Our approaches to serving customers have become so disconnected that it's stunning. There's a real opportunity for companies to gain a competitive advantage by providing superior customer experiences. They can do this by taking a strategic approach to how they manage their data assets. Failure to do this risks damaged reputations, revenues, and hinders the ability to succeed in new markets.

The role of data within organizations must change from being departmentally siloed, to being centrally managed. Breaking down these siloes is more of an organizational challenge than a technical one, requiring a data strategy, the correct level of ownership, and corporate governance. This means having a C-level supported, organization-wide understanding of the customer, broad executive level ownership, and a well-managed change control process to ensure ongoing data quality and trust in the data across the organization.

Your teams may analyze website trends and tweak marketing programs to lure back shopping cart abandoners. These are certainly important use cases. But, the notion of capitalizing on your data requires you to re-orient the whole organization around the customer, and likewise, how your customer interacts with your brand throughout the entire customer journey.