We now return to the Yantra/CellStar case study presented earlier, to emphasize
how these firms found real improvement through advanced supply chain management
network-type efforts. One of the most important factors in the effort
to improve the delivery system for the intended wireless customers was the
ability to handle reverse logistics. CellStar had determined that this factor was
the Achilles� heel in the wireless industry. Traditional reverse solutions, for
example, could not address the need to:
Maximize value of the returned handsets
Track handsets across the enterprise, including the repair process
Evaluate individual handset attributes (software, warranty, etc.)
Reconcile issues with multiple vendors and distributors
Manage multiple repair vendors
Assess product disposition at the unit level
Before developing its Omnigistics solution with Yantra, CellStar had little
chance of providing answers to these problems. Its returns management system
had no process-wide status. Reporting lacked a common format and was not
capable of handling details at a unit level. There was no ability to track unit
status (disposition decisions were made at the pallet level) and no mechanism
to track or manage warranty claims. In short, it was operating with a slow,
costly, and inflexible return-handling system.
With the help of its business ally, CellStar introduced Omnigistics and
brought a new and better dimension to reverse logistics services. In addition to
the software development cost, a multimillion-dollar investment was made in
business process reengineering the existing processes. With the help of Yantra
as the provider of the new and complex supply chain management system and
CSC as the systems integrator, CellStar also established a 230,000-square-feet
dedicated facility with specially trained forward and reverse logistics teams.
This facility became a certified repair center, with a dedicated account management
team.
Facing the issue of reverse logistics, the team adopted level 5 principles and
developed a new strategy and solution based on:
Collaboration � To integrate the customer�s business system, key
business partners, and CellStar�s logistics operations in order to provide
help from a seamless entity
Visibility � To provide electronic access into the processing at both
the enterprise and unit level
Speed � To compress event cycles
The solution delivered a single, seamless management system that streamlined
operations across the end-to-end reverse logistics process. Now the reverse
management system was centralized and could process at the unit level. Reporting
was on demand at the enterprise and unit level. Inventory management
decreased the amount of nonearning assets and maximized the high turnover
stock, while reducing or eliminating the slowest moving items. Asset reclamation
options were included in that part of the system. Multiple repair centers
were linked so they could monitor status at the unit level. Finally, multiple
warranty programs were in place to manage and track claims.
To illustrate the advantages, a major national retailer became an early customer
of the enhanced system. This retailer�s handsets were returned at the store
level and replaced with new units from store inventory. The returned handsets
were sent to the retailer�s centralized return center and then to a carrier for
disposition. The issues were symptomatic of the industry at the time. The
process was marked by escalating costs and loss of profitability. The value of
the returned handsets to the carrier was not known, and returns were difficult
and costly to handle at the store level.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
IMPROVEMENT STARTS IN A COMPLICATED ENVIRONMENT
Any discussion on the possibilities of achieving total enterprise optimization
begins with an understanding of just how complex an extended enterprise supply
chain has become. While the original supply chain efforts were directed toward
achieving optimum operating conditions across a linear set of tightly linked,
internal process steps, from beginning raw materials to final delivery of products
and services,Any analysis that is limited to internal processing
is doomed to operate with suboptimized conditions. There are simply too many
players in a typical business network, most of which are global in extent. The
end-to-end processing that has come under scrutiny for improvement now includes
a multitude of business partners. Concurrently, the necessary flow of
information and knowledge within a business network has become as important
as the physical flow of goods and the transfer of money across what is clearly
an extended enterprise. Supply chain optimization now requires the collaboration
of a host of business partners working in concert for the same end results.
