How to Revolutionize Customer Experience with Unified Data

Key takeaways:

• Siloed systems create inconsistent, frustrating customer experiences: unified, real-time data ensures every team works from the same accurate information.
• A single data model empowers sales, marketing, and service teams to personalize interactions at scale and deliver seamless handoffs throughout the customer journey.
• Unified data unlocks proactive, predictive engagement, helping teams identify churn risks, upsell opportunities, and customer needs before they escalate.
• Breaking down data silos is easier with platforms built for unification: Tenon and ServiceNow simplify integration, governance, and architecture so teams stay focused on CX.
• When all teams share a single customer view, organizations boost efficiency, strengthen relationships, and deliver memorable experiences that drive retention and long-term growth.

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The disconnection of siloed business operations inevitably trickles down into your customer experience. Sales, marketing, and customer service teams often work with fragmented data rather than integrated systems and workflows. When this happens, brand messaging is inconsistent and confusing, and customer needs can fall by the wayside.

Unified data is key to delivering a standout customer experience. 

When your entire organization works from the same real-time customer data, the results are powerful. Instead of struggling to manage customer demands on their own, teams collaborate seamlessly on personalized, memorable customer interactions.

Making the shift from siloed operations to unified data requires a strong game plan, but the payoff is worth the effort: a unified CX strategy leads to happier customers and higher retention.

The problem: Disconnected data creates disconnected experiences

Many companies rely on SaaS-heavy infrastructure for their operations. This spreads valuable customer data across multiple platforms with no single source of truth: teams often have to dig through CRMs, marketing automation platforms, customer service tools, and even old-school spreadsheets to find the information they need.

Ninety percent of companies face challenges as a result of siloed data. Without accessible, accurate data, organizations struggle to respond to customers on time and provide quality service. And sales and marketing professionals miss out on growth opportunities.

Efficiency also takes a hit when your data is spread across multiple platforms. Instead of spending time on valuable strategic work, employees are stuck doing manual data entry. Conflicted, outdated records create confusion for teams.

Over time, these roadblocks can lead to frustrated customers and increased churn rates. Today's customers can often tell when things are disconnected behind the scenes, as customer support requests slip through the cracks, and they receive conflicting messages from different contacts.

Considering that 46% of consumers will leave a brand after just two negative experiences, and 24% after just one, not addressing these customer experience issues could lead to real revenue losses.

Why unified data is the foundation of great customer experiences

A unified data model lays the foundation for positive customer experiences, and it makes day-to-day workflows easier for your team. In a unified data model, all your customer information is stored in one place and updated in real time. This data is also accessible across departments, so teams across marketing, sales, customer support, and IT can use it without jumping through hoops.

With access to a unified customer data platform, your entire team can take a predictive approach to the customer experience. For example:

• Marketing teams can use insights from sales and customer service teams to create tailored campaigns that address real-life pain points. 
• Sales teams can use data from recent marketing campaigns to personalize their messaging when communicating with leads.

This data integration also makes handoffs a breeze as customers move through the sales cycle. The entire organization can view each customer's preferences, engagement data, purchase history, and service requests. Everyone has the information they need to provide high-quality service.

Move from insights to action

A unified data system helps your organization track key metrics, but that's only the beginning. These customer insights actually boost productivity and efficiency.

Accurate, real-time customer data helps your AI-powered tools do more without manual input. An AI agent might notice trends in your customer communications that could inform future marketing initiatives or product improvements.

With unified real-time data, you can anticipate customer needs before they become support requests. By resolving problems quickly, you improve customer loyalty and engagement, boosting your reputation and satisfaction scores.

How unified customer data improves CX

When your team uses unified data, loyal customers know exactly what to expect when they interact with your brand. They'll get quick responses and consistent service that addresses their needs. Over time, this leads to meaningful customer relationships where everyone feels heard, valued, and understood.

Here's why unified data is so effective for improving the customer experience:

Personalization at scale

Connecting AI tools to your unified data sources helps you scale personalized outreach with minimal effort. With access to unified customer profiles, teams can tailor every interaction to each customer's behavior, needs, and expectations. 

For example: 

• Marketing and sales teams can send personalized offers.
• Customer service teams can provide timely follow-ups based on customer preferences. 

Personalized communication shows customers that you value their business and want to go above and beyond to meet their unique needs. Tailored touches like personalized discount offers can take your marketing strategy from generic to memorable. And brands that excel at personalization are 71% more likely to report improved customer loyalty, so there are tangible benefits (for you and your customer) when you personalize content.

Frictionless handoffs between teams

Without a unified customer experience strategy, internal handoffs can feel like customers and employees are starting over. With shared data, everyone has the context they need for seamless customer relationships.

Let's say your marketing and sales teams are collaborating on an account-based selling campaign focused on established tech companies. Your marketing team has spent months building targeted email and social media campaigns and tracking engagement levels for specific decision-makers. A key decision-maker has finally reached out, and it's time to hand them off to the sales team.

