Companies know they must adapt to change in order to compete, but often don’t rely on a wide enough lens into data to drive change. A new study announced, “Business Transformation and Analytics: Driving Change in a Customer-Centric World,” reveals 85% of executives know that data and analytics are critical to informing sales and marketing changes within the business, yet 39% admit to relying too heavily on one data point.

What’s more troubling, 68% of executives admit to avoiding a major change initiative unless there is a problem.

Commissioned by Calabrio, a leading provider of customer engagement and analytics software, the study surveyed more than 1,000 C-level business executives in the U.K. and U.S., to explore the factors that compel change, and identify the data sources they use to inform decisions.

Business leaders know transformation is certain as 60% of respondents have made a significant sales or marketing change in the past 12 – 18 months, citing fluctuations in revenue (49%) and direct feedback from customers (39%) as the top initiators of those changes.

However, executives are informing decisions based on a limited set of data points that are often the easiest to derive. While revenue figures (36 percent) and social media (20 percent) are the most influential sources, companies lack the full insight to confidently and effectively drive change.

Despite the heightened focus on customer experience, businesses still ignore sources that deliver the voice of the customer. Instead, executives draw opinions from biased sources such as ratings and reviews (49%) and social media (40%), while democratised sources such as the contact centre remain relatively untapped (12%).

“While businesses are busy collecting information from more sources than ever before, many executives continue to question the validity of the data. With this level of distrust, the result is the underutilisation of data and analytics, a narrow view of what’s actually happening in the business and, ultimately, unsuccessful changes made within the business, said Kris McKenzie, EMEA general manager at Calabrio. “Instead, companies need to take a step back and understand the contact centre captures the true voice of the customer and should be used as the main source of customer driven insights that drive any business change.”

Download the full report, “Business Transformation and Analytics: Driving Change in a Customer-Centric World.”

Methodology

Commissioned through VI.GA Consulting. Study of 1,000 C-suite executives in the U.S. and U.K., carried out in February 2018.