The characteristics of an optimal "data hub" to have a single customer view

95% of companies admit that a lack of data quality impacts their business. The governance of this information has also been ranked as the number one priority for CIOs in 2020, according to Gartner. Companies therefore need tools that allow them to simultaneously manage data quality, governance and regulation – three issues that often require the use of several separate management systems. This then weakens the deployment times, the adoption rate of the teams sometimes having to be trained in several tools, but also the level of risk and the associated costs. So what solution should you choose to meet this challenge, when the volume of data continues to increase? How to transform raw data into real business insights via a single management platform? 

The need to consolidate tools 

The data processing steps are multiple, ranging from collection to integration, validation, harmonization, duplication, categorization or analysis. Many companies are therefore multiplying the tools to carry out these different stages and try to exploit the potential of the data collected. But technological advances have not only made it possible to perfect machine learning or artificial intelligence models, but also to rethink the connectivity of these different tools. Indeed, today there are unique platforms for managing the entire data processing process. The data services and functionalities are then brought together in a single "data hub", thus reducing the technical and user complexity. 

An easy-to-deploy and scalable solution 

Resources, both budgetary and human, are certainly the first obstacle to any initiative related to data management. Companies are indeed reluctant to the idea of ​​long, tedious and complex deployments for teams sometimes having no internal IT resources, but also by the costs imposed and the return on investment in the more or less long term.

Solution providers have understood this and are starting to offer more and more easy-to-deploy solutions that do not require IT support. This is the case of cloud-based solutions allowing very rapid deployment, without IT effort and with immediate availability.

Faced with the explosion of the volume of data; notably noted recently by the most important retailers having faced the sudden increase in e-commerce linked to the COVID-19 crisis; companies must imperatively be able to rely on scalable technologies capable of adapting to the development of society without requiring too great an additional investment.

A single customer view in three steps: collection, enrichment and analysis

The potential of data is infinite and among its ultimate goals is customer knowledge. Having become a real competitive advantage, it also represents a major technological challenge for companies having to collect data, sometimes crossing several sources, then analyze them to provide tailor-made offers and services. 

The "data hub" selected by the company must therefore imperatively provide a single customer view. To do this, it is necessary to ensure that you have the following three functionalities: optimal data recovery, validation and harmonization. The company then has a single visualization per customer allowing to know it better and to follow its evolution over time. 

The data management suite Aperture Data Studio, powered by Experian, enables users to easily and quickly develop sophisticated workflows using machine learning algorithms for automatic data tagging, and enrich data from global sources recommended by Experian. It makes it possible to transform information into real commercial values, in a simple and fast way, while ensuring their follow-up in real time via an ergonomic and versatile platform. Companies benefit from quality-verified data that can be directly used operationally, thus optimizing efficiency and ultimately business.