Querying Data Via the Browser
Entering thecustomer relationship management market with its first product,internetQueryObject (iQO) is looking to reshape how enterprises view customerand transactional data.
Thesubsidiary of QueryObject Systems Corp. was formed in April to focus onanalytical customer relationship management (CRM) applications. With therelease of its flagship product CustomerView, iQO promises to help companiesview and analyze their large-volume data.
The firstrelease of CustomerView is designed for enterprise retailers and those that areselling packaged goods. The iQO unit developed its product in conjunction withKmart so it could understand the needs that large retailers have when trying tounderstand and analyze customer and transactional data.
CustomerViewis based on QueryObject technology that covers multidimensional data structure.Because of its roots, CustomerView is able to make data available to a largenumber of concurrent users in an enterprise and also to a company’s businesspartners and suppliers. CustomerView compresses large volumes of data intocompact objects that can be easily distributed throughout the enterprise wherenumerous users can analyze the information with complex multidimensionalqueries.
Users canlog onto the Web from any location and can view customer and sales informationvia a Web browser. “The technology works with legacy, customer, andtransactional systems data,” says Kelly Spang, analyst at Current Analysis.“The analytic capabilities within CustomerView create demographic profiles andcustomer segmentations through ad hoc queries that are generated via a Webbrowser interface.”
Allowingusers to connect to data via a Web browser both increases the accessibility andlowers the learning curve. “The simple user interface and the point-and-clickmethod to submit queries via the Internet will enable a broader range of lesstechnically savvy users to run queries without having to rely on businessintelligence experts,” Spang says.
Atechnology needs to be easy to use, says Phillip Russom, director of businessintelligence at Hurwitz Group. At a chain retail store, for example, it isimportant that the manager be able to access the corporate data via theInternet so he or she knows what is selling well in that store, Russom says.
CustomerViewcan also offer information such as advertising campaign results and customerpurchasing patterns. It can also help companies figure out how to streamlinemarketing efforts while lowering cost.
While theproduct is aimed at large retail organizations, its pricing model is designedto work with companies that can’t afford to drop a lot of money on a ananalytical CRM application. For example, CustomerView is being offered as anin-house application, but also as an outsourced application service. IQO willmanage the data integration and hosting, as well as the customers accessresults through a secure Web site. “To further minimize the impact on companyresources and capital, CustomerView is offered as a hosted ASP model, withmonthly prices ranging from $10,000 to $75,000,” Spang says.
Index:
InternetQueryObjectCorp., Roslyn Heights,N.Y., www.iqo.com
QueryObjectSystems Corp., RoslynHeights, N.Y., www.queryobject.com
CurrentAnalysis Inc., Sterling,Va., www.currentanalysis.com
HurwitzGroup Inc., Framingham,Mass., www.hurwitz.com