Can you explain in simple terms exactly what KbaseT is?

Where specifically would KbaseT 24/7 and the services Tech4T provide typically fit within an organisation, who would benefit most from them and how?

How will KbaseT 24/7 help streamline our database marketing and targeting process, and save both time and internal resource?

KbaseT 24/7 can substantially reduce the complexities of the selection, analysis, scoring and campaign management process. Click here to see what KbaseT can replace!    Top

How long does it take you to set up KbaseT 24/7 ready for us to use?

KbaseT 24/7 can usually be up and running in four to six weeks (or sooner) - often less time than it takes to make a computer purchasing decision in many companies!   Top

How much does KbaseT 24/7 cost?

What are the three key USP's of KbaseT 24/7

There are many more than three and the importance will vary depending on the user, but in our opinion those below really stand out...

1. Single marketing view - that gives you complete customer knowledge
   that lets you use ALL your data for analysis and targeting - cross-sell,
   up-sell, retention, acquisition, reactivation and channel marketing
    And it can include ALL of your transactional data that may run into thousands,
   millions or hundreds of millions of rows!

2. Full circle predictive modelling - prioritise your telemarketing, maximise direct marketing return on investment, reduce wasted postage and production costs
   - select, segment, compare profile characteristics - across all levels of data including sales transactions without pre build aggregation, create propensity scores, store scores in new fields against everyone on the database, undertake 'what-if' financial scenarios based on response models, see the gains, select only those individuals more likely to take the action you seek, and extract records for mailing or telemarketing - in one system, by one person (with only minimal training) and completed in less than 30 minutes - often less)

3. Ultra fast with total flexibility and versatility - count and analyse, taking a -train of thought' approach, thousands or millions of records in seconds; include whatever data you need - prospect lists, customer data, surveys, acquisition databases, financial data, statistical scores...; include whatever fields you wish - even create your own and import your own data; access from anywhere through your web browser; use for marketing selection, analysis, campaign
   management...; no data preparation to undertake as all work is undertaken by Tech4T as part of the KbaseT 24/7 solution; lets you take immediate action when opportunities arise or when needed - no waiting on I.T. or other resource!   Top

We are planning to implement a CRM (contact management) system over the coming months. Would we be better to wait until after this time before implementing KbaseT 24/7?

No. Configuring a company wide CRM solution and automating the sales-force can take many months to implement. In that time a KbaseT system could be up and running and delivering substantial marketing, sales and business benefits. Also, any data improvement and migration work undertaken for KbaseT 24/7 would help speed up CRM implementation, as clearly the bulk of this work would not need to be repeated.   Top

Why do you recommend the KbaseT 24/7 bureau approach rather than purchasing your solution to run in house?

The reason for the bureau approach is that many organisations find their company structures and limits on internal resource restrict their ability to meet evolving and often fast changing marketing objectives. For example, staff may have difficulty in effectively bridging the marketing vs. analysis vs. I.T. gap or lack some of the more specialist data restructuring, improvement, transformation and analytical skills and software. Or marketers and analysts just don't have the time and want to focus on their core job function rather than I.T.! 

KbaseT 24/7 therefore provides an ideal solution in that a copy of your data is extracted to Tech4T where we undertake data preparation and merge any third party lists, enhance data, apply analytics, and undertake the system build and refresh process as and when required. The securely hosted KbaseT system is available to users via their web browser 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.   Top

Could we run KbaseT 24/7 in-house if we wanted - especially as our data feeds would remain static and we would like to have daily updates? Also how long does it take to refresh our data after it is extracted from our operating systems?

We currently have business intelligence (BI) software. Why do we need KbaseT 24/7 as well?

First, business intelligence tools such as Cognos PowerPlay/Impromptu, Business Objects, Brio, etc. are great for in-depth slice-and-dice management reporting, but they are not tactical database marketing or mailing tools. They should be considered complementary to KbaseT - often sharing similar data feeds. For instance, you cannot undertake ultra fast counts, RFM analysis, make complex selections, perform full-circle predictive modelling and then plan and manage multi-stage marketing campaigns with BI tools. But you can with KbaseT 24/7.   Top

What propensity scoring and modelling does KbaseT 24/7 offer that we cannot already do with our statistical analysis software? 

