By David Sims
[email protected]
The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music
is X’s More Fun In The New World, the
last great album by the last American band that mattered:
As the first step in what company officials are calling a “major
European CRM initiative,” Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical
company, has announced that it will
deploy Siperian Hub XT in an effort to create a Consolidated Customer Master as
“one true source” of customer data across all of its European and Canadian
markets.
Pfizer’s CCM will serve as “a significant part of the data
foundation for upcoming CRM initiatives,” officials explain.
Pfizer intends to use Siperian Hub XT to unify customer
information from multiple systems and functional areas across 22 markets. In
taking this step, Pfizer claims it will become “the first international
customer to take advantage of the recently announced Siperian Hub XT and its
international capabilities.”
In an effort to maximize and integrate their corporate data
assets including customer (i.e. prescribers, pharmacists, governmental
entities, organizations, and patients), locations and products, Pfizer’s CCM
will unify customer information from multiple sources and systems, create and
maintain what officials hope is “a unique, complete and accurate customer
profile,” making that profile information available to all operational
applications in real-time.
Justin Sowers, Director of Global Business Technology for
Pfizer, said “ultimately, the CCM will enable the business to perform
sophisticated analytics to derive actionable customer insights. A well-designed
data model and web services layer will facilitate integration with other
enterprise systems and scaling to all EuCan markets, from a technology
perspective.”
Evidently creating a unique and scalable master data hub is
tougher than normal for pharmaceutical companies, given their varying data sets
and hierarchies. According to a January 9, 2006 Gartner report titled “Creating
the Single Customer View With Customer Data Integration,” analyst John
Radcliffe said “pharmaceutical companies… have the normal consistency and data
quality problems because of fragmented internal systems, but they have
additional challenges because of their reliance on the acquisition and use of
external third-party data to understand the behavior of prescribing physicians.”
…
Bad news for those of us who believe the
theory behind CRM is that customer
satisfaction is the magic key to business: The airlines.
It’s a commonplace to note that airline service is getting
worse – people tell First Coffee that some American airlines are charging for
pillows now. Pillows. Thank God I
live in a part of the world where you still get free beer and wine on flights.
And I must diverge with TMC Dear Leader and Nobel
Laureate Rich Tehrani, who says airlines charging for food is a good idea,
presumably on the theory that it keeps costs down. It doesn’t, what it does is
create a new set of costs for those who want food. In other words, if a $200 ticket gets you a
flight and food and the airline switches to a pay-for-food model, your ticket
price doesn’t go down to $195 if you don’t want the food, it goes to $205 if
you do.
Anyway another of those studies showing that complaints
about airline customer service are on the rise (yawn) was released, showing
that JetBlue and other low-fare airlines
once again held the top rankings in a national survey of carrier quality, according
to the Associated Press, followed by Air
Tran, Independence Air and perennial
customer satisfaction poster child Southwest.
Now the bad news – “Independence has since gone out of
business.”
Wha… how… who… how can this be? Their customer service
satisfaction numbers were top of the class, companies who do that don’t go out
of business within a year, do they? It’s the ones all customers hate for
unusually bad service, the Braniffs and Pan Ams, the Piedmonts and TWAs who
disappear, right? You mean… business plans matter too?
The AP reports that Brent Bowen, a study co-author and
professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Aviation Institute, says
customers are less satisfied with airline service because carriers have slashed
jobs and rolled back workers’ pay and benefits, developments that affect
customer service.
“The demoralized work force is probably contributing to the
fact that the consumer doesn’t feel as well-treated any more,” Bowen told the
AP.
Somebody doesn’t get it, though. The AP theorizes that “Intense
competition from low-fare airlines and high jet-fuel prices have forced many
established carriers to cut back or charge passengers for amenities.”
Okay, then explain why the low-fare airlines have higher
customer satisfaction scores than the “established carriers.”
You know, just once I want to see someone from the airline
industry come out and say what they all know: “We’ve got the monopoly on providing
the service, and if you don’t like it you can drive from Dallas to Los Angeles,
pal. Now shut up and get back in line.”
Tidbits to chew on from the study:
Southwest Airlines had the lowest rate of complaints, 0.18
per 100,000 passengers, while US Airways had the highest, 1.86. And ATA had the
highest rate of denied boardings, 2.75 per 10,000 passengers; JetBlue had the
lowest at 0.
Get that? Zero.
In related news, JetBlue will offer spa products on its coast-to-coast
redeye flights, according to AP, “overnight passengers kits that contain eye
masks, earplugs, moisturizer, lip balm and a promotional offer from the spa
company.” Just to show they care. Little things that matter.
The airline has also started offering a self-serve pantry
filled with snacks and hot towels on the flights, part of what JetBlue is
calling “Shut-Eye” service. Money quote: Eric Brinker, JetBlue’s director of
product development and customer experience, says “JetBlue is not going to be
the airline to nickel and dime its customers.”
Look for JetBlue to win next year too.
…
The JGS Group, specialists in reimbursement
intelligence (there’s a field First
Coffee wasn’t aware existed) and strategies for the medical device industry,
have announced a service that will
deploy ad hoc contact center services for medical device companies in the midst
of a recall.
JGS will provide toll-free telephone and e-mail contact
centers where device manufacturers can refer customers and physicians during a
recall to obtain billing and reimbursement information.
“In our experience with the clients using our contact center
services, call volume can more than triple for companies after a recall is
implemented,” said Jennifer Murray, President and CEO of the JGS Group. “Sales
reps, physicians and patients want billing and reimbursement information as
quickly as possible for the recalled devices to help ensure immediate care.”
Makes sense, kind of like the Christmas rush. The Recall
Reimbursement Intelligence Contact Center service offers such features as a contact
center that can be set up in 24-48 hours, replete with a dedicated toll-free
phone line, e-mail account, and fax number for questions or requests for
recall-related reimbursement information.
They’re also promising trained reimbursement associates with
expertise in coding, coverage and other recall-related information; recorded
phone calls to protect the client in audits and subpoenas; short-term
contracts: 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, 12 month, depending on magnitude of the
recall; scripted communications; a database detailing all contact center
interactions; and periodic reports documenting each interaction.
First Coffee suspects another professional target market for
this product will be tort lawyers who file class-action medical suits, since
they work as assiduously as the medical device companies to collect this sort
of info on the same recalls.
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