Data collection a daily debght - Technology - smh.com.au OPINION REVIEWS RESOURCES TTJOBS Copyright © 2006. The Sydney Morning Herald. In the know: Peter Karvinen, chief manager, groupinformation systems, St George. Photo: Domino Postiglone By Lia Timson April 25, 2006 Information is just part Timson. knowing the diterence between iE BPOGPSNE Sigh 6S NiINe iTGrESAESUGN Peter Karvinen, information systems manager at St George, applied this dictum to the bank's recent data warehousing project 3, reports Lia Mr Karvinen, who has overseen the bank's infornation systems for the past 10 years, says IT departments that regard thelr data needs as projects with a beginning, middle and end, undermine their viability because funding and focus.cease when a project is completed. "It stops moving with the times, gets outdated and is not refreshed because you're not building on it," he says. 2. It hasn't been simple; however. St George's supplier, Teradata, was there in 1997 when the bank merged with Advance Bank. “The merger almost ied to the death of us," Mr Karvinen says. "They both had warehouses, both from Teradata. You'd think they'd fit.” They didn't, and time was wasted deciding which database to maintain as the core, and which to merge into it. “There was a significant push from either side, but significant shortcomings on both,” he says. htip://www.smb.com av/articles/2006/04/24/} 145730836881 htmlAdvance Bank was operating on i hereas St George ran it weekly + ee ONAN coe" 5 Coe ran 8 ety. them. We took a bold step forward and went beyond what the business wanted in the short term. ‘The merged entity started the warehouse over again with daily data. More than 40 data sources row feed into it, including funds management, lending, human resources and treasury. The bank relies on it to help decision-making in marketing, customer service and the other strategic business areas. : But Mr Karvinen stops short of calling the institution data-centric. He says the raw data helps the IT shop to better service the needs of the bank's internal customers, such as sales and marketing and new home loans. "We're SLSCATERERSTEREIEN'y," ne soy. “ere €SRSISNEH SNA TTS (@leasION=ArIVERAWe need the data to service better.” Most-departments extract what they need from the warehouse using-customer- relationship~— management and business intelligence applications without intervention, “We are totally out of the loop,” Mr Karvinen says. “They have access to all the data, can create their own filters, their own campaigns. They don't know they are using the warehouse - it's entrenched operationally.” Despite its 11-year relationship with Teradata - the bank uses consultants to review its contracts every three years - Mr Karvinen says the bank i fot rusted-on to any technology. “The first thing you need is culture and people. Technology can be an inhibitor. Just buying the latest Teradata or 1BM offering is not going to do it for you. “Good programs demand-long-term thinking about how the data will be leveraged and how it will be used to lower risk and enable commercial results. “People want to buy a silver bullet (but) technology is not everything.” The bank relies heavily on event-based marketing - a pracess that demahds accurate data gathering and substantial analytics. Customers who change their name, or close individual accounts and open a joint one, are an example of potential sales leads for home lending and other products. Consider the case of 2 couple who, after marriage, consolidate their accounts under a joint name. The warehouse alerts new business account managers that there may be a chance to sell new services, such as mortgages and life insurance, to the married pair, “At the warehouse we look at the significant events,” Mr Karvinen says. "They trigger the different contacts and send the leads to the lenders at their branches. Lenders then receive alerts with the day's top leads on their screen on log in. Mr Karvinen says the warehouse outlasted four chief executives, who invariably questioned its cost on arrival in the job. fWe don't dare say we're the most important area of the business (because) we're not running the bank. But a large proportion of the business intelligence is coming from the warehouse.” ‘bttp://www.smb.com.au/articles/2006/N4/9411 14£92ne71K001 Let rb