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Telstra To Build Data Warehouse

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Telstra executive is pushing his lieutenants to focus on individual customers by segmenting the company’s customers base and build a huge data warehouse which will allow all aspects of a customers dealings with the behemoth to be viewed in an integrated fashion.

Backed up by extensive market research designed to understand what customers are looking for from a telco, the company hopes to reduce churn and increase customer share of wallet by pro-actively offering enhanced services at every point of customer contact.

Bill Stewart, Group Managing Director Strategic Marketing explained that the company hopes to achieve future growth  through improved sales, Improved ARPU from better customer satisfaction. Integrated services will help to reduce churn and lower customer acquisition costs.

Customer segmentation will determine how and where customers are marketed to with segmentation determined by the manner in which the customer relates to the company.

Stewart outlined a three phase roll-out beginning with needs identification, then customer identification and finally references where the outcomes will be implemented in the form of advanced marketing practices integrated with interactive voice recognition and routing capabilities and campaign management in the data warehouse.

The company plans to take advantage of its broad reach of services to increase differentiation over its competitors. The company plans to deliver simple, easy-to-use, one click applications with intuitive functionality and navigation across common interfaces to allow a higher degree of personalisation and shared application services.

Stewart highlighted the following benchmarks for improvements. Campaign Execution will be reduced by 75 per cent, Labour productivity will be improved by 20 per cent. Cross selling and up selling will be increased by 30 per cent and churn reduced by 10 per cent.


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Telstra’s Customer Data Warehouse Plans

 

Inks Ain't Inks

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Epson introduced two new photo printers this week. You will find them at opposite ends of the scale.


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The PictureMate 500 is a mobile photo printer with a 6cm colour LCD and optional battery for portable printing. The 4×6 output uses Epson’s six colour UltraChrome Hi-Gloss pigment ink (Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Red, and Blue)with a 5760 optimised dpi (dots per inch) and 3pl (picolitre) droplet size. Epson says they last better than traditional photos (104 years).
The LCD is a 320 x 240 screen for preview while the (optional) Lithium-Ion lets your customer take the thing on holidays.

Meanwhile, the Epson Stylus Photo R2400 A3+ uses UltraChrome K3 Ink to print photos.
The eight colour technology includes Light Light Black (LLK), along with Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Light Cyan, Light Magenta, Light Black and either Matte Black or Photo Black.

The new UltraChrome K3 ink features innovations aimed at pleasing the serious digital photographer. Metamerism is reduced meaning that colours on a print vary less under different lighting conditions and once printed UltraChrome K3 ink will stabilise colours in just 30 minutes so there is far less colour shift once the print dries.

A new resin formula in the UltraChrome K3 ink reduces gloss differential on prints giving a smoother, glossier finish on most media and provides greater scratch resistance. The addition of Light Light Black (LLK) produces a better colour profile on black, finer gradation in dark areas and reduces the amount of colour ink used in a print.
The Epson Stylus Photo R2400 RRP is $1799.

The Epson PictureMate 500 is priced at $399 RRP.

Internode Launches Free Usenet Service

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Broadband company Internode is now providing its customers with free access to Australia’s premium Usenet service.


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Usenet is a globally decentralised discussion and file-sharing system that allows users to read and post public messages and files to newsgroups.

The world’s most popular Usenet services include Giganews, Astraweb and Supernews.

Due to a recent acquisition, Supernews has morphed into Giganews, resulting in much longer retention of binary articles. Internode has also added Astraweb Usenet to its network at no additional cost, providing an alternative Usenet service to Giganews.

By offering the ‘Premium Usenet’ service in Australia on a cost-included basis, Internode allows its customers to subscribe to a Usenet service without having to establish a separate Usenet account with a US company. The only download limit is the one that exists on their Internode broadband plan.

Internode managing director Simon Hackett said Internode was providing its customers with free access to one of the great information resources on the Internet. “With Internode now giving its customers the choice to access Giganews or Astraweb – or both – it’s a much better service at no extra cost,” he said

Churn And Burn Retailers Leave Customers Fuming

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According to a new online satisfaction report released yesterday, more than half of the consumers surveyed have ceased buying products and services from a company due to poor customer service and a high number felt that the supplier didn’t know it had lost their business.


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courtesy: www.newli.com

In fact, only half of the companies aware of the loss of business had attempted to win the business back, the survey found, with the worst offenders being telcos, ISPs and online retailers.  

Prepared by StollzNow Research and commissioned by RightNow Technologies, a provider of on demand customer relationship management (CRM) software solutions, the report’s findings are proof that the impact of a poor customer experience can directly affect a company’s bottom line.  

According to Neil Stolznow, head of StollzNow Research, the report proves that “Australian companies devote far too much time to customer acquisition and nowhere near enough time in customer retention”.

