Think Customers: The 1to1 Blog

While attending a presentation on best practices in data analytics at SAS Global Forum in Seattle earlier this week, I decided to pose a question on the topic to the panelists. As it turns out, each of the three SAS client organizations represented have taken altogether different approaches to drive customer data sharing between entities.

Many decision-makers say it's critical to get senior leadership to drive cross-channel customer data sharing efforts. Without that kind of commitment, the full-range of customer data sharing that has occurred across multiple divisions of Discover Financial wouldn't have been possible since senior leadership made its stamp on these efforts 18 months ago, says Amanda Kreutziger, director, decision & business intelligence applications.

Other strategic approaches can also work. For instance, Catalina Marketing's IT organization set up an IT Center of Excellence three years ago to help end users throughout the organization to pinpoint customer information across a range of different categories, says Eric Williams, executive vice president and CIO.

David Edge, team lead of performance and capacity management at Thomson Reuters, has found that dangling a carrot can help achieve buy-in. "Once you hit a rock wall three or four times (with business leaders who are unwilling to share customer data), you have to find a way around it." He managed to do that by showing divisional leaders the business value of sharing customer data in small doses. Once decision-makers are able to see the value of cross-channel customer data integration, "the thinking shifts," Edge adds.