SAS has CRM all WAPped Up Rodney Marwick The SPS www.spsweb.com
SPS Offices United Kingdom The Netherlands Belgium South Africa Australia
SAS, CRM and WAP Introduction to WAP Technology Overview of SAS CRM Market Agent Front End Software Customer Facing Front End Software Customer Analysis WAP and CRM Today
Introduction Wireless device market 10 times larger than Internet - 500 million users (Meta Trends 8/99) Mobile coverage in Australia - 98% popn 72% Major Companies will embrace WAP by end 2000 - (Computerworld) CRM - Multi-channel corporate strategy Adoption of Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)
SAS and CRM Market SAS system started life as a CRM system Move from product to customer based Tailor products and services to customers Understanding the customer s needs Result - Business process re-engineering Convergence of CRM channels CRM divided into: Agent Front End Software Customer Facing Front End Software Customer Analysis
Agent Front End Software Gives the agent ability to look at: Customer reports Contact history Existing product and service information Customer ratings New sales opportunities Until now, dominated by specialist players Siebel, Vantive, Onyx, 3r, Clarify
Customer Front End Software Gives the customer ability to: Dial in to corporate web site Use of Kiosk terminals Accessing services through digital TV Same as agent information but needs to be simple and intuitive Many companies have developed in-house solutions
Customer Analysis Huge amounts of data Query tools, OLAP, Statistical modelling, Data mining, building specialist warehouses Aim is to segment customers: Current and future profitability Buying patterns Target marketing Mobile agent requires powerful laptop to run analyses remotely SAS clearly excels in this area
WAP and CRM today Remote access to CRM data Utilise push technology Personalise the recipient display Input new information Initiate a fulfilment process Trigger a remote process
WAP/CRM Architecture Clients Mobile Phone or PDA WSP Request Servers WAP Gateway e.g. Nokia 7110, Motorola L-Series+, Ericsson R320/R380 Palm + WAP Browser Web Browser e.g. Internet Explorer, Netscape Communicator, Palm + Web Browser Complied WML Document Direct Network Or RAS Dialup HTTP Request HTML Document WML Document e.g. Nokia WAP Server, Phone.com UP.Link Kannel, WAPlite WEB Server HTTP Request e.g. Netscape Enterprise Server, IIS, Apache, Domino Application Servers e.g. SAS/IntrNet CRM Database
Remote Access to Customer Information Authorised agents can access Internet, Intranet or Extranet Existing security passwords and firewalls supported Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS) standard ensures transmission security e.g. Salesperson checking order progress
Push Technology Interactive information pushed to mobile devices (currently achieved using SMS) Examples: Customer special offers - airfares Customer home loan enquiry Notice of shortage of funds in bank account Checking of unusual credit card spending patterns
Personalisation Applications customised to give different layouts, displays, menus and actions Triggered by customer preferences, security level, type of portable device Agent identified by incoming number, password Customer identified by caller ID facilities, customer code Display customised to show or hide items from the incoming audience
Input New Information Currently good for browsing, selecting, and accessing existing information Can be used to enter data - time consuming Ideally, pre-populate the CRM system Well suited to small amounts of data e.g. interest rates, income details, loan terms
Fulfilment Process Traditional processes triggered remotely Email or post confirmations Invoice issuing Instant response to an order e.g. share dealing Access files or documents on central computer and send to local computer or printer
Trigger Remote Process Remote SAS CRM analytical routine Host processing E.g. Mainframe credit scoring, propensity modelling Neither agent or customer requires PC Requires SAS/IntrNet Demo
Conclusion WAP extends the capability of SAS CRM Convenience and flexibility of the mobile channel New applications being developed everyday Core functions of SAS ideally suited to the leveraging power of WAP
Questions? SPS Australia Pty Ltd http://www.sps-oz.com.au WirelessOz Pty Ltd http://www.wirelessoz.com
SAS has CRM all WAPped UP! Author: Shane O Brien WirelessOz Pty Ltd Co-Author & Presenter: Rodney Marwick SPS Australia Pty Ltd Abstract: The worldwide consumer class wireless device market (cell phones, PDA s, etc.) is already more than 10 times larger than the Internet market (500 million users v s 40 million) and growing at a faster rate. In Australia consumer wireless devices are already prevalent and mobile coverage is provided for 98% of the population. According to a recent Computerworld survey, 72% of major Australian corporations will embrace the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) by the end of 2000, and a number of financial institutions are presently trialing WAP banking systems. This presentation is designed to provide a high level overview of some of the business applications of WAP and other wireless technologies when applied with the Customer Relationship Management features of the SAS system. BottomLine: CRM is no longer purely about Internet, Call Centres, Branches or any other individual delivery channel. CRM is a multi-channel corporate strategy, and the wireless channel is already too significant to be left out of any corporate CRM strategy. The SAS system is ideally suited to help business realise this potential.
