SAS LAUNCHES 'CUSTOMER DECISION HUB' FOR COMPANIES TO ACHIEVE 'OMNI-CHANNEL' EXPERIENCE

Director of business advisory Rene van der Laan told The Nation in an exclusive interview that this bundle of products could help businesses achieve an “omni-channel” experience – that is, consistent, personalised and in-context experiences at all customers’ touch points, including online and offline channels such as calls, points-of-sale, e-mail, websites, mobile apps, text messages and social-media posts.

Due to the proliferation of customers’ touch-points, companies have struggled to ensure consistent communications with their consumers. In this regard, van der Laan said SAS’s Customer Decision Hub could help firms centralise their decisions across multiple marketing channels.

“For example, if banks’ interest rates goes up, they need to communicate that to their clients, or they may combine it with their [marketing] campaigns,” he said.

SAS’s Customer Decision Hub, competing against SAP’s customer-relationship-management solution, is predominantly used for marketing but also can be used for other customer-related activities such as sales and fraud-prevention.

Taveesak Saengthong, managing director of SAS Software (Thailand), said that at some European banks which have installed Customer Decision Hub, when a customer uses his ATM card and there is not enough money in his account, the bank can instantly come up with a pre-approved credit offer.

“This solution comes in the right place at the right time. Because of a sluggish economy, Thai firms will find its benefits,” he said.

Customer Decision Hub starts from an entry-level solution called Visual Analytics that is priced at just over Bt1 million, to the most sophisticated packs that cost over Bt100 million. Siam City Insurance is one  of the first two Thai companies that have bought SAS’s Visual Analytics, in addition to four other companies here that have bought medium-sized solutions.

Taveesak said Visual Analytics provided Siam City Insurance with in-depth analytics capability that was expected to help the firm to save costs on purchases of car parts from various sources to service its auto-insurance customers, and to help identify its most profitable clients.

Besides its capability to help firms integrate their internal marketing channels, Customer Decision Hub can also work across different companies that agree to share their data to help them all learn through their customers’ journeys.

“For example, banks see money transactions and purchasing power of their customers, while retailers know their shopping behaviour, and the telcos know their movements. When we bring this three-dimensional database [together], it will offer a single view on customers’ behaviour that is very useful,” he said.

Taveesak said that already in Thailand a retailer was discussing with a mobile-phone operator on sharing their Customer Decision Hub data, and he believes a tripartite partnership will occur soon, as banks will eventually join in.

Van der Laan said he believed that Asia, despite its slower start, would overtake Europe in the adoption of Customer Decision Hub, since unlike European firms that have to overcome their “legacy” systems, Asian firms can make a “greenfield” start. He cited automated teller machines as evidence of his hypothesis. “If you see the ATMs in Europe, they are dumb. In Asia, the ATMs are smarter,” he said.