Business white paper

Understanding the Voice of the CustomerHow to effectively leverage customer insight with business discovery analytics

Business white paper | Understanding the Voice of the Customer

Table of contents

3 Today’s diverse brand interactions

3 Anewdefinitionforvoiceofthecustomer

3 Theolddefinitionwassiloed.Thenewdefinitioniscomprehensive

4 Business discovery includes unstructured data

4 A comprehensive approach to the information requires a comprehensive approach to the enabling technology

5 Turning insights into business results

5 Knowing what to look for is no longer the biggest hurdle

5 Processanyfiletypeorlanguage,fromanysystem

5 A format-agnostic solution is a requirement

6 Analyze and organize data

6 Automating the data organization around meaning

6 Identify patterns and sentiment

6 Patterns in the entire corpus of data present themselves automatically

7 Create informed and compelling customer experiences

7 LeveragingongoingVoCinsights,it’stimetoadjustorcreatenewexperiences

7 Getting started

7 Voice of the Customer insights must drive change

8 About HP Autonomy

3

Today’s diverse brand interactions

Customers interact with your brand in many ways through manydisparatechannels.Forexample,theyinteractdirectlyviathewebsiteormobileapps,theycallintothecontactcenter,andvisitretaillocations.Theyalsointeractwithyourbrand indirectly by engaging other customers and prospects onamyriadofsocialnetworkingplatforms.

Every one of these distinct interactions is an ingredient in the overallcustomerexperience.Eachindividualingredientisimportanttounderstanding,andultimatelyrevealing,theVoiceoftheCustomer.

A new definition for voice of the customer

The old definition was siloed. The new definition is comprehensiveToday,VoiceoftheCustomerhasanumberofdifferentindustrydefinitionscenteredaroundcustomersurveys,focusgroupsandotherformsofmarketresearch.Onethingcanbesaidaboutthesedefinitions:theyarenarrow.

Frequently,companiesundertakeVoiceoftheCustomer(VoC)projectstobetterunderstandwhatcustomerswantand,hopefully,willpayfor.Untilnow,theseprojectshavebeenmyopicinnatureandconstrainedbytechnology.Butthisisnolongerthecase—theparadigmhaschanged.

Goingforward,VoiceoftheCustomerwillbeviewedasfar-reaching,inclusiveandentirelytechnology-enabled.TechnologynowexiststomoveVoiceoftheCustomerfromdepartmentalprojectstaturetoatransformativeandfoundationalbusinessapproach.

ThenewdefinitionforVoiceoftheCustomershouldbe:Thecompleteunderstandingofcustomeropinionsandsentimentattachedtoyourbrand,productsandservices,regardlessofchannelortouchpoint.

Leading businesses that embrace a comprehensive and automated approach to understanding theongoingVoiceoftheCustomerwilldevelopandsustainavaluablecompetitiveadvantage.

“The scope of VoC initiatives should be more far-reaching than most organizations appreciate.Itshouldbeviewed as a cross-departmental strategy that embraces a variety of channels,datasourcesandanalyticaltechniques.”—Gartner

Business white paper | Understanding the Voice of the Customer

4

Business discovery includes unstructured data

A comprehensive approach to the information requires a comprehensive approach to the enabling technologyBusinesseshavelongbeenabletocollectandanalyzestructureddata;informationthatfitsneatlyintotherowsandcolumnsofatraditionaldatabase.Infact,old-style,survey-centricVoCprojectshavealwaysbeendesignedaroundthecapabilitiesoftherelationaldatabase.NetPromoterorcustomersatisfactionscoresaretwocommonexamples.

However,there’safatalflawinrelyingonthestructureddataalone.Thestructuredapproachrequirestherespondertofittheiropinionsintothelimitingconstructofthesurveyquestionsandunderlyingdatabase.Iftheactualopinionisnotanticipatedintheresponseoptions,youdon’tgetthecompletestory.Thestructureddataisvaluable,butbecauseit’sinherentlyconstrained,itisnotcomprehensive.

The real insight is gleaned from the human-friendly or unstructured data; the contact center recordings,tweets,blogposts,onlineproductreviewsandverbatimanswerstoopen-endedsurveyquestions.Thisunstructureddataiswheretheuntappedcustomerknowledgeexists.Untilnow,companieshavebeenforcedtoassignemployeestomineforgems.Or,likemostbusinesses,they’vejustfocusedonthestructuredinformationandignoredthelabor-intensivegoldmineofunstructuredinformation.

