Marketing has a significant opportunity to lead and to maximize the demand for an organization's products and services by adopting innovative processes and technologies. This transformational opportunity starts with an exploration of digital commerce and marketing processes that facilitate the presentation of products and services using predictive and robotic technology. Using newly available tools to engage customers and understand the voice of the customer, marketing can deliver an engaging and satisfying customer experience.
Ventana Research offers research-based guidance on how to utilize processes and applications to maximize the return on marketing investments. Change is required to gain success in managing the transformation to effective digital marketing technologies and processes. Ventana Research can help.
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Marketers today face a situation that is at the very least challenging; and that sometime seems impossible. They are forced to make decisions at a frantic pace in an environment of complexly interacting market and competitive factors and changes in
Recent research shows that over half of organizations (57%) are re-assessing how to manage information associated with products. With 48 percent of organizations utilizing line of business IT budgets to fund PIM projects; it is essential to make proj
Realizing an appropriate return on capital spending is critical. Poor allocation of strategic funds can impair the competitiveness and profitability of a corporation; which is why well-run organizations have a disciplined methodology for making thes
Effective product information management is a high priority for most organizations today. And most lack a dedicated approach to PIM. Those that do not invest and improve will fall behind. It�s no wonder why. Research shows that PIM can improve effici
There isn't an aspect of business today in which people don't claim they use analytics to generate information; typically in the form of metrics and key indicators. But there is much confusion about their usefulness and value to the business and abou
There isn't an aspect of business today in which people don't claim they use analytics to generate information; typically in the form of metrics and key indicators. But there is much confusion about their usefulness and value to the business and about how best to select and implement historical; root-cause; real-time and predictive analytics. The uncertainty this causes poses a challenge for organizations.
Product Information Management (PIM) is essential to business processes; the customer experience; and ultimately financial performance. It is shared among business units; customers; partners and distributors and may take many forms; including text; v
Effective product information management is a high priority for most organizations today. And most lack a dedicated approach to PIM. Those that do not invest and improve will fall behind. It�s no wonder why. Research shows that PIM can improve effici
Change can impact any aspect of business; from daily operations to processes that develop and transport products and services to relationships with customers to sales and profitability; and any size of business; from large enterprises to midsize and
Nearly two-thirds said it is very important to make it simpler to provide analytics and metrics; and half said they can significantly improve their use of them. In addition; half are not satisfied with the process currently used to create analytics;
The Product and Services Analytics Benchmark confirms that metrics and key indicators are important; and are used most often to evaluate cost- and budget-related factors. And they show that analytics processes are not very effective in most organizations: Nearly two-thirds said it is very important to make it simpler to provide analytics and metrics; and half said they can significantly improve their use of them. In addition; half are not satisfied with the process currently used to create analytics; and only one-third are satisfied with the technology used for that purpose.
Organizations need to address limitations in the ways they manage product information; including related attributes and content that describes the products. New types and sources of data often introduce new and inconsistent ways in which products; ma
In the information age; access is key for organizations. This is especially true for product information; where multiple areas in a business need to be able to access the same information; and have it always be up-to-date. And as the number of ways t
Consistent; accurate product information is essential to meet the expectations of today�s customers. These demanding consumers want detailed information presented to them through whichever of the various channels; including websites and commerce sys
The term recurring revenue refers to models for selling and billing typically based on a combination of initial fees and periodic charges. In recent years; it has gained popularity in a variety of industries.
The term recurring revenue refers to models for selling and billing typically based on a combination of initial fees and periodic charges. In recent years; it has gained popularity in a variety of industries.
Ventana Research undertook this first independent; rigorous primary research in Recurring Revenue makes clear that organizations increasingly are choosing to adopt this model to increase revenue and improve their customers� experience. Pioneered by telecommunications service providers; the recurring revenue business model involves periodic sales and billing transactions based on a prior agreement; it has now been adopted across an array of industries including software; entertainment and the delivery of other digital services.
The term recurring revenue refers to models for selling and billing typically based on a combination of initial fees and periodic charges. In recent years; it has gained popularity in a variety of industries.
