The Confluence of Data Mining and Market Research for Smarter CRM
Kenneth Elliott, Ph.D. Kenning Research Inc.
Richard Scionti SPSS Inc.
Mike Page The Kantar Group
Source: www.spss.com
Copyright SPSS, Inc. 2004

Part 5


Recommendations

The convergence of Data Mining and Market Research may not be the best strategic initiative for your company at this time. Only those companies who today are making a significant investment in customer intelligence and market research can expect significant gains from convergent research. If your company collects behavioral and attitudinal data on your customers, has numerous customers with whom you engage frequently, and is under competitive pressure to grow and maintain your customer base, consider the following recommendations.

Determine the Need

The first step toward the development of a convergent research environment at your organization is an internal assessment. Review the following questions with relevant individuals within your organization. Do you commission Market Research and Data Mining today? Are they being conducted separately? Are they being conducted to address similar business questions? Is Customer Intelligence critical for business operations? Can incremental improvements in Customer Intelligence result in significant advancements in business performance?

Test the Readiness

Examine your internal Data Mining and Market Research operations. Distribute this paper and get their reaction. Assess the cultural readiness of your team to adopt a convergent research discipline. Examine the organization structure that houses Data Mining and Market Research. Develop a chart that documents the relationships among those who are pivotal to the research process for each discipline. Identify the cultural and organizational barriers that separate these disciplines. Be sure to document the strengths and supporting relationships as well. Review the technologies each group utilizes to perform its research. Identify the overlap and differences in the required infrastructure. Determine if these information environments can be coordinated.

Then, identify all internal consumers of market research and data mining results. Interview these decision makers to understand how they use these streams of information. Ask them how they synthesize this information in their own minds, and what they desire from the research, and assess the potential business benefits from convergent knowledge. Also, identify all non-human deployment of research results, whether these are in the form of scores back into the database or recommendations to real-time operational systems. Assess the potential benefit of improving the accuracy of these scores, even by the smallest amount.

Start Small

While it is important to have a vision of what is possible and how to get there, take one successful step at a time. Pick a small pilot study to measure your internal readiness for the convergent research paradigm. This pilot should test the organizational, cultural, and technological environments. It should also be designed to demonstrate the "lift" generated as a result of convergent knowledge compared with traditional research approaches alone.

Start Strategic

Due to the initial investment in the pilot, choose an application that has high strategic value. Or pick a tactical application that has the promise of high financial returns. Chances are, a successful pilot project will lead to the identification of a larger implementation of the approach. Proving the concept on a highly visible and strategic application will insure greater excitement and buy-in for further progress towards convergent research.

All change, no matter how beneficial, is difficult. It will be easy to slide back into the 'old ways' of doing things. Choose a consultant, under a limited and focused engagement, to help you through your internal assessment and to help design a pilot program. Make sure the consultant has experience in both Data Mining and Market Research toward improving customer intelligence.

Share your Success

Find a forum to share the results of your successful initiatives. Not only will this establish you and your organization as innovative and adaptive, it will foster the development of a supportive community of like-minded contemporaries who will challenge each other to grow and refine the discipline of convergent research. Start now and you can develop and maintain a convergent research practice as your competitive advantage.