Table of Contents Introduction...1 Overview of the CRM Systems Market...2 Agent Front End Software... 2 Customer Facing Front End Software... 3 Customer Analysis... 3 WAP and CRM Today...4 Remote Access to Customer Information... 4 Push Technology... 4 Personalisation... 5 Input New Information... 5 Access to Remote CRM Processing... 5 Fulfilment Process... 6 Conclusions...7
Introduction Today few company s would question the value of the Internet channel, or fail to recognise its enormous impact on the way it has transformed many aspects of modern business. What many businesses do not presently realise is that the worldwide wireless device market is estimated to be approximately 500 million users, that s over 10 times larger than the current Internet user base of approximately 40 million subscribers (Meta Trends 8/99), and has a faster growth rate. One of the factors that has previously held back widespread access to this market has been the wide range of competing standards such as Microsoft s Windows CE, Sun s Java embedded Server, and Symbian's EPOC/Psion operating systems. This limitation appears set to be overcome by the widespread adoption of the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), which essentially provides an open standard capable of accessing Internet information through virtually any type of mobile devices This paper provides a high level view of some of the specific business applications of WAP technology when used in conjunction with the SAS System for Customer Relationship Management (CRM).
Overview of the CRM Systems Market CRM has been around as customer information databases in one form or another for more than 20 years. In fact, there is a strong argument that as a system that started life to access data wherever it was held, and then manipulate and analyse that data into useful information, that SAS is a purpose built CRM system, even though the term CRM has only become fashionable in recent years. In general, CRM s big shift from niche application to mainstream technology however only occurred in the later 1990 s. Some of the key forces behind CRM becoming mainstream included the following:! The arrival of nimble new or rebranded competitors offering personalised services and a customer intimate model! Most medium to large corporations became aware of the need to shift from a traditional product focus to a customer focussed operating model to compete! Dramatic advances in the capabilities of CRM software products, and increased computer power at lower prices! The widespread adoption and commercial success of call centres and the Internet. Some of the key benefits of employing CRM include the ability to better tailor and market additional products and services to customers, and to reduce customer turnover. CRM seeks to achieve this by understanding the customer s preferences, buying history and patterns, profitability, demographics and psychographics etc. While technology systems are only one part of the equation, they are a key element as most traditional computing systems have been developed around supporting individual product lines. Implementing a new system with different capabilities can also be a catalyst or enabling event behind an overall business process re-engineering exercise. Over the past ten years there has been a gradual convergence of CRM systems from individual Call Centre, Branch, Internet, Intranet, and Kiosk systems into multi-channel CRM systems. This has enabled organisations to be able to offer consistent, superior service to customers regardless of which channel they came into contact with the organisation through. While CRM systems are constantly being recreated and remarketed in terms such as Enterprise Relationship Management (ERM), Electronic Customer Relationship Management (E-CRM ) and a variety of other terms, the market can be broadly broken down into the following three areas. Agent Front End Software Key features of agent front end software are the ability to organise at the agents fingertip s all aspects of the organisations relationship with the customer including reports, contact history, existing product and service portfolio information, customer ratings, and new sales opportunities. While SAS presentation and end user tools have been used quite effectively in this area at a number of small to medium in-house developed sites, this area is dominated by a number of specialist players including Siebel, Vantive, Onyx, 3r and Clarify.
Customer Facing Front End Software Customer Facing Front End Software refers to all direct customer contact activities such as customers dialing into the Corporate Web site, using Kiosk terminals, and accessing services through Digital TV, as well as business partners directly accessing transactional information (e.g. brokers quotes, supplier inventory availability, shipping details etc.). While customer facing software requires many of the same information as agent software, and can reuse much of the agent system s integration work, they need to be made exceptionally simple to use as most customers have little patience with systems not immediately intuitive. Not surprisingly most organisations choose not to display internal customer ratings, and are more subtle with presenting new sales opportunities to customers than staff. Most of the leading agent front end software suppliers offer solutions in this area, however at present many companies have also developed their own in-house solutions. Customer Analysis Having gathered enormous amounts of data on customers, the ability to analyse this data and turn it into meaningful information has become increasingly important. A number of different approaches exist for analysing data, such as basic query tools, OLAP, statistical modelling, data mining, building specialist data warehouses etc. The aim is to be able to segment customers based on a variety of classifications such as current and future profitability, buying propensities, and targeted marketing to name a few. Past challenges have included the ability to deal with the enormity of data volumes and the processing power required by complex algorithms. While these have been challenges have been largely overcome, a mobile agent still generally requires a very powerful laptop to run many of these analyses remotely. While the versatile SAS system provides many different uses, it clearly excels in this area.
