Download New Business Intelligence Solution Reduces Customer Churn by 25

Microsoft SQL Server
Customer Solution Case Study
New Business Intelligence Solution Reduces
Customer Churn by 25 to 30 Percent
Overview
Country or Region: France
Industry: Manufacturing
Customer Profile
e.l.m. leblanc, a subsidiary of Bosch, is
based in Paris, France. It specializes in
wall-mounted boilers and water heaters,
employs 700 people, and delivers aftersales servicing for its products.
Business Situation
The company needed new data analysis
tools to discover the causes of lost
customer business and help enhance
loyalty.
Solution
It deployed a new business intelligence
infrastructure based on Microsoft® SQL
Server™ 2005, deployed with support from
Microsoft Certified Partner Quatrax-Conseil.
Benefits
 Customer turnover estimated to be
reduced 25 to 30 percent.
 Dynamic analytical solution tracks
changing customer requirements.
 High levels of performance for fast,
accurate data analysis.
 Single offering that includes advanced
tools for analysis and reporting.
 Return on technology investment in less
than two years.
“We will know exactly what type of marketing
campaign we need to launch and at what target
audience. Following that, we can measure the effect
of our activities on customer turnover.”
Éric Payan, Director of IT, e.l.m. leblanc
French heating and hot water system specialist e.l.m. leblanc
historically managed its operational and customer data with a
number of databases and analysis tools. This infrastructure could
not effectively integrate data from across the entire business. As a
result, it was difficult to understand the causes of lost business or
‘customer churn’ effectively. To address this issue, and enhance
customer loyalty, the company deployed a new business
intelligence infrastructure based on the Microsoft® SQL Server™
2005 database infrastructure. This provides tools for highperformance data analysis and reporting. It will enable e.l.m.
leblanc to enhance customer service and launch targeted
marketing campaigns. As a result, the company will reduce
customer turnover by as much as 25 to 30 percent and achieve an
estimated 100 percent return on its technology investment in just
two years.
Situation
e.l.m. leblanc is a subsidiary of Bosch,
Europe’s market leader in heating solutions.
The company employs 700 people and
achieves an annual sales of €110 million
(U.S.$133.25 million). As a major
manufacturer of wall-mounted gas boilers,
e.l.m. leblanc is the French market leader for
hot water heaters. It also manages after-sales
servicing for its products with a team of 300
technicians. Despite a heritage dating back
70 years, the company remains dynamic.
e.l.m. leblanc does this by constantly
evaluating new technologies that can
increase its operational efficiency.
“It costs far more to gain
a new customer than to
keep an existing one. It
is also very difficult to
win back business that
has been lost to
competitors."
Éric Payan, Director of IT, e.l.m. leblanc
From this starting point, the company's
management began to evaluate technologies
that enhance customer satisfaction. The
managers also wanted to prevent customer
“churn”, meaning the loss of clients to
competitors. Éric Payan, Director of IT, e.l.m.
leblanc, advises, “It costs far more to gain a
new customer than to keep an existing one. It
is also very difficult to win back business that
has been lost to competitors. To ensure
customer satisfaction, we wanted to analyze
the main reasons for churn and implement
the necessary measures to prevent it.”
To achieve this, e.l.m. leblanc needed to
analyze the behavior of its customers and
search through variables to find the most
common causes of churn. However, this
analysis was not possible using the
company’s existing business intelligence
solution, which was based on technology
from Business Objects and Oracle. To be able
to analyze the data required the integration of
information from several disparate databases
and functionality from a range of analytical
tools.
Conseil. Payan explains, “After we contacted
Quatrax-Conseil, the company gave us a
presentation on the capabilities of Microsoft
SQL Server™ 2005. After this insight, we
realized that this technology was precisely
the tool we needed to effectively analyze our
portfolio of customers and their behavior.”
In a single offering, SQL Server 2005
combines the power of its database engine
with data extraction tools such as SQL Server
2005 Integration Services. It also comes with
an advanced reporting tool, SQL Server 2005
Reporting Services, and SQL Server 2005
Analysis Services, an online analytical
processing (OLAP) engine that provides eight
data mining algorithms. These technologies
make it possible to analyze the causes of
customer turnover. Then e.l.m. leblanc's
management would be able to use the same
technologies to forecast and implement the
measures required to reduce customer loss.
