British Gas deploys SAS analytics to better understand its customers

British Gas is using analytics from SAS to tailor its product and service offerings to customers.

The SAS technology will also deliver "improved marketing efficiency", said British Gas.

British Gas is implementing a system that it says will optimise outbound marketing campaigns and help it "make the most of every customer interaction".

The analytical capability is being provided as an on-demand service by SAS.

Steve Thomas, head of campaign decisioning at British Gas, said: "We're looking to improve the response rate to campaigns by using analytics to tailor our offer to each individual customer. We want to better understand our customers through improved analytics."

He said: "SAS helps us enhance our marketing campaigns and shape the British Gas goal of becoming a customer-centric organisation. SAS provides us with a service that perfectly complements our existing processes."

SAS systems deployed by British Gas include SAS Marketing Optimisation, a system designed to "deliver the highest return-on-investment by revealing how to make the most of each individual customer contact", says SAS.

SAS says this system lets users accurately predict how "constraints" will affect overall contact strategy, so that common problems like over- or under-contacting customers and budget overspending "can be avoided".

British Gas is also using SAS Visual Analytics, which enables organisations to map out and understand analytic insights and share them with employees.

Last year, British Gas said it was rolling out a new SAP billing and customer relationship management system, that it hoped would help cut costs.