It is well known that we all need to provide the best possible products and services for our customers to be able to survive in the very competitive business environment. We also know that all customers are unique and they cannot be seen as a single mass of money bringers.
How do we know what kind of product or service would suit the best for each individual? Is there any other way to find out and understand the customers buying habits than to collect some information about him? (If there is, please let us know!)
The more you know about each customer, the more customized offers you can provide, right? And when I'm on the other side of the table, that is, acting as a customer, I have to admit that I appreciate to receive personalized and targeted offers. We all are busy, so it's pretty nice that the message we get has been cut short and reflects our needs, and we don't have to make an extra effort to go through a bunch of unrelated facts and figures, don't you agree?
However, that always makes me wonder how much personal information the service provider actually has collected about me and is storing it in their (secure?) database. I will never even know who has got access to that database!
So basically, the companies are able to find my personal data I didn't give them, and use it for their business purposes. What bothers me is that I cannot control how it is being used, along with the fact that there hasn't been any definite borders set, which data must be kept private and which can be used in public. At least not yet. What personal information do you feel comfortable sharing? Where do you draw the line?
Author: Lukáš Beňa, Sprinx Systems