It becomes imperative in such an environment that the firm seeking optimized
conditions make a passage from an internal-only perspective, in terms
of generating process improvement, to one where willing and trusted business
allies are made a part of the process improvement effort, with the end result
focused on customer satisfaction. To accomplish this objective, the leading
firms are merging their advanced supply chain management concepts with their
customer relationship management efforts, yielding a framework and roadmap
for progressing through a series of levels until the highest possible return on
the effort, in terms of value for the customer and benefits for the providing firm
and its allies, is attained. Along the way, a concurrent effort must be made to
balance supply chain progress with the firm�s customer relationship management
capabilities and synchronize the results of the two efforts. In the next
chapter, we will delve into these necessities, as we explain how firms partnering
in level 5 can take advantage of their intelligence sharing and outdistance
competitors in the creation of new revenues.
begins with an understanding of just how complex an extended enterprise supply
chain has become. While the original supply chain efforts were directed toward
achieving optimum operating conditions across a linear set of tightly linked,
internal process steps, from beginning raw materials to final delivery of products
and services,Any analysis that is limited to internal processing
is doomed to operate with suboptimized conditions. There are simply too many
players in a typical business network, most of which are global in extent. The
end-to-end processing that has come under scrutiny for improvement now includes
a multitude of business partners. Concurrently, the necessary flow of
information and knowledge within a business network has become as important
as the physical flow of goods and the transfer of money across what is clearly
an extended enterprise. Supply chain optimization now requires the collaboration
of a host of business partners working in concert for the same end results.
It becomes imperative in such an environment that the firm seeking optimized
conditions make a passage from an internal-only perspective, in terms
of generating process improvement, to one where willing and trusted business
allies are made a part of the process improvement effort, with the end result
focused on customer satisfaction. To accomplish this objective, the leading
firms are merging their advanced supply chain management concepts with their
customer relationship management efforts, yielding a framework and roadmap
for progressing through a series of levels until the highest possible return on
the effort, in terms of value for the customer and benefits for the providing firm
and its allies, is attained. Along the way, a concurrent effort must be made to
balance supply chain progress with the firm�s customer relationship management
capabilities and synchronize the results of the two efforts. In the next
chapter, we will delve into these necessities, as we explain how firms partnering
in level 5 can take advantage of their intelligence sharing and outdistance
competitors in the creation of new revenues.
HIGHER GROUND CAN BE GAINED:
A recent survey by CSC, in conjunction with Supply Chain Management Review
magazine (Quinn, 2004), clearly documented that savings and improvements
are real for serious supply chain efforts, often reaching three to eight points of
new profits. This study, as well as ones conducted by AMR Research and other
major consultancies, also shows that the important savings (particularly those
related to revenue increase) are eluding most firms, which are still bogged down
in the early levels of the maturity and SCOR� models and not inclined to work
with external business partners.
We see an enormous possibility in such a context. The opportunity to use
supply chain as a driving force behind further performance enhancement, and
to move a firm into a position where the distinguishing feature is being solidly
linked in an intelligent value network, has become the means to reap the greatest
return from an end-to-end supply chain improvement effort. Internal obstacles
and cultural conflicts tend to be the greatest inhibitors to achieving such aposition,
the most important of which are good data management and overcoming
process difficulties.
Distancing an individual business from its competitors in areas of importance
in a market has long been the goal of most enterprises. The chance to
extend market leadership, however, and to gain a dominant position through the
application of collaboration and technology focused on customer satisfaction,
the key ingredients of the intelligent value network, is not so well known and
has never been greater � for those businesses willing to overcome normal
cultural barriers and the traditional unwillingness to work cooperatively with
external resources to cope with process problems.
This opportunity is achieved by linking together four topics of importance
to today�s businesses: supply chain management, customer relationship management,
technology application, and customer intelligence. The last topic is our
terminology for the acquisition, management, and integration of customer
knowledge in order to create a differentiating customer value proposition for
the whole extended enterprise. By looking holistically at these usually disparate
topics, companies can develop integrated strategies and solutions for delivering
products and services to key customers better than any competitors. When the
effort is extended through business process management techniques to include
willing and trusted business allies working across an extended enterprise for the
same purposes, the advantages are unmatched.
magazine (Quinn, 2004), clearly documented that savings and improvements
are real for serious supply chain efforts, often reaching three to eight points of
new profits. This study, as well as ones conducted by AMR Research and other
major consultancies, also shows that the important savings (particularly those
related to revenue increase) are eluding most firms, which are still bogged down
in the early levels of the maturity and SCOR� models and not inclined to work
with external business partners.
