e managed by a group of people who will be responsible for keeping it up to date and running efficiently. This group will need to make sure that everyone is using the database in the right way and that all of the information needed by the different customer units is delivered effectively. Also understand that this database must be a single physical database. It cannot be a virtual collection of files, databases, and other data odds and ends. Only with a large, centralized repository can we hope to make this process work. Advertising Market Research Marketing Direct Marketing Sales Channel Mgmt Agents Retail Outlets Campaigns, Customer Service Programs, Internet Promotions, Policies, Customers Billing Day-to-day o perations (Segmentations) Figure 9-6: Customer Repository (Data Warehouse eXcellence in Telecommunications The Telco Churn Handbook The Bad News The bad news is that the biggest, most expensive, most extensive customer data warehouse in the world will be completely useless if you do not get the other half of our conditions to work. That is, you need to get all of the different areas of the business to make use of the information in a standardized, consistent way and you need to tie all of the information systems and databases that are used to drive customer interactions into this database SO that the coordination can occur. That will be very difficult to do, politically, culturally, organizationally, and physically. Chapter 10 CHAPTER 10 CUSTOMER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND THE ORGANIZATION THAT RUNS IT Telecommunications customer relationship management activities fail in most cases, not because the ideas they are based on are faulty, but because telcos fail at executing coordinated customer activity. The real reason customers are dissatisfied with their provider relationships is not greed (they want to get the best price possible) or laziness (the telco doesn't try hard enough to keep them happy) but that the relationship tends to be scattered and schizophrenic. The customer doesn't have one relationship wit