditionally B2B enterprises.
The challenge for these organisations is quickly adjusting to the complexity of managing an overwhelming volume of customer data, which typically includes personal and transactional information, behavioural data, social media interactions and feedback from customer service channels.
For organisations accustomed to a B2B framework, this influx can be daunting. The complexity lies in the quality of the business’ data and the ability – or lack thereof – to integrate disparate data sources across systems and applications.
When data is siloed, it’s dirty; riddled with duplication and ambiguity, which prevents companies from fully understanding their customers. This inability to comprehend behavioural trends and shifts hinders the rate at which services can be improved, personalised, or launched.
The welcoming of customer-first processes and data not only tests digital systems, but it also tests organisational governance.
Under the Privacy Act 1988, the Australian Privacy Principles sets out standards, rights and obligations for the handling, holding, accessing, and correction of personal information.
While it is expected companies undergoing a B2B2C transition possess guardrails to meet standard privacy obligations, it is impossible to discount the complexity new end-user data brings to the table.
Particularly, when major reforms to the Privacy Act is expected later this year.
According to Consumer Policy Research Centre and UNSW, 70% of Australians feel they have little or no control over how their data is disclosed between companies. While the impending Government reforms to our privacy regulation promise to bolster consumer trust, this can only be achieved if businesses lock down their data management practices.
To ensure governance and overcome the issue of dirty data, transitioning businesses need to unify digital assets, involving customer data entering the company with historical data, which typically sits scattered across myriad systems, or worse, in spreadsheets.
Once the environment is proficiently connected, consumer data should be cleaned and analysed so it can be understood and acted on. The orchestrating of data also helps these businesses establish a common ‘data language’, making it easier to meet governance requirements and enhance consumer trust.
NSW-based hospitality and fitness group Norths Collective is an example of an organisation that stitched together its technology environment to improve engagement and lift trust with its members.
With a 360-degree view over the business, every email sent to its members is now personalised, which has resulted in a 10% click-through increase. Norths Collective has also used its newfound connectivity to develop an Ethical Personalisation Policy, which helps its community understand what data is collected and how it is used to inform personalised communication. This is critical as the business works to stay ahead of the incoming privacy changes.
As our traditional B2B businesses increasingly adopt a customer-first approach to business – they must understand data’s role in making or breaking customer experience.
The quality of every interaction, whether in person, through an app, or online, determines the likelihood of consumers coming back. And the key to quality interactions is quality data, which is only delivered under a cohesive and comprehensive approach to data management.
Click below to share this article