4 Ways Biometric Data Enhances Your Customer Relationship Management Operations

The rapid digitization of commercial activities across diverse business industries has played a huge role in making the world a more interconnected place. This is due to the fact that it has allowed just about anyone carry out business transactions using an internet powered device regardless of location. But a wider reach for enterprises also comes with its own challenges, and ensuring customer satisfaction when answering to the people that make your business profitable is one of them.

Through the rise of the information age, diverse techniques have been employed in customer relationship management (CRM) and a timeline of some of the iconic methods employed by organizations show that customer management activities continue to evolve in different ways.

• Data marketing—in the 1980’s, Robert and Kate Kestnbaum introduced the concept of database marketing which involved collecting customer information and using statistical modeling to analyze these information. The analyzed data was then used as a leverage to customize communications with future clients.
• Introducing the Digital Rolodex—in 1986, ACT! Introduced the digital rolodex to the business world and it allowed businesses efficiently store, organize and access customer information through a software for the first time.
• Sales Force Automation—the 90’s brought with it more innovation to the customer management space. A major step for customer management was the automation of customer relationship and sales. This was accomplished through the use of SFA software which used customer information to automate certain tasks like; inventory control and tracking customer interactions.
• Cloud-based CRM—the new millennium also witnessed great advancements in developing customer management solutions and a major step for the industry occurred in 2007, when Salesforce introduced cloud-based CRM to the business world.

Since 2007, CRM has continued to evolve as features such as social CRM, mobile applications and automated customer service have been integrated to provide seamless experiences for customers.

Integrating Biometric Technology in CRM

The next big step in enhancing customer experience and satisfaction was the integration of biometrics in CRM. This was done with a view to understanding the behavioural patterns of customers and providing customized services accordingly.

Firstly, biometrics technology involves the use of automated methods to collect specific data from individuals. These biometric data are characteristics unique to each individual and consists of both physiological and behavioural data. Physiological data is gathered from the unique shape or composition of the human body—fingerprints, iris etc.— while behavioural data—speech pattern, mode of communication etc.—is collected from individual behavioural patterns and both are unique to every individual on earth. And CRM services stands to gain a lot from the uniqueness biometrics provide in the following ways:

• Enhancing Customer Verification Techniques—varied customer verification and authorizing methods have been employed by e-commerce giants in the last decade to secure sensitive information but these verification methods have continuously been breached. The use of Biometrics could provide a permanent solution to solve the verification problem and currently, the online banking sector and the smart device industry have integrated the use of biometrics to provide a seamless, impregnable verification process to its customers.
• Understanding Customer Behaviour—to understand the behavioural patterns of shoppers in brick and mortar stores, Nordstrom installed the EyeSee—a biometric data collecting device—to monitor customer habits. These devices collected data on the most visited sections, time spent viewing particular merchandise and facial reactions to new items. These biometric data were then used to enhance store design and inventory lists to provide customers with better shopping experiences. Today, brick and mortar stores have a plethora of devices with the ability to track customer biometrics to enhance shopping experiences.
• Ensures Customer Convenience—the use of voice recognition in accessing and navigating through your Netflix interface is a great example of the advantages biometrics brings to the table. With a single voice command, you can get Netflix’s Keystone data pipeline to work at your convenience. In today’s internet-connected world, business can make accessing their products or services convenient for their customer base through the integration of voice recognition capabilities on digitized platforms.
• Seamless Service for IoT Applications—the connected ecosystem driving the IoT industry is based on providing seamless access to all inter-connected devices—home automation systems, smart Roombas, smart appliances etc.—used by an individual. Achieving this depends largely on the ease of access to a connected system and biometrics provides a means of doing exactly this. Integrating voice recognition or fingerprint access in devices/applications allows IoT developers provide seamless services to customers.

Final Thoughts

Tech reality has always closely mirrored Hollywood Sci-fi concepts from time to time and the integration of biometrics in customer relationship falls into this category. To achieve the automated, seamless and predictive customer services the business community strives for, advances in integrating biometrics in CRM platforms must be considered for they have a huge role to play.