We see an enormous possibility in such a context. The opportunity to use
supply chain as a driving force behind further performance enhancement, and
to move a firm into a position where the distinguishing feature is being solidly
linked in an intelligent value network, has become the means to reap the greatest
return from an end-to-end supply chain improvement effort. Internal obstacles
and cultural conflicts tend to be the greatest inhibitors to achieving such aposition,
the most important of which are good data management and overcoming
process difficulties.
Distancing an individual business from its competitors in areas of importance
in a market has long been the goal of most enterprises. The chance to
extend market leadership, however, and to gain a dominant position through the
application of collaboration and technology focused on customer satisfaction,
the key ingredients of the intelligent value network, is not so well known and
has never been greater � for those businesses willing to overcome normal
cultural barriers and the traditional unwillingness to work cooperatively with
external resources to cope with process problems.
This opportunity is achieved by linking together four topics of importance
to today�s businesses: supply chain management, customer relationship management,
technology application, and customer intelligence. The last topic is our
terminology for the acquisition, management, and integration of customer
knowledge in order to create a differentiating customer value proposition for
the whole extended enterprise. By looking holistically at these usually disparate
topics, companies can develop integrated strategies and solutions for delivering
products and services to key customers better than any competitors. When the
effort is extended through business process management techniques to include
willing and trusted business allies working across an extended enterprise for the
same purposes, the advantages are unmatched.
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT: A CONTEMPORARY VIEW
There is a high degree of complexity associated
with these efforts and a naturally high cost of integration across an
organization and its end-to-end network. As a result, current views of the potential
values are tempered by a need to bring focus to immediate process improvement
and bottom line returns. Nevertheless, when executed as part of a deployment
of strategies, with enhanced processes and enabling technology applications that
are used to acquire, develop, and retain an organization�s best customers, CRM
becomes a powerful tool for increasing revenue and profit.
In essence, a contemporary CRM operating model will serve to improve the
characteristics and performance of a customer-intimate organization. The inherent
characteristics for customer-intimate organizations will include:
Creation of the best business solutions for the key customers
Introduction of customized products and services to meet these customers�
unique needs
Presentation of a unique range of superior services, so customers can
get the most value from the products delivered
Establishment of the most flexible and responsive system of supply and
delivery possible with current technology
The operating model benchmarks will include:
Management systems geared toward creating superior results for carefully
selected strategic customers
A culture that embraces specific rather than general customer solutions
and thrives on deep and lasting relationships
Deep customer knowledge and breakthrough insights about the customer�s
underlying processes
Decision making delegated to employees close to the customer (Treacy
and Wiersema, 1995)
Reaching these conditions requires a lot of concerted effort and nurturing
a cultural imperative that is often hard for firms accustomed to working within
an internal-only focus. CRM has its roots in the idea that as a firm�s supply
chain moves toward maturity, it becomes more effective at both internal and
external processing; that is, it improves its ability to process within its four
walls, and then extends its learning, with the help of useful business allies, to
constructing a network of delivery that has superior features from the viewpoint
of the most important customers and consumers. Such an accomplishment meansWithin
the intelligent value chain, business allies are working together from
a right-to-left perspective. They begin with what it takes to have a competitively
advantaged value network in the eyes of the most important end customers or
consumers, and then they work backwards toward what the upstream side of
the value chain should be doing across the enterprise processes to achieve the
desired superior conditions. Together, the linked parties are working to find the
best solutions and practices for all of the key process steps. Beginning with
improved forecasting and moving through the necessary linked processes, the
network partners apply their best resources to find greater results with product
development and introduction, the ultimate distribution efficiency, the best
methods for product replenishment, jointly developed marketing strategies, and
the best possible order fulfillment system. Along the way, they work
collaboratively to find the best enterprise processes and become extremely
effective at any point of handoff between supply chain constituents. In short,
they are working in concert to develop business in a manner that greatly satisfies
the key customers and enhances profitability for all of the contributing allies.
