Customer data should drive IT decisions

Michelle McKenna, the CIO at Universal Orlando Resorts, has some advice for her members of her profession--think like your customers and use your data to focus on your company's markets. 

"In today's contracting economy, it's more critical than ever for CIOs to study market trends and find ways to maximize business opportunities,'' McKenna said. Although her IT unit always has had valuable market-defining customer data, McKenna said she didn't always know how best to leverage it.

"Fortunately, I've been able to work closely with executive peers to implement business intelligence that triggers a more analytical, customer-centric approach to marketing and sales,'' McKenna said.

And her knowledge of her company's market, she said, has helped her "drill down into our data to understand what is really happening in our business.''

To read more on the CIO's role as marketer:
- see this CIO.com article

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