Data Strategy articles from April 2006

Data Strategy archives from April 2006

Time for government to embrace fraud war.
April 11, 2006... It's fair to say the authorities have plenty of experience in battling identity fraud, and, of course, there have been many high-profile cases. But for every person who gets caught - from Catch Me If You Can legend Frank Abagnale, who...

Telegraph hands LBM Business Club drive.
April 11, 2006... The Daily Telegraph has signed an exclusive two-year deal for data and contact centre specialist LBM to handle acquisition and retention campaigns for its Business Club. LBM, whose contract runs until the end of 2007, initially started...

IN BRIEF: 'Cardholder not present' fraud shows massive increase.(Brief article)
April 11, 2006... 'Cardholder not present' (CNP) fraud rocketed by 21 per cent last year to a cost of #183.2m, despite a 13 per cent drop in overall UK card fraud, according to the Association of Payment Clearing Houses. CNP fraud has been growing for the...

Acxiom Euro boss heads back to US.
April 11, 2006... Acxiom European boss Kevin Zaffaroni is returning to the company's US headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas, after two years in the role, to take up an executive post reporting to company leader and chairman Charles Morgan. He is being...

Drive Vauxhall signs up to Experian AutoLocate tool.
April 11, 2006... Drive Vauxhall, one of the UK's most successful car dealership chains, is looking to boost its Web exposure and maximise car sales by adopting an Internet marketing service. The firm has signed up to Experian's AutoLocate scheme, which...

Vernons slashes duplicate mail with DQ Global Match.
April 11, 2006... Football pools company Vernons is to employ software to ensure mailings are free from duplicate data. Vernons relies heavily on direct marketing, generating up to 14 million pieces of mail per year, at an average cost of 79p each. The...

IN BRIEF: DS-J lends support to Anorak start-up.(Brief article)
April 11, 2006... Direct shop DS-J is backing the launch of specialist data planning and consultancy agency Anorak. Headed by former Carlson data consultant Bal Chauhan, it will bring a creative approach to data that is ideas - rather than process- driven....

IN BRIEF: Silent calls not main driver of TPS surge.(Brief article)
April 11, 2006... Only 8 per cent of consumers who register for the Telephone Preference Service do so in reaction to silent calls, according to figures from the DMA (UK). The vast majority - 96 per cent - sign up to stop unwanted sales and marketing calls, 7...

Sun to probe readers in polls.
April 11, 2006... News International is setting up an instant poll service to gauge the opinions of The Sun readers on controversial topics. The publisher has briefed its communications company Broadsystem to produce the news-led polls at short notice and...

Data Locator Group in management buyout.
April 11, 2006... Data Locator Group has been bought out by its management, led by chief executive Jeremy Whitaker, in a #25m deal which sees the team take control from founder Simon Johnson. Under the deal, secured in conjunction with private equity firm...

IN BRIEF: ICO publishes legal advice on recording professional opinions.(Brief article)
April 11, 2006... The Information Commissioner's Office has published simple advice for teachers, social workers, doctors and nurses on how to record professional opinions and what to do when these are challenged under the Data Protection Act. David Smith,...

Unica snaps up Sane Solutions.
April 11, 2006... Marketing software specialist Unica has purchased online analysis firm Sane Solutions in a deal thought to be worth between $26m (#14.8m) and $28m. Sane specialises in the analysis of online customer behaviour and Web traffic. In 2005,...

EuroDirect boosts Cameo household segmentation.
April 11, 2006... EuroDirect has remodelled Cameo Lifestyle to boost its ability to provide customer insight and prospecting power. The household-level segmentation system, which is claimed to be easy to use and simple to interpret, enables firms to...

192.Com adds ER to offer 500m records.
April 11, 2006... Business and people finder 192.com has added the 2006 Electoral Roll to its database. Users can now access over 500 million records to search for people by name or who they live with. Visitors can also search for an address, find out who...

Data giants form consumer profiles.
April 11, 2006... CACI has teamed up with 20 leading data suppliers to produce a product sourced from over 100 million records. Ocean is a comprehensive national consumer file that combines CACI's existing data with external information from outfits such...

