Chapter 5 • Enterprise Systems 205Most of the top 15 CRM enterprise vendors offer a
traditional out-of-the-box CRM application, including
call-center support, sales-force automation, and marketing
support, as well as templates for specific vertical
industries, such as health care, manufacturing, distribution,
and financial services. Several of these vendors also offer a
hostedoron-demand solution(also called Software as a
Service,orSaaS). With a hosted solution, the software
runs on the vendor’s hardware, and the customer pays a
subscription fee on a per user, per month basis to use the
application. Two of the firms in the top 15 are major soft-
ware vendors SAP (with SAP CRM) and Oracle (with
PeopleSoft CRM), both of which offer both a traditional
CRM application and a hosted solution. Another major
player in this market is Salesforce.com, which offers only
a hosted solution and is the clear leader in the hosted
market subsegment. Other vendors in this category include
Clear C2 (C2CRM); Infor Global Solutions (Infor CRM);
RightNow Technologies (RightNow CRM, which is only a
hosted solution); and Sage Software’s SalesLogix (Sage
Software is based in the United Kingdom). A few vendors
have chosen to focus on a particular industry—for exam-
ple, Amdocs Ltd. (Amdocs CRM) focuses on telecommu-
nications carriers and Internet service providers.
Turning to the top 15 CRM SMB vendors, we find a
few repeats, including Oracle, Salesforce.com, Clear C2,
and Sage Software, which has two products on the SMB
list—Sage SalesLogix and Sage CRM. Microsoft entersHarrah’s Earns “Total Rewards” Through Data Warehousing and Customer
Relationship Management
Harrah’s Entertainment, with 39 casinos in 12 states and Ontario, Canada, has created an enterprise
data warehouse to track and analyze customer spending in all these casinos through its Total Rewards
system. (Harrah’s has other international casinos that are not part of the Total Rewards system.) All
casino guest transactions are captured, including those at slot machines and gaming tables, through the
use of a magnetic membership card. To encourage use of the card, members receive regular points and
bonus points each time it is used. After a certain number of regular points have been earned, the
cardholder qualifies for a Gold, Platinum, or Diamond membership, which offers privileges such as club
memberships and expedited check-ins. The bonus points can be turned in for free food, drinks, and
other perks at the casinos. The Total Rewards loyalty program has been a big success, with 6 million
members who used the card in 2002 and 26 million members overall.
Surprisingly, statistical analysis on the Total Rewards data revealed that Harrah’s best customers
were not the so-called “high rollers,” but the slot-playing middle-aged folks or retired professionals
with time and discretionary income. Surveys of these customers indicated that they visited casinos
primarily because of the anticipation and excitement of gambling. With this insight, Harrah’s decided to
concentrate its strategy on these middle-ground customers. For example, Harrah’s built its advertising
around the feeling of exuberance that came from gambling. Further research found that if customers
had very happy experiences with Harrah’s, they increased their spending on gambling at Harrah’s by
24 percent a year, but if they had unhappy experiences, they decreased their spending by 10 percent a
year. Harrah’s efforts to create happy experiences for these middle-ground customers—largely through
the Total Rewards program—seems to have worked. The program offers members powerful incentives
to consolidate their gambling at Harrah’s properties. Overall, Harrah’s estimates that its customers spent
about 43 percent of their annual gambling budgets at Harrah’s properties in 2002, up from 36 percent
when the program began in 1997.
One result of Harrah’s marketing strategy—which is centered on the Total Rewards program—is
that Harrah’s hotel occupancy rate exceeds 90 percent versus an industry average of 60 percent. David
Norton, Senior Vice President of Relationship Marketing for Harrah’s, attributes the high occupancy rate
directly to the Total Rewards program.
Harrah’s has implemented its data warehouse on an NCR massively parallel processor server, using
Teradata database and warehousing software. The system employs SAS software for modeling and
Cognos business intelligence software for queries and reports. This unique data warehouse/customer
relationship management system is working: Harrah’s executives believe that the Total Rewards program
is the cornerstone of Harrah’s growth strategy.
[Based on Bligh and Turk, 2004; Watson, et al., 2005; and Young, 2003]