Furthermore he says that the “long term brand health of companies was at stake” if they didn’t become more customer-responsive.

Despite the high cost of customer acquisition relative to customer retention, organisations appear to be content with a proportion of customer churn based on poor customer experiences. Two-thirds of respondents in Australia and New Zealand said they had experienced poor customer service at some time during their relationship with companies in one of the seven targeted industries.

 

The telecommunications industry was the worst offender with 62 per cent of respondents indicating they had experienced poor service. Next were ISPs with 52 per cent followed by finance (46 per cent), travel and hospitality (31 per cent), online retail (30 per cent), and insurance and utilities (28 per cent).

A high proportion of respondents (65 per cent) indicated they had stopped doing business with a telecommunications provider due to poor customer service, and 44 per cent believed their provider hadn’t realised they were no longer a customer.
The survey also investigated consumer opinion about experiences when shopping online. 

Consumers were asked what they found to be the most frustrating aspects of the experience. Areas for improvement included transparency about delivery charges before reaching the ‘check out’ as well as better information about products and the ability to ask questions during the purchasing process.

All of these areas of frustration are solvable with technology readily available today, said Stolznow.

Commander Gains Control Of Volante

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Extending its offer period till April 12th, Commander Corporation has gained control of its takeover target Volante.

A filing to the ASX revels that Commander now owns 54.91 per cent of Volante Group Limited which it has acquired primarily since the Volante board relinquished its fight and told shareholders to sell up their holdings to the unwelcome suitor.

Volante shareholders now have another two weeks to signal their willingness to sell down their holding.

Commander got off to a slow start acquiring only 0.07 per cent of Volante shares by the 9th of January after launching its bid for Volante in late December 2005.

However, once it went back to the Volante Board with a slightly improved offer for the company, a large number of shareholders have accepted the board’s advice.

However, with still more than 40 per cent of the business still in the hands of independent shareholders, Commander will have to find a way to convince more stockholders to hand over their shares before itcan move to acquire the company outright.

 

 

 

Logitech Wireless iPod Headphones

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With an expected retail price of $249 Logitech has announced the latest ‘must have’ iPod accessory – wireless headphones.

LogiTech wireless headphones for iPod

Based on Bluetooth technology the iPod will require a wireless adapter, but once that’s pugged in you can roam as much as 10eters from you iPod without missing a beat.
The headphones have integrated iPod controls on the side of the headpieces, allowing the adjustment of volume as well as track forward, track backward, play and pause playlists.
The Bluetooth 1.2 wireless technology used incorporates an adaptive frequency hopping mode for interference-free, crystal-clear digital audio.
“Wireless headphones free people from their music player and remove the nuisance of cords,” said Marco Manera, general manager of Logitech Australia. “No more untangling those earbuds when you pull your iPod out of the bag, or managing the cords while trying to enjoy your music. We believe our headphones will really free-up iPod owners.”
The 40 mm full-range neodymium drivers provide rich audio and enhanced bass performance, while the phones themselves are designed for a secure and comfortable fit using the behind-the-head headband design.
They weigh only 90 grams and the wireless adapter, which connects to the iPod through the headphone jack, weighs just over 28 grams making it all nice and easy to carry around when you’re mobile.
The headphones work with any iPod with dock connector on its base, which includes nearly all models sold in the past two years, and headphones and adapter are paired at the factory, so people can instantly begin using the product directly out-of-the-box.
Powered by rechargeable batteries, which play up to eight hours of music and can be fully recharged in 2.5 hours, both the adapter and the headphones can recharge simultaneously with the provided AC adapter, which features two connectors.

ACT! Now On Vodafone Blackberries

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SMB customer management software vendor Sage CRM has announced a deal that will see its ACT! CRM solution available on Blackberry mobile devices.

The partnership with Vodafone combines Sage CRM’s ACT! Mobility Suite and ACT! Web Suite, which will be sold exclusively through ACT!’s reseller network across Australia.

Special pricing will see the software sell for 20 to 30 per cent below recommended retail.

Ken Prokopec, ACT! Regional Business Manager, said: “Teaming up with Vodafone was a natural progression for Sage CRM after we launched HandHeld Contact in August 2005.

“Mobility is now a top priority for SMBs. We wanted to make it simple for SMBs to get connected,” Prokopec explained.

By partnering with Vodafone, Sage CRM has taken the cost and complexity out of going mobile. “We’ve also added value for our channel,” Prokopec said. “ACT! Certified Consultants can now offer SMBs more than just software which increases their scope and revenue potential.”

There are currently over 25,000 registered ACT! users in Australia and New Zealand making it a viable SMB target audience. Tony Drewitt, Data Solutions Manager of Vodafone’s Global Business Solutions Group, said Vodafone was keen to work with Sage CRM and the ACT! channel due to its extensive experience in the SMB space.

