Data quality has been a problem in the customer service industry for many years. In a recent survey conducted by Forrester Research, it was found that only 38% of businesses working on improving CRM processes have evaluated data quality. More surprisingly, only 30% currently working on customer-facing processes actively monitor data quality. The problem lies in the use of mulitple systems to manage CRM and not all of these systems are necessarily controlled by one IT department. It is not uncommon for customer service reps to be required to have access to more than one system while on a call with a single customer. So how can it be resolved? Well, there is no particluar side (customer service or IT) that is required to take responsibility, but instead they should be working together to achieve good data quality and management. Kate Leggett, analyst at Forrester Research said: "A lot comes from a good company culture that rewards and incentivises cross departmental collaboration. “Highly matrixed organisations do better at these efforts than very siloed ones,”she added. As well as the simple frustration for customer service reps to have to access mulitple systems, poor data quality and management can affect noncompliance rates. In one example, a health care company estimated that it was losing $9 million a year as a result of errors in member policies. The solution then? One solution is to encourage end users to cleanse data themselves, by providing incentives and rewards. Although this will require loosening up call handling times or the average speed of answer in the call centre, ultimately it would lead to a valuable data set in the end. A second solution is to create one system that representatives can use to handle the data they collect from telephone calls. Crushed Ice is experienced in designing and developing data management systems for small, medium and large companies who wish to evaluate the quality of their data. Contact Crushed Ice on 01933 664344 to discuss how the team could help you. |
