BlastPoint helps organizations centralize their data, make it more accessible, and ensure they have the right data to solve specific business problems. This week, we sat down with Tomer Borenstein, BlastPoint’s Co-Founder and CTO, to get his views on “data shame,” and how it can be both mitigated and overcome to get you on the path to operationalizing customer intelligence.
Data shame is real, and the first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one. Even some of the largest organizations in the world have data shame – especially those in regulated industries – but that doesn’t stop them from developing deep customer intelligence. And it shouldn’t stop you either.
What is ‘bad’ data?
Potential customers will often tell BlastPoint that their internal data is either incomplete, of poor quality, or fragmented. Sometimes all three. One thing is for sure, we can always tell them that “we’ve seen worse.”
The state of your data can be bad for all sorts of reasons. Maybe it’s in a lot of different systems due to a history of acquisitions. Or maybe it’s because of poor fill rates or too many duplicates. Good old user error is also often a culprit. As is a system that recognizes ‘123 Main St’ and ‘123 Main Street’ as two different addresses.
Many organizations worry that it’s going to take several years and millions of dollars to fix their data and get started with customer intelligence. In reality, BlastPoint’s proprietary software can help you get there in less than a quarter.
Assessing the current state of your data
BlastPoint’s platform can help you take stock of your internal data by conducting quality assessments and profiling to help you understand what data you have and the systems it’s coming from. Some portions of it are surely usable, while others may not be. This can lead to targeted new initiatives to enhance the data you do have. “One of our clients,” explains Tomer Borenstein, BlastPoint’s co-Founder and CTO, “is now doing a whole campaign to strengthen its email data, after we helped them realize that they had a lot of duplicate emails.”
“With BlastPoint’s platform [business people] suddenly have this data at their fingertips, and can use it to tackle problems quickly and with confidence.”
Tomer Borenstein
Centralizing your data
When data is fragmented in different places, it’s not easily accessible to the data scientists, let alone the business teams who rely on it to make decisions. And this immediately makes it less valuable. Just by virtue of pulling the data together in one place, and taking stock of what you have, its value increases immensely. Now an organization can use the data it has, even if parts of it aren’t usable.
“I’ve never had access to our data directly, and have always had to make requests of our IT or data team instead,” one of our clients told us recently. “They generally have long queues, which makes it very hard to be agile and make timely data-driven decisions.” However, “with BlastPoint’s platform,” says Borenstein, “they suddenly have this data at their fingertips, and can use it to tackle problems quickly and with confidence.”
Predictive algorithms determine what data you need
BlastPoint’s proprietary algorithms also tell you if you already possess the right data to solve a particular problem. Our platform quantifies the predictive power of each individual piece of data to help you reach your goal. A single attribute might be most predictive, or a small group of data attributes may be predictive together. In every case, our platform can show you exactly what you need.
Adding targeted external data
Even with pristine data, an organization might not be able to get a 360 view of customers. That’s doubly true if – like virtually all companies – your data is less than pristine.
BlastPoint’s proprietary consumer data, our curated 3rd party data, or targeted publicly available data can supplement what you already have. This means that you don’t have to wait years to start benefiting from your internal data. You can fill your data gaps and iteratively strengthen what you currently have at the same time. Sometimes, says Borenstein, “external data will even yield insights by itself if your internal data is lacking.”
While data shame is real and prevalent, there’s no reason it should stop you from accumulating and operationalizing customer intelligence that can help your company achieve its business objectives. Reach out to us to find out how.
Learn more about BlastPoint’s customer intelligence solutions. Don’t forget to sign up for our weekly e-newsletter, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.