Data Warehousing Equals Happy Customers?

September 21st, 2006: A survey of nearly 1,200 international executives has revealed that the exponential increase in data volumes and the number of decisions senior executives are faced with is driving significant changes to business processes.

More data, more decisions and more complexity was what Teradata found when it conducted its fifth annual executive survey recently. Released in Orlando at the world’s largest data warehousing and analytics event, the 20th Teradata Partners User Group Conference and Expo, the results show that effective data warehousing helps drive faster and more informed decisions up and down the chain of command. Something that Teradata says ultimately translates to better customer satisfaction.

“The survey results have wide-ranging implications for how organisations will operate in the years ahead,” says Bob Fair, vice president and chief marketing officer of Teradata. “For example, this year, executives participating in the Teradata survey put customer loyalty as the highest risk on a list of the top-five casualties of poor decision-making. Profits moved to number three, after four years as number one.

“We think this shows greater recognition of the importance of using analytics to differentiate from competitors by better serving customers. If I do a better job with customers than my competitors, I win,” added Fair.

The company says 85 percent of respondents said that decision-makers need more up-to-date information than in the past, up from 71 percent last year. “Speed and real-time decision support matter because, when you have the customer on the phone or in front of you, or you have a truck in the loading dock, you want to make sure that the right data is available so that the best decisions can be made on the spot,” says Fair.

According to almost 40 percent of respondents, front-line staff are increasingly making critical business decisions. Over 40 percent of respondents also said that executives such as chief operating officers, chief financial officers, chief information officers and chief marketing officers are more involved in strategic corporate decision making than five years ago.

Teradata also found that two-thirds of executives canvassed said their companies use data warehousing, while 54 percent said their companies’ vision is to move to centralised enterprise data warehousing.

Out of the executives surveyed:

• 68 percent said that the number of daily decisions has increased over last year.
• 97 percent said that decisions remain complex.
• For five consecutive years the increase in data has compounded with 96 to 100 percent of respondents saying data is increasing, and over half saying data is doubling or tripling over the previous year.
• The top uses of data warehousing are improving customer service and financial performance management.
• The top-five casualties of poor decision-making are customer loyalty, company reputation among customers, profits, company productivity and customer service.

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