The power of CRM

I recently attended a two day training program on 'Data Driven Decision Making' - It was conducted by two Professors from Kellogg (that other Chicago school:-))

The program was all about communicating the power of decisions based on marketing data rather than hunches or intuition. A great example was that of Continental Airlines:

 Ten Continental Airlines flights are hovering over Chicago O'Hare waiting for ATC clearance to land - with snow storms in Chicago, flights are being delayed. Continental HQ informs ATC that the LA - Chicago flight should land first since it is the most profitable followed by the NY - Chicago flight and so on. This info is available in real time to the decision makers including the CEO!!

Isn't that really impressive! To be able to know in real time the profitability of your customers gives you the ability to take the most appropriate business decisions. I think that is the future - ultimately the businesses that are the most successful will be the ones that have the most insight into their customers AND take appropriate decisions on that basis

The Royal Bank of Canada, Harrah's Entertainment and a consortium of UK Co's - Sainsbury, BP, Debenham's etc - have all used CRM driven data analytics to improve info about their customers and better serve the most profitable ones.

This is one trend that won't go away. Watch this space!!.