A single view of a customer.
WHAT IT MEANS
One record per customer, combining information from every system.
WHY IT IS DIFFICULT
Systems identify customers differently Values conflict Definitions of customer differ
WHAT TO ESTABLISH FIRST
What a customer is.
WHY
A person, an account, an organisation and a billing entity are different things, and systems disagree.
WHAT TO BUILD
An identity mapping, resolving records across systems.
WHAT TO DECIDE PER FIELD
Which system is authoritative.
WHAT TO RETAIN
The source values alongside the resolved one.
WHAT ATTRIBUTES TO INCLUDE
Identity and contact
- Acquisition: when, and from where
- Commercial: revenue, products, tenure
- Behavioural: usage and engagement
- Status: active, lapsed, churned
WHAT TO MODEL OVER TIME
Status and segment, since history matters.
WHAT TO BE CAREFUL WITH
Personal data, which this concentrates Retention obligations Access control, which matters more here than elsewhere
WHAT TO TEST
That counts reconcile against each source system.
