Monday, March 31, 2008

Marketing databases

Quick, what is the most important component of your business? If you belong to a product based company and said the intellectual property or patents, you are only partly right. If you belong to a service company and mentioned the human capital invested in your services, you are again partly right. If you belong to any other company and mentioned any of the array of things that make the modern enterprise thrive, you are again, only partly right. But if you are among those rare breed of professionals, whose job it is to harness data, especially marketing databases, then you have your finger on the money!

It may seem difficult to believe, but marketing databases, especially those with true data are the ones that drive the modern enterprise. Think about it. Any number of companies make products, even good products or excellent products. The same is the case with service companies who may offer good, great or even exemplary service. But unless these companies can pitch their products and services to the right kind of target audience, they will not be able to sustain their business. This is where marketing databases enter the picture. Over the past few decades, marketing databases have become more and more important. They have not only guided the way marketing professionals do business, they have in fact shaped the very way products and services reach us.

While the mass media still continues to be the mainstay of advertising a product or service, marketing databases have taken this sort of promotion one step further by making the communication more personalized. The earliest marketing databases were little more than the contact details of friends, acquaintances and professional contacts. Slowly, as marketers realized the wealth of opportunities these provided, the scope and nature of marketing databases grew. Today, typical marketing databases can contain not just the contact details of the intended target audience, but also a wealth of information on the likes, dislikes, preferences and even more such information on the target profile.

It is indeed difficult to imagine how a company would survive in the present day world without suitable marketing databases. In fact, it is difficult to imagine anyone going into business without proper access to good marketing databases. Today, access to such information is what spells the difference mediocrity and success. And for those who are not equipped with the right tools like marketing databases, the battle for the consumer is going to be very tight indeed.

Criminal database

Let me tell you a story about my closest friend. The guy spent his whole life living in North Carolina. He loved the place, and thought he'd be there forever. Until one day he found a job out in Los Angeles, California. It was the jab he'd been looking for and it was his for the taking. So he decided to grab his wife and little boy, and head out to LA. They moved into a nice suburb and he started his dream job. In no time at all, he heard about a child that was abducted from his neighborhood. Naturally this was upsetting, because he had a young boy of his own. The last thing he wanted was for his family to be in danger. When I spoke with him on the phone not long after, I told him to check out the national criminal database. This way he could research his area in particular and see what registered sex offenders were living near by. Well, as it turned out, 8 of them lived within a few miles. YIKES! He suddenly regretted moving there. I told him that 8 did sound like a high number and it was rather unsettling, but chances are he had sex offenders living near him before also. These guys are everywhere. If you think they're not, guess again.

When was the last time you checked out the local criminal database for registered sex offenders? If you haven't at all, you may be in for a rude awakening. And please don't tell me you're in some rural Midwestern town, because I live in one as well, and there are three registered sex offenders within minutes from my home. As a matter of fact, those are just the ones who've been caught. Imagine how many others are out there who haven't. This is a dismal and infuriating topic, I know. However, it is one that deserves discussion. My point is that you should take advantage of your online resources by checking out the local criminal database. Find out what sex offenders do live in your neck of the woods. This way you can at least let your children know where it's not safe to play. Furthermore, wouldn't you want to know if a pedophile was living next door to you?

I appreciate the online system and the fact that it's free to the general public. Having access to a criminal database can even assist you when you're searching to buy a home. Find out what the neighborhood is like before you move there.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Stydy About Database Services For Customer Records

NEWTON, MA, (November 3, 2004) - FreshAddress, Inc., a leading email services provider, released the industry's first benchmark data on email appending and ECOA (Email Change of Address) solutions. Based on an analysis of nearly 75 million customer records processed for its clients over the six months ending September 30, 2004, the study found the following:

* The average email append match rate for commercial clients was 15.1%, with a range from 9.5% to 24.3%.

* The average email append match rate for nonprofits was 10.3%, with a range from 5.5% to 15.4%.

