How important is the customer experience in communications today? “Very important” is an understatement. It should be the top area of focus for all communications providers. It’s no secret that when customers are extremely satisfied, they become brand champions for the companies that provide them the products and services they value most. That’s also how providers distinguish themselves from the competition.

How can providers deliver such a superior, differentiated customer experience? For many, that’s less clear. Lately there’s a lot of buzz about the role that real-time business analytics can play in this pursuit, but buzz doesn’t translate into action. Just because communications leaders are talking about using analytics to improve the customer experience, that doesn’t mean they’re doing anything about it.

So … are they?

There’s only one way to find out: Ask them. That’s exactly what we did recently, in partnership with Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, Accenture and Intel. We surveyed hundreds of leaders across industries, including 50 communications executives. What we found might surprise you. When we asked how important real-time customer experience analytics capabilities are, we expected a positive response, but it was higher than we expected:

• 73 percent of communications respondents said it was important today.
• 96 percent expect it to grow in importance over the next two years.
• 42 percent of respondents reported “significant” increases in investments in real-time analytics, with another 35 percent reporting a “slight” increase.

It seems clear that behind all the talk about the importance of real-time analytics, there’s real action, too.

The survey also shows that there are real barriers to achieving the results anticipated by all this investment. For example:

• Only 21 percent of respondents felt they were “very effective” at delivering real-time customer experience analytics.
• 30 percent reported that they are “not at all effective” at delivering real-time customer experience analytics.

Now is the time to make sure you’re staying a step ahead of developments in real-time customer analytics. What are your peers doing? What’s working? What’s not? What’s next? That’s what we covered in a recent webinar with Paul Barrett from Accenture, Pat Richards from Intel, and me, Michael Pawlak from SAS. You can also access the full report on SAS.com.