Two requirements must be met as this intelligent value chain is constructed
and nurtured. First, each participant or major constituent of what becomes the
network of delivery must have attained a high level of capability in the supply
chain maturity model (level 3 or beyond), an important element of which will
be the ability to use BPM and its enabling business language, BPML, to enter
and access parts of disparate databases so valuable knowledge can be extracted
without compromising the security of the various systems. Second, the enabling
technology applications must be selected collaboratively and be functioning
successfully across the end-to-end network processing. That means the collaborating
business allies are working in concert, with each making valuable contributions
toward finding the enhanced state in which ASCM and CRM converge
to create the desired differentiation in the eyes of the most coveted
customers. They are doing this with the help of enabling BPM technology and
superior systems across the end-to-end processing linking them into an intelligent
value network.
with these efforts and a naturally high cost of integration across an
organization and its end-to-end network. As a result, current views of the potential
values are tempered by a need to bring focus to immediate process improvement
and bottom line returns. Nevertheless, when executed as part of a deployment
of strategies, with enhanced processes and enabling technology applications that
are used to acquire, develop, and retain an organization�s best customers, CRM
becomes a powerful tool for increasing revenue and profit.
In essence, a contemporary CRM operating model will serve to improve the
characteristics and performance of a customer-intimate organization. The inherent
characteristics for customer-intimate organizations will include:
Creation of the best business solutions for the key customers
Introduction of customized products and services to meet these customers�
unique needs
Presentation of a unique range of superior services, so customers can
get the most value from the products delivered
Establishment of the most flexible and responsive system of supply and
delivery possible with current technology
The operating model benchmarks will include:
Management systems geared toward creating superior results for carefully
selected strategic customers
A culture that embraces specific rather than general customer solutions
and thrives on deep and lasting relationships
Deep customer knowledge and breakthrough insights about the customer�s
underlying processes
Decision making delegated to employees close to the customer (Treacy
and Wiersema, 1995)
Reaching these conditions requires a lot of concerted effort and nurturing
a cultural imperative that is often hard for firms accustomed to working within
an internal-only focus. CRM has its roots in the idea that as a firm�s supply
chain moves toward maturity, it becomes more effective at both internal and
external processing; that is, it improves its ability to process within its four
walls, and then extends its learning, with the help of useful business allies, to
constructing a network of delivery that has superior features from the viewpoint
of the most important customers and consumers. Such an accomplishment meansWithin
the intelligent value chain, business allies are working together from
a right-to-left perspective. They begin with what it takes to have a competitively
advantaged value network in the eyes of the most important end customers or
consumers, and then they work backwards toward what the upstream side of
the value chain should be doing across the enterprise processes to achieve the
desired superior conditions. Together, the linked parties are working to find the
best solutions and practices for all of the key process steps. Beginning with
improved forecasting and moving through the necessary linked processes, the
network partners apply their best resources to find greater results with product
development and introduction, the ultimate distribution efficiency, the best
methods for product replenishment, jointly developed marketing strategies, and
the best possible order fulfillment system. Along the way, they work
collaboratively to find the best enterprise processes and become extremely
effective at any point of handoff between supply chain constituents. In short,
they are working in concert to develop business in a manner that greatly satisfies
the key customers and enhances profitability for all of the contributing allies.
Two requirements must be met as this intelligent value chain is constructed
and nurtured. First, each participant or major constituent of what becomes the
network of delivery must have attained a high level of capability in the supply
chain maturity model (level 3 or beyond), an important element of which will
be the ability to use BPM and its enabling business language, BPML, to enter
and access parts of disparate databases so valuable knowledge can be extracted
without compromising the security of the various systems. Second, the enabling
technology applications must be selected collaboratively and be functioning
successfully across the end-to-end network processing. That means the collaborating
business allies are working in concert, with each making valuable contributions
toward finding the enhanced state in which ASCM and CRM converge
to create the desired differentiation in the eyes of the most coveted
customers. They are doing this with the help of enabling BPM technology and
superior systems across the end-to-end processing linking them into an intelligent
value network.
