Is your institution thinking about "data warehousing" of customer information?
In today's banking environment, the customer is once again king. Banks that recognize this are succeeding.
But many banks are out of step with the market or lack the confidence to reengineer themselves.
They are destined to go the way of the dinosaurs.
Reengineering from a product or service focus to a customer-relationship focus with a data warehouse or any other technology means refocusing all internal activities.
It requires internalizing who the customer is, what the customer wants, and exactly when, where, and how the customer wants it.
This fundamental shift in outlook is the secret to designing products, to customer acquisition and retention, and to maximizing customer lifetime value.
Properly planned data warehouses can help in all of these areas.
Reengineering from a product to customer-relationship focus does not mean starting over, as many current business books would have you think.
It means using new methods and tools wisely to orchestrate fundamental changes to the business environment.
Organizations that succeed in reengineering set realistic expectations. They build a solid game plan - they know what they want to accomplish and why. And they stick to their plans, through good times and bad.
Implementing data warehouses is not an overnight affair.
These winners focus on steady progress toward shared goals. They understand that with this focus they can win the long race.
The winner's game plan is built with senior management's commitment and involvement from the very beginning. There is never any misunderstanding about who is behind the reengineering efforts.
The company's senior executives invariably insist that the reengineering be driven by an executive who has the resources, respect, and grit to see the process through from beginning to end.
Though reengineering often involves consultants who bring cross-industry and subject-matter expertise to the endeavor, consultants seldom drive the process.
It is not uncommon to see the chief operating officer directly assume the command position.
Organizations that have succeeded in reengineering have an executive management team with a shared approach to the endeavor and the ability to communicate that vision throughout the enterprise.
Those that lack a shared vision or fail to communicate it pursue change with far fewer strategic reasons, and often for poorly defined objectives. They focus on short-term gratification wrapped around cost cutting, and - more often - narrow technological goals.
The warehouse or any other linchpin in reengineering will not happen overnight, and never unless everyone buys in.
A sign of lack of vision is when the reengineering programs are initiated by the information systems organization, whose goal is to introduce a new generation of technology wrapped around new hardware, trend-setting software, or both.
While these information systems goals are often laudable in themselves, they cannot sustain or replace a program driven by an executive team with a single vision.
Finally, no attempt to move an organization from product to customer relationship focus can succeed without front-line involvement.
The most successful customer-focused reengineering plans almost always imply a bank that is fully informed and fully committed, from the chief executive officer right down to the newest employee.
Mr. Vallieres is senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Innovative Group, a data base software firm in Pittsburgh.
