How verified location data creates competitive advantage
Accurate data is essential to remaining competitive in a world where insights are necessary to build digital strategies and harness new technologies. By incorporating address validation (AV) into your ecosystems, you can ensure only verified data is shared across networks and used to inform decisions.
The more you can verify about a customer, the better. However, there are barriers to entry. Studies show that 47% of consumers ‘strongly dislike’ taking additional steps to verify their identity.
This statement, when paired with the fact that 41% of businesses openly admit that poor physical address data causes them problems, and how some 33% of those businesses don’t check their data upon entry, we can see how the data quality management issue runs deep.
It's an unfortunate reality that some companies still do not verify their data at all, either at point of entry or while it is stored in databases.
Obtaining correct, verified customer data - from addresses to phone numbers and email addresses - can reduce transaction friction, prevent fraud, and improve the online customer experience (CX). The collection and utilisation of data offer additional business insight, as organizations can seek the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) and intelligent automation to gain a 360-degree view of their consumers and supercharge their customer acquisition, onboarding, engagement, and retention strategies.
Forbes tells us that the “old ‘garbage in, garbage out’ adage is true.” When organisations power themselves on information that has little to no data quality control, they can only expect to have harmful, inaccurate, and simply time-wasting insights gleaned.
This undeniably gives companies who are fully absorbing themselves in the insights era a competitive advantage. As these players continue to harness both new and established technologies such as AI, machine learning (ML) and robotics, they can begin to distance themselves from companies who aren’t as willing to buy into and reap the rewards of the new wave of data-driven business models.
In an IBM report, “Seizing the data advantage,” we’re told that 87% of 13,000 C-suite executives see data as a strategic asset ‘used to support deeply nuanced, personalised experiences powered by sophisticated, intelligent operations.’
The report continues to say that more data isn’t necessarily better - it’s all about the quality of what you have collected. One hundred correct records are much more valuable than collecting and storing thousands of unverified phone numbers, incorrect geographical addresses, or fake email accounts.
To successfully implement AI operations that better serve your customers, you should first fuel your applications with verified information. Ensuring your collected data is validated at the point of entry is a sure-fire way of blowing your competition out of the water if they’re still relying on old tactics and legacy architectures.
Good customer experiences are hinged on quality data being used in the right ways to deliver the best services to customers based on insights and learnings. The more intelligence your business gains, the greater the strategy you can build and implement.
If we look at the example of Korean Air as documented in IBM’s report, we can see how they once suffered from their legacy record systems not being fit for the modern world. They explained how their critical data was “virtually unsearchable,” leaving essential maintenance records for their aircrafts unreachable.
Their solution? AI-powered algorithms. This technology made their records searchable once more, allowing them to identify problems with their aircrafts and cutting diagnostic lead times down by 90%.
The same report explains how torchbearer CEOs plan to “automate and accelerate,” with large portions of their budgets being allocated to power AI, ML and robotic process automation initiatives in the years to come. These leaders understand the value of quality data and the insights that come from it, knowing that the future of business lies in utilizing analytics and using ML to inform and execute core strategies.
Attempting to implement these tactics while fueling your engine with unverified data is a quick way to burn through money, effort, and time - if you’re investing in the customer experience, you need to first make sure you’ve also invested in the data you’re collecting.
Analytics, campaign management, customer experience and reporting are all underpinned by data quality and can have a significant impact on your business efficiency and reputation.
To guarantee the quality of your existing data, you can take advantage of Loqate’s Data Cleanse solution allowing you to identify duplicate customer profiles, validate current contacts, and further enhance any data stored or newly entered in the system.
Using our real-time address lookup software for new entries will ensure your data capture is fast and error-free, allowing you to give online consumers the seamless experiences they demand.
To find out more about how Loqate’s solutions can help your business stay competitive in this evolving digital landscape, speak to one of our product experts today.