CREATING THE INTELLIGENT VALUE NETWORK:
To reap the most benefit from level 5 efforts, the linked businesses should apply
their efforts toward specific customers and consumer groups, such that the
perception these groups have of the network is one of superior capabilities and
the one that renders the greatest satisfaction � or, more importantly, the greatest
overall value. Attaining such a condition requires the features of supply
chain maturity to be matched with a �customer intelligence progression.� That
is, the network allies will be using the knowledge being shared, as well as the
process improvements, to distinguish the final results in the eyes of the most
important buyers.
Using the maturity model, which is repeated as Figure 8.1, to describe the
progression of supply chain efforts, we are reminded that the first two levels
are internal only, where focus is brought to functional improvement and operational
excellence to internal operations. The cultural wall standing between
levels 2 and 3 represents all of the collective inhibitions and obstacles to accepting
an external view of the processing and working collaboratively with
willing business allies to build network improvements, which distinguish the
value chain in the eyes of the most important customers. Levels 3 and 4 rep resent the
positions achieved by market leaders, while level 5 is intended to
indicate the presence of total network connectivity with the highest processing
capabilities.Beginning in the mid-1990s, most firms progressed through the first levels
of the supply chain evolution, moving from enterprise integration, where early
savings were made through concentrated sourcing and logistics efforts, to corporate
excellence, where internal obstacles were conquered and planning, order
management, manufacturing skills, and inventory management became serious
parts of the effort. During this time, many companies also progressed into a
form of operational CRM. Sales force automation became a factor, as companies
learned they could use customer data to enhance the ability of sales representatives
to help customers find extra values and build more revenues. Call
centers came into vogue as contact centers were established to match the services
needed with what would truly help the key customers and to guide responses
to customer needs through multichannel customer service hubs. Toward
the end of that period, while in the second phase of the effort, campaign management
became a factor, as firms learned they could ally themselves with key
suppliers and customers to improve the results of special sales efforts.
At the beginning of the new century, those firms that maintained a dedication
to the supply chain effort moved into level 3, and began collaborating in
earnest with their key business partners, to find the hidden values in the supply
chain linkage that eluded those firms bogged down in an internal-only focus.
During this period, these firms typically advanced to a form of collaborative
CRM, applying technology to increase the knowledge available to business
allies having the same purposes. Using the Internet as the major tool of communication,
these companies began to share valuable customer and consumer
information with selected and trusted business allies, so they could further
improve their abilities to create and sustain new revenues. Partner relationship
management became the tool of choice, as these allies learned they could share.
their efforts toward specific customers and consumer groups, such that the
perception these groups have of the network is one of superior capabilities and
the one that renders the greatest satisfaction � or, more importantly, the greatest
overall value. Attaining such a condition requires the features of supply
chain maturity to be matched with a �customer intelligence progression.� That
is, the network allies will be using the knowledge being shared, as well as the
process improvements, to distinguish the final results in the eyes of the most
important buyers.
Using the maturity model, which is repeated as Figure 8.1, to describe the
progression of supply chain efforts, we are reminded that the first two levels
are internal only, where focus is brought to functional improvement and operational
excellence to internal operations. The cultural wall standing between
levels 2 and 3 represents all of the collective inhibitions and obstacles to accepting
an external view of the processing and working collaboratively with
willing business allies to build network improvements, which distinguish the
value chain in the eyes of the most important customers. Levels 3 and 4 rep resent the
positions achieved by market leaders, while level 5 is intended to
indicate the presence of total network connectivity with the highest processing
capabilities.Beginning in the mid-1990s, most firms progressed through the first levels
of the supply chain evolution, moving from enterprise integration, where early
savings were made through concentrated sourcing and logistics efforts, to corporate
excellence, where internal obstacles were conquered and planning, order
management, manufacturing skills, and inventory management became serious
parts of the effort. During this time, many companies also progressed into a
form of operational CRM. Sales force automation became a factor, as companies
learned they could use customer data to enhance the ability of sales representatives
to help customers find extra values and build more revenues. Call
centers came into vogue as contact centers were established to match the services
needed with what would truly help the key customers and to guide responses
to customer needs through multichannel customer service hubs. Toward
the end of that period, while in the second phase of the effort, campaign management
became a factor, as firms learned they could ally themselves with key
suppliers and customers to improve the results of special sales efforts.
