But what many businesses don’t realize is that the most valuable data they collect comes from one of their biggest assets – their customers.

While the data about customer decisions and behavior is important, it’s also crucial that you make sure your data is as accurate as it can be. If you are ready to ensure that you can gather customer data that is accurate, then use the tips and information here.

1. Use Software and Tools to Make Things Easier

If you want to help ensure your customers provide you with information that is accurate, then you need to ensure it’s easy for them to give it to you. Self-filling forms and automation are a great way to do this, as no one wants to spend very long filling out a form. The easier you make it for customers to leave their information, the higher level of accuracy and the more current information you will receive.

2. Make Sure Your Data Remains Secure

Regardless of the type of data that your company uses or holds, you need to make sure that it stays safe. Reports of data hacks, data and data breaches are more common than ever before. These put the information your customer’s have provided at risk, along with other data you have. In the long run, not having proper security in place can cost your business a lot, in terms of profit and customer trust.

3. Reward Customers who Provide Verifiable or Accurate Data

In most cases, people are going to want to keep their information private. This may make it challenging for you to get accurate information from these individuals. As a result, you need to offer some type of incentive or reward for them to provide you with this. It could be anything really, from a helpful service, a free e-book, free product, discount, or anything else that may appeal to your customer base.

While this is a good idea, you also need to remain honest about why you are collecting data. Don’t try to “sneak” around to get information out of people.

4. Use the Power of Social Media

There are billions of people using social media today (2.46 billion to be exact). Chances are you use it each day and don’t give it a second thought. However, if you as a business aren’t using the power of social media, then now is the time to begin doing so.

With so many people active on social media each day, you can gather quite a bit of customer information, including online behaviors, age groups, interests, cities, genders and more. In fact, social media may be the best tool out there to gather accurate information about your customers.

5. Keep All Your Customer Data Organized

When you are gathering customer data and information, one of the most important things you need to do is to make sure that you keep this information organized. If you don’t do this, then it can be easy to overlook someone or include inaccurate information. It’s important that you be able to segment your customer base, as this will help you to further organize all the information you have collected.

Additionally, when you keep things organized, it means that you are creating a template for the way that data entry should be handled. This will help you to reduce duplicate and incorrect information.

With data being a valuable asset, you need to make sure you use the tips and information here to keep yours organized and properly manage it. In the long run, these efforts will pay off and help your company be more successful.

The post 5 Tips To Acquire Accurate Customer Data For Your Business appeared first on Reflective Data.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and business intelligence (BI) are buzzwords that you may have heard thrown around by IT professionals before. There seems to be a great deal of confusion when it comes to the differences between these two technological advancements.

If you are curious about the differences between AI and BI, read below to find out some helpful information.

The Overall Goals of Artificial Intelligence and Business Intelligence are Quite Different

One of the biggest goals that BI programs have is streamlining the collection and analyzing of data. Not only will BI allow a company to collect data with ease, it can also improve the actual quality of the data collected as well. Without data, it will be extremely hard for a business to make educated decisions about what direction to take or how to better serve their customers.

Simply collecting large chunks of data does nothing for your business. You have to find a way to polish that data into useful information. This is where business intelligence comes in. The main thing you need to realize is that business intelligence merely makes the data you are collecting easier to understand and access. It will not be able to provide you with any guidance regarding the direction you should take with your data.

Successful companies like Tableau and Microsoft use BI tools to help with things like HR, sales and other vital business functions. In essence, business intelligence tools will allow you to monitor everything your company does on a daily basis. With this information, BI will allow you to create performance metrics and customized dashboards to stay up to speed on a variety of issues.

What Are the Goals of Artificial Intelligence Tools?

Now that you have a grasp on the goals of BI tools, we will move onto what AI tools can help with. Basically, AI tools are interested in mimicking and modeling human intelligence. These tools can be used to help a company make rational decisions based on large amounts of data.

