Is your data 'hydrated'?

Keeping your data hydrated requires concerted effort and a shift in mindset, said Shashank Sharma, senior director, digital experience, South East Asia & Korea at Adobe. But what is hydrated data? Well, essentially it is data that is "fresh" and constantly evolving with informed understanding of the customer.

Today, customer experience is no longer enough. With live events making a comeback, to really target consumers well and provide a great experience, brands need to be channel agnostic and think O2O.

This requires the stitching of structured data (usually from CRM systems) with unstructured data (such as from a venue, call centre or even web behaviours).

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“Unfortunately, at this point, there is a moat between channels and organisational data,” said Sharma. Organisational data custodians are generally the tech and data teams, while channel data sits with marketers.  

“The difficulty marketers face in driving customer-first campaigns is that they don’t have access to customer data that sits in the organisation and simply rely on digital behaviour data,” he said. So, the real problem lies in stitching the two together.

Explaining further, he added that it isn’t about the availability of the data but rather having the data at the right time to make a difference to the customer.

And while we have been talking about breaking down organizational silos for some time now, in reality it still exists across many organisations. When asked why, Sharma explains that it is with the best intentions.

“Everyone believes they are doing the right thing by the company they work for. But the problem is in the inside out approach most teams take, rather than an outside in when it comes to customer experience,” he said.

So what needs to be done?

Firstly, the hydrated data needs to sit in the hands of the people driving customer experience rather than a tech or data team. This problem is a common phenomenon across industries.

Especially when it comes to live events, which is making a comeback, the data is only good for about two hours, explains Sharma.

“If I am an NFL fan watching a match live, and NFL has all my past data, but what I am doing now is the most relevant. And being able to stitch the two together leveraging on that hydrated profile is critical but incredibly difficult,” he said.

Secondly, there needs to be a mindset shift. As such, the conversation around CXO or “customer experience orchestration” shouldn’t just rest with marketers alone but across the organisation with CRM teams, data teams, channel teams and tech.

Lastly, with the power of analytics, decisions need to be made faster with more confidence to hit the customer at the zero moment of truth.

So where does this leave the marketer?

“Marketers play a huge role in deciding what the customer experience should look like, despite the responsibility being everyone’s. Because the customer is in their DNA ,” he said. He added that marketers need to elevate their data game, and amplify it with creativity and content.

Join us this coming 23 - 24 April for #Content360, a two-day extravaganza centered around three core thematic pillars: Challenging The Norm; Technology For Transformation; and Unlocking Imagination. Immerse yourself in learning to curate content with creativity, critical thinking, and confidence with us at Content360!

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