• by D. Daniel Ziv , March 15, 2011

As humans, we have the unparalleled ability to make decisions based on a tremendous amount of unstructured data that we naturally collect, filter and process. Almost every decision we make is influenced by a full spectrum of images, sounds, words, scents, textures and tastes. In the best-selling book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, author Malcolm Gladwell makes the case that many of these "instant" decisions are quite good -- and sometimes even optimal. We've all made decisions based on a gut feeling. However, what many don't realize is that these gut-feeling verdicts are actually based on a complex analytical process. This means that we not only take in immediate sensory input, but also account for a tremendous amount of unstructured data that has been previously filtered and processed within our brains.

The Decision-Making Paradox in Organizations

Now, let's turn the table and look at how a business is organized. In contrast to the human brain, companies base many decisions on a collection of structured data. If our brains are such phenomenal unstructured data processing machines, why then are so many important organizational decisions based mostly on structured data? The spoken word plays a key role in one-to-one interactions, yet so many organizations today fail to leverage the same data where thousands or even millions of conversations and interactions are concerned. In business, this information is critical to improving the customer experience, indentifying emerging trends, creating new products and services, and much more.

Adding to this inconsistency further, most of us have difficulty processing and/or even remembering structured data. For instance, ask yourself how many phone numbers you can rattle off. If you're like most, fewer than a dozen numbers will probably come to mind. Flip the coin, and think about the actual faces of people you can recognize, favorite songs or even movies, and hundreds -- if not thousands -- may surface. Digitally speaking, a phone number contains much less information than an image, song or movie.

I believe the reason for this paradox is mostly due to the evolution of the digital age. Computers were originally developed to help address our weakness in handling structured data by crunching numbers faster and more accurately. These systems were not originally built to handle unstructured information such as text, sounds and images. As a result, most data warehouses, business intelligence, CRM and reporting frameworks were fed only with structured information. Today, it's estimated that more than 80% of a corporation's data is unstructured in the form of text, voice and video. However, most still lack the tools -- and the will -- to leverage this rich source of insight even when their most important decisions are at stake.

Think Outside of the Box

As marketing professionals, we typically collect feedback from customers by conducting closed surveys with numerical rankings on a set of predefined questions. This information is easy to quantify, analyze and report on with the bar or pie charts that executives love. Unfortunately, they don't always tell the complete story or reflect the true voice of the customer, which often leads to misguided or incomplete perceptions of the market and especially of what drives customer behavior.

We have the social media revolution to thank for finally making a change in this area. These added online resources have shown how the unstructured "voice of the customer" can make or break products, brands, companies and even governments. Every email, phone call and video clip can virally influence thousands, even millions, of people. It's no longer a viable option to disregard the unstructured voice of the customer. This is evident in my last article, with examples of how leading brands are now leveraging unstructured sources of free-form surveys, emails, voice calls and social media, and applying the information to their decision-making processes.

Technology is catching up to the brain's ability to collect, filter and mine large volumes of unstructured data, and as a result, much of the groundwork can be done faster and on a larger scale today. The human element is still needed in many cases to make the final judgment, but the main challenge is changing the way organizations "think" and make those decisions. Companies must begin to leverage the full spectrum of rich data sources that surround them both internally and externally, structured and unstructured. Only then will we be enabled to make smart "blink-like" decisions on both the personal and organizational level.