Ncr Shows How Easy It Is To Keep Track
The Age
Tuesday February 22, 2000
NCR LAST week opened a demonstration centre at its North Melbourne headquarters to help demystify customer-relationship management to the business world.
The centre will showcase NCR's Teradata data warehouse software and related CRM customer tracking packages that capture clients' past, present and potential future consumer patterns. Companies can play with software on terminals to see how CRM packages could work in their business environment.
Globally, the Ohio-based software company, founded in 1884 as the National Cash Register Company, has targeted the insurance, transport, finance, travel and retail markets with its CRM software packages.
Globally NCR is hoping to reach $475 million operating income in 2000, compared to about $321 million in 1999.
The company's Sydney CRM software demonstration centre, opened last year, was the first in a series of roll-outs of similar centres around the world.
It aims to assist business with a field of marketing that could take off rapidly.
AMR Research has estimated CRM software and services will grow from about $2 billion in 1997 to about $18 billion in 2002. Geoff Dickson, vice-president of Teradata Solutions Group for NCR South Pacific,said the MetaData Group had found that large companies were increasing their investments in CRM by 23 per cent annually.
Richard Batterley, senior regional consultant with Carlson Marketing Group, said that part of this increase came as research showed 30 per cent of a business's customers provided 150 per cent of the profitability, ``so someone is taking 30 per cent of your profitability away".
NCR's Ohio management listed data warehousing as providing it with at least 20 per cent revenue growth in 2000, outperforming retail store automation products with an expected 10 per cent revenue growth.
NCR's Teradata data-warehouse package runs on UNIX and Windows NT platforms, and Australian customers for NCR's packages include Village Roadshow, the National Australia Bank and Qantas.
Its packages are installed in 75 per cent of the world's banks. The company commands a 24-per-cent market share in financial self service through its ATM software products, which process more than 20 billion transactions annually.
© 2000 The Age