BIG DATA and customer service
Big data and customer service are definitely becoming the in-topics in the digital industry and there association is also increasingly linked with the ability to improve customer service. Capturing the data, harnessing the data, shaping the data, using the data are all common themes which make the headlines everyday. The power of modern computing technology and data analytics allows companies to capture and model the behaviour of their customers and gain a deep understanding of the key trigger points in their day today interaction with the business. Once the hidden patterns and correlations leading to a purchasing action are fully understood, companies gain predictive influence over their customers and can certainly encourage or stimulate additional purchases. Often this is done under the pretense of better customer service and improved responsiveness to customer needs.
However, before pushing the experiment too far, it is important that companies reflect on the ethical attributes of the techniques being deployed. Provided they are genuinely aimed at delivering a better customer experience, they could be encouraged. If they are purely designed with the objective to milk more out of a customer, often without him or her realising it, then one should pause and make sure that the customers interest is safeguarded before proceeding.
