Subscribe

Industry experts to feature at SAS hosted Customer Intelligence events

The first in a series of CI events kicks off in Johannesburg in July
By Anti-Clockwise
Johannesburg, 18 Jun 2008

Industry experts will walk through the benefits of ensuring you speak to your customers effectively, at the first in a series of dynamic Customer Intelligence (CI) events, hosted by SAS Institute in Johannesburg on July 10 2008 at the Westcliff Hotel. Understanding that customers are a sole source of an organisations' profits, SAS is seeking to educate a customer centred market on the true benefits of customer analytics.

"One has to understand that growing a loyal and profitable customer base is the foundation of a sound marketing strategy, and that with new market challenges marketing has to evolve. Growing a profitable customer base is becoming more difficult, and companies need to realise the benefit of adopting a true customer centric approach to business," says Gerrit van Wyngaard, Solutions Specialist at SAS Institute.

"The key is in understanding who your customers are, what they need, and how to service them better. These CI events are designed to address these issues and demonstrate how Customer Analytics can transform your business."

The first of these informative events will focus on the basics of Customer Intelligence and will host industry experts Simon Marland, Chief Information Officer at Nedbank Retail and Anthony Hlongwane, General Manager Analytical Intelligence at Absa Personal Bank.

Marland will give a focused presentation on maximising customer insight by adopting a Customer Intelligence strategy. In doing so he will provide an overview on the practical applications of Customer Analytics and will elaborate on how to incentivise the building of analytical models, how to drive value from these models and how to measure the accurate outcomes.

Hlongwane will focus his attention on the true advantages of Customer Analytics concentrating on ROI, identifying profitable customers and how when it is effectively managed, predictive Customer Analytics can provide value that customers can perceive, and signal to customers that their individual needs are understood and that their relationship is appreciated.

SAS boasts an extensive range of Customer Analytics solutions ranging from Customer Experience Analytics and Campaign Management software to Profitability Management and Web Analytics. As part of SAS' credentials, Gartner recently placed SAS in the Leaders quadrants for its customer data mining and business intelligence platforms. SAS experienced a phenomenal 50 percent growth in sales of its Customer Intelligence solutions in 2007, and major enhancements to the SAS Customer Intelligence suite will continue this momentum throughout 2008. SAS Real-Time Decision Manager is a new addition to the suite, and last year SAS launched new versions of SAS Marketing Optimisation, SAS Digital Marketing and SAS Marketing Automation.

"By attracting industry experts who use and benefit from Customer Analytics everyday, SAS hopes to transform the mindset of businesses towards looking after their customers, and improving customer service. No company can survive without their customers and realising this should mean a shifted paradigm towards serving customers better; knowing what customers really want and positioning your business to provide it," ends van Wyngaard.

This is the first in a series of five CI events being hosted across the country between July and December, and will be repeated in Cape Town on the 11 July. Following these there will be a second Johannesburg event on the 25 July which will focus on how to improve returns by working with customer data and will give insight into the lessons learned by more than 300 companies within their Customer Intelligence frameworks.

Share

SAS

SAS is the leader in business intelligence and analytical software and services. Customers at more than 44,000 sites use SAS software to improve performance through insight from data, resulting in faster, more accurate business decisions; more profitable relationships with customers and suppliers; compliance with governmental regulations; research breakthroughs; and better products and processes. Only SAS offers leading data integration, storage, analytics and business intelligence applications within a comprehensive enterprise intelligence platform. Since 1976, SAS has been giving customers around the world The Power to Know. Visit us at www.sas.com or http://www.sas.com/sa

Editorial contacts