Why soft data delivers hard benefits

Business intelligence tools don’t tell you the full story, says Yardi Australia’s regional director Terry Gowan. Real customer insights require the human touch.

“Most organisations use hard data to understand their customers, add value and differentiate themselves from their competitors,” Gowan says.

“But in the world of big data, all data counts. And that means capturing soft data too.”

Hard data describes the information collected from devices and applications, such as smart phones and sensors, smart meters and monitoring systems, bank transactions and call records. This information can be traced, validated and measured.

“A bricks-and-mortar industry like property has the advantage of being able to collect a mountain of hard data to learn more about their customers,” Gowan says.

Soft data, on the other hand, is more difficult to measure. It’s all about opinion, suggestion and interpretation – “in other words, the thoughts and feelings of tenants as they live, work and experience a building,” Gowan explains.

“Soft data isn’t unreliable – in many cases it is the best data available.”

Soft data forms the backbone of online reputation management, Gowan says. “Understanding the reviews and comments of your business on social media can help you to refine your product offering,” Gowan says.

In some cases, it can even bolster tenant retention. “When combined with customer surveys and focus groups, soft data from social media can help you to take immediate action on feedback, and to respond to niggling problems that may never make it into a tenant survey.”

Working with both hard and soft data can help companies make better decisions in real time.

“As our access to data expands, businesses need to incorporate both hard and soft data – and that means having systems that are capable of storing and analysing data from multiple sources.

With the digital giants like Airbnb, Uber and Amazon revolutionising entire industries, we could be forgiven for thinking that hard data holds the key to business success, Gowan says.

“But soft data, in the form of feedback we collect from customers every day, is a largely untapped resource that can help us to deliver a better customer experience.”

Yardi, with more than 30 offices and 5,000 employees worldwide, designs, develops and supports real estate investment management and property management software. For more information about Yardi, visit www.yardi.com.au