As competition increases and customer preferences shift with greater frequency; the pressure on marketing departments intensifies. In response; Marketing itself must shift � it must modernize with the times; adjusting its efforts to changing markets
Organizations need to address limitations in the ways they manage product information; including related attributes and content that describes the products. New types and sources of data often introduce new and inconsistent ways in which products; materials and attributes are defined. Yet organizations must incorporate these large amounts of new data more quickly than ever because competitive pressures require that the information presented to customers is accurate; operational processes run uninterrupted and timely data is available for business analysis.
Organizations need to address limitations in the ways they manage product information; including related attributes and content that describes the products. New types and sources of data often introduce new and inconsistent ways in which products; materials and attributes are defined. Yet organizations must incorporate these large amounts of new data more quickly than ever because competitive pressures require that the information presented to customers is accurate; operational processes run uninterrupted and timely data is available for business analysis.
Customers today expect immediate responses to inquiries and ready access to any information they decide they want. They also expect to be able to use any mix of available channels to communicate and still encounter consistent interfaces and informa
Ventana Research defines product information management (PIM) as the practice of using information, applications and technology to effectively support product-related processes across an organization. When PIM is deployed, it employs a wide range of information, including images and videos and other visual and descriptive content, to market and sell products.
Product information management (PIM) landscape has changed drastically over the last few years, and many businesses are still trying to grapple with it.
In most customer service organizations; managing quality of telephone interactions is a manual process that involves listening to a small percentage of calls…
The intense competition in today’s markets requires companies to know as much as they can about their customers in order to anticipate their needs; serve them better and retain their business. The typical company is faced with unprecedented volumes o
Companies need complete views of their customer activities to inform decisions and personalize responses during interactions…
The most objective way of understanding the customer experience is by collecting and analyzing feedback. The output from such analysis can be used to improve interaction-handling processes; training of individuals who handle interactions; marketing and sales campaigns; customer retention strategies; and systems used to support interaction-handling.
Managing performance effectively requires that a company be able to provide executives; managers and employees with accurate; timely information and make it possible for them to work interactively with that information
Customer behavior has changed. Customers today use significantly more channels of communication to interact with companies. When they shop; the convenience of online access has led them to be more demanding because they can go elsewhere with a few c
Customer expectations have extended beyond traditional channels; opening up to include website inquiries; social channels; text messages; instant messages and video applications. As customer contact and communications channels continue to expand; bus
In today’s highly competitive and increasingly digital markets; customers can switch suppliers at the click of a button; therefore; a determined focus on customer retention is essential; and a key to retention is the quality of the customer experience.
Companies seek a comprehensive "360 degree" view of their customers to identify business issues, potential cost savings and customer experience improvements. However, only 37% of participants in our benchmark research into customer relationship management said their organizations actually have such a view.
As customer contact and communications channels continue to expand; businesses are new faced with larger; more complex sets of customer data. Many organizations continue to attempt to achieve a 360-degree view of the customer but due to these bewildering number of data sources; reaching this pinnacle has become increasingly difficult.
Sales forecasting has been an inexact science; often depending as much on gut instinct as on data. Two reasons for this imprecision are a lack of pipeline information and a reliance on spreadsheets to create and track forecasts. The alternatives; sal
Ventana Research defines the voice of the customer (VOC) as the aggregated data; reports and analysis a company has about a specific customer. VOC includes all the available information from marketing; sales; customer service and any other relevant
Ventana Research defines the voice of the customer (VOC) as the aggregated data; reports and analysis a company has about a specific customer. VOC includes all the available information from marketing; sales; customer service and any other relevant
In today’s competitive environment; providing the best possible customer experience should be a top priority. The real challenge lies in providing every agent with a unified view of customer data. If an agent has to scour multiple sources of data to resolve conflicts or provide service; they risk the loss of the customer’s confidence; or worse the loss of the customer altogether. As technologies continue to advance; the need to implement a unified desktop becomes increasingly more important.
