While vendors have long promoted the idea of generating "visibility" to valuable business data, it would seem the business practitioners themselves have adopted their own nomenclature for this benefit, when applied to their user environments: "Data democratization" has become something of a new trend.
In short, "data democratization" means making relevant data and insights available to the users who will most benefit from it, immediately, without process getting in the way. It means eliminating silos, promoting communication and collaboration between departments, maximizing real-time actionability, and promoting internal improvement and innovation.
When informed by omnichannel customer journey analytics tools such as Scenario Analyzer and Digital Containment, data democratization empowers employees to take action to solve customer issues on first contact, explore root causes behind any number of trends, solve persistent or developing problems, and brainstorm new ways to serve the customer and simplify routines.
Data democratization benefits every level of the business: Frontline agents provide satisfying experiences autonomously, which supports increased employee engagement and satisfaction. Managers can more effectively delegate resources, train, and evaluate performance. Marketers and product developers can better assess the effectiveness of their efforts, and adjust or prioritize accordingly. Executives gain additional oversight and increase sensitivity to general customer satisfaction, cost-effectiveness, developing trends, and adherence to brand values or initiatives. Heightened customer visibility means heightened accountability.
This concept of empowering employees to make what they might of newfound insights, using their practical experience, customer focus, and ingenuity to develop long-term solutions, is behind Humana's award-winning FastStart Customer Experience Lab project.
Eight in ten brands believe they offer "superior" service to their customers, but less than one in ten customers agree. By capturing deep insights into the customer journey, and democratizing that data across the business, brands stand to make considerable gains in closing that gap.