Telecom/Broadband Company --
Online
marketing expenditures for broadband services had been showing no relationship
with reported sales by marketing effort. Summaries
of data entering and exiting each data system involved in online ordering and
reporting were compared. Marketing
source codes information buried in web page code were verified.
Problems were exposed and differences explained.
Concise reports of problems were presented and necessary corrections were
made. Accuracy in the sales and
reporting processes was achieved. This
allowed for more efficient spending of marketing dollars going forward.
Internet Service Provider -- Prospective
customers of an ISP were requesting software from customer services reps to get
their Internet service up and running.
Some prospects received no software and many more received multiple
copies. The data systems involved
were of vastly different ages and architectures.
No one employee had a clear understanding of all the systems involved.
A detailed flow chart of all systems involved was developed, along with a
detailed description. Daily data
flows were tracked from beginning to end. Specific
problems were tracked down to the errant processes and corrected.
Financial
Forecasting And Analysis
Telecom
Company -- A
Regional Bell Operating Company was entering the long distance market.
It needed to understand what it its financials to look like, especially
considering rapidly changing industry pricing.
An income and profit and loss statement forecasts and related ad hoc
analysis that were used to set budgets, judge actual results, and weigh the
merits of expanding/contracting efforts through sales channels.
This was a bottom-up forecast that worked upwards from estimated minutes
of use and lines in service. Marketing
and sales channel decisions were then made based on forecasted profitability
impacts.
Life-time Value Of The Customer Assessment
Magazine Publisher -- The
client needed to know what the value of individual customers was coming in
through various sales channels. This
would answer the question, how much should we be willing to pay to acquire a new
customer in each sales channel? Working
with historical circulation and backend purchase data, a matrix was created to
describe the value of customers in each channel.
This was used to more efficiently allocate resources for subscriber
acquisition and renewal.
Marketing Database Development
Manufacturer, Printed Products -- The marketing department was not able to get
meaningful information from it’s IT department. With monthly data extracts, a marketing database was created.
The database was designed to track all sales activity at the customer
level. This was used to evaluate past marketing efforts, re-assign
customers to the most cost effective sales channels, and to select/suppress
customers for new and on-going marketing efforts. The database system was able to increase sales, cut costs,
and increase customer satisfaction.
HTML clipboardManufacturer, Printed Products -- While on the road, the client's sales force was not
up-to-date on their customers sales histories, or the company's current
inventory of products to sell. We created a sales force automation system which gave each
sales rep the last four years of their customers’ sales, by product and by
numerous levels of aggregation. This
system also gave each rep a daily update on product availability and facilitated
online ordering for each rep. Sales
reps now have all of this information at their fingertips, via their laptop
computer, when visiting customers. Sales
were boosted and customer satisfaction increased.
This custom solution was a fraction of the cost of comparable
off-the-shelf sales force automation products.
HTML clipboard
Healthcare Services Firm -- The
client had a large list of prospects and products to sell.
It needed a means to segment the prospects to the most appropriate
products.
An analytical system was created to segment the client’s base of 1900
prospects.
Each of ten product lines was given a rank ordering of the entire
prospect base.
This enabled the client to focus their sales force on only the most
qualified prospects for each software line.
Operational Tracking
Energy Services Company -- The rapidly growing marketing communications
department was having difficulty keeping track of the all of the activities in
its expanding list of projects. A
database was developed that the entire department could use.
This information tracked included project elements, timing, timing
changes, vendors, and financials. The database linked with enterprise systems to
report direct mail performance. The result s gave managers concise reporting and
a clear understanding of progress and marketing results in a fast-moving, often
chaotic growing business environment.
Telecom Company -- HTML clipboardAn
upstart local services company was having problems getting new service for
customers up and running.
It lacked a central tracking system to generate an alert when glitches
were occurring in the install/provisioning process.
A data system was built to track this.
Daily tracking reports were generated that alerted a trouble-shooting
team to specific problems with delivering specific lines.
The system caused on-time delivery of new service to sky-rocket.
Predictive/Segmentation Modeling
Software/Information Services Firm -- A
large consumer information service bureau needed a product to provide its
customers with more targeted consumer lists.
Predictive models were created to project and segment individual consumer
credit card spending and telecommunications usage with U.S. Census data and
proprietary demographic data. Cluster
code models were created to explain the differences in long distance telephone
service among large groups in the general population.
Analyses and descriptions were created for each model, which were used to
help sell the segmentation to the client’s customers.
Media Company -- The
client needed to define and understand the different consumer segments and their
value for each of its major product sales channels.
Cluster coding was done for each sales channel using 24 months of sales
data.
Mean sales volumes were calculated for each segment.
After the modeling phase, each segment’s past financial were used to redirect
promotions.
Mortgage Banking -- The
client needed to better understand minority demographics, attitudes and
behaviors at the county level across the United States; with a quick way of
querying to find the most interesting counties.
Databases were built with US Census, HUD, IRS, BLS, and internal data.
Fast querying tools were also provided that allowed selection of counties
by more than a dozen different parameters.
Regulatory Compliance Analysis
Telecom
Company -- The
legal arm of an upstart local telephone service needed to quickly identify
situations where the incumbent local exchange carrier was delaying access to its
facilities, in violation of the Telecom Act of 1996.
A reporting system was built that reported problems in order of
magnitude, pointing the legal staff to the greatest needs for a remedy.
