Nataly Kelly is the CMO at Zappi, a software platform that enables connected consumer insights.
Many companies are sitting on a gold mine of consumer data—the kind that could supercharge AI initiatives—but you’d never know that from how it’s used. Years of surveys, ad tests, brand trackers and product feedback sit scattered across business units, each treated as a one-off study that’s rapidly analyzed, then filed away.
It’s no wonder that when the CEO asks, “What do our customers really want?” the answers don’t line up. Marketing pulls out a campaign dashboard, the insights team points to survey results, and finance wants sales figures. Instead of a clear picture, the leadership team is left looking at fragments.
Sound familiar? If so, you’re not alone.
A Persistent Problem Blocking AI ROI
Companies often face this issue: Despite having a veritable trove of consumer knowledge, they can’t activate it effectively or holistically since the data is locked away in silos.
New research from Zappi, based on a survey of 200-plus marketing and insights professionals, reveals the scope of this problem:
• Hitting A Wall: For 41% of companies, data fragmentation is the number one barrier to using insights effectively.
• Can’t Connect The Dots: Only 38% of marketing and insights pros say their organization has connected, centralized insights, or a continuous understanding of the customer that’s embedded into decision-making. Half call their company’s consumer insights “fragmented,” and for 12%, they’re completely “disconnected.”
• Painful Ramifications: Without the full picture, companies move more slowly and risk making the wrong decisions. And when AI is layered on top of disconnected insights, it often amplifies the chaos.
Why This Matters For The C-Suite
This isn’t just a data problem; it’s a strategic one. Fixing fragmentation can’t be done by the CMO alone. Every member of the C-suite has a stake in it. For example:
• CEOs: They set the tone for what matters, and they’re accountable for the big bets. Without a unified view of the customer, CEOs risk making high-impact decisions based on incomplete or conflicting data. By putting consumer insights on the executive agenda and visibly supporting the function, they can improve organization-wide decision-making and agility.
• CFOs: They play a critical role in evaluating the ROI of data and AI investments. Fragmented insights stymie these efforts, leading to wasted budgets, duplicate studies and missed opportunities.
• CTOs And CDOs: Tech and data leaders need to unify tech stacks, but piling on more dashboards won’t solve fragmentation issues. Without connected insights, even the best systems produce more noise, rather than a refined sense of clarity. This is a problem for tech leaders who need to make sure their data infrastructure delivers sound intelligence, not just more complexity.
• CMOs: As the natural stewards of consumer insights, marketing leaders seek to ensure those insights don’t stay siloed within marketing, but rather flow across the business to inform product, innovation and strategy. When that connection breaks down, marketing risks becoming reactive and disconnected from broader business goals.
The bottom line: If insights stay scattered, so does the company’s view of the customer. And without that full picture, even the best AI tools won’t deliver meaningful business results.
A Framework For Change
To bridge and activate consumer insights, there needs to be a shift in how organizations connect people, process and technology around the consumer voice. Zappi’s research points to three clear priorities:
1. Unifying And Elevating The Insights Team
Too often, insights pros are spread thin across functions and business units. Because they’re scattered, consumer data often is too. Plus, only one-third of organizations (33%) say their insights staff are viewed as collaborative, strategic partners, while over a quarter (27%) see them as reactive order-takers.
It’s time to reframe the role. Fixing this starts with structure and status. A central, empowered insights team can serve as a “control tower” for consumer understanding: unifying research efforts; reducing duplication and wasteful spending on throwaway research that is not leveraged again; and giving the executive team one clear, trusted version of the truth.
2. Centralizing Insights Data
When consumer studies are treated as one-and-done, valuable knowledge gets buried, and patterns get missed. But by bringing historical and real-time insights into a connected platform, companies can create a single, evolving view of the customer. This allows CEOs and leadership teams to anticipate shifts, spot trends early and put AI investments to work.
To centralize your insights, start by taking stock of your current data landscape. Before layering on new tools, address fragmentation at the root by connecting what you already have.
3. Using AI To Accelerate Insights
With 44% of companies hiring for AI or data integration roles in the past year, according to the survey data, it’s important to make that investment count. Without connected data, AI is just another shiny tool. But when the data that powers it is up to date, accurate and unified, you can build a powerful data asset that your company can see returns from in perpetuity.
With a connected data foundation, AI can do what humans can’t at scale: synthesize feedback, spot themes, simulate personas and deliver instant, actionable insights. This frees leaders to act with confidence and speed. Only then can AI effectively fuel critical initiatives, tailoring experiences through personalization, anticipating demand with trend forecasting, speeding up product innovation and more.
The Connected Insights Imperative
As companies look to turn AI investments into real business outcomes, the ones that win will be closest to their customers. This closeness drives competitive advantage by improving customer empathy, sharpening instincts and accelerating decision-making.
For the C-suite, it’s important to embrace the connected insights imperative: positioning the insights team as a key partner, aligning to break down silos and putting the consumer voice at the heart of strategic decisions.
As AI investments surge, AI alone won’t deliver value. The real advantage comes when leaders rally around the consumer voice and make insight-driven thinking part of their company’s DNA.
So the next time the CEO asks, “What do our customers really want?” there’s one clear place to find the very best answers.
Forbes Communications Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?