Unfortunatelyfordatabase-centric,legacysystems,unstructureddataalreadycomprises85%oftheworld’sdata.Ignoringitisnolongerasustainablestrategy,andwiththecurrentgrowthtrajectory,hiringadditionalanalyststointerpretthedataisn’trealisticeither.

Theonlyansweristechnology...technologythatuncoverstruthsinyourdataregardlessofthedata’sform.Thisisdonebyleveragingcontexttoderivetheconceptualmeaningoftheinteractions,sothathumanfunctionscanbeautomated.Atechnology-enabledunderstandingofboththestructuredandunstructureddata,combined,isexponentiallymorevaluablethanthestructureddataalone.

AtHPAutonomy,wecallthisanalyticsplatformBusinessDiscoverybecauseitfacilitatesaprofoundlymorepowerfulenginefordiscoveringyet-unseeninsightsandtrendsthatdefinethebusiness.TheHPAutonomyBusinessDiscoverysolutioninherentlyreadsandunderstandsalldata-bothstructuredandunstructured-seamlessly.

BusinessDiscoveryistheenginethatmakestheVoiceoftheCustomertransformationattainable.ThiswhitepaperwilloutlineastrategyforleveragingthecollectivedatafromcustomerinteractionsforyourorganizationinordertofurtheryourBusinessDiscoveryeffortstoenableVoiceoftheCustomerinsights.

“Valuable sources of customer VoC data are plentiful,rangingfromsurveyresults to social media dialogues.Suchsourcesprovide valuable venues for analysis,butanalyticsinsuchisolation inherently limit opportunities to understand howcustomersfeel.”—Gartner

“Consumers are focused on theirneeds,notonyourchannels.”—Gartner

Business white paper | Understanding the Voice of the Customer

5

Turning insights into business results

Knowing what to look for is no longer the biggest hurdleImagine a scenario where you introduce a new line of sport sunglasses and a few short days after the launch there is a very small number of call center interactions and social media chatter complainingaboutlensdiscolorationduetocertaintypesofsunscreen.Sincethevolumesarestatisticallyinsignificantandyouhadn’tanticipatedtheproblem,howwouldyouknowwhattolookfor?WithoutaconceptualunderstandingoftheinformationthroughaBusinessDiscoverysolution,theseVoCblindspotsarenumerous.

HP Autonomy’s unique technology automatically and in real time analyzes and organizes any volumeandtypeofdataincludingaudio,video,web,email,pointofsale,chatandsocialmediaintologicalself-similarconceptualclustersbasedonrelatedorsimilarideas.

Suddenly,theonceformidabletaskofknowingwhatisinyourmultiplecustomerdatarepositoriesisautomated.ComparethistotraditionalBusinessIntelligence(BI)solutionsfocusedonstructureddatawhichremainsiloedinnature.WithBusinessDiscovery,VoiceoftheCustomerdatareadilyavailsitselftoitsuserbase,simplifyingthediscoveryandsubsequentdecisionmakingprocesstooptimizebusinessresultsforcustomer-facingfunctions.

Movingbeyonddisparatecustomerinteractiondataisthefirststepinbecomingchannel-agnostic,understandingVoiceoftheCustomerdataandbecomingaction-orientedinresponsetothenewinsights.

Process any file type or language, from any system

A format-agnostic solution is a requirementBusinessesneedasystemwhereallinteractiondata,acrossalltouchpointsandmediatypes,canbeaggregatedandanalyzed.Thissystemmustbeabletoreadthedatafromthesystemswheretheinteractionoccurred.Forscale,datashouldn’thavetobemovedorreproduced,as the systems that create the data are optimized for managing those interactions and reproductionleadstoexpiration.

Asaresult,thissystemmustbeopenandflexibleenoughtoconnecttoanyrepository,andscalableenoughtomanagethepotentiallyenormousvolumeofdata.Processinganytypeofdata presents its own challenges and your multichannel analytics application must be able to handlealltypesinrealtime.

“An enterprise’s reputation —itsbrand—isneverbuiltsolely via advertising and promotionalactivities.Itismainly built through individual interactions at customertouchpoints.”—Gartner

Business white paper | Understanding the Voice of the Customer

6

Analyze and organize data

Automating the data organization around meaningIt’snosimpletasktotakedatafromacrossvariouschannels,mediaandlanguages,andthenorganizeitbyrelevantconceptssothatpatternsandsentimentcanbeidentified.

Traditionalkeywordtechnologyfallsshortbecauseitonlyallowsuserstofindandretrievedata.Thesekeyword-basedenginescannotcomprehendthemeaningofinformation,whichlimitsthemtofindingthoseinteractionsinwhichaspecificwordoccurs.