In today’s intensely competitive markets; companies must offer a superior customer experience while remaining operationally efficient. Accomplishing this on a continuous basis while remaining within operational guidelines and cost parameters require
Our benchmark research on next-generation customer engagement shows that customers interact with companies through as many as 17 communication channels, most of which are electronic. These interactions produce large volumes of speech and text data. Until recently it required extensive manual effort to extract information and insights from this mass of data.
Benchmark research carried out by Ventana Research shows that contact center executives and managers are under pressure to provide the best possible customer service while staying within tight operational budgets. At the same time centers must handle increased volumes of inbound calls and respond to other types of interactions such as email messages and chat sessions.
In case you haven’t noticed, consumer expectations for service and responsiveness have risen dramatically, while their patience is in precipitous decline. Anything less than customer processes operating at peak levels of excellence is an invitation to shop elsewhere. Unfortunately, too many organizations are operating with antiquated CRM and contact center technologies and processes that are not mapped to the customer journey and lack the needed level of intelligence to deliver the state-of-the-art customer experience that’s possible in the digital age. Mark Smith, CEO and chief research officer of Ventana Research, has 30 years of hands-on and analytic technology experience. In this webinar, Mark will offer insight into how to establish intelligence in customer processes and examine the latest in digital technology innovations that will help engage and improve the experience to every one of your customers.
Marketing organizations have yet to grasp fully the value of managing product information efficiently across marketing for all business channels. Education on effective product information is critical; organizations must be able to use information to have a full understanding of products in order to maximize their value.
We are observing a radical change in consumer expectations about purchase-related product information. In this age of instant online response, consumer patience is in precipitous decline. This is forcing organizations to modernize their use of product information management to provide a more rapid and improved digital experience across all engagement channels. The timing is good: Digital innovations and robotic automation and intelligence are demonstrably able to improve product information quality and also make the information available in forms never before considered.
The software industry’s evolution toward cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS) has changed how and where organizations operate not just their software but their business. Almost every business application – across customer-facing functions, the office of finance and the supply chain
Today more than ever, organizations must prioritize customers and focus on both existing and new relationships in order to increase the value of the interactions with them. A spreading awareness of the importance of customer experiences and interactions has transformed how organizations view not only managing relationships but valuing them. Existing approaches to customer relationship management (CRM),
The effectiveness of digital commerce is at risk today, with antiquated technology platforms eroding usability and making it difficult to focus on the customer and product experience. Advances in AI and machine learning have begun to deliver new methods to target recommendations to buyers and improve the organization’s engagement with them through voice- and chat-based conversational bots. Will your organization invest and deliver a commerce experience that engages customers and optimizes the interactions for your revenue potential?
The process of geocoding increases the quality of business information by augmenting geographic references to fully support operations and decision-making. Without the dimension added by geocoding, operational risk increases, business cycles are wasted, customer satisfaction declines and the likelihood of decisions that could be flawed increases.
To remain competitive, organizations must deliver the best possible customer experience through all channels of engagement. Our benchmark research finds that with consumers having embraced the internet, particularly social media and mobile devices, customers today are communicating with companies through more channels than ever before. The top three channels remain established ones: inbound calls, email and outbound calls. However, the volumes of interactions are expected to grow most in a number of digital channels, among them the corporate website, mobile apps and social media as well as email.
A lot is said and written today about this being “the age of the customer” and terms such as “customer journeys” and “customer experience” are used in many contexts. However, unlike in the ‘80s, very little has been written or said recently about customer relationship management.
More effective management of pricing usually is the biggest profitability lever available to corporations. Yet, senior executives often cannot manage pricing effectively because they encounter five common obstacles. First, they lack visibility into actual pricing performance and the analytics to identify issues and opportunities. Second, their organization is unable to implement pricing decisions quickly and consistently. Third, the pricing approval process takes too long and is inconsistent, leading to lost business. Fourth, their sales organization lacks the process and tools to limit margin leakage. Fifth, they lack the process and tools to optimize pricing for individual customers and products. Technology can be the catalyst that enables senior executives to achieve higher profitability through more effective management of their organization’s pricing.
Providing the level of success your organization deserves across business requires accurate product information that is used consistently across all channels. Organizations must work to overcome common challenges to realize the benefits of investments in product information.
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