1to1 Magazine - November/December 2008 - (Page 40) hot topics DATABASE/ANALYTICS | CUSTOMER SERVICE | SALES | MARKETING > continued from page 39 Benefits of Centralized Business Intelligence Bettermanagement.com’s survey “How Do You Plan for Business Intelligence?,” found that organizations that centralize BI see the following benefits: Increased usage of business intelligence Increased business user satisfaction Better understanding of the value Increased decisionmaking speed Decreased staff costs Decreased software costs 74% 48% 45% 45% 26% 2% practices. Additionally, analysts in different regions should build their own models based on their situation. Dell is one company working to unify its data globally. Until recently the company managed its advertising and marketing information in many different data silos. When Casey Jones, vice president of global marketing at Dell, came on board last year he discovered that the company had hundreds of agencies working for it—all branding the company differently and working with separate sets of A Refreshingly Unusual Approach to Service Online company FreshBooks uses a personal touch (and fun) to deliver exceptional customer experiences. “I was running a professional services firm,” says FreshBooks cofounder and CEO Mike McDerment, “and I was using Microsoft Word and Excel for invoicing. One day I accidentally saved over something in Excel, and everything fell apart. I didn’t know who had paid what, and it was then that I decided to build something else.” The prototype for FreshBooks was for McDerment’s own records, but within a year the application officially became available to customers. “We really wanted to redefine online invoicing,” McDerment says. The Toronto-based company, which now has some 500,000 CUSTOMER SERVICE people using its service, allows customers to create and manage invoices, track time and expenses, and create reports. But what truly sets FreshBooks apart is its approach to customers. “At the root of our approach is the belief that relationships with “At the root of our approach is the belief that relationships with people are the currency of our business.” people are the currency of our business,” McDerment says. “We do our best to deepen those relationships and to exceed expectations.” For example, FreshBooks works to be available to customers in multiple channels. The company’s telephone number takes up prime real estate at the top of its homepage. And customer interactions are welcome via such Web 2.0 technologies as Twitter (www.twitter.com/freshbooks) and the “FreshThinking” blog (www.freshbooks.com/blog/), where customers are encouraged to voice opinions, share ideas or issues, and offer suggestions. McDerment has gone so far as to codify the company’s approach as “4E’s,” which stands for “Execute on Extraordinary Experiences Everyday.” “You can have a ton of ideas,” he says, “but if you don’t execute and do something with them, you’re not really doing your job.” The “Extraordinary” factor is evidenced by the fact that phone calls are promptly answered by an employee—no voice directories or away messages are used—and email inquiries are replied to within two business hours. “We’re lucky that people have extraordinarily low expectations in this area, due to what other companies do,” McDerment laughs. “It represents a great opportunity for us.” FreshBooks also prides itself on being “a little bit different,” he adds. Official company titles include “Chief Cat Herder” and “Head of Magic,” while the invoicing system will occasionally send out a message to the effect that “It’s Coffee Time!” or “Bam!” “That’s part of our ‘Experience’ feature,” he says. “Pretty much anyone can build an online service, but to go a little further and www.1to1media.com http://www.sas.com/consult/bicc.html http://www.twitter.com/freshbooks http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/ http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/ http://www.1to1media.com
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