Companies take efforts to develop all-encompassing voice of the customer (VOC) programs. The success of these programs is dependent on the quality and variety of data gathered from customers. Increasingly, companies are gathering customer feedback from structured as well as unstructured data. For companies establishing a VOC program, unstructured data seems overwhelming. Because of this, companies may avoid analyzing it. Capturing and analyzing unstructured data can be daunting to VOC program managers. Automation is an important step in successfully optimizing the value of unstructured data in a VOC program. Unstructured data creates excellent insight into the underlying drivers of loyalty, and it's vital that organizations make use of their available information. The companies that listen in the right places, using unstructured data to destroy structured, solicited feedback, and taking action accordingly, will have a huge advantage over their competitors. Unlocking the capacity of unstructured data is manageable if taken one step at a time, and the results will be well worth the effort. Read more at: