Data is more than a cool buzzword. It is the key to helping businesses understand not only who their customers are, but to also give us an insight into the kind of customer they will be in the future. Data offers an exciting world of discovery and here we share some ways you can make the most of what you already know about your business and the individuals it serves.

You may ask yourself, is data management important for business? The answer – a definite ‘yes’. Simply put, data relates to the information that any business collects about its customers. It can also relate to operational information and day-to-day business functions. Data is important to help a business enhance services and products at all times.

Many businesses create, collect and store a lot of information about the people who make use of that company’s products and services. Many of these are via digital sources such as e-mail marketing, social media, newsletters, leads and enquiry forms and website analytics. But you also get data in more traditional ways such as from focus groups, interviews, company sales figures and consumer data sourced from the customer themselves via word of mouth.

Nothing shows that a brand is listening better than personalised responses and community management. Being heard, seen and understood will lead to a person having a strong association with being valued, and may increase their likelihood to return to a brand or a service, and even tell their friends about it.

The real-time feedback that you receive from customers can help you to improve on your services and products. It could even bring about the development of something new. By doing a deep dive into data and analysing what your customers are crying out for, you can create products that align with their new and evolving needs.

The information that you receive about your customers matters. The more customised and specific your data is, the better the quality of your insights. Making a deliberate effort to gather your customers information will result in tailored campaigns, adverts and products.

It’s vital that customers feel that they can trust you with their information. By having a proper data management system in place, you keep your customers' information safe. As an additional layer of support in South Africa, customer data protection is of paramount importance. The POPI Act was introduced in July 2020 and it is a data protection law that preserves the integrity of any information exchanged between a company and its consumers. It encourages the fair and lawful processing of customer information with anything linked to race, gender, pregnancy and cultural orientation. It also seeks to preserve and protect any information related to the medical, financial or criminal history of a person.

Having well organised information on hand could mean the difference between a tailored advertising campaign that suits your customers, or shooting in the dark.

At Telkom, we are always listening to what you have to say about us as a brand. The data that we receive from you informs our services, products and how we do business. We engage in continuous reporting and encourage the use of digital marketing tools to gain insights. Our weekly insights reports monitor customer engagement and sentiment, along with the consumer experience.

As with any brand that is constantly growing and evolving, we understand that there are very real issues that need to be resolved. Our teams work consistently to monitor, address and alleviate network coverage issues and billing challenges. We are also mindful of the quality of our data services and sudden data depletion being one of the major areas for improvement that customers have raised..

Some quick wins to celebrate! We have seen a rise in positive sentiment towards Telkom and our operational and reputational scores. We have been keeping our eyes on the ‘socials’ and have seen the events that you’ve shown some real love! High on your appreciation list were the champions crowned for the Telkom Netball League, the prizes given away on our Father’s Day giveaway and the 100GB data giveaway on Youth Day, celebrating young innovators, dreamers and leaders of tomorrow. In the latter half of June, our brand increased speed in response time to customer queries – reducing response rate from days to hours. Now that’s progress.