• Without unified data, the sales team lacks information about the lead's previous engagement levels. They need to spend time learning about the lead's pain points and the type of messaging they've been responding to.
• With a unified data system, the sales team has key engagement data points. They can develop a personalized sales strategy before each meeting. When the sales team closes the deal, they can hand it off to the customer service team for a frictionless onboarding experience.

Proactive, predictive engagement

A unified data platform gives your team a holistic view of customer behavior. Instead of struggling to keep up with changing customer needs, teams can take proactive steps for better business outcomes.

Customer service teams can monitor data to identify churn risk and take steps to keep those at risk on board. Behavioral data also helps teams identify upsell opportunities. For example, a software company might notice that a client is consistently reaching the limits of the base plan and could upsell them on a tailored premium package that better fits their needs.

Overcoming the barriers to data unification

Many teams know they need to break down data silos to meet customer expectations. The challenge: unifying your data without disrupting your operations.

As the need for unified data has increased, so has the development of customer-centric tools specifically designed for data unification, like Tenon. With these solutions, it's easy to set up accessible, real-time data sources for your entire organization.

The challenge of legacy systems

If you've been using legacy platforms, you know how difficult it is to integrate with new solutions. Many legacy systems require third-party APIs or creative IT solutions to integrate with other data sources.

While the data in legacy systems is invaluable, you often don't have good integration alternatives. When this happens, you need data unification solutions with native integration options.

Take ServiceNow: this business operations platform is integral to many sales, IT, and HR teams. However, it doesn't offer features for marketing teams. Tenon is a marketing solution built on ServiceNow, so teams can build campaigns and track customer journeys with the data already available.

Data governance and quality concerns

Even when your internal systems and apps are connected, you can still encounter conflicting, duplicate, or incomplete data sets, which can cause confusion and negatively impact the customer experience.

To prevent this, your organization needs a centralized data governance strategy. This includes: 

• Detailed data management policies for everyone involved
• Technology to automate repetitive tasks like data cleaning and classification
• Data hygiene audits to correct errors and remove outdated records

Overcoming complexity with simplified architecture

Unifying your customer data doesn't have to require complex infrastructure or ongoing updates. 

For example, ServiceNow uses a single data model, and Tenon is built on that data infrastructure. Teams get access to the same real-time data across their systems without having to manually sync them. 

When the data architecture is simple, teams focus on customer satisfaction and relationship-building.

How Tenon simplifies data unification

Tenon is built on ServiceNow's secure, reliable data foundation, bringing your marketing, sales, and customer service teams into one convenient workflow. With Tenon, your teams get a real-time, organization-wide view of every customer interaction, so you never miss an important insight.

• ServiceNow's established single data model eliminates the need for complex IT workarounds.
• Tenon's marketing features help you build successful email and SMS campaigns with existing data. 

ServiceNow and Tenon are scalable, so they'll grow with your organization over time.

With all your data in convenient, accessible dashboards, both internal and external communication happens naturally, and your customers have a responsive, consistent experience.

One platform to connect every team

Combining marketing, sales, and customer service teams on one platform helps your organization save time and money. Tenon is a simple but effective solution that makes collaboration seamless. Instead of navigating back and forth between multiple systems or waiting on manual responses, your teams can find the data they need natively in Tenon.

When your entire team has access to customer data, everyone wins. Your customers get a more personalized, responsive experience throughout the sales cycle, while your organization achieves strong ROI and greater customer engagement.

Steps to improve the customer journey through unified data

Ready to bring your data together and enhance the customer experience? Here's how to get started:

• Audit current data systems: Start by reviewing your current infrastructure and operations. Identify places where silos slow you down and where data overlaps—this will be your starting point for data unification.
• Define the ideal customer journey: Think about your organization from the customer's viewpoint. How do you want them to interact with your brand, and what do you need to make this experience happen? Chances are, integrating marketing, sales, and customer service will support your ideal customer journey.
• Select a platform designed for connection: Evaluate your options and choose a CX platform to bring your data together. Look for solutions like Tenon that prioritize simplicity over complex customization.

Support unified CX with Tenon

When your marketing, sales, and customer service teams work from the same data sources, the customer experience improves. Consistent messaging and responsive customer service are key to success in a competitive market, and unified data sources make these goals achievable.

Tenon is built on ServiceNow to connect your customer data to your marketing strategy. With so much data at their fingertips, your team can proactively create memorable customer experiences that set your brand apart.

Book a demo with Tenon to see unified customer data in action.

Frequently asked questions

What's the best way to measure the impact of unified data on customer experience?

Start by tracking changes in response time, customer satisfaction (CSAT), churn risk indicators, and pipeline velocity. Over time, unified data should reduce manual effort and create clearer attribution across sales and marketing touchpoints.

How does unified data support AI and automation initiatives?

AI is only as effective as the data it's trained on—unified, real-time inputs give automation tools the context they need to make accurate predictions and recommendations. This improves everything, from routing service tickets to tailoring marketing journeys.

What challenges should teams expect when transitioning to a unified data model?

Common hurdles include migrating legacy systems, aligning teams around shared definitions, and cleaning up outdated records. With the right governance strategy and platform support, these challenges become manageable and lead to long-term efficiency gains.

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