For organisations wishing to undertake data related, analysis, targeting or reporting tasks in-house, rather than outsourcing them, Tech4T can supply the specialist software, tailored training and single contact 'one-stop' support. Software can generally be used stand-alone, configured as a tailored combination of modules to meet specific marketing, analysis and business objectives, or used to complement existing I.T. systems.

Most software provided by Tech4T is also used extensively by our team for the specialist services we offer - hence the reason why we can offer 'single point of contact' support and training across software that have different authors. NB. We take a consultative approach to first understand your needs before recommending an appropriate software and training solution.

GENERAL

• Data storming - As data technicians, analysts and direct marketers tend to work creatively, there is a need to capture ideas, structure them and turn them into action with maximum ease. With Mind Manager you can create mind maps to clearly explain all of your thoughts and processes and easily translate them into a synchronised project plan in MS Project, a MS PowerPoint slide-show, MS Word document, fully linked website and more!

CUSTOMER/PROSPECT DATA ENHANCEMENT - SHAPING YOUR DATA

• File conversion - If you have to audit data or undertake file conversion - optionally computing changes during the conversion - you need DBMS/Copy. This powerful utility also converts to/from over 80 different database and statistical analysis formats.  For additional data understanding and fast drill-down data exploration with tables, graphs and reports, use DBMS/Explorer included free with DBMS/Copy!  Converting from UNIX or mainframes? Use NovaXchange to read most formats of magnetic tape and to convert Unix Tar formats to PC.

• High speed sorting on huge databases and ETL data transformation - CoSort

• Need to read files into SAS?  Then DBMS/Engines is what you need.  

• Database comparison - DBMS/Compare - a superb piece of software that allows you to compare content - field by field, record by record - across multiple databases or statistical analysis files (inc. SPSS and SAS) in a single pass. This is perfect for complex data audit work and to identify changed records prior to behaviour change or fraud analysis.

• For data cleaning and removing unwanted characters - optionally on the fly for de-duplication of foreign data, see Dirty Harry. For mixed company/name field splitting use Right Fielder, Personator for name splitting and gender creation from first names, and Stylelist for output formatting and correct casing. 

• For worldwide address enhancement - batch and interactive, purchase Global Address, or for fast batch processing of UK addresses including validation against PAF,  business names and/or the Electoral Roll data registers, Matchcode.

• De-duplication - For de-duplication, multi-file merge/purge, data suppression and record consolidation, you need Double Take.  If you need to embed some of these routines in your own programmes then API's are available.

• For more in-depth data understanding... plus for general - but powerful - data manipulation, we would always recommend using SPSS Base and optionally SPSS Tables

• Obtaining postal discounts - By sorting your data to meet Royal Mail standards you can achieve significant discounts on bulk mailings. Use Sortcode to obtain Mailsort and Walksort discounts.

CUSTOMER ANALYSIS - UNDERSTANDING YOUR CUSTOMERS

 New to data analysis and targeting? Click here to see our straightforward guide. 

• Getting started - or need the perfect reference book that helps you apply statistical analysis to data-driven marketing, buy The New Direct Marketing

• Data preparation and exploratory marketing/data analysis. For Data Mining and Customer Knowledge/Analytical CRM. To see how Tech4T undertake analysis, click here. Getting started with the analysis essentials - file sorting, selection, transformation, missing value analysis, date conversion, data banding, labelling, cross-tabs, graphing, task automation and elementary data analysis. SPSS - introduction to database marketing,  SPSS Base, SPSS Tables. Also WPS (Based on SAS Base), DBMS/Copy and KbaseT.

• Lifetime value analysis. How to measure customer cost and profitability. Understand purchasing patterns and find out how to apportion promotional spend correctly in order to maximise return on marketing investment. The approach you take would depend on how you wish to define Lifetime Value - total sales value per customer over X years, total sales value by product group after say the initial relationship building period, profit contribution over time however defined - i.e. how do you take account of order returns or transaction cancellations based on the cause, etc. Once defined, you then need to develop an approach and determine the computation needed. This would include first bringing together sales values, profit contribution, marketing spend, sales and customer service costs, etc., applying the necessary calculations and then correctly apportioning values to each customer in a format that suits what you next wish to do with the information - using for segmentation or profiling, targeting, looking at change... Techniques to take include file and record merge, aggregation, file flattening, split file processing, predictive modelling and ‘marketing effort’ scoring.
  * For the marketer and I.T. support team - KbaseT
  * For the analyst - SPSS Base, SPSS Tables, FastStats Discoverer plus KbaseT