This inability to understand information means that other relevant interactions that are conceptuallyrelevantbutusedifferentwordsareoverlooked.Similarly,interactionswithameaningentirelydifferenttothesearchtermsarefrequentlyreturned,resultinginmanyfalsepositiveresultsthatwillskewyourfindingsandforceinappropriateactionstobetakenoralackofconfidenceintherelevanceofthesystem.

OnlyAutonomyBusinessDiscovery,whichtakesallprocesseddataandevaluatesitsmeaningwithinthecontextoftheentirecorpusofdata,canhandlethisintensivetask.

Identify patterns and sentiment

Patterns in the entire corpus of data present themselves automaticallyThe right insight empowers organizations to deliver the right experience to the right person attherighttime.Basedonareal-timeunderstandingofcustomerinteractions,patterns,behaviors,historiesandinterestsacrossmultiplechannels,thissolutionprovidesacompetitivedifferentiatorforenhancingcustomerengagementanddrivingrevenue.

Successfulorganizationswilladoptanapproachthatleveragesprovenmathematicaltechniques and algorithms of inference and statistical analysis to extract meaning from both structured and unstructured information and make it available throughout the customer lifecycle,fromprofilingandsegmentationtodynamic,real-timewebcontentdeliveryandcallcentersupport.

Business white paper | Understanding the Voice of the Customer

7

Create informed and compelling customer experiences

Leveraging ongoing VoC insights, it’s time to adjust or create new experiencesBusiness discovery-enabled organizations rapidly enhance the customer experience or roll outnewexperiencessuchasnewcampaignpages,agentcontactcenterscriptsorenhancedin-storesignage.Aflexiblesystemthatenablesbusinessuserstobedirectlyinvolvedinmakingthose changes is critical to the success of optimizing business processes to react to new opportunitiesorchangesinmarketdynamics.

Evensuccessfulwebsites,socialmediaoffersandcontactcenterscriptshaveroomforimprovement.Withamultivariatetestingsolutionintegratedintoanongoingcontentcreationandlaunchplanningprocess,organizationscanbeconfidentthattheyhavetheoptimalcustomerexperiencetoincreaseconversionratesandcustomersatisfaction.

Getting started

Voice of the Customer insights must drive changeRegardlessofhowindividualsengagewithyourbrand,youwillneedtodeterminehowtocapture and process the data from all those interactions before you can analyze them for patternsandsentiment.Ideally,businessuserswillbeabletoviewandreportonthedatafromacommoninterfacewhileleavingalldatainitsoriginalrepository.

Onceyourorganizationunderstandskeypatternsandsentiment,itcanthendetermineactionablestrategiesforimprovingthecustomerexperiencetoincreasesales,loyaltyorlowercosts.Changeswillbemadeacrosschannelstodeliveramoretargetedandrelevantexperiencetothecustomer.

Therightpeople,processesandtechnologymustbeinplacetorealizeyourobjectivesfromimplementingthisVoiceoftheCustomerstrategy.

There is only one platform that delivers true Voice of the Customer insights – HP Autonomy BusinessDiscovery.

Business white paper | Understanding the Voice of the Customer

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About HP Autonomy

HPAutonomyisagloballeaderinsoftwarethatprocesseshumaninformation,orunstructureddata,includingsocialmedia,email,video,audio,textandwebpages,etc.Autonomy’spowerfulmanagement and analytic tools for structured information together with its ability to extract meaninginrealtimefromallformsofinformation,regardlessofformat,isapowerfultoolforcompaniesseekingtogetthemostoutoftheirdata.Autonomy’sproductportfoliohelpspowercompaniesthroughenterprisesearchanalytics,businessprocessmanagementandOEMoperations.AutonomyalsooffersinformationgovernancesolutionsinareassuchaseDiscovery,contentmanagementandcompliance,aswellasmarketingsolutionsthathelpcompaniesgrowrevenue,suchaswebcontentmanagement,onlinemarketingoptimizationandrichmediamanagement.

Please visit autonomy.com tofindoutmore.

©Copyright2013Hewlett-PackardDevelopmentCompany,L.P.Theinformationcontainedhereinissubjecttochangewithoutnotice.TheonlywarrantiesforHPproductsandservicesaresetforthintheexpresswarrantystatementsaccompanyingsuchproductsandservices.Nothinghereinshouldbeconstruedasconstitutinganadditionalwarranty.HPshallnotbeliablefortechnicaloreditorialerrorsoromissionscontainedherein.

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Business white paper | Understanding the Voice of the Customer