Investing in Real-Time Experiences – Good For Business!

There’s mounting evidence to indicate that investing in real-time experiences and operational responsiveness capabilities is good for businesses because they lead to increased customer loyalty, lifetime value, and bottom line profitability.

According to a Forrester Research report, 86% of customers will pay for real-time experiences.

Similarly, Gartner found that by 2020, smart personalisation engines, used to recognise customer intent, could enable digital businesses to increase their profits by up to 15%.

Accenture also reported that 75% of consumers are more likely to buy from a brand that recognises them by name, recommends options based on past purchases, or knows their purchase history.

And whilst the evidence is compelling, creating the real-time experience capability is quite often seen as beyond the reach of many businesses.

Why?

Lack of Real-Time Visibility

A lack of real-time visibility into what’s happening across the business means you’re going to find it really difficult to really know what’s working and what’s not.

And, if you don’t know what’s working, how can you set the right course of action.

Data is a foundation for good decision-making and many businesses do not have a data collection strategy in place.

Information Overload

The amount of information flowing through their IT ecosystem can overwhelm many businesses.

As well as the sheer volume, information is delivered in reports and spreadsheets without a well-understood business context.

Even then, the information is historic in nature. So its relevance, if any, is unclear.

Lack of Control

Even if organisations do have a view into the data that supports their business, many are unable to do much about that data because it takes too long to act on what the data is telling them.

Operational responsiveness requires real-time visibility into your business and customer events, business transactions and business operations as they occur.

And to support the needs of a real-time experience, you’ll need a technology foundation that can sense and respond to customer-related events; to understand how these events might reveal opportunities or inefficiencies.

It’s complex but fortunately, there are smart people that can help.

New Technologies Help Us Market Smarter

New technologies help businesses market smarter by interpreting intent and sending messages to customers in real-time – at the exact moment they are there to receive it.

Real-time creates a big WOW response from customers, sending them a message that, in a good way, says, “Hey we know a little bit about you!”

In many cases, it’s something that customers welcome.

This type of technology is available and affordable by many companies; irrespective of size.

So, as you’re entering your next planning cycle, set yourself a small goal to become a little more knowledgeable with how real-time experiences and operational responsiveness capabilities are going to help your business.

You will have questions. Write down those questions and ask us to help.