In the interests of simplicity, in the first phase
of the project, data from the e.l.m. leblanc
Oracle database was not migrated to the new
system. Instead, SQL Server 2005 accesses
information directly in the Oracle database.
During the next phase of the project, SQL
Server 2005 will replace this Oracle database
altogether, delivering significant performance
benefits.
Solution
After the deployment of SQL Server 2005 had
been approved, Quatrax-Conseil technical
professionals began to create complex
statistical models based on data mining
algorithms in SQL Server Analysis Services.
Quatrax Conseil’s method, known as
“Predictive Marketing,” is based on several
factors, including defining objectives, auditing
data, preparing data for statistical
processing, predictive modelling, performing
actions, and measuring return on investment.
To address this issue, e.l.m. leblanc enlisted
support from Microsoft® Certified Partner and
Business Intelligence specialist Quatrax-
To ensure effective analysis of customer
data, the Quatrax-Conseil team constructed a
multidimensional OLAP cube, lift model,
charts, and training samples. The model was
applied to the new data and input packages
were automated using software created with
the Microsoft Visual Studio® 2005
development system.
“SQL Server 2005 offers
us better performance
than even
benchmarking data
suggests. We have been
able to witness the
benefits of this
enhanced performance
first hand."
Éric Payan, Director of IT, e.l.m. leblanc
The deployment of the statistical models and
the SQL Server 2005 database engine was
completed in just five months. Microsoft
Corporation offered a number of consulting
days to support the implementation, although
few of these were required because of the
trouble-free installation. Payan comments,
“We were very pleasantly surprised. Knowing
that we were dealing with a very innovative
project, we expected some difficulties to arise
during the deployment. Instead, we found
ourselves with an extremely stable product
from the very outset.”
Benefits
Effective Analysis of Customer Behavior
Promises to Reduce Churn by 25 to 30
Percent
The new infrastructure is now fully
operational and the first statistical model is
being validated. As a result, e.l.m. leblanc will
soon be able to launch new, highly-targeted
marketing campaigns.
Payan advises, “We will know exactly what
type of marketing campaign we need to
launch and at what target audience.
Following that, we can measure the effect of
our activities on customer turnover. We are
very optimistic and expect to reduce the
percentage of customers we lose by 25 to 30
percent. We estimate that these new
analytical capabilities will deliver a return on
our technology investment in just two years.”
Constant System Refinements Support More
Effective Data Analysis
The statistical model running in SQL Server
2005 can be constantly refined to deliver
more effective analysis of customer behavior.
Payan observes, “Our business is not static,
nor is the new technology we have deployed.
As a result, we can map the changing
requirements of our customers and adapt our
business to meet their future needs.”
High Levels of Performance Ensure Fast,
Accurate Data Analysis
Using the new SQL Server 2005
infrastructure, e.l.m. leblanc has reduced the
time required to conduct complex data
analysis. This is because SQL Server 2005
offers significantly higher levels of
performance than the company’s previous
database infrastructure.
Payan concludes, “SQL Server 2005 offers us
better performance than even benchmarking
data suggests. We have been able to witness
the benefits of this enhanced performance
first hand. Using Business Objects, we started
out with improved reporting across the
business. High performance tools provided
with SQL Server 2005 have taken us to the
next level.”
For More Information
Microsoft Windows Server System
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Microsoft Windows Server System™ is a
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complexity and costs of building, deploying,
connecting, and operating agile business
solutions. Windows Server System helps
customers create new value for their
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assets. With the Windows Server™ operating
system as its foundation, Windows Server
System delivers dependable infrastructure for
data management and analysis; enterprise
integration; customer, partner, and employee
portals; business process automation;
communications and collaboration; and core
IT operations including security, deployment,
and systems management.
For more information about QuatraxConseil products and services, visit the
Web site at:
www.quatrax-conseil.fr
For more information about e.l.m. leblanc
products and services, visit the Web site at:
www.elmleblanc.fr
For more information about Windows Server
System, go to:
www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem
Software and Services
Products
− Microsoft SQL Server 2005
− Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
 Technologies
− Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Integration
Services

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study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO
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property of their respective owners.
Document published January 2006
− Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting
Services
− Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis
Services