Let me introduce you to Mr Peter Jones.
According to my customer database, he lives at 16 Cavendish Street in the Sydney suburb of Stanmore. However, I also have a record of a ‘P Jones’, who supposedly lives at 1/6 Cavendish Lane in the Sydney suburb of Enmore.
In my database, I also have a record of a ‘Pete F. Jones’ purchasing one of my company’s products, and another transaction, recorded several months later, where a ‘PF Jones’ orders the same item.
Who are these multiple mysterious ‘Mr Jones’ personages who are apparently residing in close vicinity to one another in the inner-city suburbs of Australia’s largest city, and purchasing similar products from my company?
Would it surprise you to learn that they are actually one and the same person?
Human beings are pretty good at spotting patterns, and our intelligent brains are very likely to look at the similarities in data points like these and suspect that they are in fact referring to just one person. But what if the number of information points that we need to look at runs into the millions? How do we work out who Mr Jones really is and where he lives in such a deluge of data?
To deal with massive datasets containing millions of data points about customers and organisations, you need a system that can compare them quickly, make the right connections and identify which ones are best, so you can work out exactly who and where Mr P Jones actually is.
Without such a system, it will be near impossible to properly confirm the unique Mr P Jones, let alone communicate with him effectively, and offer him tailored services or messages.
Rest assured though; such a system exists, and it’s known as Single Customer View, sometimes referred to as Single Entity View.
Finding the ‘Golden Record’
Single Customer View – sometimes referred to as Single Entity View – is a data matching / linkage system that focuses on extracting, cleansing, and connecting all relevant data about a customer. It aggregates data about any type of entity – be it a person, an organisation, or a product – potentially across multiple systems, to identify and verify the data, combined to create the one true record of that entity.
When Single Customer View software is put to work finding data that represents the same entity across multiple silos of records, those many records are typically resolved into a single ‘master’ version sometimes referred to as ‘The Golden Record’ – because where there’s gold, there’s value.
As can be seen in the hypothetical example of Mr P Jones, even small differences in customer data, such as an incorrect address recorded in one database, can be duplicated and spread within a business’ IT system, aggravating the original error and ultimately reducing the quality of the data.
In the course of normal activity in any business, typos can occur as easily as the slip of a finger on a keyboard, or a name misheard on a phone call. Human error is an inevitable part of life – and as a result, part of many a database.
What’s more, that data could be spread across multiple systems. Mr Jones may have purchased a new item, so sales have a record. He may have requested a service call, so the service department or partner service provider has a record. He may have exchanged the item, so another system also has a record of Mr Jones. Unfortunately, no one system will have a complete view of the relationship with Mr Jones.
Clearly, having access to a single source of truth with current, accurate and complete information about customers, be they individuals or organisations, is essential for providing them outstanding, ongoing service. This is the essential problem that a Single Customer View approach solves.
The multiple benefits of Single Customer View
It’s no mystery then why an increasing number of organisations – from marketing companies and compliance regulators to government agencies – are embracing the Single Customer View approach to managing their data. SCV effectively takes the mystery out of record linking and creating that 360 0 view of an individual entity.
Single Customer View enables you to see all the information you hold about a person, asset, event, or other entity, across multiple systems. It also exposes relationships and identifies associations and links to other records not found with manual or traditional methods.
An effective SCV solution brings key benefits such as increasing operational efficiencies, enhancing reporting capabilities, deepening insights from analytics, and maximising the impact of direct marketing campaigns.
Basically, any organisation from any sector that needs to identify the real Mr P Jones, for whatever reason, will benefit from a Single Customer View approach.
This could include:
- Medical patient care – If Mr P Jones has specific health conditions or medical needs, the organisation will need to know they aren’t missing any information that could mean the difference between life and death.
- Debt collection – If Mr P Jones owes an organisation money, they will need to know where to find him to recoup their funds.
- Police intelligence – If Mr P Jones breaks the law, the law will need to know they have located the right person to arrest.
- Insurance / Finance – If Mr P Jones’ has purchased several different products from a financial group, they may not recognise what a valuable client he is without a single view of this dispersed data.
- Charity / Not-for profit – Mr Jones could be a volunteer, a donor, or a long-term supporter – hence a valued “friend “of the charity, but they won’t necessarily know that if his data is dispersed or incorrect.
Getting to ‘True’ with Intech’s Single Customer View
Intech Solutions’ Single Customer View platform is a powerful tool that lets you collate data across multiple systems to create a holistic view of siloed data on individuals or organisation by merging silos of data records and reducing duplication.
Delivered as part of Intech’s data standardisation, validation and data linking/matching solution, IQ Office, you can integrate multiple databases for improving overall data quality, data matching and data linking, all within a unified product set that integrates seamlessly with any new or existing operational systems. This will provide a true 360-degree view of your customer base, enriching your data and enabling you to better execute your customer contact strategies with a deeper understanding of all your relationships with an individual.
Contact Intech Solutions today for a confidential discussion about your Single Customer View requirements.
Intech provides data solutions that lay a secure foundation for robust, cost-effective and timely business transformation. Intech’s products have been successfully deployed to thousands of users, across hundreds of sites. See intechsolutions.com.au