One of the trends that has completely swept organizations is the massive surge in data. No matter what form it takes, there is no denying that organizations now have more information at their fingertips than ever before. This has been a boon for many, since the data aids in understanding donors and members better and as well as driving insight for maximum optimization.
In this article, I wanted to address the need for organizations to understand the value in information which is often times elusive: Dark Data.
Benefiting from Unstructured Dark Data
Data comes in many shapes and forms and understanding the differences between structured and unstructured dark data is pivotal for success. Unfortunately, for many nonprofit associations unstructured dark data cannot be used in conjunction with other information when trying to formulate a customer, member or donor profile. Especially their likes and dislikes, or what they discuss in public social media outlets. Social Intelligence for many is disparate data which is housed in the public domain and remains separate.
Benefiting from unstructured data may seem like a difficult task, but its efforts reap rewards since organizations can use it to make informed decisions. For many organizations, the best way to glean that information is to collect unstructured data from private cloud based communities and leverage that to obtain a holistic understanding of what customers truly care about. Let’s dig into that more.
What Exactly Is Unstructured Dark Data?
The term may seem confusing. But, unstructured data generally refers to information derived from sources such as emails, chat sessions, open-ended survey feedback, social media and other sources of free-form interactions.
Generally, speculation suggests that about 80% to 90% of enterprise data can be considered unstructured. According to Forrester, enterprises leverage about 35% of their structured data for insights and decision-making, but only 25% of their unstructured enterprise data.
Perhaps one reasoning for that statistic is that unstructured data is qualitative in nature rather than quantitative, making it a little difficult to wrangle. Unfortunately, it does not lend itself well when it comes to conforming to predetermined CRM format. Its lack of structure means that it does not adhere to the realm of names, addresses and other data that are commonly found in CRMs.
Why Do You Need Unstructured Dark Data?
Quite frankly, many associations and nonprofits have access to structured data. For the most part structured data is readily available yet still remains a challenge to use in a meaningful way. For many, this topic of using unstructured data is daunting. But, the goal should be considered nonetheless.
Why? Structured data is unable to provide context and sentiment the way unstructured data can. Activity and information not captured by your constituents provides limited results & misguided action. You need structured and unstructured dark data because it could be the best source in understanding the complete view of your customers on a more personal level.
Perhaps, the big audacious goal for many organizations today is to strive to report on the structured data better. And, introduce various technology to collect data on their donors and members which has not been known before; Dark Data.
Let’s talk about Dark Data.
Examples Of Unstructured Dark Data
In the context of the data at your nonprofit, Dark Data is anything that is hidden or undigested by the organizations stakeholders who need it most. I believe that social data and the intelligence derived from it for many organizations is elusive and hidden. If it is not collected, it’s unstructured and it is dark.
Granted, many membership organizations and nonprofits have a Facebook page, LinkedIn Page, or use some other public social media device but the value is not symbiotic. In other words, you solve the immediate need to have a place for community. But, the organization doesn’t get the analytics behind what participation is transpiring. It’s hidden.
Data hidden which is found is akin to hitting the lottery. This data may prove to be a jackpot for many nonprofits in the future.
The Illumination of Value when Social Data and CRM Data Are Fused
When organizations seek to implement CRM’s, many executives focus on the mere operational aspects of what the tools bring to the table: did a member pay their dues, register for an event, or make a contribution. What financial activity has transpired and how many times did we reach out to them. That type of information is critical.
Along with providing a resource for your constituents to connect and develop meaningful relationships with their peers, there is immense value in the social intelligence which can be collected from community engagement platforms.
But, if this community platform is public, your community social data is considered Dark Data. Ultimately, The value of social data and CRM data is incredible. Many organizations see tremendous value in a privately branded cloud based community management software tool to help here.
Do not misunderstand my point here. Transactional and profile information found in an enterprise CRM, Donor, or Membership Software platform is critical. But, the integrated social data is by and large the one of the biggest advantages for building a private community program.
With introducing a private community platform, the following may be recorded by your organization:
Overall traffic of groups
Member participation
Views and popular Topics
Announcements
Blog posts
Community groups
Contacts with connections
Discussion messages
Document uploads & downloads
Events and calendar
Glossary entries
Mentoring opportunities
Library resources
The Magical Insights of Dark Data Found Via System Integration
The magic lies in integration and marrying the structured data and the dark data found in systems like private community platforms.
Integrated data can help you plug in gaps and aid in crafting an overall marketing strategy. Moreover, this information can be used to share leads and opportunities with other departments.
Every department at your nonprofit should be supplied with the right privileges to access the data and use it to bolster their operations. For many, the key is having a solution which provides a solution for “Syncing information”. “Syncing” data back and forth between all key elements of your technology enterprise is imperative. Without it, you are only playing with limited engagement information.
With data being synchronized, the organization is provided a snapshot of it’s overall constituent activities. Activity could be event attendance, webinars or something as simple as accepting community terms of use. All of these different elements added up can help you create a single, unified engagement score. Plus, you will able to generate monthly/quarterly/annual engagement report cards to track and present to
stakeholders.
What Else Should We Know About Dark Data?
Unstructured dark data is only as good as the technology tools and processes behind it. In order to gain maximum benefit from any data, the analysis needs to be customized, accessible, and contain integrity to derive useful insights.
Software vendors with capable analytics and point solutions which capture the unstructured data is a must have. To learn more about how unstructured data & what tools are necessary to transform your nonprofit, trade, or professional organization, please do not hesitate to contact us.
