Category Archives: Customers
Proactive Customer Service for Transportation Operators
As a long-time practitioner of Complex Event Processing (referred to as “CEP”) technologies, I see the world in a different way – seemingly difficult problems can easily be solved by this technology. Whenever I hear of a business problem needing timely responses to critical events, I think “CEP!” Whenever a customer asks how they can get their business users more involved in operational decisions and influence outcomes, I say “CEP!” And whenever I read an article where the author asserts that companies need to modernize to be more proactive and customer-centric, I think “I need to call that guy and tell him about ‘CEP!’”
Here’s one case: (more…)
Coping With The Data Deluge
UK banks and financial regulatory bodies are currently being flooded with customer complaints about Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) and struggling to cope with the data deluge. The Telegraph recently reported on how complaints around mis-sold payment protection insurance are pouring in to the Financial Ombudsman Service at a phenomenal rate of more than 800 day, creating an enormous data backlog.
With the final bill for PPI expected to top £8billion, banks are scrambling to increase the number of employees dedicated to claims and ramp up their IT systems. It is likely that some banks are now looking to sign outsourcing contracts, but there is uncertainty around this as the mis-selling of PPI is hugely complicated. (more…)
Know Thy Customer
There has been much discussion, particularly in the UK, about banks restricting the use of their investment and retail arms. The thinking process behind this is that investment banking is much riskier and so by drawing a clear line between the two, consumers will be better protected if another financial crisis should hit. (more…)
Cloud Integration For The Insurance Industry
Today Informatica announced that, “an increasing number of insurance companies rely on Informatica to address their unique challenges of integrating disparate data from a multitude of channels including adjusters, brokers, service providers, underwriters and other related parties.” I thought that two points were worth highlighting here:
- The wide adoption of cloud-based CRM in the insurance industry. Just look at some of the customers highlighted by salesforce.com on their website.
- The wide adoption of cloud-based data integration in this industry. (more…)
Less Is More – Why Data Quality Means Less Work For Marketing
The common mantra recently in IT has been the need to ‘do more with less’ and it is very true when it comes to lowering IT budgets and resources to support even more priorities. However in the world of reaching out to your customers ‘less is more’ may be more apt. Personally speaking, I get too many emails that are irrelevant to my work focus or personal interests. I know that if they were more relevant to me it is far more likely that I would take more interest in mails from that source in the future. The days of sending out emails to the full customer database are over. The tools are there to provide far more relevant information to enable more intelligent, timely campaigns. (more…)
Data Quality Helps Find Missing Revenue
The establishment and maintenance of accurate customer data is the key to all revenue-generating events that a company has. A single key question is at the heart of this: Do you understand your customers? And good quality data is at the heart of the answer to the question.
As an extension every organization must know who its customers are, what do they want? What did they buy? This question appears straightforward, but it’s not uncommon for every department within a company – finance, sales, marketing, or customer service – to have a different answer because each has their own version of the customer data. (more…)
Getting Ready For Dreamforce 2011
While most people are busy planning vacation time in August, salesforce.com customers and partners, as well as general cloud computing enthusiasts, are gearing up for Dreamforce 2011 in San Francisco later this month. According to the website, “There’s a post- PC revolution underway, and your customers have moved to a world that’s entirely social, mobile and open. Has your company?” (more…)
Informatica Marketplace’s First Birthday
On Monday, 1st August we are celebrating the Informatica Marketplace’s Fist Birthday.
View the webcast to find out how it has become the trusted destination for data integration solutions. The webcast will give you the opportunity to:
- Hear and watch Informatica leaders discuss the value of the Marketplace for data integration professionals.
- Hear a Customer share their story on how the Marketplace has helped them be more productive.
- Listen to a Partner’s experience of how their presence on the Marketplace has impacted their business.
- See highlights of the re-designed website as the Marketplace scales to meet customer demand. (more…)
Building A Business Case For Data Quality: Analyze Data And Identify Anomalies
Building A Business Case For Data Quality, 4 of a 7-part series
Now comes the fun part, inspecting the data. For this step, automated data profiling will help you identify actual problems with the data as they relate to business client expectations. Here are just a few possible issues:
- Are the phone numbers empty?
- Are the admission dates missing in inpatient hospital claims?
- Are there car loans with durations greater than 10 years?
- Do shipping records lack corresponding billing records?
- Do product descriptions differ only slightly?
- Are you delivering products to many different customers with the same address?
- What business rules are being violated? (more…)
My Dry Cleaner Rocked My World: A Loyalty Lesson For Big Companies
Shocked! I was simply blown away the other day by the most unlikely of companies – our dry cleaners.
Here’s what happened:
I went in on Saturday to pick up my dry cleaning. This establishment is owned and operated by a family. I was greeted by the mother/owner who asked how my wife was doing. I told her it was the day of her baby shower so I was staying away and running errands. She asked me to hold on for a minute and disappeared only to return with a bag in hand and said it was a gift for my wife.
My Dry Cleaner Really Loves Me!
She told me that last time my wife was in, she noticed that she was pregnant and looked up our last name on several registries, found an entry and bought something off it. (more…)
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