CASE STUDY PROFINIT - VODAFONE
Integration and segmentation of customer data by Integration and segmentation of customer data implemented on J2EE, Spring, Oracle PL/SQL, Oracle RAC and Informatica 8.6.1 Vodafone CZ is part of the international Vodafone Group Plc, which has more than 341 million customers around the world. Vodafone CZ is one of the three biggest telecommunications operators in the Czech Republic. Media Solutions is a department whose primary focus is sales of mobile, online and print advertising in channels administered by Vodafone CZ. Sales of mobile advertising have increased continually in recent years despite the overall decline of the advertising market. One of the Media Solutions department s objectives is to target advertising as effectively as possible on the basis of knowledge about Vodafone s customers. As a tool for achieving this objective, Profinit provided the Media Solutions Database, a solution which serves for working with targeting data of customers and non-customers of Vodafone. 1
Business Challenges Mobile advertising is a new trend that allows to get advertising messages to the right people. The biggest challenge is to know consumer's profile to provide target advertisement. Consumers receive only relevant messages with higher probability to impress. Vodafone MSDB solution is a powerful platform which brings the competitive advantage to Vodafone in mobile advertising and improve Vodafone's business opportunities. Vodafone is able to sell mobile advertising with much better targeting (it means also for higher price) to their mobile users. MSDB collects rich data profiles about the mobile subscribers from various sources (behavioral characteristics, geographical information, interests etc). This approach results in better percentage advertising success for advert submitter. Michal Peška Profinit, s.r.o. Objectives Customer data already existed in Vodafone s data warehouse. However, it was not possible to flexibly work with these data in real time and segment them according to the ad hoc needs of advertisers. t User profiles could be updated only with great difficulty. Vodafone was not able to offer customers profiles to its partners, e.g. suppliers of value-added services. Thus, it was not possible to commercially use knowledge of customers behaviour (e.g. knowledge that a customer often travels abroad, or very actively uses mobile internet connection), location, interests, etc. Nor was it possible to collect and actively work with these data with the customers consent. 2
Solution For the Media Solutions department of Vodafone CZ, Profinit developed the unique MSDB database with the purpose of creating an integral platform for working with customer data. When designing the solution, Profinit placed emphasis on a high degree of availability, performance and optimisation. Modern integration tools, such as Oracle Real Application Cluster, and a collection of several application servers were used. Basic characteristics of MSDB include: - MSDB integrates customers profile data from several internal systems of Vodafone and is the only platform at Vodafone that maintains the complete customer profile. - unrestricted segmentation of customers without the necessity of intervention in the source or configuration parts of the system - preparation for integration of profile data from the systems of Vodafone CZ s partners - integration of MSDB into the source systems of Vodafone CZ mentation of workflow, the users are automatically informed about updates - integration of MSDB into systems working with advertising at the international level of the Vodafone Group - common interface for providing customer data to partners - specific interface for MSDB administration - specially designed system architecture, which guarantees a high degree of availability and performance The solution also includes a precisely defined process by which MSDB can be further expanded and developed according to the requirements of the mobile advertising business. Benefits & Results The MSDB system enables employees of the Media Solutions department to have an overview of current customer profiles. MSDB provides unrestricted categorisation of customers for the needs of targeting advertising at the desired customer segment. MSDB is integrated into the international systems of Vodafone Group Plc. The system s modular design guarantees problem-free development and expansion of the system. Via MSDB, Vodafone can also incorporate into its services the provision of customer profiles for its partners. This concerns partners either at the level of individual companies that are engaged in the provision of services, i.e. banks, insurance companies, etc., or partners involved in the provision of advertising, i.e. web portals such as Seznam, Atlas, idnes, and companies working with advertising such as A.L.L. Production, ADM, Media Servis, etc. The MSDB system is one of the elements helping in the expansion of the Media Solutions department s services, e.g. for selling travel insurance, student accounts, loans, etc. The plan is to achieve turnover in the amount of at least 1% of Vodafone CZ s total turnover. 3
Overview Integration and segmentation of customer data implemented on J2EE, Spring, Oracle PL/SQL, Oracle RAC and Informatica 8.6.1 Country Czech Republic Type of Business Telecommunications Customer Profile Vodafone CZ is part of the international Vodafone Group Plc, which has more than 341 million customers around the world. Business Situation Customer data already existed in Vodafone s data warehouse. However, it was not possible to flexibly work with these data in real time and segment them according to the ad hoc needs of advertisers. User profiles could be updated only with great difficulty. Vodafone was not able to offer customers profiles to its partners, e.g. suppliers of value-added services. Thus, it was not possible to commercially use knowledge of customers behaviour (e.g. knowledge that a customer often travels abroad, or very actively uses mobile internet connection), location, interests, etc. Nor was it possible to collect and actively work with these data with the customers consent. Result The main purpose is to collect Vodafone customers Opt-Ins/Outs for 3rd party advertising as well as rich customer profile data with the overall aim to send targeted advertising on Vodafone Live!, M2W, Bill Inserts and enable push advertising to Vodafone s opted-in customer database Benefit It will enable the development of new, interactive advertising channels while helping to increase the relevance of commercial information that will be provided to customers via these channels. Implemented Solutions J2EE, Spring, Oracle PL/SQL, Oracle RAC, Informatica 8.6.1 4