Self-Improving CRM Solution

Athene Software capable of transforming an ISP's reactive customer relations department into a proactive, churn-reducing business resource.

by Alex Goldman
Associate Editor, ISP-Planet
[November 16, 2000]

A reactive customer service department is like your local fire brigade. It consists of a team of professionals trained to cool off hot customers — it's your ISP's first line of defense designed to keep your business from burning down to the ground.

A proactive customer service department works like a flame retardant — it reduces the possibility that your ISP business will get burned.

Athene Software recently debuted its Advanced Predictive Technology Platform designed to help ISP owners build a flameproof customer service solution. The modular CRM software suite integrates call center data with billing information and interjects its predictive capabilities to give you a new perspective on your business.

The program is capable of tracking targeted promotion results and identifying customers who are likely to leave your fold. It can also identify early adopters receptive to news services and hone in on frequent customer complaints to help you improve your overall Internet business.

The suite involves several integrated key modules, including:

• APT Churn: Software module designed to identify subscribers who are likely to switch services. Includes recommended actions to prevent customer churn.
• APT Profitability: Software module that identifies customers receptive to value added services. Designed to show you how to earn more from current subscribers.
• APT Predictor: Software module that suggests the proper premium, rate plan, service features, and other items to offer new customers.

But what does it know?
I spoke to Dave Howlett, Athene vice president of marketing, about it's possible to predict customer patterns with such detail.

Howlett said that the key feature of the software is its closed loop analysis that recognizes which predictions influence actions. The results of those actions are fed back into the software, teaching the system patterns as it operates and improving future predictions.

The modules do have to be adjusted for "false predictors." For example, if several customers who signed up on May 15th, 1999 leave the ISP, the model may start to assume that everyone who signed up on that day is in danger of leaving.

Howlett said the "model uses about 100 independent variables, plus over 200 derived variables."

Howlett added that Athene scours academia, "perusing the entire landscape of Ph.D. candidates writing theses on predictive technologies, statistics, neural nets, 'machine learning' technology, Bayesian networks, and court only a few for Athene Software."

This level of programming detail enables what Howlett calls "mass-personalization" of marketing, which allows ISPs to make a greater proportion of contacts through e-mail, versus more expensive phone contacts.

When a subscriber calls into a service provider using the program, the customer service representative can tap into the system's predictive capabilities to help resolve the issue quickly. Implementation
The system sounded rather complicated, so I had to ask about installation.

Howlett said, the company knew that implementation could turn into a nightmare, so it built tools to automate the process. Implementation is complete in 30 to 120 days, depending on the size of the Internet businesses' subscriber base.

Ideal customers
In order to utilize the program a service provider should have at least 50,000 customers. ASP pricing models may make aggregation possible for smaller ISPs to utilize the program some day soon.

Athene initially pitched the software suite to large wireless communication companies because much of the management team had worked at Coral Systems, which was acquired by Lightbridge in 1997.

The software quickly became popular with several high-profile firms including MSN in the U.S. and several major telecom companies in Europe.

Pricing and availability
The APT platform is available now. Pricing is a one-time fixed-fee for installation, plus a recurring per-customer-per-month fee that covers software updates, service and support.

—End

 

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	[May 10, 2000]	Can Software Analyze Your Subscribers?