When developing AI tools, most developers are interested in finding out whether or not their programs can adapt and learn like humans. The more information these programs are given, the easier it will be for them to help in the making of important business decisions. Companies who use AI tools claim to have a higher level of efficiency, which generally leads to higher profits as well.

While BI make analyzing data easier, AI programs are designed to allow computers to make decisions based on the data they receive. One of the best examples of an AI program’s ability to make human-like decisions is chatbots.

An overwhelming number of companies now have chatbot software on their websites. These AI-infused programs are able to answer customer’s questions without any intervention from a human. When used correctly, chatbots allow companies to serve their customers better.

How Are AI and BI Used in Today’s World?

One of the main things most people want to know about AI and BI is how they are being used by businesses around the world? Most people have had interactions with both of these technologies and don’t even know it.

The Ways BI is Being Used in the World of Business

Have you or your employees ever used Microsoft Excel to create a spreadsheet? If so, then you are already using business intelligence without even realizing it. These spreadsheets allow business owners to both visualize and analyze data in an easy to understand way.

Any tools that you use to gather data from customers are considered business intelligence as well. Most companies use everything from emails to social media to keep track of their customer’s needs. Utilizing the power of this data is only possible when investing in state of the art BI technology. With these tools, you can collect data from a number of touchpoints and use this information to gain a better understanding of your core audience.

How Companies are Using AI

Among the most common uses for AI in the world of business is in relation to process automation. Many businesses offer consumers AI-infused programs that allow them to update their information and fill out basic contracts with ease. In the world of modern business, AI programs are replacing human administrative functions. When paired with the access rights management tools, AI tools can help your team work smarter not harder.

Some companies are also using AI cognitive insight applications to further their understanding of modern consumers. These applications collect data that they then use to improve themselves. The cognitive insight applications on the market are able to predict customer behaviors and improve IT security by taking in data and using it to make informed decisions.

Are you interested in moving your business technology into the 21st century? Consulting with IT professionals who are familiar with AI and BI is essential when trying to improve your business technology.

The post AI vs BI – Learn The Difference appeared first on Reflective Data.

What are these users’ expectations? What are their pain points? Knowing these different personas is essential to the design process. They guide the creation of a positive user experience that suits your unique target group. While you should take into consideration some of the preferences of your design team, the focus should always be on the primary users.

Designing your product for real people makes it more valuable. What features do your users actually want? How will they interact with these changes in the context of the entire application? Understanding your users is one of the most fundamentally important parts of running a successful application.

Image via Pexels

What Are Personas?

First, let’s break down what personas actually are in relation to your app. This idea was first introduced in 1998 by Alan Cooper who was designing new software. He thought it was important to start a dialogue with future users to see just what they wanted from the development process. In this act of asking questions, he discovered a major part of product design: he needed to take a user-centred point of view.

Since then, Cooper’s idea has spread across the globe, and it’s used in all types of industries. Today, a persona is a clear outline of an individual who uses an app. These are usually fictional, but they can be based on real-life user questionnaires. These personas are in depth. They give biographical information, preferences,  motivations, and personality indicators. For apps specifically, there will be an emphasis on current brands and apps they use frequently, as well as their competence with different platforms.

Why Use Personas?

Now that you understand what personas are, why do you actually need them? Even if you’re already familiar with some key things about your audience, it’s useful to take things a step further. Creating a persona puts a face and a personality to this audience. It’s easier to say you’re going to design an app for John than that you’ll design an app for “20-something that are interested in fitness.”

You’ll also have a clear way to explain your ideal users to the entire company. Having a clear person to put in place of an audience makes it easier to introduce this individual to different departments. This is an effective, focused way to turn the conversation to the customer. You can make clearer decisions that suit your personas, not the designers.

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Personas and Design

How do these personas relate to the design process? Because you can delve into the psychology of your user, you can create a system that appeals to them specifically. You can design an application that fits into their current lifestyle and that solves their unique problems.