Broadsystem to offer e-data management.
April 11, 2006... Broadsystem is unveiling a scheme that will enable its clients to manage their data cleansing online. Broadata is a dedicated, secure website that guides clients through the data cleansing and enhancement process. It also provides them...

Transversal tool overhauls human resources function.
April 11, 2006... Marketing software specialist Transversal is launching a solution which it claims takes the pressure off busy human resources departments. AskHR uses Transversal's patented Memory Engine technology to turn internal staff handbooks into a...

Epstein launches data analysis firm.
April 11, 2006... Jon Epstein, founder of Results (now known as Wegener DM-Results), has set up data analysis company R-Cubed. Epstein, who will take the position of managing director, has joined forces with former Results colleagues Kate Williams and...

Ion Group provides service monitoring.
April 11, 2006... The Ion Group is setting up a service that enables users to assess the quality of customer experiences. Benchmarking tool Customer Experience Insight combines mystery shopping techniques with Ion's proprietary measurement models to...

Do you know how 'real' your real data is?
April 11, 2006... In the business-to-business arena, there is no longer a choice about whether to use modelled data or not. You simply have to use it. The key factor is to ensure that you use the best modelled and real data out there. The gradual erosion...

LETTER: PAF fees need to reflect size of the organisation.(Letter to the editor)
April 11, 2006... I read your pay-as-you-go address management article (DS March) with interest, but my feeling is that you can cut to the quick and sum up the 'Shall we/shan't we?' debate. Basically, large direct mail users have too many records for...

LETTER: We could make so much more of the spreadsheet.(Letter to the editor)
April 11, 2006... Spreadsheet errors are costing financial companies millions of pounds. As a tool, spreadsheets can be flawed, inaccurate and, with no control to ensure the integrity of the critical financial reporting process and no audit trail, they...

Small firms must head online to rent lists.
April 11, 2006... 'Global coordination, local execution' is the mantra of most international companies, and rightly so. HSBC has even built an entire ad campaign and customer proposition around this. So how is the principle applied to data provision? ...

FEATURE: Face value.
April 11, 2006... In a climate where fraudsters are getting increasingly devious, businesses are having to work even harder to outwit them. This means going beyond documentary evidence to check against more personal traits. By David Reed If you have applied...

DATA INTELLIGENCE: The whole package.
April 11, 2006... Data shops that have so far focused on providing insight to their clients are now looking at supplying prospect data into the bargain. But does this make perfect business sense, or present a conflict of interest? By David Reed Would you...

CASE STUDY: Stored information.
April 11, 2006... Having employed RedEye's Web analytics software for many years, Asda turned to the company in order to visualise online visitor activity With the significant rise in the number of households shopping online, competition for customers is...

Mass failure to tackle data privacy enquiries.
April 11, 2006... Everything you've ever wanted to know about data but were too afraid to ask Two-thirds of the UK's leading businesses are failing to handle incoming telephone enquiries relating to data protection and privacy, according to a study. ...

Information Tribunal in first TPS breach appeal.
April 11, 2006... The Information Tribunal is poised to rule on the first appeal against flouting EU privacy laws, in a case which is likely to have repercussions for all UK companies. The Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) and Conservative Party were last...

The REaD Group launches online preference service.
April 11, 2006... The REaD Group is launching a service that will allow consumers to communicate their mailing preferences directly to brand owners. Itsmypost.com will enable registrants to create a personal profile by deciding which of the companies listed...

GIS/MAPPING: Complex navigation.
April 11, 2006... With so many classifications available within geodemographic profiling, it is easy to get carried away. But does rendering more contours on the consumer map make the targets any easier to scale? By Emma Rubach There is little doubt that...

Legal column: Spencer Davis answers pressing legal questions.
April 11, 2006... Some of you may think that the position of an Internet service provider (ISP) is equal to that of a traditional telecoms carrier. Essentially, it is merely a conduit that allows for the transmission of data, and is not responsible for the...

Data industry must address talent problem.
April 11, 2006... Astronaut, engine driver, fireman. Children's career ambitions even up to 20 years ago generally involved using technology and doing something productive. A list of goals for today's kids would probably read something like: celebrity, TV...