"Collecting all the relevant data from different sources, then evaluating that data, makes the 'single version of the truth' possible."

-Gerald Haidl

"Cross-selling is one of the main benefits of the Teradata Warehouse. Since using this approach, the response rate has more than doubled."

-Michael Krammer

TELE.RING

Dialing up customized services

by Tim Walters

lready a provider of voice and data services through landline telephone networks, tele.ring is fast becoming a major force in Austria's mobile phone industry. In fact, since the 2000 launch of its mobile phone services, tele.ring has become the fastest-growing provider in Austria's increasingly competitive telecommunications market.

Today, the company offers its nearly 500,000 customers a comprehensive arrayof telecommunications services. Tele.ring's realization of a "no-frills" strategy has allowed it to thrive in one of the most heavily penetrated wireless markets in the world.

Michael Krammer, tele.ring's chief of comsumer operations

Michael Krammer, tele.ring's chief of customer operations, says, "We now have more than 85% penetration. The competition is very hard. We have 8 million inhabitants and four mobile phone operators in place. We have to be very efficient to be profitable and successful."

One way tele.ring is setting itself apart from its competitors is through a highly focused customer relationship management (CRM) program and streamlined approach to service and business operations. At the core of this philosophy is detailed customer information, made possible by the company's Teradata Warehouse.

No frills, high value
Strategically, the company wants to focus on the value derived from each customer, while its marketing emphasis rests squarely on the value delivered to each customer. The second part means an unrelenting concentration on which tele.ring products and services each customer actually uses, and on providing those services at a fair price with no add-on charges and only the features customers want.

Tele.ring's award-winning slogan for this approach, Weg Mit Dem Speck (no frills, or translated literally as "out with the fat") matches the company's philosophy, which extends to tele.ring's overall strategy of technological effectiveness. The no-frills value proposition manifests itself through tele.ring's low prices, lean product/service portfolio, high quality of core products and price transparency.

"The base of the no-frills concept is the readiness of customers to do without an excess of performances in favor of fair monetary and non-monetary costs. 'No frills' is aimed at certain market segments (that) purchase based on a balanced price/performance relationship," Krammer explains.

And the approach flows both ways, providing tele.ring with a guiding framework for identifying value per customer. "Customer value is defined uniformly, calculated regularly and (reorganized) enterprise-wide," Krammer says. "Customer value is an aim that doesn't orient itself only at the short-term turnover but at the long-term worth of the customer relationship with all its yields and costs."

Initially, tele.ring faced severe limitations in its ability to access data across the enterprise due to its restricted data resources. The company began its search for an analytical solution with an eye toward solving an array of distinct business challenges. At the forefront was the goal of increasing its knowledge of customer value.

The additional insight would make it possible for tele.ring to conduct detailed analyses of its customer base, according to factors such as profitability or propensity to change providers. It would also allow the company to better target its marketing efforts. The end result, tele.ring knew, would be a significant increase in customer satisfaction levels, an increase that would help tele.ring strengthen its brand loyalty and pave the way for further growth.

Tele.ring wanted to do more than uncover new and better ways to understand customer behaviors. The company knew it wanted to minimize business risks by helping to reduce losses from fraud, particularly instances of dealer and roaming fraud.

Yet another primary business objective was streamlining the process of preparing complete, accurate and informative reports to its parent company, Western Wireless International (WWI). "One of our initial challenges," says Gerald Haidl, tele.ring's IT director, "was to find a way to improve our reporting process, a solution that would increase the quality of our financial and other vital reports and decrease administration costs."

During its search for a better solution, tele.ring conducted data load tests using an Oracle platform. But the extremely long load periods of the Oracle RDBMS failed to meet the company's needs and expectations. Tele.ring then briefly looked at an IBM offer.

"But it was quickly apparent that Teradata was the right choice for us," Haidl says. "Not only was the Teradata solution more detailed and complete, their fast implementation and high degree of knowledge of the communications industry clearly set them apart from the competition."

The Teradata solution has also helped tele.ring overcome the limitations of its old legacy system. "Now, with our data warehouse, we know exactly where data is stored, and we know exactly how to access it," Haidl adds. "That means we can better utilize our data warehouse as a powerful analytical tool."

More bang, less buck
Tele.ring's Teradata Warehouse has already begun paying a wide range of dividends. By collecting and analyzing billing, accounting and other customer-related information, the company has gained a more detailed understanding of the value and behavior of each of its customers. "Collecting all the relevant data from different sources, then evaluating that data, makes the single version of the truth possible," Haidl says. "That insight has enabled us to develop segmented or personalized marketing programs, and our initial experiences with our new analytical methods show about a 40% reduction in associated marketing costs."

The company was able to improve its reporting capabilities, increase efficiencies and reduce administrative costs thanks to the "single view of the enterprise" offered by the new system. Users in areas as diverse as risk management, marketing and pricing can now quickly access stored information, giving them the power they need to drive both managed relationships and growth through more-informed decision-making capabilities.

Teradata has enabled tele.ring to increase revenues by helping the company create more effective promotions and tariff plans based on customer data. "Cross-selling is one of the main benefits of the Teradata Warehouse," Krammer notes.

"We go into the data warehouse and look at customers for various campaigns. Since using this approach, the response rate has more than doubled."

One of the key measurements tele.ring uses to track the success of its Teradata Warehouse is "contract prolongation." Tele.ring makes contract prolongation offers available to sales partners, shops and customer service at the point of sale. "If a customer goes to any shop in Austria, the dealer can see what the prolongation offer is," Krammer says.

Results have been impressive. Since basing contract prolongation on the data warehouse, Krammer reports, "we now have half the churn rate." Additional response rates have increased dramatically.

Tele.ring is also extensively using its data warehouse for specific cases of discounting, customer value scoring and fraud prevention. In the near future, the company plans to add customer service integration to the mix as well as develop call center services.

The system keeps tele.ring decision-makers up to date on current information through easy-to-manage SQL tools for accessing the system. Customer Care and Billing areas, for example, are updated every four hours; other areas, such as SAP R3 and the IN platform, are updated daily.

The bottom line? "The Teradata Warehouse helps us spend our marketing money very effectively," Krammer says."It helps us spend our money in the right way."

Big returns, bright future
While the power of the Teradata Warehouse and Teradata's quick-start capabilities were vital in tele.ring's initial purchasing decision, it's been the people and ongoing support that have made choosing Teradata a sound decision for the telecommunications company.

Associates from Teradata's Professional Services group, for example, have been with tele.ring since the initial conceptualization stage, offering unique insight and expertise into the implementation of the company's new data warehouse.

"Our decision in favor of Teradata," Haidl says, "was made in light of a history of excellent working relationships on other projects, and because of Teradata's reputation for speedy implementation and low migration risks.

And now that its Teradata Warehouse is performing up to expectations, tele.ring plans additional uses for it in the months and years ahead, especially in the area of CRM. "Our first goal was simply to develop a segmented marketing capability using customer value analytics," Haidl says. "But we're now looking to build on that foundation with our new call center and then develop additional campaign management capabilities. That means Analytic Teradata CRM should become an important tool for us in the future."

The data warehouse will only increase in importance as a competitive tool. As Krammer explains, "In these highly penetrated markets, where it is hard to generate new customers, the data warehouse is the heart of marketing. Using it, in the long run you can maximize company value." T

Tim Walters, president of InfoTech Marketing and adjunct professor in the University of Denver's Technology Management program, has written about marketing and IT for Advertising & Marketing Review and Wireless Weekly.

GLOBAL ILLUSTRATION BY SIMON SHAW
PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANCESCA PAGLIA/PISTOLESI