Contact Data Quality ...

One of the first questions people ask me (especially on flights) when we first meet is “What do you do?”  It usually comes soon after they ask my name and where I am from.  I know I do not have much time to tell them and if I get long winded they may forget, so to some, I just say: 

“You know that junk mail you get; the telemarketing calls in the middle of the night; the incessant email SPAM that clogs your computer?  Well… I stop that.

I’m the guy that matches you on this list with this person on another list and that person on a third list.  I clean up and match names and addresses together for companies that want to be nice to you so that you will become a good customer for them.  I match names and addresses to lists of people that said do not mail, email, or call me as well as those who did say please call, mail, and email me.  I match business transactions containing names and addresses together to show the business how important you really are to them.

A company’s customer and prospect list is usually its most valuable asset.  I work with lists containing millions and millions of contact records.  (Obviously nobody can do this themselves one record at a time.)  I use special software to do it.   The software I use is postal-certified.  As such, my clients become eligible for postal discounts and can send cheaper, different classes of mail; thus saving them big bucks.   Some folks call me big brother.”

If I see their eyes light up, I will continue:

“I’ve built systems to:

·         Create a “single customer view” for marketing (LTV,RFM,CHAID,PRIZM),

·         Help estimate utility company provisioning costs (lat/long),

·         Identify relationships to improve customer service (house-holding by family, business, location, phone, and email),

·         Decrease shipping and mailing costs (CASS, SERP, AMAS compliance),

·         Correctly identify tax jurisdictions for applying sales taxes (integration with Vertex),

·         Detect potential online mail fraud by identifying purchase destination patterns,

·         Comply with regulations to prevent identity theft (FCRA),

·         Meet regulatory requirements to detect money laundering and track terrorists (AML & The Patriot Act),

·         Meet regulatory requirements for financial reporting to investors of market penetration (SOX & BASEL),

·         Provide enterprise wide data quality services in both real-time (SOA) and batch.

I’ve worked with domestic and international data with differing postal guidelines and in different languages.

My clients have included Banks, Investment Companies, Insurance Companies, Retailers, Record Labels, Hotel Chains, Automotive, Training Services providers, Travel Agencies, Telecom, Utilities, Marketing Service Providers, Software Companies, Issue Advocacy Organizations, and Data Quality Software Providers.

I’ve led teams, taught classes, and done the work, as well as been the visionary for my clients on how to best apply the technology.

I like doing what I do because I believe I am helping make the world a better place to live.

If you know someone that may want to use my services to make their business better please ask them to contact me. 

I like to work!”

Mike Gagnon
Data Quality and Data Warehousing Expert
Gagnon Software Inc
+1 603-889-3550 (NH Office)
help@gagnon-software.com”