The most recent copy of Information Management had the image below on page 8.  What’s funny is the person figure on the left looks like it’s wearing pants.  Oh wait, those aren’t pants, the blue is part of the data visualization.  The person on the right looks to be wearing orange work boots or ski boots for that matter.  The article by Julie Langenkamp is interesting and discusses how small vendors tend to rank much higher than large vendors in product support and other areas.

[image source]

[image source]

It appears that small vendors scored better than large vendors in every single category of complaints as shown in the chart above.  In the chart below, you will see that small vendors appeared to provide more benefit to the customer/client than large or medium vendors.

[image source]

There’s a lot more to the article if you are interested in business intelligence. 

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Business Intelligence Vendor Size is Important is a post from the Support Analytics Blog

Below you will find a few images from the recent copy of Information Management in regards to Analytics [source].  A little bit over a year ago, I posted about the most desirable traits of recent graduates with analytics being third.  It’s no surprise to me that if you want to be successful, get a good job, and keep a job that having powerful analytic skills will be the key.

At least a third of companies surveyed stated they have a shortage of analytic talent!

Fifty percent of them said the shortage will be more significant in 12 months!

Sixty-three percent of the companies surveyed stated they need to increase their analytic capabilities!

A little less than half of all business decisions are still made based on judgement…

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Information Management (2 of 2) is a post from the Support Analytics Blog

According to the 2008 Customer Service survey that JD Power & Associates administered, a few of the companies that scored the highest were: USAA (#1), Starbucks (#6) and Nordstrom (#16).

My last post appears to have been perfect timing to this press release. After a great experience at Nordstrom, I was not shocked to see them in the top twenty. Equally not as shocking was the company listed in the top spot, USAA, which I am a proud member and appreciate every bit of their excellent customer service.

BusinessWeek has the list of the top 50, which can be found here. These companies are doing things that separate them from the pack, which many executives could do well to mimic. You probably won’t find any bargain-type companies on the list, but you will find high-quality, elite service and no hassles.

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No surprises here! is a post from the Support Analytics Blog

Do you want to know the difference between Macy’s and Nordstrom? Try returning something! Yes, I know you will probably pay more at Nordstrom. But, I’m willing to bet you’ve heard the phrase, “you get what you pay for”, which applies here.

Macy’s:

Returns:

After Christmas, I needed to return a few things at Macy’s. I walked into the store with my wife and 2-year old daughter. I went to the first counter I saw after going into the store, which happened to be the Men’s Department. Here is what ensued:

Me: [to the Sales person behind the counter] “I would like to return a few things.”

Employee: [taking my bag] “Sure, let’s see what you have.”

Me: “Men’s pants, men’s shoes, women’s shirt.”

Employee: “I can take the pants, but you need to return the other items to their respective departments.”

Me: “Are you serious? I just want a store credit?”

Employee: “Yes, it’s the only way you can get the correct price for each item.”

Note: You can purchase an item from any department at any register in the store (getting the correct price), but only return items to the corresponding department! I’m not a department store expert, but I am an expert in data and something doesn’t make sense here.

Me: Hmmm, that doesn’t make sense. “Is there a customer service counter I can take them all to?”

Employee: “No, they don’t take returns.”

Me: [rhetorical] “What do they do in customer service?”

Me: “That’s absurd. Does that make sense or seem like good customer service to you?”

Employee: “Yes, you want to be refunded the right price, right?”

It took about 40 minutes to wait in line at each of the different departments to return my items. You can be assured that I will never shop at Macy’s again. I can only assume that the reason they don’t take back items from other departments is because they are too lazy to have to walk items to the other areas.

Sports Jacket:

On another occasion, I bought a Hilfiger sports jacked from Macy’s that was exactly in my price range – $200. After trying it on and the tailor making all of their chalk marks, I was told it would be ready in two weeks. Upon returning, the cashier scanned the jacket along with four other amounts totaling $250 [25% more than expected].

Me: “What are those charges for?”

Employee: “the tailoring.”

Me: “I thought the tailoring was included in the price.”

Employee: [with a sigh and disappointed look] “No sir, the tailoring is never included.”

Me: “They are at Nordstrom.”

Granted, I will probably pay more for the same item at Nordstrom (the tailoring is built into the price), but I feel a lot better when I’m not surprised.

Nordstrom:

Shoes:

A few years back, I purchased a pair of Kenneth Cole – Reaction dress shoes ($130) from Nordstrom. After a few months of wearing them a few times a week, the sole literally split in half. I was reluctant to take them back because they were worn, but thought they should have lasted much longer from normal wear.

Remember – this is months after the purchase.

Me: “I would like to return a pair of shoes that seem to be defective.” [showing him the shoes]

Employee: [taking the shoes] “Let me take a look. Wow, that shouldn’t have happened.”

