With the advent of computer databases, there is no longer a dearth of data in
any organisation. Every transaction, every process, every interaction can be
captured and fed into a computer in real-time or otherwise. However experience
shows that such data seldom yields any information that is useful when dealing
with customers. Such data if structured and organised carefully can yield
interesting insights into the preferences and profiles of your customers.
Such capabilities in your company’s database are crucial to the success of
concepts like Customer Relationship Management and Business Intelligence.
In-depth knowledge of your customer, his or her preferences can help your
marketing, sales and support personnel target their campaigns and pitches more
effectively and pointedly. Knowledge of your customers and their needs and the
ability to step in with offerings that meet those needs at the right time is
becoming a key differentiator in today’s highly competitive world of business.
Large organisations from industries like finance and telecom are vast
storehouses of data. As monopolies fall, competition revvs up and customers get
choosy, these companies need to get closer to their customers despite their
size. The answer lies in making use of the humongous amounts of data that come
in with every subscriber, every call made or every transaction. And key to
making use of this data lies in organising the data into structured data
warehouses. Here they can be easily and effectively accessed by various people
in an organisation as well as queried to answer specific questions.
British Telecom, UK’s leading provider of local and long distance services
and equipment realised early on the crucial role that a data warehouse can play
in helping it obtain and retain customers. The company partnered with Oracle the
leading database company in the world to help organise its data more effectively
so that various sales, marketing and support staff could access information
about customers, their history and profiles and more easily. Using a data
warehouse BT has created a vast storehouse of data that replaces its earlier
diverse databases that worked on varied platforms and technologies. The legacy
system had been falling short in giving a unified picture of the customer.
BT realised that effective Customer Relationship Management is a two way
process. All information coming in to the organisation through BT’s various
call centers go into the data warehouse to change, fine-tune and update
information related to its customers. In turn, information going out to the
customer in various forms — campaigns, direct mailers etc are tailored to meet
specific customer needs based on information mined from the warehouse.
The data warehouse is centrally located and available across the enterprise.
Such a data warehouse offers an integrated, total picture of the customer,
unlike the earlier dispersed databases that offered a more fragmented picture.
Secondly, such data is not restricted by department but available across the
company. At the same time it is more cost-effective for BT to maintain the data
warehouse centrally based on Oracle technology rather than scattered databases
running on different technologies.
Mind you the amount of data one is talking about is no joke — it does not
measure up in megabytes or even gigabytes but runs into a couple of terabytes!
An organisation like BT cannot afford to treat such vast amounts of data
callously — they are veritable treasure chests. BT has an ongoing relationship
with Oracle which helps it leverage on newer technologies while simultaneously
coping with the increasing amounts of data that keeps flowing in by planning for
the future.
Meanwhile this constantly evolving datawarehouse provides comprehensive
information on customer behavior that helps shape marketing campaigns at BT. At
the same time customer facing employees at call centers and help desks are armed
with customer information that helps them understand and serve each customer
better. No mean task for an organisation like British Telecommunications that
totes up an annual turnover in excess of 21,900 million pounds and serves over
28 million exchange lines.
Telecom companies across the world are facing the pinch of deregulation and
privatisation. As monopolies break down these typically large monolithic
companies would do well to make sure they are not weighed down by their size. To
be able to take on the smaller and more adroit competition they would need to
adopt technologies like data warehousing to understand and serve their customers
better. Technology can help knock down the hurdles imposed by size and put them
on par with the new entrants.
BOX — Some facts about BT’s services
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BT's PhoneNet service - the online directory - handles over one million
enquiries per week
BT carries more data traffic than voice over its UK network
On average, about 94 million UK local and national calls are made every day
BT and its joint ventures have more than 46 million customers outside the UK
In the UK, BT operates 28.5 million customer lines - 20m residential and 8.5m
business
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