Salesforce: Perplexed by Data, Business Leaders Are Unable to Use Its Power
Findings from a new Salesforce global survey show that many leaders do not know how to use data and are unable to harness its power for better decision-making and improved business results. Canvassing nearly 10,000 leaders, the Salesforce survey reports that 41% cite a lack of understanding of data because it is too complex or not accessible enough. Moreover, 33% say they lack the ability to generate insights from data, and an equal number—33%—are overwhelmed by the amount of data, which is expected to more than double in size by 2026.
Overall, business leaders report being paralyzed by the influx of data, their lack of knowledge in how to best operationalize data, and how to use data to invest strategically going forward, according to the survey.
To address these concerns, 73% of companies are planning to continue or increase spending on data skills development and the training of their employees to establish a data culture that supports business goals and improves resilience during the current tough economic climate.
“The secret to driving true insights is marrying data with analytics. A combination of data, analytics, and the necessary data skills enables companies to maximize their technology investments and uncover opportunities that drive business strategy and strengthen customer trust,” says Juan Perez, chief information officer at Salesforce.
Algolia: Many Retailers Do Not Invest Enough in Building Up Search Capabilities
A new report from Algolia, the providers of a search and discovery platform, shows that although many retailers have sped up their investment in search capabilities during the past year, many more have yet to sufficiently invest in a tool that could increase revenue and lead to rewarding returns.
In its third annual Ecommerce Site Search Trends 2023 report that surveyed 900 retailers, San Francisco-based Algolia says 42% of retailers indicated accelerated investment into search. And even though 71% of retailers who have implemented sophisticated search capabilities report the feature is helping drive revenue, 47% of retailers have not made sufficient investment into search.
“Search is a powerful tool that unlocks conversion opportunities, leads to repeat business, and drives loyalty, ultimately increasing revenue,” says Piyush Patel, chief strategic business development officer at Algolia.
Related Article: Algolia Acquires Search.io, Enghouse Buys VoicePort; Stratifyd, OneSignal Raise Funds
Algolia is a proprietary search engine offering, in which search is provided as a service. In Algolia’s model, web searches are provided across a client’s website by using an externally hosted search engine. Although in-site search has long been available from general web search providers such as Google, this is typically done as a subset of general web searching. In comparison, Algolia’s product indexes only their clients’ sites, simplifying the search task. And using AI and machine learning (ML), Algolia’s search simplifies the ability to understand user intent and personalize experiences, enabling online retailers to monetize new products as well as new and infrequent site visitors.
The report also says personalization is considered by 71% of retailers to be integral to their business for the next 12 months. And to optimize the shopping experience for online and offline consumers, nearly 9 out of 10 retailers operate a hybrid retail or omnichannel model.
Theatro: Consumers Are Back in Stores, But Many Find Experience Less Fun
Consumers are back in physical retail stores, but 40% say shopping is less enjoyable now than before the pandemic hit in the spring of 2020 because of inadequate staff and poorly trained store employees, reveal the findings from a new survey by Texas-based software company Theatro.
The survey, which polled 600 U.S. adults in January 2023, also shows that 63% of consumers do their shopping mostly at physical retail because of the social aspects of in-store shopping, the ability to ask questions and get help with purchases from store personnel, and the ease of returns at a brick-and-mortar location.
“Consumers prefer physical retail for a lot of reasons, such as the ability to see and feel products before buying them, and the immediate gratification of taking a product home. But they’ve also become more accustomed to the advantages of e-commerce, such as avoiding long lines and having an almost infinite amount of product information at their fingertips. This makes them more impatient with the in-store experience,” says Theatro CEO Chris Todd.
Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Richardson, Texas, Theatro is a software company that creates business apps for mobile IoT devices for the indoor mobile workforce. With an initial focus on the enterprise retail and hospitality market, Theatro has a suite of productivity for critical management command, control, and analytics to increase sales productivity, conversion rates, and store profitability.
KPMG Saudi Arabia: Non-Grocery Retail Is Top CX Sector
A new survey by KPMG Saudi Arabia shows the non-grocery retail sector in the kingdom as the leader in CX excellence, beating eight other sectors to emerge as the winner.
In its Customer Experience Excellence (CEE) 2022 survey of 96 brands across nine different sectors in Saudi Arabia, KPMG says the non-grocery retail sector obtained the top score of 8.08 in overall CEE performance. This was followed by the grocery retail sector, which garnered a score of 8.05. Financial services was third with 7.94, a big drop from last year’s 8.07.
The remaining industries and their scores were travel and hotels at 7.92, restaurants and fast food at 7.91, and entertainment and leisure at 7.90, telecoms at 7.82, utilities at 7.70, and logistics in last place at 7.66.
“Today’s customers are better informed, better connected and more demanding than ever before. In some cases, customer experience has overtaken price and product as the number one brand differentiator. Although many organizations are investing record amounts in customer-related initiatives, not all are seeing the desired ROI in the absence of a clear CX strategy.” notes Adib Kilzie, KPMG Saudi Arabia head of customer experience, cloud, and enterprise solutions.
KPMG Saudi Arabia is part of KPMG International’s global network of professional member firms, consisting of approximately 207,000 professionals in more than 153 countries around the world. Operating since 1992, KPMG Saudi Arabia has grown to become one of the largest professional service providers in the kingdom, with a current workforce of more than 1,400 across the country in Riyadh, the Saudi capital; in Jeddah, the country’s commercial center; and in Khobar, a city in the east, on the coast of the Persian Gulf.
Author Information
Alex is responsible for writing about trends and changes that are impacting the customer experience market. He had served as Principal Editor at Village Intelligence, a Los Angeles-based consultancy on technology impacting healthcare and healthcare-related industries. Alex was also Associate Director for Content Management at Omdia and Informa Tech, where he produced white papers, executive summaries, market insights, blogs, and other key content assets. His areas of coverage spanned the sectors grouped under the technology vertical, including semiconductors, smart technologies, enterprise & IT, media, displays, mobile, power, healthcare, China research, industrial and IoT, automotive, and transformative technologies.
At IHS Markit, he was Managing Editor of the company’s flagship IHS Quarterly, covering aerospace & defense, economics & country risk, chemicals, oil & gas, and other IHS verticals. He was Principal Editor of analyst output at iSuppli Corp. and Managing Editor of Market Watch, a fortnightly newsletter highlighting significant analyst report findings for pitching to the media. He started his career in writing as an Editor-Reporter for The Associated Press.
