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Communicating with business intelligence
Eurotel makes a smooth transition to a Teradata Warehouse.
by Karen D. Schwartz
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Jana Kolarova, marketing manager at Eurotel
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As the largest provider of wireless voice and data services in the
Czech Republic, Eurotel serves 4.6 million registered customers—
nearly half of the country's more than 10 million residents. That
kind of market penetration doesn't come easily in the intensely
competitive telecommunications industry, but Eurotel has earned
it. In addition to its cutting-edge networks, Eurotel leverages highly
refined business intelligence to attract and keep customers.
Change is good
In 2004, to more proactively address issues such as customer attrition,
Eurotel consolidated disparate systems running on Microsoft
SQL Server and Oracle into a single enterprise data warehouse from
Teradata. Eurotel's Jana Kolarova, marketing manager for the pricing
and customer loyalty program, says the move to Teradata has
changed the way the company thinks about data. "It's all about
managing expectations," Kolarova explains. "Our people are used to
doing things one way, and it's difficult to do them in a different way.
… Now that we have put all of the information from various systems
on one platform, we're learning how to deal with (that change)."
That's not an easy transition for any company, but it's one that
Kolarova believes is imperative. "Now we put all the information
from various systems on one platform, which has completely different
logic," she says. "It changes the way we get information in
addition to how we use that information."
T
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For companies embarking on the data warehouse journey, Kolarova recommends the following steps:
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Get executive buy-in. "Without executive endorsement, your project has less chance of success. By gathering this backing before launching your project, you can feel sure it will be supported, both financially and otherwise."
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Prepare employees. "Hold informational and training sessions with employees far in advance of your rollout. By preparing employees, you'll encounter less resistance."
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Check your thinking. "Make sure your reasons for moving to a new system are business-driven. If you move to a new system for any other reason—such as a technology upgrade alone—you're more likely to fail."
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Start small. "By starting small, you'll have a chance to make mistakes without impacting the entire organization. Plus you'll prove your business case to executives and show employees that the system works."
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© Teradata Magazine-March 2006
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