Data Distilleries Expands Response Capabilities Of CRM SoftwareData Distilleries Expands Response Capabilities Of CRM Software

Customer-relationship management efforts today often focus on reaching out to customers with E-marketing campaigns or online sales pitches. But how well do businesses respond when their customers come to them?

The DD Series software from Data Distilleries BV analyzes data about people who call a customer-support center, visit a company's Web site, or reply to a marketing E-mail. DD Series integrates information about customers from multiple back-end sources, analyzes the data in real time, and--using predictive-analysis technology--prepares an offer or response. The product also identifies high-risk and potentially fraudulent customers.

"There is a fast-growing interest in software that can detect patterns in customer data and make offers to customers in real time," says Erin Kinikin, a Giga Information Group analyst. The Data Distilleries software is aimed at financial-services, insurance, and telecommunications companies.

FBTO Insurance in Lavarden, Netherlands, has used DD Series for two years to analyze its customer database and generate mailing lists for direct-mail campaigns. "We reduced our mailing costs by 50% and made our investment back in one year by better targeting our mailings," says Jeroen Pronk, a database marketer at FBTO. The company is installing the new release, which Pronk says will let FBTO work with more up-to-date customer data.

Earlier versions of DD Series focused on CRM analysis, but the new release expands the product's response capabilities, says Gareth Herschel, Gartner research director. DD Series 3.0, which is available now, includes new dynamic prioritization features for developing offers based not only on the likelihood of acceptance, but on the offer's value to the customer. The new release also maintains a log of offers made and responses given through each channel.

The product can be integrated with a broader range of back-end data sources and CRM systems, the latter including Siebel Systems Inc.'s call-center and marketing applications and BroadVision Inc.'s self-service applications. Pricing for a typical DD Series 3.0 ranges from $150,000 to $500,000.