Less than 40% of customer data execs know where company data is stored, says survey

  • 91% of US customer data management professionals surveyed by American market researchers, Forrester said data privacy was a top concern of their customers.

    Just 37% of this group said they had the ability to handle customer consent when it came to their data.

    Only 38% of the 425 customer data executives “strongly agreed” when asked if they knew where all of their company’s customer data is stored. The survey of executives responsible for customer data management decisions was conducted by Forrester for Deloitte. It found inadequate data management was a central theme, with just 5.6% of survey respondents scoring a “4” or higher on a 1 to 5 scale measuring data management maturity.

    88% of the survey participants also reported that their customers expect personalised “omni-channel” experiences from the brand — but few companies have the necessary data to create personalised experiences.

    Only 35% of executives from the top-performing companies had high-quality data on their customers. Less than a quarter from this group said they were able to conduct real-time analysis on their customers.

    The numbers show a major disconnect between what customers want and the data available to make it happen.

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    Over the next two years, “fully outsourced” data management will drop by 48%, reports Forrester — meaning more companies are taking ownership of the full scope of their customer data in-house.

    A senior marketing VP at a retail organisation who was interviewed as part of the report cited a lack of transparency from data vendors. “They [data vendors] don’t want us to know the customers that easy. They just want to give them to us in a way that we can’t identify them … because they want us to pay for the information.”

    When looking at the top performers among the customer data management professionals, 73% have brought their data management initiatives in-house, compared to 58% of the companies labelled as “laggards.”

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    Source: Marketing Land

    About the author

    Niamh is a Sync NI writer with a previous background of working in FinTech and financial crime. She has a special interest in sports and emerging technologies. To connect with Niamh, feel free to send her an email or connect on Twitter.

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