In 2017, humanity collected more data in 365 days than we did during the last 5,000 years of our existence. Every day, around 2.5 quintillion bytes of new data is generated around the globe – that’s enough to fill up 10 million Blu-ray discs. As disruptive technology like IoT and AI continue to evolve, our obsession with information will only continue to grow.
In the contact centre, you might think that huge amounts of data would automatically make the customer experience more compelling. After all, the more businesses know about their clients, the better the brand experience becomes. However, we can only truly make the most out of data if we know how to understand and interpret it properly. That means that we need to shed some light on the unstructured, under-utilised “dark data” that businesses deal with every day.
Uncovering the Dark Data Goldmine
Dark data refers to the unused and hidden information that’s waiting to be discovered in the various silos throughout the contact centre. As businesses begin to invest in AI and big data analytics, they’ll be able to tap into this dark data and transform it into useful insights that ensure better engagement with customers.
In the right circumstances, even anonymous information can be useful. For instance, if a contact centre uses speech analytics, they can determine how most of their customers feel when they’re interacting with them via phone. This insight can then help the company to decide about whether they should stick with their telecommunications strategy or expand into instant messaging and WebRTC to give clients new ways to interact with the brand.
Illuminating dark data is about making unstructured information useful so that companies can begin to really understand their customers.
Using Tools to Uncover Real Insights
Artificial Intelligence and machine learning are some of the concepts that are driving new developments in the world of dark data. With powerful machine algorithms, companies can sort through huge amounts of data in a matter of minutes, sorting through conversations to find information about the topics that hold value for their clients. With access to your dark data archives, you can begin to discover how your clients, think, feel and act in certain circumstances.
AI can help contact centres to get translate data into useful information that they can use to make strategic customer-focused decisions. Insights can be leveraged in real-time to make important decisions in the moment or added to an in-depth profile of customers to provide brands with a better view of their buyer personas.
The key thing to remember about dark data today is that ventures need to use it with caution. The new GDPR rules have just arrived, and companies will need to make sure that the business intelligence they’re using follows the rules and regulations of the current marketplace. Precision dialling could be a natural progression of insights into dark data, where companies begin to use clean data on the customer experience to make sure they’re contacting them at the right time, through the right platforms, with a message tailored to suit their needs.
