Data Strategy articles from February 2008

Data Strategy archives from February 2008

LEADER: Data subjects are consenting adults.
February 12, 2008... Gordon Brown supports opt-out. Ok, so the Prime Minister has not waded into the debate about the terms under which personal information should be used for marketing. Instead, he has made his position clear about the question of organ...

Industry baulks at 'dead data' costs.
February 12, 2008... Release of the official register of deaths data for fraud prevention has been welcomed by the data industry. But the high cost of the data set is being questioned at the same time as users are examining the legal possibility of using it for...

IN BRIEF: Data security failures criticised.(Brief article)
February 12, 2008... Professor of computing at The Open University, Darrel Ince, has criticised what he says are "systematic security failings which encompass many organisations, not just central Government", following high-profile data losses such as DWP and...

Bidders quit ID card programme.
February 12, 2008... Two major contractors have abandoned the procurement process for the proposed National ID card and database. Accenture and BAE were both on the long list of suppliers for the #5.4 billion project. The Home Office has stated that the...

Barclays and 3 to speak at Data Summit.
February 12, 2008... Delegates at Data Strategy's Data Summit 2008 will be able to hear how leading organisations have achieved top-level visibility for data governance and data quality with the confirmation of Barclays Bank and Three as keynote speakers. ...

IN BRIEF: Royal Mail launches expert data panel.(Brief article)
February 12, 2008... Royal Mail is enhancing its ability to provide customers with data services by establishing a panel of experts. Dataforce is the first company to be recruited, following a tender process which will eventually build a panel of five partners. ...

Vodafone gets personal on the Web.
February 12, 2008... Vodafone is to personalise the customer experience on its website, vodafone.co.uk, with the introduction of onsite behavioural targeting technolody from Omniture. The aim is to make individualise product and service displays to each user. ...

Canon can segment customer base.
February 12, 2008... Canon Business Solutions is developing the ability to run one-to-one marketing campaigns by implementing Neolane. The new system will allow the company to run targeted and personalised campaigns internally or via external agencies across...

IN BRIEF: HBOS extends Experian deal.(Brief article)
February 12, 2008... The UK's largest mortgage and savings provider, HBOS, has renewed its contract with Experian for credit reference and analytics services for a five-year period. As part of the contract, the bank will use Experian data and services to improve...

Enthnography heads IDM summit programme.
February 12, 2008... The second IDM Data Council Summit will focus on how to understand ethnic markets and will include a presentation on the Origins system used to power the Grand Prix winner at last year's Data Strategy Awards. Richard Webber, managing...

Omnicom improves financial management.
February 12, 2008... Omnicom Group is to implement a performance management solution from Cognos following a successful pilot. The new enterprise planning and reporting platform will help to automate financial planning and simplify reporting via Web-based...

IN BRIEF: Catalina hires Liyanearachchi.(Brief article)
February 12, 2008... Former LBM consumer data director Dak Liyanearachchi has resurfaced following last year's senior management shake-up at the business information provider by becoming senior vice-president of global retail solutions at Catalina Marketing. His...

Broadsystem acquired by Skipton Group.
February 12, 2008... News International has sold marketing services and database specialist Broadsystem to Skipton Information Group, which already owns EuroDirect and Callcredit. Caroline Worboys remains as chief executive of Broadsystem, but also takes a seat...

Icelandic bank tackles MDM with Siperian.
February 12, 2008... Leading Iceland-based bank Glitnir is tackling data quality and master data management using Siperian, as part of a major overhaul of its business and operating systems. Glitnir is a mid-market global corpoorate and investment bank which has...

IN BRIEF: Rapid Racking signs with Blue Sheep.(Brief article)
February 12, 2008... Racking and shelving company Rapid Racking has achieved an 11 per cent increase in sales and a 30 per cent rise in profits, leading to a decision to sign an annual licence for Blue Sheep's UK Business Universe of 4.4 million workplaces. ...

TRG extends goneaways.
February 12, 2008... The REaD Group (TRG) has extended the coverage of its Gone Away Suppression File (GAS) to eight years, after adding an extra four years' worth of data capture to the file. This means that GAS now holds more than 25 million non-assumed records....

Blue skies ahead for the data industry.
February 12, 2008... Amid the gloomy economic forecasts that have overshadowed the start of 2008, I proffer a message of reassurance for those in data - our time has come. What was once seen as decidedly unsexy is now becoming core to marcoms, so much so...

LETTER: Data security is about ethics, not just access.(Letter to the editor)
February 12, 2008... Recent security breaches have indeed contributed to a rapidly changing climate in the debate surrounding data protection (Regaining trust from data subjects, DS January 2008). However, there is currently a focus on preventing security...

LETTER: Opt-in - not the end of the world as we know it.(Letter to the editor)
February 12, 2008... Iain Lovatt's article, 'Exposing the flaws in the opt-in model', is the traditional doom and gloom response to the horrors of opt-in. I must confess I used to share his opinion, but opt-in databases do work, and in fact already exist. Also,...

Markets put great stock in data skills.
February 12, 2008... The growing demand for accountability and demonstrable ROI from company boardrooms means that data, and the skills required to interpret and effectively use it, are in high demand. These factors are driving up the value of data and data...

SKILLS SHORTAGE: Situations vacant.
February 12, 2008... Clients, suppliers and agencies are crying out for data analysts and database managers, but the small number of recruits available is a growing problem for employers. David Reed investigates the effect this is having on the industry and what...

LEGAL COLUMN: Susan Mann.(Column)
February 12, 2008... Susan Mann, counsel at Reed Smith Richards Butler The Eighth Data Protection Principle of the Data Protection Act 1998 governs international transfers of personal data made by a data controller based in the UK to recipients based outside...

DATA FINANCIALS: Targeting, not time, is key factor in direct mail.
February 12, 2008... All you ever wanted to know about making profit from data but were too afraid to ask Are direct marketers over-estimating the importance of relevance and under-estimating good old targeting? Evidence from the recent Marketing- GAP survey...

DATA FINANCIALS: Employee satisfaction leads non-financial KPIs.
February 12, 2008... Steady growth in the reporting of both financial and non-financial KPIs is putting employee satisfaction alongside earnings per share in annual company reports. According to tracking by Black Sun, 75 per cent of businesses now include...

Variety is the spice of life for data professionals.(Interview)
February 12, 2008... Data Strategy talks to data practitioners who toil unnoticed behind the scenes Q What is your name and job title? Gary Childs, head of analysis at EuroDirect Q What does your job involve? Is there a lot of pressure? I manage...

Dissatisfaction - the scourge of the coping classes.
February 12, 2008... Coping class is a new term for the middle class who perceive themselves to be struggling. Trouble is that two pieces of research this month have shown they are not coping, but thriving. The ONS 'Fifty Years of Family Spending' report...