Manage customer data responsibly. Companies collecting large amounts of customer data from trading partners and Web sites must treat this data responsibly. For example, they must establish well thought out policies for ensuring customer privacy. Unless companies handle data responsibly, trading partners and customers will limit and restrict the data that they are willing to share. Recognize that customer data is highly sensitive and put appropriate safeguards in place to protect it.
Data can be sensitive either because of privacy concerns or because it is a competitive asset.
In either case, technical and business solutions are needed to safeguard the data. Develop appropriate incentives to keep your best people from leaving. Finding skilled and experienced data warehousing and CRM personnel is difficult. Keeping them is also challenging because they are likely to receive attractive offers from other companies. Companies need to establish creative and aggressive policies to encourage their best people to stay, including revising salary scales, offering bonuses for staying until the completion of the project, and commitments to provide them additional desired training.