8 TDWI RESEARCH
Customer AnAlytiCs in the Age of soCiAl mediA
e marketing function, which in most organizations is empowered with the responsibility for
identifying, attracting, satisfying, and keeping customers, is clearly the main stage for customer
analytics. Marketing functions are becoming increasingly quantitative; they are replacing “gut feel”
with data-driven decision making. Data drives the pursuit of eciency and the achievement of
measurable results. Marketing functions are key supporters of “data science,” which is the use of
scientic methods on data to develop hypotheses and models and apply iterative, test-and-learn
strategies to marketing campaigns and related initiatives.
e research shows that sales functions can be important beneciaries of customer analytics. Sales
reports typically focus on providing visibility into the pipeline. Managers can use data insights to
improve sales forecasting of potential revenues based on deeper knowledge of priority opportunities,
most valued customer segments, and more. e oce of nance can also benet from more
sophisticated analytics in sales reports. C-level and nance executives typically consume sales
reports; 67% of respondents said that customer analytics was important for the nance function
(with 38% indicating “very important”). (See Figure 1, previous page.)
Customer service and order management can use customer analytics to get a more subtle and
substantial view of what actions most impact customer experiences and satisfaction. Contact centers
can use customer analytics to help tune performance metrics closer to real time, so that each day’s
agents are guided, if not incentivized, to interact with customers in benecial ways. In addition,
analytics can help service and order management functions move away from one-size-ts-all
approaches to customers and instead tune and tailor interactions more personally based on
knowledge of particular types or segments, such as regions or nationalities. Finally, through
integrated views of customer data and analytics, service and order management functions are able to
work in better synchronicity with the organization’s marketing, sales, and other business functions.
Customer Analytics Budgets and IT Control
TDWI Research found that IT and data management (59%) are the most common owners of the
budget for customer analytics technologies and services (see Figure 2; respondents could select
multiple answers). is reects the central role played by BI and data warehousing systems, which
are often managed by IT. (We will examine research about BI and data warehousing for customer
analytics more extensively later in this report.) In interviews, TDWI did discover a growing budget
role played by marketing and advertising functions. Nearly two out of ve (38%) respondents
said that this function has responsibility for the customer analytics budget in their organizations.
Executive management (39%) is also a signicant player in budgetary decisions.
In your organization, which of the following functions is responsible for the customer analytics
technologies and services budget? (Please select all that apply.)
IT and data management
59%
Executive management
39%
Marketing/advertising functions
38%
Sales functions
20%
Cross-functional team responsibility
18%
Customer/eld service functions
16%
Other LOB or operations management
12%
Call/customer center
10%
New media/social media functions
8%
Figure 2. Based on 992 responses from 448 respondents; a little more than two responses per respondent, on average.
Marketing functions
are key supporters of
“data science,” which
is the use of scientific
methods on data to
develop hypotheses
and models.
Analytics can help
service and order
management functions
move away from one-
size-fits-all approaches.