Single Customer View

There’s no magic route to the holy grail of the single customer view, where
customer data from disparate systems is consolidated so that all areas of an
organisation have a clear view of the business in the context of their needs in
order to make informed decisions.

Indeed, some people might say it’s impossible to achieve. Depending on your
individual perspective of the single customer, no single view of the customer is
likely to be adequate for all participants.

The Marketing perspective is different to Sales, who see the customer
differently from Finance, Customer Services, IT or Manufacturing. Senior
Executives have a different view again, in their requirement for accurate
information for decision-making and forecasting – indeed they demand
information faster and more frequently. Although some data elements are
necessary (name, address, telephone number, etc.) everyone has a different
view of the information they need.

And it’s not just the need for a single view of the customer; single views may be
required for all items of the customer’s information - company, person,
household, product, employee, business type, etc.

There’s no doubt that there is an ever-increasing amount of data available –
getting it in the right state, as opposed to a right state, is a fundamental
business requirement, essential to the customer management process and
streamlining of business processes.

The single customer view provides everyone in the organisation with the
information to understand and manage current and potential customers, retain
existing customers and of course win new ones.

Lack of a single customer view results in operational inefficiencies which severely
impact on the business and its capacity to compete and grow:

• Inaccurate reporting
• Unconsolidated disparate data sets
• Inefficient use of resources
• Increased mailing costs and cost of postal returns
• Reduced revenue
• Weakened customer service
• Penalties for non-compliance with legislation