Me: “Yeah, I know.”

Employee: “Would you like a refund or would you like another pair?”

Me: “It may be the style of shoe so I would like to look at some other styles and brands.”

Employee: “Sure, no problem.”

I ended up with a pair of Kenneth Cole (not Reaction) shoes ($200) that lasted years and were worn regularly. I pledged that I would only shop at Nordstrom for shoes in the future. They gained me as a loyal customer for life from that one transaction. Later, I learned that they have a no questions asked policy for returns.

Jeans:

On another recent occasion, a sales person sold me on a pair of Mavi ($150) jeans just because he was so helpful and friendly. I went into the store not even thinking about jeans. Try going into Macy’s and find someone that is willing to ring up your purchase. It’s a hassle…

Here is an excerpt from Nordstrom’s mission, which says it all:

“The company’s philosophy has remained unchanged for more than 100 years since its establishment by John W. Nordstrom in 1901: offer the customer the best possible service, selection, quality and value.” Click here for the source.

Conclusion:

I am willing to pay more, like many other customers, for a clean store, organized departments, extremely pleasant employees and no hassles or inconveniences. There is a good reason why Capital One is so successful with their No-Hassle Rewards Credit Card. I will never shop at Macy’s again.

No matter what business you are in, excellent customer service will help you win and keep loyal customers. Even when your prices are higher, people are willing to pay more for convenience, quality and peace of mind.

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Customer Service Lesson – Pricing Data Management is a post from the Support Analytics Blog

Business Objects released the results of a survey that attempted to see if corporate Executives were able to make informed business decisions.  Here are some highlights from the survey results:

• 154 Global C-Level Executives surveyed
• Less than 10% of Executives believe they have the necessary information needed to make critical business decisions
• More than 50% of these Executives are concerned about poor decision-making due to the lack of adequate information
• Twenty-five percent believe that Management frequently or always gets its decisions wrong
• Seventy-two percent of executives believe management decision-making is only moderately efficient – or worse

In an earlier post, I suggested we will start to see a proliferation of companies filling the position of Chief Analytics Officer, which, if done right, should bring some relief to Executives making decisions based on their gut.  It blows my mind that leaders are still making decisions without having all of the facts.  Reminds me of Reverse Analytics!  The most shocking statistic from this survey is that less than 10% of Executives believe that they have adequate data to make critical business decisions.  Utterly shocking!

My suggestion, start by reading Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning.   This book by Tom Davenport and Jeanne Harris does an excellent job establishing the concept of building a competitive strategy around data-driven insights.  If you find yourself culpable of informal and ad-hoc decision-making, then do yourself a favor and retain some assistance!  Don’t fall into the trap that so many do, of making a large investment in software to solve the problem.  Fixing a problem like this is just as much about the right skill sets and knowledge, then it is a large BI software platform. 

I also find it very convenient that this article hit the news right after rumors appeared that Business Objects may be up for sale.  On September 17, Reuters reported that Business Objects has retained Goldman Sacs as advisors.  Stay tuned!

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Scarce Decision Support Analytics! is a post from the Support Analytics Blog

On August 7^th, there was an article written on the DM Review website by Peter Graham, which you can get to by clicking here. 

Graham summarizes the article with this sentence:

1. There should be a Chief Analytics Office solely responsible for company-wide analytics; a true function, similar to Finance or Marketing
2. Analytics needs to be more than reporting data that already happened (little value)
3. Predictive analytics should be the immediate focus to differentiate in the marketplace (enormous value)
4. Organizations need to commit to analytics and value it as a true competency
5. Working intimately with the CIO is imperative to the success of an analytic function

The major challenge I see is the development of a platform that addresses both data warehouse and analytical needs.  There are many products that do a moderately good job at one or the other, but none that excel in both areas.

I believe the fundamental message of Graham’s is summed up in the table below, taken from Graham’s article.  The chart depicts the set of organizational shifts that need to take place in order for a CAO to be successful.

Note two very important points in the chart above; the shift of culture and business knowledge.  Functional departments need to stop hoarding the information they are responsible for, holding onto the argument that they are closest to the data and must know it best. 

Most often you have many different departments using their home-grown frankensheets (I have to give Rob Bruce and Juice Analytics credit for this one) to support their analyses.  There is much synergy to be gained by taking the analytic function out of the departments, who probably don’t boast the expertise, and giving it to the experts that would fall under the CAO.  I may be able to do a fairly good job building a deck, but an expert carpenter could get it done much faster and precisely by having all of the right tools and experience!

I would be willing to bet that you will start to see a shift in organizations to adopt the role of a Chief Analytics Officer very soon.

