In the world of the Internet of Things (IoT) where data is created, curated, organized, and tracked across an endless number of devices, keeping up with it all is an art. For forward-thinking organizations, it’s also a science.
These days, advanced analytics can reveal an incredible amount of information about a company, from the effectiveness of marketing campaigns to consumer trends and purchasing habits, all of which can be leveraged to create stronger, more effective Customer Relationship Management (CRM) activities. In fact, Salesforce reveals that 70% of sales leaders believe better data would help them win more deals and more than 85% have admitted to missing sales opportunities as a result of information overload.
Making it easier to turn these findings into actionable insights, however, requires creating—and sticking to—a corporate initiative to become both data-driven and data-oriented, and making sure every team member across every department understands this process.
When it comes to figuring out how your company is performing, inclinations and best guesses alone won’t cut it. Staying competitive and making intelligent, informed decisions requires access to the cold, hard facts—in other words, the numerical and statistical output that turns years and tomes of stored information into valuable data products to help drive smarter business.
Making it Easier: The Intelligence of Machine Learning
The good news is technology is on our side in this movement. The number of sensors is growing at a rapid pace, and likewise the opportunity to congregate mass amounts of data into a virtual “sensory network” is continually expanding—and we’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg. Industry research predicts that as data starts to permeate across a variety of verticals, we’ll reach the point where processes will become so complex, identifying and categorizing patterns may require more manpower than companies can spare—that’s where machine learning comes in.
CRM platforms such as Salesforce are already beginning to integrate elements of machine learning into their offerings, such as the Predictive Intelligence Engine of the Salesforce Marketing Cloud, which pairs customer profiles with advanced algorithms to guide marketers toward the content that will generate the highest rate of engagement and increase conversion rates.
It can be easy to become overwhelmed by the amount of content available—this is the Information Age, after all. Yet, it’s possible—and to stay ahead, absolutely necessary—to transform data collection from a burden to a benefit by leveraging the tools and technologies designed to make the process easier—and the insights richer.
Sources:
Sein, Kristie, “How Machine Intelligence Transforms Customer Acquisition [Webcast Recap],” Salesforce, July 22, 2015.
Upadhyay, Shashi, “5 Ways Data Science Can Save Salespeople Time,” Salesforce, June 11, 2014.
NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT
