How quickly is data out of date? How quickly is your data no longer needed or applicable? Why are you continually buying in new data?

The problem with data for most companies, who use data as a marketing tool rather than a company asset, is that they forget to understand its value and impact until after all the other decisions have taken place. Yes we’ll go for a new market… but no data. Yes we’ll target a new decision making unit… but they’re not on the database. The list of retrospective reactions for data managers is endless.

This issue is often compounded by product development. How many in the research and development teams tell the data managers to create or evolve their marketing and business intelligence databases inline with new products or indeed the framework strategy that the new products is created from. The result – panic as a new database has to be brought about in response to a launch date.

This is not the best way to create and evolve what is probably one of your most important business assets – business intelligence!

That is why more and more companies are now considering their data lifecycle. Many have tried the strategies of CRM gurus to only find they are fundamentally flawed by their own data. The fact that different people need different data and will try and evolve it to their purpose and not a uniform or holistic standard which can invariably be managed via the marketing teams. Sales teams want and need sales contact and commercial information at their fingertips – not a marketing data base! Marketeers need market intelligence and data on routes to market – not support logs. Customer support will want accurate history and activity records – not campaign information. However, collectively they all produce facts of data that refine, mould and create the ultimate database on customers, markets and buying behaviour. All it needs is a simple set of rules by which they may all be engaged and the technology that manages it!

The Strategic Data Audit
Through the creation and reference of Strategic Use Data Audits, gaps in the data application are swiftly identified to determine effective use by functions and planning levels - always relayed back to corporate goals and planning processes of the business. Effective recommendations of data population and improvement in research or data activities help to begin populating your information systems according the long-term and short-term data life plan.

Data Access & Transit Map
A comprehensive study of how, when and why databases are being accessed, added to or exported to/from to understand the opportunities a company has by function to improve the quality of its data and the correlation of activities to reduce duplication of effort in data acquisition.

Application Interrogation
Documentation of all application interactions with the database to determine duplication and data erosion

Co-Ordinating Targets & Goals With Data
Based upon the Strategic Data Audit, a full assessment of functional goals will be undertaken to cross reference against a data availability to support such targets and identify weakness or shortfalls that will impede target completion.
A further assessment of cross departmental impact will be considered – sales to marketing, marketing to CRM and new product development across all. This will develop the data access framework foundation.

Product & Service Led Market Segmentation
Based upon documented terms of reference a complete market segmentation study based, locally, regionally or globally.

Cross Region Situation Lifecycle Analysis
A comprehensive review based upon the pre-documented Situation Lifecycle, target market performance and positioning, the data used and available to those in the selling and marketing function and how each is exploiting this data in a high yield revenue generation process.

Assessment Of Future Data Requirements
The life plan, a documented approach to data evolution with concise terms of reference, will then itemise through milestone planning improvements and purging of your systems, as well as approaches to integrate disparate business function reporting to achieve dynamic profiles of current prospects and target markets as well as those you anticipate may be of interest into the future.

Data Cleanse & Clinical data health
A full analysis of the data that is contained in each of the repositories, duplication, in consistencies and compliance to the Data Protection Act.

Data Acquisition & Profiling
Based upon the Strategic data audit, and the Data Life Plan a recommendation is made to acquire data to meet immediate deficiencies. The life plan will then develop the long term evolution of data to fill in the gaps and also evolve the data to achieve a higher quality and inline with strategic thinking dynamically.

Application Of Strategic Planning Tools
Part of Anderson Baillie’s Business Growth approach has been to develop business tools to improve strategic market planning. Part of this development programme has been the creation of auditing based tools, which enable businesses to quickly snapshot ‘flaws’ in their strategy process, before applying these to active marketing and sales engagement campaigns. They may also be applied to research data warehouses to begin the process alongside other Business Growth Consultancy packages to pilot new market entry or product launches.

Improving Marketing Planning & Campaign Management
Working alongside your existing CRM or contact managements systems, or indeed their own CRM outsourced service, developing a strategic planning activity and campaign critical path against target milestones within your business systems to achieve revenue and lead forecasts inline with corporate strategy. Working within your data environment shortfalls in the ‘life plan’ will be highlighted along with content changes in the data warehouse.

Improvements With Sales Force Automation
For further details please go to Key Account Profiling.