“The SMB market is a major focus for us right now,” Drewitt said. “By aligning ourselves with Sage CRM and working closely with its extensive network of over 50 ACT! Certified Consultants, we hope to service and support more SMBs across Australia.”

Wi-Fi Standards Left Behind

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As the IEEE standards process drags the industry’s heels on the slow road to 802.11n, the latest RangeMax Wi-Fi access point offers speeds up to 240Mbps.

Although investing in non-standards compliant hardware is a decision not to be taken lightly, the low-cost of Wi-Fi hardware and the slow rate of standards negotiations is making non-standard Wi-Fi look all the more attractive.

A case in point is the latest RangeMax 240 router and PC card from Netgear which sets a new standard in high speed wireless networking.

Offering speeds up to 240 Mbps ­opens up a new vista for bandwidth-intensive applications such as hi-def video and audio or applications such as VoIP in the home.

“Increasing convergence in the home means that people are now looking to access a wide variety of applications simultaneously, placing huge demands on their network,” said Ian McLean, Vice President, Netgear Asia-Pacific.

“Our original RangeMax family of products has proven popular in Australia and around the world, becoming the top selling MIMO range globally – a trend that we believe will continue with the new RangeMax 240 line.”
The system doubles Netgear’s previous top speed by using Airgo Networks spatial multiplexing technology to send multiple data streams across a single wireless channel.

The new product family includes the WPNT834 Wireless Router and the 240 WPNT511 Wireless Notebook Adapter which the company says “ensures that for the first time wireless has attained an effective throughput of up to 100Mbps”.

The devices are capable of supporting encryption at 128bit (AES, TKIP and WEP) thanks to hardware acceleration.

Prices are: RangeMax 240 WPNT834 Wireless Router (RRP: $339) and WPNT511 Wireless Notebook Adapter (RRP: $219).

New ZIP WinZip Version 10

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One of the more ubiquitous pieces of utility software has reached a milestone with WinZip hitting version 10.

This latest version includes significant usability enhancements, improved compression technology and, for more demanding users, a new Pro feature set with very useful additional functionality.

Both WinZip 10.0 Standard and Pro offer additional compression algorithms (PPMd and bzip2), allowing you to make even smaller Zip files, and offer a new Explorer-style view of your Zip file contents, making it easier to navigate complex, multi-folder Zip files. Other enhancements include: the ability to create split (multi-volume) Zip files during compression, automatic update checking, and protection from potentially dangerous files with WinZip’s built-in support of Windows XP SP2’s Attachment Manager.

There’s also the new WinZip Job Wizard, included in the Pro version, which helps out when backing up data sets or distributing documents on a regular basis by providing productivity and automation features to simplify repetitive tasks. There is also inbuilt FTP functionality to help move it around.

WinZip 10.0 Pro also allows you to create Zip files directly on CDs and DVDs, eliminating the need to zip to your hard disk and then transfer the Zip files to CD or DVD. Large Zip files will automatically span multiple CDs or DVDs, if necessary.

We have published the full specification of PPMd compression support in Zip files, to allow authors of other Zip file utilities to adopt the PPMd compression format as well.

An on-line demo presenting WinZip 10.0 can be found on the WinZip web site at: http://www.winzip.com/winzip10demo.htm

Super Fast LCD Monitor

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One of the drawbacks with LCD displays is being all but eliminated with response times getting to the point even gamers will have trouble criticizing.

Fast motion, whether from watching DVD video or in 3d interactive gaming can cause blurring on LCD screens causing some dedicated gamers to eschew the flat panel displays in favour of the tried and trusted CRT tubes.

As the LCD industry has responded to this challenge response times, the measure of how fastan LCD crystal can be reset have been steadily marching downward. Now ViewSonic has released a display with a response time that beats its previous models which it claims were already the world’s fastest.

The latest monitor in the company’s VX Series now has response times 33 per cent than the earlier models. The 19-inch VX922 offers two millisecond (ms) average video response time across the entire colour scale, says the company.

Typical “fast-response” displays on the market today offer an average grey-to-grey (or intermediate level) response time of 20 to 25ms, says ViewSonic stretching the point a little. And then calculates its new Xtreme LCD line-up as up to 12 times faster.

“The faster response time of our new VX displays brings us one step closer to achieving CRT-like performance with all the benefits LCD’s offer,” said John Yeh, Country Manger, ViewSonic Australia. “We’ve made the much sought after ability to enjoy games and movies in the sleek flat panel form factor a reality.”

The VX922 combines ViewSonic’s proprietary Dynamic Structure and Amplified Impulse video response acceleration technologies to support rates of up to 500 frames per second across the entire colour scale.

The VX922 19″ LCD monitor should be available now at an RRP of $849.

www.viewsonic.com.au