Introduction
Analyzing customer profitability and improving the effectiveness of marketing models and relationship as a wide literature reading to explore in connection to data warehousing. Various writers suggest that data warehouse is a core area on determining the performance of customer relationship management services. Payton and Zahay made finding to demonstrate why corporate data warehousing on marketing fails at organizational level. Kim et al.,(2003) also believes that the data warehouse incorporated nowadays aren't in a position to adapt to the rapid changing operational environment and that is why most projects on data warehouse haven't attained fantastic successful results.
This research aims at finding solutions to customer relationship management in organizations as it encourages the use of data warehousing technologies as a marketing tool. Although some researchers are of the point that implementation of customer relationship management is costly to the organization.
Background reading
Relevant reading on the subject of data warehouse on customer relationship management applications and marketing business decision processes has contributed a lot on this research exercise. This study gives a wider reading on the guidelines on how to design and adopt a successfully implementation of data warehouse and the challenges which are faced by CRM systems. The implementation of data warehouse suggests the capability of marketing to use the CRM systems for functional needs, having important aspect of quality information and availing internal training opportunities to its workers.
Content of research paper
Data warehousing is of great importance and having the right data quality is essential for the implementation of customer relationship management applications in a company and having the right data elements is critical in determining the success of the implementation of data ware housing for marketing essentials in accompany. This will help in making decision processes and have a sustainable good long term relationship between the customers and the organization in place.
An additional factor identified enabling the success of CRM is identifying the right model to assist in its success and this will be seen as a way of understanding on how data is used and how the corporate data warehouse will take part in its implementation. Also noted on the study is that before executing corporate data warehouse for an organization, it is important to know if the marketing sector will view the data as constructive and if the analysis needed are consistent with the needs of the organization's marketing department. More significant is the fact that CRM also focuses on the marketing managers needs for example external data and not just issues on current customer of the company.
Data mart are also one of the consideration the company is willing to invest in for the purpose of customer relationship management system so as to aid in the support of the applications on marketing and also serve on the decision function of the marketing department. The idea brought forward by the researchers is that data warehouse implementations which doesn't sustain marketing analyses and functional needs are not favoured by the values that comes along with the use of the technology in implementing customer relations on the organization.
On this study the data warehouse is still a challenge and if implemented the organization will add value to its marketing and the strategic function and a more functional CRM system. They noted that different factors are considered when implementing a data warehouse on the information technology department unlike the factors considered on marketing.
Although a lot of information on this discussion is on failures of data warehousing on marketing the customer relationship management applications, there are lots of contribution towards its success if the department builds on having reliance on trust and the quality data in place and this will help in developing intra-organizational relationship.
Credibility of the authors
The first author, Fay Cobb Payton is an assistant professor of Information Systems at North Carolina State University, where she researches how companies can use corporate data warehousing for competitive advantage and improve their data quality efforts. She holds a doctorate in information. She is the co-editor for journal of the association for information system. Her research involves healthcare and digital equity in the context of information and communication technologies.
The second author Debra Zahay is the Acxiom Professor of Interactive Marketing at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. She holds a doctorate in marketing from the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign. She studies how companies can facilitate customer relation.
Analysis of the research paper.
Payton and Zahay mentions that for a successful corporate data warehouse model to be adopted, trust, understanding and marketing needs to be appraised by the organization. They further suggested that the model used in a marketing context looks different from the model used in the information section of the organization. Connolly and Begg (2003, p1174) agrees with Payton and Zahay that when deciding on building a data warehouse model one has to be specific on the user requirement or target group and the type of data to be considered.
Although the paper touches on issues that causes data warehouse not to succeed on marketing level, Cunningham et al. (2004) mentions that a successful CRM enables organizations to make decision on marketing strategies and thus by making use of a data warehouse it will enable the organization to know the customer profile and even determine one historic values and on doing this the company will have geared forward on building its marketing function of CRM application. Kim et al. (2003) suggests that its difficult to extracts user requirements before the system is running and often its hard to know the problems being solved on implementing data warehousing and that is why its operations fails.
US analysts et al. (cited in Bocij, 2003, p258) gives the pitfalls of data warehousing:
Making unrealistic expectation than what you can deliver.
Not being in a position to fully evolve business requirements of the system.
Not having a project scope that is manageable.
Underusing the warehouse
Moreover a few studies have pointed out the importance of data warehousing to the organization. Therefore despites the disadvantages of having it implemented, I think the advantages are substantial as well. In my opinion therefore the success of data ware housing in the marketing departments of the company lies on the duty of the users and the way the management facilitates to its workers for example through trainings.
Conclusion
Payton and Zahay argue that data warehouses in large organizations contain information of data on sales transactions although they are always meant to improve on the marketing and financial performance of the organization. The quality and the trust of data in them determine its success on customer relationship management. Most of the other professionals do also discuss on the challenges that are being faced on the implementation of corporate data warehouse, and therefore the challenges being faced on customer relationship management should be looked into by an organization before it is developed.
