Customer Data Integration: Reaching a Single Version of the Truth

BUILDING THE BUSINESS CASE

Someone once said that, in justifying new technology investments, managers should be able to answer the question, “Why is this better than doing nothing?” CDI can solve a host of both business and technology problems, but explaining how isn’t always easy.

Successful CDI requires a business case, but perhaps not in the classical sense. The business cases we recommend for clients who are adopting CRM, data warehouses, or other, more end user-focused IT projects emphasize both cost savings and revenue generation. At their most comprehensive, effective business cases can include discussions of:

• Revenue improvement

• New revenue generation

• Reduced costs

• Productivity gains

• Increased customer acquisitions

• Improved quality of service

• Reduced business risks

• Employee satisfaction and retention

As we’ve written elsewhere,⁸ a truly effective business case covers both financial and nonfinancial benefits—also called “hard” and “soft” benefits—of the proposed IT project. For example, a hard benefit might be the sales uplift and associated revenues driven by better target marketing, achieved through the ability to pinpoint individual customers and their behaviors. A soft benefit might be improved customer satisfaction because of better customer lists and higher customer interest levels.

CASE STUDY: BELL MOBILITY

John Walker remembers his early days at Canada’s Bell Mobility with a mixture of wistfulness and amusement. “We were in the early stages ...