At the beginning of the new century, those firms that maintained a dedication
to the supply chain effort moved into level 3, and began collaborating in
earnest with their key business partners, to find the hidden values in the supply
chain linkage that eluded those firms bogged down in an internal-only focus.
During this period, these firms typically advanced to a form of collaborative
CRM, applying technology to increase the knowledge available to business
allies having the same purposes. Using the Internet as the major tool of communication,
these companies began to share valuable customer and consumer
information with selected and trusted business allies, so they could further
improve their abilities to create and sustain new revenues. Partner relationship
management became the tool of choice, as these allies learned they could share.
USING CUSTOMER INTELLIGENCE IS A KEY TO SUCCESS:
Information abounds in most business organizations. The problem is that most
of the important data is not used in an intelligent manner, because it is stored
in nonintegrated databases and rarely shared across internal business units.
What must be done with this valuable information forms the basis of customer
intelligence. That begins with a common definition of customers, a description
of the tools to be applied, and the information integration architecture necessary
to make the system a viable business enhancement process.
Knowledge is the key, and information about customers builds knowledge.
Companies must manage their customer data better to be able to act upon
customer knowledge. Figure 8.7 shows the customer intelligence maturity model,
where we have arrayed the key operational improvement characteristics against
the levels of maturity progression. From basic through foundational, core, and
distinctive levels, the important areas where customer intelligence can bring a
favorable impact are depicted, so a company can gauge how far along the
continuum it wants to or should proceed. Firms need to assess where they are,
what their competitors are doing, and then determine where they need to be in
order to achieve the advantages that we have outlined.
of the important data is not used in an intelligent manner, because it is stored
in nonintegrated databases and rarely shared across internal business units.
What must be done with this valuable information forms the basis of customer
intelligence. That begins with a common definition of customers, a description
of the tools to be applied, and the information integration architecture necessary
to make the system a viable business enhancement process.
Knowledge is the key, and information about customers builds knowledge.
Companies must manage their customer data better to be able to act upon
customer knowledge. Figure 8.7 shows the customer intelligence maturity model,
where we have arrayed the key operational improvement characteristics against
the levels of maturity progression. From basic through foundational, core, and
distinctive levels, the important areas where customer intelligence can bring a
favorable impact are depicted, so a company can gauge how far along the
continuum it wants to or should proceed. Firms need to assess where they are,
what their competitors are doing, and then determine where they need to be in
order to achieve the advantages that we have outlined.
RESPONDING TO THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE:
The intelligent value chain that evolves will have many facets, but it will remain
focused on customer satisfaction. The architecture that makes such a value chain
possible is described in Figure 8.6. It progresses from the back-office systems,
necessary to meet the needs of the customers, to the customer touch points so
critical to the provision of value-added services. In between, a customer intelligence
hub is at work, using BPM and providing the profile, rules management,
events and treatments, and the quality data needed to enhance the ASCM/CRM
systems.
New definitions are then brought to the benefits and values being delivered
to the most strategic customers. Differentiated (often customized) answers to
members of a particular segment�s business problems are part of the delivery.
Points of view are specific to each market segment. Solutions are comprised of
a mix of tools, competencies, and offerings matched to actual needs. Specific
solutions are packaged and delivered with a defined and quantifiable business
value � measured across the entire value chain, and for the individual partners,
using the economic value added tools described. The customer intelligence
system at work synthesizes data consolidation and analytics so that a single
view of the customer emerges, as well as individual customer analytics, which
are used in profiling, evaluation, and modeling for success. A single up-to-date,
integrated view of the customer relationship is constantly maintained, along
with robust customer insights to tailor the correct treatment to the right customer
at the right time.
