3 things to look for when assessing business intelligence software

With a growing volume of feedback and behavioral datasets at their disposal, brands are investing more resources in customer experience management than ever. Unfortunately, even some of the world’s most tech-forward companies continue to struggle with siloed systems operating independently at the department level rather than informing action strategies across the enterprise.

To help unify these cross-functional efforts, SMG recently introduced a modern business intelligence software solution that marries multiple data sources and puts them into one easy-to-use platform. No matter the challenges you’re facing today, this blog breaks down 3 essentials to look for when deciding which BI tool is right for you and your teams.

1. Flexible integrations for streamlined analysis

At minimum, a business intelligence solution should provide a unified view of all the customer data you’re collecting, so you can analyze, dissect, report, and socialize as needed without having to run dozens of queries. Whether it’s customer satisfaction metrics and other KPIs, transactional details passed through your POS system, or customer information housed in your CRM platform, it’s important to have all the data you need in one dashboard when tasked with running cross-channel analyses.

In addition to using real-time APIs to integrate multiple types of data sources, SMG’s business intelligence tool puts the power of all the data collected across your brand at the disposal of those using it to drive strategies across the enterprise. Within the dashboard, users can:

• Develop customer segmentation analyses based on demographics, touchpoints, + behaviors
• Identify dropout points in the customer journey to reduce churn + highlight revenue-at-risk
• Recognize new market trends in real time for more precise strategy-mapping

2. Easy-to-read visualizations for more holistic views

Great data doesn’t matter if no one knows how to act on it. Too often, when teams are tasked with tracking and acting upon large volumes of data across feedback sources, the tools used can be cumbersome, unintuitive, and clunky to navigate—which often means they don’t get used nearly often enough to justify the investment.

SMG’s customizes each BI tool instance according to each brand’s unique research goals, data integration requirements, and strategic initiatives—featuring a wide variety of visualizations that bring the data to life in ways that empower teams rather than overwhelming them. Best of all, the initial development + ongoing maintenance of the platform is vendor-led—meaning your teams can spend less time working about back-end systems and devote more time where it adds the most value.

3. Clearly defined paths to better business outcomes

As XM investments ramp up, so too does the scrutiny when it comes time to demonstrate ROI. It’s no longer enough to point to what the tools help you track—it’s about harnessing that knowledge and showing you can use it to predict and impact what happens next. By layering in operational, financial, or transactional datasets, brands easily connect the dots on how their datasets align with financial results.

Whether it’s identifying points of friction in the customer journey and making the necessary operational adjustments to reduce churn or using the cross-channel insights to inform future revenue projections with more accuracy, a modern BI tool that warrants investment needs to produce tangible results.

Get the most from your XM investments

Business intelligence (BI) software platforms enable brands to bring together all of their datasets and put them in one centralized hub—allowing CX professionals, business analysts, and corporate stakeholders to see the information they need side-by-side.

To see how SMG’s business intelligence tool can help streamline your approach to cross-channel experience management, reach out to your SMG team or download our one-pager here.