GE Capital on Driving Customer Engagement with Big Data

Reigning as one of the most buzzworthy topics in the business world, Big Data continues to promise the world to customer management professionals. Rarely, however, does the person trumpeting Big Data’s value discuss the process and strategic mindset through which that value can be realized.

GE Capital’s Nesrin Umur (pictured) represents the exception that rule. In an interview with Call Center IQ content producer Hannah Hager, Umur reveals the foundation needed to drive customer engagement with effective use of analytics.

You can next hear from Nesrin at the 2^nd Customer Analytics & Intelligence Conference.

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On a basic level, how can corporations turn the dialogue from the potential of Big Data to its practical applications within the business? What are the main benefits of Big Data on business?

Real Time Example – I believe that the best proof of the potential of Big Data is actual campaigns and projects that utilize Big Data. The use of OMNI channel on its own is an example of Big Data usage if the approach drives the incremental customer engagement. I believe that the main benefit of Big Data is the 360 view of the business in addition to the 360 view of the customer. The one thing to remember when it comes to Big Data is that the companies might already have it within their own systems if they look closer. Basically Big Data is not always the data that needs to be purchased from a third party vendor.

The more a company knows about its customers, the better. What strategies would you recommend regarding how to successfully hear the voice of your customer by aggregating data, knowledge and insights?

Through experience I learned that strong relationship with external and internal clients is the key on learning more about customers. Constant relationship with the different departments of the business – like Operations, Customer Service, Risk, etc., would open up a whole new view into customer profile. In addition to internal departments, looking at the external clients – in our case, the companies we support – might provide the best source of customer data. For example, I might be aware of how much my customer spends on my credit card. However, I wouldn’t know how much that same customer spends on their other cards at the same retailer.

What are the differences between external research and CRM data and how can the two work together to create a holistic view of the customers’ wants and needs?

External research is strong only if it is relevant to the exact same customer base. If a company can find a partner that would provide the external search based on the same customer base then pairing that info with CRM data would definitely provide a very strong view of who the customer is and what they would prefer. In my previous experience I have seen external searches done with a very small reflection similar to the company’s customer base.

How do you align the goals of the different departments and stakeholders including strategy, R&D, marketing, sales and customer service?

My first step is meeting each and every team to better understand their strategies and needs. I then aligned those objectives with the company’s overall goal so that what my team provides to our internal customers is relevant as a holistic view as well. In most of the cases, the goals of different departments align with each other.

What is the main challenge you see facing the industry today?

There are a lot of data providers, a lot of data being collected and a lot of companies trying to sell that data. If companies do not think about "what they really need", "why they need it," "how they can use it," the abundance of data can easily cause legal problems, in addition to customer dissatisfaction. The challenge is to understand what is available and how that can be applied to the particular business.