* Regular quarterly append processing resulted in more than doubling the above figures on an annual basis.

The research found that the discrepancy between match rates for commercial clients versus those for nonprofits was directly correlated with the age of the underlying customer base. Nonprofits with younger donor bases performed in the higher range while commercial clients with older customer bases performed in the lower range.

For ECOA processing, the study found the following:

* The average ECOA update rate for bounce lists for both commercial clients and nonprofits was 10.2%, with a range from 5.7% to 24.2%.

* Regular quarterly ECOA processing resulted in more than doubling of the above figures on an annual basis.

The research found that the update rate for bouncing email addresses for individuals who are already online bore no correlation with the age of the underlying population.

"This study provides companies and nonprofits alike with the missing data necessary to evaluate the ROI of the critical email services for multi-channel marketing," said Bill Kaplan, CEO of FreshAddress, Inc. "Research has shown that multi-channel customers spend more money. We are pleased to see the email industry mature to the point where updating one's email database is now considered as essential as NCOA services are to direct mail."

FreshAddress, Inc. is the original developer of Email Change of Address services and was recently granted a U.S. Patent on its ECOA service for clients and the underlying consumer technology. Through its partnerships with the major database providers including Acxiom, Equifax, and InfoUSA, FreshAddress's appending services cover the universe of available opt-in data with over 200 million records, providing clients with the industry's highest match rates of guaranteed deliverable email addresses.

About FreshAddress, Inc.

FreshAddress, Inc., The Email Address Experts(tm), provides the industry's leading services to help companies 'Build and Update' their email address databases and maximize their email performance. FreshAddress, Inc.'s services include its patented business and consumer Email Change of Address (ECOA) solutions as well as email address appending, correction, real-time validation, and deliverability. FreshAddress has "freshened" thousands of lists for office superstores, telecommunications providers, catalogues, newspapers, retailers, airlines, non-profit organizations, and Internet companies. The FreshAddress.com consumer database is the Internet's largest linked opt-in directory of old and current email addresses. The privately held company was founded in 1999 and is based in Newton, MA. For more information on our business solutions, visit www.freshaddress.com/biz or email biz@freshaddress.com

Database Management Systems And Services

A 'database management system' commonly referred as DBMS is computer software designed for the purpose of managing databases based on a variety of data models. A DBMS is a complex set of software programs that controls the organization, storage, management, and retrieval of data in a database.

A DBMS includes:

* Modeling Language

* Data Structures

* Database Query Language

* Transaction Mechanism

Modeling Language: A modeling language used to define the logical schema of each database hosted in the DBMS, according to the DBMS data model. It has several models but most commonly used today is ad hoc one embedded in SQL. Data Structures: It is used to tackle with vast amount of data stored on permanent data storage devices. Database Query Language: A database query language and report writer to allow users to interactively interrogate the database, analyze its data and update it according to the users privileges on data. It also controls the security of the database. Transaction Mechanism: It Ideally would guarantee the ACID properties to ensure data integrity despite concurrent user accesses and faults. It also maintains the integrity of the data in the database.

Some of DBMS Benefits:

* Improved strategic use of corporate data

* Reduced complexity of the organization's information systems environment

* Reduced data redundancy and inconsistency

* Enhanced data integrity

* Application-data independence

* Improved security

* Reduced application development and maintenance costs

* Improved flexibility of information systems

* Increased access and availability of data and information

Examples of DBMSs include:

* Oracle

* DB2

* Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise

* Informix

* Microsoft Access

* Microsoft SQL Server

* Firebird

* MySQL

Now with the advent of 90's, the shift is towards having accurate database management systems. The focus is also to have automated database management systems. Encodex Technologies is one of the growing offshore softwares companies which provides effective data management solutions which include data modeling, OLAP analysis, ETL Development, Data Migration etc. There expertise in BI has helped companies to achieve clean and timely data distributions, reconciliation and quality reporting with great performance. And they also provide services in offshore software outsourcing and offshore softwares development.