The Bank of East Asia (BEA) is expecting its new customer relationship management (CRM) system to spur significant economic gains from its branches, which could pave the way for other Hong Kong banks to adopt a similar strategy.
BEA, with HK$182 billion in total assets, recently finished the first phase of a three-year CRM project and has started the next stage of the four-phase implementation.
Vincent Hui, head of BEA's e-distribution department, said the bank's CRM system provided it with new ways to analyse customer data, bundle services and package more attractive marketing campaigns. The CRM system would cost BEA tens of millions of dollars, but Mr Hui added that it was a crucial investment to attain competitive advantage in tough economic times.
Teradata, a division of automated teller machine specialist NCR, is providing BEA with its data warehousing and analytical CRM software products - all of which run on NCR's Intel processor-based WorldMark servers - as well as consulting services.
Analytical CRM comprises all programming that analyses data about customers and presents it so that better and quicker business decisions can be made.
This technology combines the best features of earlier online analytical processing applications, including financial reporting and analysis, and data mining tools, which sort through data to identify patterns and establish relationships.