There are three dimensions to customer intelligence, with specific features
and advantages:
1. Customer information integration
Integration and rationalization of disparate customer data, to provide
a persistent cross-channel data store to serve as a focal point for analytic
processing and as a clearinghouse for multiple disparate
touch points
Establishment of relationships in the data to support analysis at the
customer, prospect, household, and segment levels
Development of an operations format for use of customer knowledge
through all customer interaction points
Development of event-based or delta-based sensing mechanisms to
identify changes in front-end CRM systems, such as customer behavior
or profile
Transfer of information on event or delta to the hub-based repository
for integration and consolidation
Utilization of enterprise application integration or low-latency tools
to move data from front-end systems to operational data storage
2. Customer insights: segmentation and modeling
Ability to analyze cleansed and consolidated customer data to develop
descriptive and/or predictive models
Understanding of the economic or lifetime value of each individual
customer
Customer segmentation based on value, demographics, and behavioral
information
Quantification of each customer�s responsiveness to marketing and
other stimuli
Identification of the appropriate treatment or offer for each customer,
and delivery of this insight to front-end application
Mining of vast amounts of data to identify hidden customer insights
Capture and codification of analytical best practices in a business
rules engine, to create intelligent recommendations in a near realtime
environment
3. Customer insights: operationalization
Ability to offer insights at the point of contact
Products and services matched to individual customers
Rules-driven customer interactions
Differentiated service treatments for valuable customers
focused on customer satisfaction. The architecture that makes such a value chain
possible is described in Figure 8.6. It progresses from the back-office systems,
necessary to meet the needs of the customers, to the customer touch points so
critical to the provision of value-added services. In between, a customer intelligence
hub is at work, using BPM and providing the profile, rules management,
events and treatments, and the quality data needed to enhance the ASCM/CRM
systems.
New definitions are then brought to the benefits and values being delivered
to the most strategic customers. Differentiated (often customized) answers to
members of a particular segment�s business problems are part of the delivery.
Points of view are specific to each market segment. Solutions are comprised of
a mix of tools, competencies, and offerings matched to actual needs. Specific
solutions are packaged and delivered with a defined and quantifiable business
value � measured across the entire value chain, and for the individual partners,
using the economic value added tools described. The customer intelligence
system at work synthesizes data consolidation and analytics so that a single
view of the customer emerges, as well as individual customer analytics, which
are used in profiling, evaluation, and modeling for success. A single up-to-date,
integrated view of the customer relationship is constantly maintained, along
with robust customer insights to tailor the correct treatment to the right customer
at the right time.
There are three dimensions to customer intelligence, with specific features
and advantages:
1. Customer information integration
Integration and rationalization of disparate customer data, to provide
a persistent cross-channel data store to serve as a focal point for analytic
processing and as a clearinghouse for multiple disparate
touch points
Establishment of relationships in the data to support analysis at the
customer, prospect, household, and segment levels
Development of an operations format for use of customer knowledge
through all customer interaction points
Development of event-based or delta-based sensing mechanisms to
identify changes in front-end CRM systems, such as customer behavior
or profile
Transfer of information on event or delta to the hub-based repository
for integration and consolidation
Utilization of enterprise application integration or low-latency tools
to move data from front-end systems to operational data storage
2. Customer insights: segmentation and modeling
Ability to analyze cleansed and consolidated customer data to develop
descriptive and/or predictive models
Understanding of the economic or lifetime value of each individual
customer
Customer segmentation based on value, demographics, and behavioral
information
Quantification of each customer�s responsiveness to marketing and
other stimuli
Identification of the appropriate treatment or offer for each customer,
and delivery of this insight to front-end application
Mining of vast amounts of data to identify hidden customer insights
Capture and codification of analytical best practices in a business
rules engine, to create intelligent recommendations in a near realtime
environment
3. Customer insights: operationalization
Ability to offer insights at the point of contact
Products and services matched to individual customers
Rules-driven customer interactions
Differentiated service treatments for valuable customers
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