AI-powered robotics meet the challenge of fragmented data for marketers
Interpreting data can provide marketing leaders with a clear view of audiences – what content they consume, how they react to messaging, and how they feel about a company's products or services.
However, this information is typically fragmented and, as a result, difficult to action.
Companies today are drowning in data overload, with information gleaned from customer relationship management systems, social media, website analytics, loyalty programmes, and call centres.
There is simply too much data, and it lives in silos because no single system can integrate with another to effectively pull it all together into a complete, visual representation.
Beyond basic chatbots
Enter artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of advanced robotics – a significant step beyond the basic bots that companies place on their websites to provide basic chat services.
These simple bots typically only provide links to FAQs or required documentation.
True AI-powered robotics goes far beyond that, offering software solutions that can bring entire fragmented data sets together and enable meaningful interpretation.
These systems gather website and performance analytics, paid advertising metrics, feedback from social media platforms and review sites, customer relationship management data, market and competitor information, and any other publicly available viewpoint of a company across the internet.
Consider this example: if a business begins receiving reviews from Australia when their target market is solely South African, marketing teams can quickly determine whether these reviews are fake or whether the company is inadvertently tapping into a market segment they weren't initially targeting.
While useful on its own, this information still doesn't provide the full picture.
From data collection to actionable insight
A deeper analysis is vital. Comments and reviews need to be examined to understand the core issue at the heart of why a complaint – or compliment – has been posted on social media.
The critical question is: why did someone take the trouble to turn to social media in the first place?
Another practical application involves automating data collection. Instead of manually typing share price movements into spreadsheets, bots can scrape this data for a company and its competitors from financial websites that offer information directly from JSE data, saving countless hours while improving accuracy.
These AI systems make information easier to manage by cleaning and transforming it into accessible insights through data analysis.
This enables data modelling on visually understandable platforms that are easily accessible to marketing leaders.
A single software tool brings all this disparate information into one centralised database, accessible at the click of a button.
Through these integrated processes, marketing heads can make informed decisions that genuinely drive business growth.
Beyond marketing: Board-level impact
This capability doesn't just enable companies to sharpen their marketing focus or identify service improvements, such as delivery time issues. It also enables better-informed decision-making at the board level.
Predictive decision-making gives boards the ability to look ahead rather than backwards. Instead of relying solely on historical reports, marketing heads can use predictive models to anticipate shifts in markets, customer behaviour, and risk exposure.
With the technological ability to provide foresight, boards can act early, whether that means reallocating capital, adjusting strategy, or mitigating emerging threats before they impact performance.
It also strengthens governance. Predictive insights provide directors with evidence-based clarity on where growth opportunities or risks lie, enabling more objective and transparent decision-making.
In an environment where boards are held accountable for transformation, environmental, social and governance aspects as well as the need for long-term value creation, predictive decision-making helps them move from reactive oversight to proactive leadership – guiding the business with confidence into the future.