Managing data successfully: smart address management

Analysis of IT processes
(Process Consulting):

Every company has its own structures and needs, which need to be illuminated decisively in a critical process analysis. Based on this, individual scenarios arise with a recommendation for the next steps to be taken with a view to smart address management.

The identification of duplicates, the handling of ambiguous field designations and the consideration of market-specific requirements are among the common challenges in address management.

The creation of tools and methods, e.g. empathy maps, personas and user stories, help with the agile and clear capture of the findings resulting from the exploration phase. Empathy maps provide a thorough overview of the perceptions and actions of a user group. Personas illustrate the characteristics of a particular target group and represent its wishes, aims and expectations. With the help of user stories, requirements with respect to the technology that creates added value for users can be recorded.

The following questions can be answered:

1. What user groups can be defined?
2. What does the user experience look like in detail?
3. What problems and challenges arise?

Selection of appropriate technologies
(Technology Experts):

While there are countless technologies available, it is important to identify company-specific technologies. All potential risks must also be taken into account.

Comprehensive requirement management plays an important role in finding a customized technological solution. Using the agile approach, requirements are queried several times in the course of the project, priorities are adapted where necessary and any changes are coordinated.

In addition, it is crucial to be familiar with the service offer of every single technology and to analyze the advantages and disadvantages. This is the only way to guarantee the perfect choice of technology. Riverland Reply carries out an extensive scan of providers, employing years of experience in the evaluation. During the analysis, the following factors are among those considered:

• Duplicate detection and correction
• Integration in the existing CRM or e-commerce system
• Accumulation of external data
• Market focus
• Partnerships and experience

The combination of the requirements determined and the detailed analysis of potential providers provides the ideal basis for “matchmaking”. This means that the needs of the customer are compared with the service offer of providers and “matched” accordingly in the event of strong concurrence.

Implementation of technologies
(Coordination):

A change to existing IT infrastructure requires very special care so that interconnectivity remains ensured.

To successfully embed the new technology in an existing system landscape, there are three important success factors that need to be considered:

1. Consideration of all stakeholders
2. Effective communication
3. Tracking

All stakeholders play a decisive role in the introduction of new technologies. What is important is that interested parties are involved to the same extent from the start and that statutory requirements are taken into account. The respective touchpoints between stakeholders and technology always need to be taken into account.

If communication contains gaps or is even entirely absent, this can lead to lost information, misinterpretations and, ultimately, frustration and conflicts, which has a considerable negative impact on the success of the project. All of this should be avoided – by means of effective communication. In order to transmit relevant information and enable active and efficient dialog, organizational talent is not the only thing that is required; the selection of suitable communication channels is also crucial. This results in a transparent and efficient implementation process.

The documentation and tracking of the defined stories and tasks, for instance with the help of Kanban boards, enables both performance measurement through reporting as well as seamless traceability. In addition, erroneous developments can be quickly identified and revised.

Monitoring and service operations
(Service Support):

Supplementary service activities ensure a smooth course and can transfer new requirements into processes.

Alongside technical support in the form of system maintenance and training offers, environmental factors must be monitored, as these may change and so lead to altered requirements. With its comprehensive support, Riverland Reply ensures that such changes are continuously taken into account and that existing structures are modified flexibly. In addition, problems that occur are immediately identified and analyzed, and appropriate solutions are initiated. In this way, even after implementation it can be guaranteed that high quality requirements are met and sustainable address management is ensured by the Service Support.