There’s no magic route to the holy grail of the single customer view, where customer data from disparate systems is consolidated so that all areas of an organisation have a clear view of the business in the context of their needs in order to make informed decisions. Indeed, some people might say it’s impossible to achieve. Depending on your individual perspective of the single customer, no single view of the customer is likely to be adequate for all participants. The Marketing perspective is different to Sales, who see the customer differently from Finance, Customer Services, IT or Manufacturing. Senior Executives have a different view again, in their requirement for accurate information for decision-making and forecasting – indeed they demand information faster and more frequently. Although some data elements are necessary (name, address, telephone number, etc.) everyone has a different view of the information they need. And it’s not just the need for a single view of the customer; single views may be required for all items of the customer’s information - company, person, household, product, employee, business type, etc.

There’s no doubt that there is an ever-increasing amount of data available – getting it in the right state, as opposed to a right state, is a fundamental business requirement, essential to the customer management process and streamlining of business processes. The single customer view provides everyone in the organisation with the information to understand and manage current and potential customers, retain existing customers and of course win new ones. Lack of a single customer view results in operational inefficiencies which severely impact on the business and its capacity to compete and grow: • Inaccurate reporting • Unconsolidated disparate data sets • Inefficient use of resources • Increased mailing costs and cost of postal returns • Reduced revenue • Weakened customer service • Penalties for non-compliance with legislation

Why is the single customer view so important?

Single customer view : fact or fiction?

Linking disparate databases, cross-matching and de-duplicating data to produce a single view of corporate data has immense benefit in terms of corporate transparency and accountability, through elimination of data input errors to create the single customer view, which in turn provides: • Increased operational efficiency • Accurate information in context of need • Improved brand image • Increased visibility improves supply chain performance • Improved compliance with service level agreements • Improved co-ordination across revenue channels • Improved up sell-and cross-sell opportunities • Reduced inventory stock-outs and improved product mix • Compliance with legislation

Identify - get out of denial Own up to the fact there is a data health problem and get executive buy in; data quality is a business problem not exclusively a Marketing or IT problem. Assess where the greatest damage is being done, identify where fixing the problems will generate the greatest return and look at what can be achieved tactically within each data silo to improve data health. Formulate a data quality strategy that concentrates on the critical elements of objectives, context, ownership, etc., through to data cleansing and monitoring for long-term maintenance. Correct - “An error detected during the project testing phase can cost up to one hundred times more to correct than the same error found during the design phase” - The Quality Assurance Institute. Invest in intelligent and future-proof data quality improvement tools which address integration with fast, easy implementation and scalability to help solve the critical problems identified, e.g. Unify disparate data sources: Cross-match, link, de-duplicate, merge and

standardise data to create a single customer view

Then validate, suppress and enhance data: Validate: Verify and format addresses to improve the quality of direct mail Suppress: Suppress data to identify records that should

not be mailed, comply with legislation and prevent mailing to gone aways

Enhance: Enhance data with demographic and lifestyle information to improve targeting and increase response rates

Meeting the challenge

DQ Global Urban House, E2 Fareham Heights, Fareham, Hampshire, UK PO16 8XT Telephone +44 2392 988303, facsimile +44 2392 988302 e-mail sales@dqglobal.com, www.dqlobal.com

Prevent – it’s better than cure “Companies that manage their data as a strategic resource and invest in its quality are already pulling ahead in terms of reputation and profitability from those that fail to do so” - Price Waterhouse Coopers. Having achieved the single customer view, regular data quality assessment can uncover defective information and expose hidden problems. Continuous monitoring, synchronisation and focus on maintaining data health will deliver an accurate, reliable and trusted single source of customer information for all users.

The single customer view is not an inconceivable aim; integrating today’s data cleansing technology with legacy systems to de-duplicate, link, validate and standardise data significantly reduces costs, improves productivity and maximises the value of your data. The long-term benefits of a 360 degree single customer view include the ability to measure customer loyalty and profitability, comply with legislation and to create targeted marketing campaigns based on accurate customer information, including age, number of children, lifestyle choices, etc. Integrating and consolidating information from multiple data sources to create a single customer view also provides the capability to streamline and standardise internal processes, develop customer relationships, improve supply chain management, lower marketing costs, measure ROI, make informed and timely decisions – in short a complete business review and standardisation.

The benefits