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Chief Analytics Officer (CAO) is a post from the Support Analytics Blog

As mentioned in an earlier post, Decision Support Analytics recently moved from Richmond, VA to Columbia, MD.  This was a move for the business as well as for my family.  Being that I work from home, I contacted my current cable/internet provider [Comcast] at least three weeks in advance to schedule the new services and a date for installation.  I needed to cancel everything at my old location and set up all of the new services at the new location.  Why they couldn’t just transfer the services is beyond me. 

What happened next utterly astonished me.  My appointment was between 12:00pm and 4:30pm on July 2^nd.  Normally, the wide window irritates me, but because I was going to be home anyway, I was okay with it.  Twelve o’clock comes and goes; Two o’clock comes and goes; Four-thirty comes and still no sign of the technician so I call the call center.  If you have ever called Comcast, you normally get a different person each time at which point you need to explain the problem from beginning to end.  Hence, the fiasco begins. 

4:30PM:

I explain to the Customer Service Representative that I had an appointment between 12:00pm and 4:30pm and it’s now 4:30pm and no one has come by.  I am informed that they can only see the appointment.  Once the actual day arrives, the information is transferred to their dispatcher who talks directly with the technician.  They won’t give you the dispatcher’s number so you can talk to them directly, that would be too logical.  They place me on hold for about 10-15 minutes while they reach the dispatcher and they in turn call the technician to see where they are.  The Rep comes back and says they were delayed and it will be around 5:00pm.

5:30PM

No one has shown up yet so I call Comcast back.  I talk to a different person because shifts have now changed, explain the ordeal again, and wait on hold another 10-15 minutes.  They come back and say they are still delayed and it will be about an hour.  However, they reassured me someone would be there tonight to get me set up.  You can see where this is going…

7:20PM

Still no technician and no one has called me at all today to give me any information.  At this point, I’m just a bit irate [hint of sarcasm], so I call them back and escalate the issue.  Now they say it will be another hour, but someone is DEFINITELY going to be by.  I have already explained that I work out of my house and it’s critical that I get up and running tonight.

9:00PM

[Patience shot] I started the process over again and contacted Customer Service.  What happened next absolutely astonished me!  After holding, so they could check with the dispatcher, the Rep comes back and says, “Mr. Rose, that job has been completed”.   Wait, it gets better… After about 30 minutes of me, (obviously upset) explaining to the Rep that no one came by and they obviously lied about completing the job, I suggested that they just get someone out first thing in the morning to complete the job.  That would be the correct solution, right?  Wrong!  Apparently, Comcast already lined up their jobs and confirmed them for the next day, July 3^rd.  Then they’re closed for the July 4^th holiday.  She explains that the next available appointment is July 5^th between 12:30 to 4:30.   I got heated, but never disrespectful, at that point.  I must have said that their solution was grossly unacceptable at least 20 times. 

I share this with you to illustrate all of the things NOT to do in customer service or designing business processes, which is related to an earlier post on good customer service at Walgreens and Ukrops.

I did get service installed on July 5^th and was pleased with the technician they sent.  I told them I wanted action taken on the first technician that lied.  In the end, I have service; with a customer credit of $75 for my aggravation.  That would have covered about 30 minutes of my time…  I probably shouldn’t ever have to pay another Comcast bill for the rest of my life to get over this debacle.

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Comcast: Not So “Comcastic!” is a post from the Support Analytics Blog

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I want to thank you for your continued support and subscription. This blog is better because of you.

A lesson in customer service! is a post from the Support Analytics Blog

In one of my earlier blog posts, I listed the five areas where I found successful managers excelled based on research I did for my thesis.  Last night, while perusing the new copy of BusinessWeek, I found a great article that lists seven tips for nurturing leaders in an organization.  The seven tips are:

1. Dare to differentiate
2. Constantly raise the bar
3. Don’t be friends with the boss
4. Become easy to replace
5. Be inclusive
6. Free up others to do their jobs
7. Keep it simple

I won’t go into the details on each of these, but check out the free article on BW’s website to learn more.  These are great tips and support some of my thesis research findings.   In general, I think managers fall short in many of these areas, but especially with number four.  Maybe it’s because they think they will be working themselves out of a job…  Many people tend to keep information to themselves and never find time to update documentation.  Can you say, “Job security”?  If you want to be successful in a management role, try improving in one or all of these areas!  Start today and I don’t think you will be disappointed come your next performance review.

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Seven tips for nurturing leaders! is a post from the Support Analytics Blog

I wanted to share with you a quote I read in a blog at Trusted Advisor.  The article is titled, “Seductive Analytics“, posted on February 12th.  In two previous posts, Start with the little things and 5 C’s to successful management, I mention the importance of integrity.  The quote below is very fitting! 

“Integrity is a lot like being pregnant…either you are or you aren’t…there’s no such thing as being a little bit pregnant.”

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Integrity is a post from the Support Analytics Blog