Organizations that focus on customer service have a right to collect customer data. The information gathered helps in several ways. In order for the company to satisfy its customers, they must know who those customers are and what their preferences may be. Once that data is collected and analyzed, the company has a good idea who its constituents are and what they need. This information helps form the basis of the company’s unique approach to customer service and what strategies they are going to employ. The company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOTs) are partially formed by how well the company collects and uses customer data.
Customer relations management (CRM) is dependent on customer data and the information from its analysis. This helps to company be proactive and anticipate some problems before they present themselves. Companies should collect customer data to continually increase their services to the consumer, but they should also limit use of the information to ways that can increase their services and thereby, their company’s bottom line. Sharing or selling of customer data is not productive and should be avoided. The same information a company collects for their growth can be used by a competitor to stunt that same growth and keep objectives out of reach.
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The collection of this customer data has brought data warehousing and mining into the service culture. This concentration on data allows companies to anticipate the needs of their customers to such a degree that the customer care of the future may not even require direct contact with a representative. A cross-section of the customer’s history, past complaints, and preferred mode of contact can led to an automatic technical support, complete with notification from the company. Customer service in the next five years may require less direct contact with the customer, and more contact with the data and its analyses.
- Gibson, P. (2011). The world of customer service, 3rd Ed. United States: Cengage Learning.