With statistical analysis software such as SAS, SPSS, Statistica, KXEN, etc., experienced analysts can undertake in-depth data investigation and generate powerful predictive and forecasting models with ease. However, to first get the data ready for the analysis - including flattening transactional data to a single customer record - could take several days to complete, and then, once the models are created and scores produced, it is often a very complex or near impossible process to successfully score the full customer or prospect base. This is mainly due to the operational database fields being in a different format to that used for analysis, files/data used for modelling not linked or not available across the total database, or restrictions in creating new fields on the operational database to hold the predictive scores.

With KbaseT 24/7, as the data preparation and descriptive labelling for analysis has already been undertaken as part of the build/refresh process, then no further preparation is needed. Secondly, comparing the profile characteristics across data subsets can include fields from different levels/tables - even one-to-many - without prior aggregation. KbaseT can next take the weights applied to each piece of information (generated using a technique called PWE - predicted weight of evidence) and automatically create a new field against every record on the database to hold the summarised predictive scores.  What-if modelling can be undertaken to explore cost vs. anticipated response, a gains chart created together with financial outcome charts and then, based on an acceptable ROI threshold, the individuals across the database with the highest propensity scores selected for output for mailing or prioritised telemarketing.

And the whole process can take less than 30 minutes!  In addition, the profiling and scoring could be undertaken by a competent marketer (leaving the statistician free for more complex tasks) who could also create their own variables/fields to hold new scores. These can store the output from externally created models which can be imported directly into KbaseT for further modelling or selection. Finally, the analyst can use KbaseT as an analytical data repository - being able to select and export formatted data direct to their statistical software for more in-depth analysis.    Top

As we are currently implementing a company-wide data warehouse, will KbaseT 24/7 deliver any additional benefits?

Yes. A data warehouse can take many months or even years to implement and even then won't usually focus on marketing needs in isolation. In addition the data warehouse will still need specialist front end tools (such as KbaseT) and a data mart to deliver marketing intelligence.  

KbaseT 24/7 will enable marketers to enjoy the advantages of predictive targeting and database marketing from the outset. You cannot put marketing on hold waiting on I.T. development as the business will suffer!  The KbaseT development should also help the data warehouse learning process as to which data to use for marketing and how it is best linked.     Top

How is KbaseT 24/7 different from a sales lead, contact management or CRM system?

The KbaseT 24/7 on-line targeting solution would usually sit alongside a contact management or CRM system and be used in the main for dedicated database marketing - including prospect and customer targeting and bulk mailing.  KbaseT 24/7 brings together all aspects of customer information together with multiple mailing lists to give the marketing team a single view of their data. This can be analysed and converted to mailing files in seconds, with no complex search queries to write.

One of the key differences is that KbaseT allows you to use ALL transactional data - such as sales lines, trading data, etc. - for ultra fast selections and profiling. It will sum up - in a few seconds - thousands or even tens of millions of values, and present summary information such as lifetime spend or profit by product line, which you can use to select customers. You can also use transactional data to make recency, frequency and value selections.

With KbaseT the field content is both flexible and straightforward to change - thus keeping pace with evolving marketing needs and any ongoing requirement to merge varying external prospect lists and data sources. A contact management system on the other hand would need to be fairly rigid in its structure as it is used as a day-to-day relationship building tool for the sales force - facilitating and keeping track of every communication or conversation with the customer or prospect, and handling appointment setting and recording the outcome.

Another key difference is that as contact management and CRM systems are being continuously accessed by sales and operational staff, running a complex selection or data extract/import could significantly degrade the system performance - often bringing the system to a halt. As KbaseT is using a copy of the CRM database, then all activities undertaken have no effect on CRM system performance.

Marketers can also work in closer synergy with sales teams to support and strengthen their sales efforts, with KbaseT 24/7 handling the support mailings and automatically feeding campaign communication history, responses and derived next action indicators into a dedicated contact management system such as Goldmine or Siebel, or to an in-house developed system probably running on MS SQL Server or Oracle. Updated sales results can then be fed back into KbaseT.  Alternatively and/or in addition, lists of those targeted could be prioritised by score and fed - as files, reports or maps - to a call centre or to sales/telesales staff for follow-up.  This is Analytical CRM.    Top

We are really new to database marketing and want to start off with an entry level PC based system for fast counts, selection and analysis, and then migrate to the KbaseT 24/7 predictive targeting solution later. Do you have an option for this?

Yes. We can provide KbaseT Lite powered by FastStats Classic.
Click here for details.  Top