Newsletter - August 2008

Business Intelligence in a Cold Climate
By Richard Wild, Head of Project Management

The finance world is under pressure from many directions. In particular, regulatory pressure in the form of the Treating Customers Fairly initiative that converges with the commercial pressure of challenging market conditions. There is an increased requirement for marketing organisations not only to deliver good value, but also to demonstrate that value. We have to deliver measurable revenue for our marketing spend. At the same time, it’s harder to acquire new customers.

If we can work out what makes a customer become a customer, then identify a target audience with similar characteristics, we can expect improved conversion rates. If we treat our customers as prospects, we already know a lot about them – so we can reduce the cost of acquiring lists.

The good news is that most organisations have loads of data on all their customers, and often on prospective customers. The bad news is that the data is squirreled away in different systems that don’t talk to each other.

This is where a business intelligence solution is so valuable. A good business intelligence solution should enable people on the frontline of business to find information they need, when they need it – and then share the information to collaborate effectively. It should allow people who are not IT specialists to derive quickly reliable answers to unexpected questions. It should be able to use data from disparate sources, presenting a single view of everything. It should be versatile but not confusing, powerful but accessible. Very importantly it should be quick to implement and easy to change, while maintaining traceability and compliance.

This may sound a bit of a tall order. But with a focus on business benefit and the right choice of software, all these things are achievable.

I have recently joined Matrix-Data Solutions after twenty years involvement in cross-system reporting and business intelligence. Matrix Data is well known as the expert in market intelligence and data management. I believe we can offer all the above. If you feel your customer and prospect data could do more for you, please get in touch: info@matrix-data.co.uk.