“I developed a customer data and CRM vision and strategy to create a single view of the customer across Asda’s multiple channels, product & service lines”
Objective
To develop, and gain broad management approval for, a vision and strategy covering the collection and use of customer data.
Background
Asda is a major grocery and non-food retailer with £10+ billion turnover and several hundred stores across the UK. It sells a wide range of products and services across multiple delivery channels – stores, telephone, internet and interactive TV.
Approach
We were contracted to work with the client to develop a detailed vision and strategy covering both business and technical architecture which would:
- Understand core shoppers better, in order to develop the core store proposition to maximum effect
- Provide effective, efficient and consistent service across all customer relationships in a seamless way
- Market and cross-sell products across our various product and service lines, in the most targeted and effective way.
We carried out the following phases during the project:
Competitor Analysis
For the 4 most relevent competitors, we investigated and analysed their current situations as regards data collected about customers, how it is used, how the contact with the customer is managed across channels in order to deliver service and how the relationship was managed across multiple product and service lines.
Stakeholder analysis
We carried out group and one-to-one interviews with many people from the client organisation in order to find out what customer data is already collected and what the client does with it.
We also carried out similar analysis across a variety of 3rd part product and service providers where the customer relationship was managed by someone other than the client organisation.
We found that there were literally dozens of occasions where customer data was collected, with hundreds of thousands of customers involved. However, the various data sources were not co-ordinated and the data never pulled together.
Strategic Options
In order to resolve this disorganisation of data, we prepared a number of options for each of the key aspects:
- Customer Contact Integration – how would we integrate the customer contact across multiple channels and multiple data sources (products/services)
- Data Integration – how would the data be collected, stored and cleaned, ensuring that each customer was unique and that the full extent of the product and service relationships was known
- Customer Analytics – how would the client analyse the data, who would do it, how would this be achieved securely across multiple business units and organisations
- One-to-One Marketing – once the data was in control, how would it be used to manage the customer realationship and market to them.
Business Architecture
Having established the extent of the data available from the various customer relationships and agreed a strategy for dealing with it, we developed a concept whereby all data was brought together and synchronised, and available for analysis, service support and one-to-one marketing. Management bought into the concept unanimously as the benefits were clear.
Technical Architecture
We developed a technical architecture whereby all data sources would be brought together in a single data repository, maintaining uniqueness of customer and complete record of the customers’ relationships.
The architecture included 3rd party integration and channel integration, and made full use of existing technologies where appropriate, therefore providing a cost-effective solution.
Database schema
Having agreed the technical architecture, we prepared and agreed a database schema – what data needed to be collected, and how it should be organised and updated.
Data Protection Policies
We also prepared, on behalf of the client, a data protection policy that was both customer friendly and legally compliant.
We also considered the changes necessary to existing customer contact documentation in order to accurately and legally collect the customers’ details.
Results
We worked closely with both the clients IT and business functions in order that implementation could begin immediately that this stage of the project was complete.
We are pleased to say that much of the architecture has now been put in place and the strategy is being delivered as agreed.