• Profiling, Database Segmentation and Predictive Targeting. See also RFM - Recency, Frequency, (Monetary) Value. Who are your customers, what do they look like? How do their personal, business and trading characteristics differ? When profiling and segmenting your customer base there are several approaches that can be taken. For B2B it might be as simple as grouping by company size, number of employees, etc., or with B2C grouping by age, gender, demographics, lifestyle, etc. This can be enhanced by merging external data from mailing lists, surveys and marketing statistics and also by deriving new fields such as lifetime value. However you can enrich this process by using statistical analysis. Either look for natural groups or clusters in your data, letting software such as SPSS determine the strengths of your variables (fields), or look for groups (segments and their profiles) based on their differences to take a particular action - buy or not buy blue widgets, etc., using predictive modelling. Once segmented and profiled, you can then see how groups of similar customers compare over time after being for example, subjected to different kinds of marketing treatment. Techniques for segmentation and profiling (putting descriptions to the segments) include correlation, weighting, ranking and scoring, factor and cluster analysis, predictive and response modelling...
  * For the marketer and I.T. support team - KbaseT
  * For the analyst - FastStats Discoverer, SPSS Base, SPSS Tables, AnswerTree,
    4Thought (Neural Network), KXEN plus KbaseT

• Modelling for improved campaign response and reduced fraud. To identify database segments more likely to respond to specific offers and to predict future sales and purchase activity together with customers likely to cause bad debt. This is really an extension of database segmentation listed above. Techniques typically include sampling, marketing profit and loss, predictive and response modelling, (inc. CHAID) modelling, logistic regression, discriminant analysis...
  * For the marketer and I.T. support team - KbaseT
  * For the analyst - 4Thought (Neural Network), AnswerTree (credit example),
    SPSS Base, SPSS Tables, SPSS Regression, KXEN plus FastStats Discoverer
    and KbaseT

• Churn or customer attrition analysis - Find out why customers defect, develop corrective retention and acquisition strategies and help define service levels to maximise loyalty. Techniques usually applied include predictive modelling, competitor analysis, forecasting...
  * For the marketer and I.T. support team - KbaseT
  * For the analyst - SPSS AnswerTree, 4Thought (Neural Network),
    SPSS Base, SPSS Tables, SPSS Regression, KXEN plus KbaseT

• Market research and survey analysis - See some ideas on what you might like to learn - click here. Use questionnaires to gather additional data to enrich your customer understanding and database targeting. Also research customer perceptions of your products and services and determine their fit in the marketplace. QPSMR, SPSS Data Entry, SPSS Base, SPSS Tables, SPSS Conjoint, SPSS Categories, SPSS AnswerTree

• Forecasting - For demand business forecasting use 4Thought (Neural Network), ForecastPro, SPSS Trends or KXEN

• Geographic analysis - For penetration and competitor analysis, media coverage, sales territory rationalisation, resource optimisation, etc.  MapPoint, Geo-concept, Tactician, SPSS Maps plus KbaseT

• 'Rules-based' - Magenta application using 'Agents' to define the appropriate outcome to your problem - however complex!

CAMPAIGN TARGETING - PROTECT, GROW AND MAXIMISE THE VALUE OF YOUR CUSTOMER BASE BY ADAPTING TO CHANGE

• Database marketing and campaign targeting - Take information direct from your operational databases - customer information, profile data, financial transactions, market research, etc., add external prospect mailing lists and any intelligence derived from analytics, and load into an on-line marketing database and predictive targeting system - KbaseT 24/7. Use the system for high speed counts, selection, cross-tabs, charts, propensity  scoring, 'what-if' modelling, geographic mapping, campaign planning/management and much more. KbaseT 24/7 is powered by FastStats Weblink/.NET and is ideal for visualising your data for marketing and where your source data needs to be held in an enhanced format for improved targeting.

• Analyse ALL your data - FastStats Discoverer

• Free Venn software for graphical overlap analysis - Venn5

• E-mail broadcast solution - e-campaigner