WAP Applied to CRM This section looks at the application of WAP to extend the SAS CRM capabilities to remote customers and agents for the following transactions: 1. Remote access to reports, contact histories, marketing and product information from the CRM system 2. Utilising push technology to automatically send CRM information to a remote agent or to push a call and interactive information to a prospect based on a designated marketing trigger (candidate for new product/upgrade etc.) 3. Personalise the display to the recipient based on their work function or profiling information, and the viewing device (Ie type of phone, palm pilot etc.) 4. Input new information (eg vehicle type and cost, or salary/deposit/debts) 5. Trigger a remote process (eg calculate a quote, or calculate max loan amount and rate/term) 6. Initiate the fulfilment process Remote Access to Customer Information Using WAP any authorised agent can access SAS information stored on their company s Internet, Intranet or Extranet site through their mobile device. Under this scenario, existing security passwords and firewalls are supported, and the Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS) standard can ensure that the wireless transmission is also adequately secured. Typical scenario s where remote CRM access will be used to assist existing business include a salesperson checking the progress of customer orders or responding to past contact history. New business opportunities include the ability to pre-populate loan simulators and approval applications, and to gain access to other product and service information as the need arises. Push Technology WAP has been designed to enable interactive information to be pushed to mobile devices. An example of push technology is to send a message to a customer with a special offer. One scenario would be a customer dialing into a corporate web site and inquiring on a particular service such as a home loan. The SAS CRM system would identify the customer and mobile phone number, then dial the mobile and make a special offer like no establishment fees to that customer, and give them an interactive enquiry screen to accept. Not all push examples need to be new sales based, other examples would be pushing a notice for shortage of funds available to cover a cheque and then providing access to facilities to transfer the money from another account. Another example would be the confirmation of credit card use if unusual spending patterns have been detected (E.g. The data warehouse detected the purchase of 5 designer skateboards by an invalid pensioner with no living relatives).
At present limitations in WAP and privacy issues do not allow the pushing of WAP content directly to a mobile device, though this will soon be overcome. An immediate way to address this shortfall would be the sending of a message through Short Message Service (SMS), which can make the offer and have an if interested press here connection which would automatically then dial a connection and bring up the WAP browser on the mobile device. Personalisation WAP applications can be automatically customised to give different layouts, displays, menu choices and actions. The trigger for these customisations can be based on the preferences of the customer, the job function or authority of the agent, and the type of portable device being used. The display seen by an agent can be based on their identity being known from the portable device, incoming phone number, or password entered. Customer identities can be uncovered from caller ID facilities, entering of a customer code, or being entered on request. Once caller identification is uncovered by a SAS CRM site, the WAP site can then automatically customise the information displayed for that customer based on passed system usage, product/services preferences, special offers available or numerous other criteria. Examples of customised displays would be a retailer making a special offer based on past buying behaviour (may display a variety of new baby products to a regular nappy order), or skipping early menu sequences and taking a customer straight to their regular ordering area. Customisation can also be used to hide some displays not appropriate for the audience (eg. Not displaying some products such as baby clothes or pet foods to an ambitious young single). Input New Information At present, mobile devices are excellent for browsing, selecting and accessing existing information. While mobile devices can be used to enter information and capture it for the corporate systems, this can be a relatively time consuming exercise for some devices such as mobile phones. Ideally, as much existing information, or information that can be captured at another point, will be pre-populated by the CRM system to avoid the need to enter large volumes (such as filling in a loan application from scratch). Mobile devices are well suited to small amounts of data input, such as varying rate terms, income details, interest rates etc. Access to Remote CRM Processing As WAP can trigger a remote SAS CRM analytical routine and host processing (eg. Mainframe credit scoring, propensity modelling etc.), this means that neither the agent or customer is required to carry a powerful PC with them to run complex individual
customer analysis. Obviously this is a prime candidate for the use of SAS/IntrNet software. Fulfilment Process The ability of WAP to access information, input new data and trigger remote processing means that traditional fulfilment processes, such as mail, email or post confirmations, invoice issuing etc. can be triggered remotely. These processes can be triggered instantaneously, so that the moment an order or transaction is processed an email or other confirmation can be sent to the customer. WAP s capacity to access corporate information also enables remote users to access files and documents stored on their central computers. This means that a remote user will be able to access relevant information from their head office (order forms, brochures, proposals etc.), and send that information to any nearby computer or printer if they need to access a physical copy of the material.
Conclusions WAP offers a fantastic range of features that can extend the capability of SAS CRM systems today, and there are even more exciting possibilities arriving in the very near future. The convenience and flexibility of the mobile channel is enormous, and new applications are being developed and released everyday. The core functions of the SAS System are ideally suited to leveraging the power of WAP, as at the end of the day WAP is just another delivery channel, and to harness it effectively requires the ability to access all company data, turn it into useful information, and then empower people to act on that information. Contact Details SPS Australia Pty Ltd 142 Glebe Point Road (PO Box 546) Glebe, NSW 2037 Australia Ph: +61 2 9566 1848 Fax: +61 2 9566 1849 Email: sps@sps-oz.com.au Web: http://www.sps-oz.com.au WirelessOz Pty Ltd 142 Glebe Point Road Glebe, NSW 2037 Australia Ph: +61 2 9518 4303 Fax: +61 2 9518 4304 Email: wirelessoz@wirelessoz.com Web: http://www.wirelessoz.com WAP: http://wap.wirelessoz.com SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks of SAS Institute Inc, in the USA and other countries.