A lack of integration between technologies may be hindering businesses in their pursuit of the single customer view.
New research from Forbes Insights and Sitecore – a supplier of customer experience management software – indicates that issues such as handling a multiplicity of systems and data fragmentation could be the reasons behind scant improvements in the all-important area of customer experience.
In a survey of 300 senior executives from enterprises in North America, the pair discovered that while over half (53%) consider gaining a single view of each customer a priority, they will have to significantly improve relationships between internal systems to reach this goal.
Technical difficulties
Part of the issue stems from the sheer amount of systems being used, with the average organisation using 36 different systems and vendors for gathering data about their consumers.
Considering that only one quarter (24%) of the group said their data gathering systems were fully integrated, cutting their team of suppliers down to size could be a priority in the coming months.
Some of the most commonly cited issues in achieving a clear view of each customer also alluded to problems with technology. Difficulties in keeping track of data across multiple systems as well as silos between technology were both listed as chief bugbears, but the problems were not all of a technical nature.
Chiefs miss out
Similar issues with gaining a single customer view were unearthed when the survey turned its focus to communications between departments. When asked questions about the positioning of their internal teams, 49% of respondents said their marketing and data teams were siloed.
Not only this, despite 84% of the group planning a strategy for customer retention, just 38% said their chief marketing officer was involved.
The findings led to Bruce Rogers, Forbes’ insights officer, claiming that businesses were ‘falling short’ of their potential in nurturing the full customer lifecycle.