When focusing on the designers and programmers, it’s easy to get caught in technical things like syslog for newbies and monitoring. These are important parts of the process, but they’re not the only part. When it comes to building a design that works, you need to know your user inside and out.

Now that you recognize the importance of user personas, it’s time to put these ideas into action. Start building your user base today so you can reflect on the most important analytics tomorrow. Finally, put a face to your growing audience.

The post Personas: Why Is it Important to Understand Your Users? appeared first on Reflective Data.

Whether you are building an app from scratch or simply want to port from .NET Framework to .NET Core, good beta testing is about making sure your product release is consistent with market expectations. Ignoring beta testing can lead to unpleasant surprises when you eventually roll out your product.

Here are seven ways you can find beta users for your app.

1. In Person

You can source beta testers from the people around you. That includes family, friends, work colleagues and neighbors. In fact, your social circle is the first place you should look to when building an audience of testers.

The advantage of such testers is they don’t cost much if at all. The drawback is that they are likely to lack the knowledge and experience that would help to generate meaningful actionable feedback.

2. Reddit

Most of us probably know Reddit for its viral videos, animated gifs and dark humor. However, the real treasure of Reddit is in the sub-communities that specialize in certain topics. While nearly all coders can find willing beta testers on Reddit, game developers are likely to benefit the most thanks to the GameDev subreddit.

Actually, within the GameDev subreddit is a thread referred to as ScreenShot Saturday where developers have a chance each Saturday to post screenshots of games they are working on. It’s a low cost yet effective way to test an app with hundreds of knowledgeable users.

3. Craigslist

Craigslist hasn’t always been in the news for the right reasons but it’s definitely a place you should consider looking at if you want beta testers. Of course, Craigslist being an online marketplace means its best to offer an incentive if you hope to get good insights fast.

The incentive could be something as simple as offering free pizza to anyone who provides detailed test feedback.

4. Upwork

A successor to the long-established freelancer marketplaces Elance and Odesk, not many of us know that Upwork isn’t just home to developers, graphic designers and copywriters. There are testers too. Unlike Reddit and Craigslist where your testers are likely to come from one country, Upwork taps into an international talent pool thus significantly bringing down the cost of testing.
That being said, Upwork testers are often generalists and may not be able to perform the deep dive required for more technical testing.

5. PreApps

The websites we’ve looked at above are general purpose but with a testing sub-section. PreApps is different. It’s a purpose-built platform allowing developers to make their app available to an audience of interested users who can then provide feedback on areas of improvement.

The best part is you don’t have to pay to post your app on PreApps. You can, however, pay for your app to be placed on the Featured section so you can attract more attention.

6. Facebook Groups

The popularity of Facebook Groups has soared in recent years. There’s now a Facebook Group (or a hundred) for virtually every interest imaginable. As a developer, it’s prudent to join interactive groups where you can grow your coding knowledge and entrepreneurial skill.

Just joining is not enough though. Participate in conversations and be enthusiastic about helping fellow members where you can. When your app is eventually ready for testing, you will have built sufficient social capital to invite members to provide feedback. Thanks to the credibility you’ve built, group members will be keen on sharing their thoughts.

7. Email List

You should start building an email list today if you do not have one already. This is a great way to obtain the contacts of your potential audience well before your app is ready for testing and release. Keep your email list engaged through regular newsletters, insights, tips and anything that piques their interest in a way that’s relevant to your proposed app.

By the time you are ready for production, there’s a warmed audience of potential customers. It’s from this list that you can get enthusiastic knowledgeable interactive beta testers that will be with you throughout the development lifecycle.

It’s also worthwhile mentioning some of the best chrome extensions for software testing.

It’s always best to start preparing for beta testing as early as possible. This gives the developer sufficient time to identify testers who’ll add value to their end product. Remember that beta testing is not just about what needs correction. It’s also an opportunity for discovery. You may realize from test feedback that features you didn’t think were important are actually what differentiates you from the competition.

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