Teradata Preps for CRM Version 5.0 Launch

NCR subsidiary Teradata plans to roll out version 5.0 of its CRM software in August. Now in the beta-testing stage, the upgraded enterprise-marketing suite features redesigned segmentation and administration interfaces, multistep e-mail and direct mail capability, automated implementation processes and better system-management functionality, according to the company.

The application — geared toward the communications, financial services, government, insurance, manufacturing, retail, and travel and transportation industries — is designed to trigger real-time communications based on certain operational events, provide personalization for all channels, and speed lead management and interaction capture.

Getting Specific

The end goal of CRM Version 5.0 is to identify industry-specific business opportunities by pinpointing, for instance, not only customers who did something during a specific period, but also those who did not do it. One example might be those who have not used an ATM in the last month.

Specificity is important in other ways, too. Teradata uses the term “right-time” to refer to personalized messages delivered at the most opportune time for the customer and the business.

Speed, often an implied attribute of real-time communication, is not always the issue, according to Heather Anderson, assistant vice president for customer management at Teradata, a division of NCR. Instead, quality, relevance and business value are at the heart of the matter, she told CRM Buyer.

“Everybody in CRM talks about real-time and right-time,” Anderson said. “What differs is how each vendor goes about solving things. It depends what type of message you are trying to convey and calculate.”

Getting Real

In this case, Teradata’s new product features, such as the ability to provide anonymous user profiles and campaigns, as well as personalization and multichannel capability, “bring the product closer to reaching functional parity with other best-in-class enterprise marketing solutions,” Liz Shahnam Roche, vice president of technology research services at Meta Group, told CRM Buyer.

Occupying the competitive enterprise-marketing space are the likes of E.piphany, SAS and Unica — and, to a lesser extent, some CRM giants such as Siebel, Roche said, adding that Teradata’s new offering potentially could do well.

“Teradata might have an opportunity to be a bit stronger than some of its competitors in incorporating verticalization,” Gartner research director Kimberly Collins told CRM Buyer. “We’re seeing more analytics vendors develop specific value propositions around industry segments — leveraging data models specific to financial-service institutions, for example.”

However, Collins issued a caveat to customers about comparing different companies’ offerings: “When you look at a vertical like financial services, you have to look at what specific sectors are being targeted.”

Making It Simple

Despite Teradata’s increased functionality, users need not be technologically inclined, according to the company. The interface, which adheres to Microsoft standards, is more intuitive than that of previous versions, Teradata claims. In addition, the company has consolidated functions into fewer modules — 11 rather than 20.

While a basic analysis and segmentation package starts at US$50,000, more advanced capabilities, such as campaign management and event-based marketing, start at roughly $140,000.