How many of your customer contacts are turned into marketing opportunities? HealthNow New York, parent of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York and Blue Shield of Northeastern New York, felt it was wasting too many of those opportunities, but wasn't sure how to go about correcting the problem.
The first step was to bring in consultants from Xerox to conduct an assessment-an easy choice, seeing as Xerox is headquartered in Rochester, N.Y. Louise Lavere, director of communications for HealthNow, said the initial plan was to look at all document processes, but the scope proved to be too large and shifted to making improvements in customer communication. “They looked at our technology, our workflow and processes, and our content,” Lavere said. What they found was that HealthNow wasn't personalizing the information it sent to customers. To improve the situation, Xerox conducted a closer examination of the products HealthNow was using; products from Elixir and Compuset for reports and printing did not offer the CRM capabilities HealthNow was seeking. It wanted software that could offer highly personalized communications, could handle the scope of their documents, and, perhaps most importantly, be easy to use.
HealthNow's document assessment team recommended that the company establish a centralized department that would take data about members and use them to create personalized documents, including applications, new member kits, ID cards, provider directories, and benefit booklets. Lavere said that by incorporating customer data, each message could be targeted to that customer.
Xerox business consultant Bob Butcher found information on Exstream Software and its product, Dialogue, in an article in KMWorld. The software claimed to target customer messaging across various mediums with one tool. Butcher contacted Extream and the company made a convincing presentation. “When we looked at the Exstream demo we found it could do what the others did, but it could also be used by non-programmers,” Lavere said.
Dialogue allows users to store data in a common repository so they can be shared across all applications and customer touchpoints. That means the marketing staff gains greater control over campaigns without tying up resources in the IT department. Communication can be delivered through snail mail, e-mail, or the Web without changes in design.
The product was put to a quick test. HealthNow was in the midst of a huge mailing to its customers on rates and other state-mandated information. “We took a chunk of the mailing and did it on Dialogue and it took 20 minutes, not the eight hours it normally would have taken,” Lavere said.
The company was sold on Dialogue. After working about four months to make it fit HealthNow's needs, it was installed. The company felt Dialogue would be best used by the document processing staff and licensed it for 75 seats in that department. “Some of our report people saw it and found it worked well for them as well,” Lavere said. “That was a utility we didn't buy it for, so that turned out to be an unexpected advantage. We think it could be used eventually in billing, too.”
Implementation went smoothly. “It was nothing beyond the realm of usual software implementations,” Lavere said. Exstream also worked closely to make the product work in ways it had never before. “There were some publishing features that were not developed yet,” she said. “Exstream put them on their plate right away and developed them.”
Having data and using it can be two different things. “We want people to prevent illness from happening,” Lavere said. “We know a lot about our subscribers and with Dialogue we're able to tailor messages just to them, and follow up with appropriate responses.”
Xerox and HealthNow “stumbled across” Exstream in a magazine article. Sometimes you have to research things the old fashioned way before you can make decisions that will keep your business growing.
THE COMPANY: HealthNow New York
TOTAL MEMBERS: $571,000
WEB SITE: www.www.healthnowny.com
THE PRODUCT: Dialogue from Exstream Software
WEB SITE: www.exstream.com
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