Taking a Transatlantic view, Sridhar Iyengar, Managing Director, Zoho Europe, cites the new US/UK Data Bridge project to highlight the prominent role data plays for businesses wanting to digitally transform their processes.
The UK has announced that the UK-US ‘data bridge’ is set to extend the Data Privacy Framework to facilitate the free flow of personal data between the two countries and speed up the delivery of data enabled services to the US – which reached £79 million in 2021, making up 93% of the UK’s services exports.
The news highlights the prominent role that data plays within the UK. For businesses wanting to digitally transform their processes to stay competitive in our technology-driven market, understanding its benefits and how to use data effectively is vital.
We live in a digital economy inundated with more technology than ever before. Businesses are overseeing vast amounts of data, which is becoming a critical business tool when used correctly, offering insights into market trends, consumer preferences and other key areas that can give businesses a competitive edge.
The past few years have shown how global external forces can have a huge impact on businesses and their ability to operate, meaning organizations must examine their strategies, operations and customer service offerings to remain agile and robust.
Data can play a key role.
One major shift that organizations have seen recently is an increase in customer demand for a seamless and personalized approach.
Customers have also become more conscious of how their data is collected and used.
Tech adoption is rapidly rising and as new technologies like AI become more widely discussed and develop at a swift pace, the amount of data at our disposal will only grow.
While most organizations recognize the value of data, some are yet to realize its true potential as a business tool and may struggle to use information to improve their business results.
Data analysis can benefit businesses in many ways to inform decision-making. These include market trend predictions, forecasting, learning more about customer preferences to improve customer experience and understand the performance of business departments.
All of this can help a business remain nimble, solving problems before they grow or making the most of potential opportunities.
The recent PwC evidences that consumer behavior is changing and organizations must go beyond traditional servicing approaches, responding to evolving customer attitudes, actions and desires.
Data can be used to analyze customer behavior, understanding their specific needs and tailoring marketing efforts to their personal requirements.
However, as data is collected, used and stored at every stage of a customer’s purchase process – later being used to guide business decision making – organizations must realize the importance of devising and implementing data protection policies to safeguard both customer and company data, while keeping communication transparent around how data is used.
Businesses that make full use of their data must still ensure they have strong data protection and privacy practices in place.
They must remain vigilant around the safe and ethical use of data, or else risk facing damage in terms of both reputational and financial loss.
At the beginning of 2023, the UK Information Commissioners Office encouraged small and medium-businesses to check they have the right data protection policies in place – emphasizing the importance of proper data processes.
While laws exist around the use of data, organizations should ensure that they build out their own policies tailored to their organization, which they can then use as a benchmark for all data related activities.
Organizations who wish to ensure a completely transparent approach is taken should consider using data for assessing how products or services are being used with the intention of improving them for the customers benefit.
Selling customer data, which organizations often do for monetary gain, can lead to complications and broken trust within the relationship, which is then hard to regain.
Customers should always have access to clear information about how their data is being gathered and used through practises that are transparent. This is not only for compliance purposes, but to garner customer trust, a vital part of customer experience.
In a crowded market, customer experience is a core business differentiator and can make the difference between success and failure.
The future role of data will only grow further as the use of digital continues to balloon. The more organizations make full use of the information they hold, in line with ethical data privacy policies, the more benefits they will realize.
Organizations must keep ahead of the curve if they want to compete in a market that is becoming more crowded with products and services.
For businesses to remain robust, especially in turbulent times, using data can help them become more flexible, agile, and resilient to cope with future market disruptors, whatever they may be.
This means data is now playing an essential part of business success.
