In the last couple of years there has been a recurring theme on media press sites covering technology, of companies compromising the security and belittling the value of their customers information – whether it be dangerous (i.e. bank cards) or personal. The recent headline that drew my attention was on BBC News - “Social apps ‘harvest smartphone contacts’”. According to the report, the Twitter App on the iPhone has been copying entire address books from the phone to another third party company.

Big data and its challenges are not a new phenomenon. Back in 2001 Gartner analyst, Doug Laney defined the challenges surrounding the growth of big data in a research report that he authored (he also presented on the topic at a number of conferences). He described the challenge as being three dimensional; the increase in volume, velocity and variety.

So you’ve taken the plunge into the world of Customer Experience Management (CEM), you’re regularly engaging with your customers and collecting feedback, but you’re not sure that you’re getting the most out of this new data. Sound familiar? Don’t worry, you certainly aren’t alone. There is a long road between the first step of the CEM journey and the end goal of world class practice and only a handful of businesses get there on their own.

We congratulate David Payne, Assistant VP, Contact Center at The Standard, a provider of employee benefits, retirement plans and insurance,for winning 1to1 Magazine’s 2011 Customer Champion Award.