Data underpins modern CRM tech, but work remains

Dive Brief:

Businesses are prioritizing customer data as a way to power advanced CRM technology, according to a study Twilio Segment released last week. The findings were based on aggregated usage behavior from more than 25,000 Twilio Segment customers.
One notable trend is investing in data warehouses to better store and analyze large data sets, according to Kathryn Murphy, SVP of product and design at Twilio. Organizations are also leaning into predictive AI to help improve customer experiences.
“Data — particularly high-quality, real-time, consented, first-party data — is fundamental in shaping business strategies and customer experiences,” Murphy said in an email to CX Dive. “It enables businesses to understand and anticipate customer needs through detailed insights from each interaction.”

Dive Insight:

Organizations view strong customer data as a foundation for a variety of modern tech tools. An October study by Twilio found that 3 in 5 businesses recognize high-quality, accurate data as a key ingredient for growth.

However, there is still room for improvement — 2 in 5 marketing leaders say a lack of strong customer data foundation is harming their ability to use or implement technology, according to Lizzy Foo Kune, VP analyst at Gartner.

Detailed data fuels insights for customer experience improvements. Businesses are using tools like predictive AI to better anticipate customers’ needs and behaviors, but this technology requires a strong data backbone, Murphy said.

“The effectiveness of AI models in improving customer experiences hinges on the quality of this data,” Murphy said. “As CX leaders increasingly rely on AI to drive innovation, the role of accurate data will be the differentiator.”

Businesses need to cooperate across departments to fully unify their data and unlock its true potential, according to Foo Kune.

Relinquishing some control to IT can help ensure technology is configured and deployed correctly, according to Foo Kune. Nearly 4 in 5 organizations are centralizing customer data and systems under IT, according to a Gartner survey released in October 2023.

“We’ve seen some progress here, but data quality issues really get in the way of success,” Foo Kune said via email. “This underscores the importance of sharing your marketing data strategy with IT counterparts.”