Information Masters: Secrets of the Customer Race: Amazon.co.uk: John McKean: Books

The age of mass marketing is over, killed off by the immense power of technology which allows companies, in theory at least, to talk to their customers as individuals or as McKean puts it "segments of one". It means that any company worth its salt these days aspires to have the same sort of informed relationship with its clientele that a corner grocer would have done a century ago. They want to know how the baby is doing, how your health is or whether your husband has just got a pay rise, because each scrap of information provides a valuable selling opportunity. This information is gathered principally through customer loyalty schemes and other forms of "data capture" which generate vast amount of information and enable companies to target their customers with relevant offers. Yet according to John McKean, Executive Director of the Centere For Information Based Competition, less than five per cent of companies achieve the full potential of their customer relationship initiatives. The trouble is that firms are investing in massive customer databases and networks without investing in the other elements needed to make them effective, argues McKean. "Most firms believe that the majority of drivers of information competency are technological, while the reality is that the drivers are of a non-technological nature which will make it effective," he says. This important book shows exactly how companies can engage every part of their organisation, from human resources to organisational structure in order to succeed. Firms that do succeed in becoming Information Masters gain such competitive edge that they are able to attack their rivals and their rivals don't even know it's happening. This isn't an easy book. It's not even an especially pleasurable read. But anyone interested in marketing, data, information or just the bottom line will find its insights utterly riveting and very surprising. -- Alex Benady

"A book that combines detailed technical and theoretical information, statistics and a fair degree of common–sense writing."
–– Winning Business, September 2000

McKean's landmark book offers the best insights I've seen into our biggest challenges for building profitable customer relationships in the digital age... the non-technological ones.

Managing customer relationships is too important to be left to the technologists to figure out. McKean has nailed it when he forces you to consider and evaluate the other 'stuff' - people, processes, and culture, and, by the way, the data itself is awfully important.

You might think it's lack of technology that accounts for your inability to forge stronger, more rational and cohesive relationships with your customers, but John McKean's excellent study shows that technology is likely to be the least of your worries. Information competency is the result of the people you have in place, the processes they follow, the culture of your firm, and many things other than technology. Don't start your journey toward CRM without reading this book!

...Less than five percent of the world′s firms achieve the full potential of their customer relationship initiatives.... The rest are caught in its paradox...

The core message of Information Masters is simply that the frenzied race back to customers is being won by those who have developed a broad and deep customer information competency. The winners have accomplished this by balancing technology with investments in the predominantly "non–technological" determinants of customer information competency – people skills, processes, organization structure, culture, leadership, and information itself.

"You might think it′s lack of technology that accounts for your inability to forge stronger, more rational and cohesive relationships with your customers, but John McKean′s excellent study shows that technology is likely to be the least of your worries. Information competency is the result of the people you have in place, the processes they follow, the culture of your firm, and many things other than technology. Don′t start your journey toward CRM without reading this book!"
—Don Peppers, co–author, The One to One Fieldbook: The Complete Toolkit for Implementing a 1to1 Marketing Program (Doubleday, 1999)

"Managing customer relationships is too important to be left to the technologists to figure out. McKean has nailed it when he forces you to consider and evaluate the other ′stuff′ – people, processes, and culture, and, by the way, the data itself is awfully important."
—John Peterson, AT&T Vice President, Database Marketing

"Gaining competitive advantage from information is not as much a technological challenge as it is about people, culture, and leadership. John illustrates and quantifies a better way to build an information advantage to serve both customers and shareholders."
—David Overton, Vice President, Merchandise Planning, Sears

"Getting closer to customers is a business imperative – but it′s all too easy to become seduced by the latest technology promises and consultancy mantras. John McKean offers an invaluable insight into the real drivers of success which organizations serious about CRM must put in place."
—Robert Wyllie, BA (Hons) APMI, Group Database Marketing, Scottish Widows

"The revolution in information technology is undermining many traditional business models and creating untold confusion. But in confusion lies opportunity. McKean shows how to see past the mesmerizing advances in computers and communications to create a coherent business strategy that draws on both technological and non–technological capabilities."
—Professor Erik Brynjolfsson, Director of the MIT Program on Electronic Commerce and Marketing, MIT Sloan School of Management

"One of the greatest business challenges is not the mastery of new technologies, but the creation of a culture able to keep pace and grasp the opportunities these technologies present. This is nowhere better illustrated than in John McKean′s pursuit and exploration of that enigma, the profitable customer, through his book Information Masters."
—Trevor Dukes, Business Systems, W H Smith

"In the first decade of the new millennium, customer information competency will be understood as one of the great differentiators between ′great′ and ′mediocre′ organizations; John McKean′s book identifies the characteristics of those organizations that possess customer information competency and he provides a roadmap for firms seeking to achieve it. For information–based organizations, reading this book will not only save needless expense, but it will help improve overall focus, marketing productivity, and profit."
—James Bauer, Vice President, National Consumer Services, Chase Manhattan Bank

"McKean′s landmark book offers the best insights I′ve seen into our biggest challenges for building profitable customer relationships in the digital age . the non–technological ones."
—Glen Kaiser, Director of Marketing and Information Systems, AT&T WorldNet

The McKean Paradox Unravelled
"Should you buy it? The answer is a resounding yes, if you have any budgetary responsibility or authority in any area of customer relationship management. After all, it's the budget holder who gets hammered when things go wrong, isn't it?" - Customer Loyalty Today, May 1999

As businesses evolve in the new millennium, most firms find themselves in a never–ending parade of marketing, service, and loyalty approaches with all the enabling technologies, yet still find themselves only marginally closer to their customers. Why?

In essence, most firms have found that these powerful customer approaches require a customer information competency beyond what they currently possess.

In response, they have invested over 80% of their customer information investments in technology despite the recent evidence that shows technology only determines 10% of a firm′s ability to apply its customer information. Ninety percent of the determinants are non–technological in nature and receive relatively little coordinated investment. These determinants lie in the more difficult areas to address – people skills, processes, organization structure, culture, leadership, and information itself.

As a result, most firms′ customer successes continue to be tied to short–term customer initiatives rather than the systemic ability to understand and create customer value through a superior customer and operational knowledge. Firms are caught in the perpetual cycle of introducing new customer schemes and technology in an attempt to compensate for these underlying weaknesses.

Based on research of some of the world′s most customer–intensive firms, John McKean shows how companies have managed to break out of this self–perpetuating cycle to develop an iterative system of customer and operational understanding and value creation rather than the cycles of price and promotion schemes. Most have made the break with the guidance and leadership of a unique breed of information visionaries whose bravery and vision extended beyond the corporation realities of their time. The author documents the tumultuous battles fought to achieve the change and the resulting bottom–line payback as they broke free from the legacies of the mass–market culture. They have become the true customer masters. They are the Information Masters. They are the Future.

While the world is caught in the never–ending cycle of price wars, loyalty schemes, and promotional battles, a small group of firms have broken from the frenzy and focused on developing a long–term approach toward understanding and creating value for customers and shareholders simultaneously. What is more intriguing than the results they are achieving is where they have invested in customer information competencies and how they have balanced those investments. This book will show you at point–blank range where and how the masters have placed their bets in the following elements of customer information competency:

people skills
processes
organization structure
culture
leadership
information
technology

The author is then able to show us the bottom line benefits for:

loyalty
marketing
profitability
customer retention
lifetime value
market share vs. customer share
alliances

and thus the real benefits of becoming an Information Master.