Scottish Power outsources data analysis

Scottish Power is to begin using an application service provider (ASP) next month to analyse its customer database.

The company claims that the increased analysis capability from having the application hosted externally will allow it to market down to household level, thereby more closely targeting its customers.

"One in five households in the UK is a Scottish Power customer. We are therefore a very data rich company, but are conscious that, unless we carry out regular and comprehensive analysis of this data, we will be information poor," said Andy Butcher, market research and database manager at Scottish Power.

The provider has been using a WhiteCross WX9010 data exploration system since 1994. It said that with the extra speed needed for an increased customer relationship management capability, cost became a major consideration in whether to upgrade the platform in-house or to take the ASP route.

"When we acquired the 9010 it was state-of-the-art, but technology moves too fast," said Butcher, adding that the cost savings of upgrading the servers in-house outweighed the potential pitfalls of ASPs, such as breaches of service level agreements and lack of access to mission-critical data.

"There were whispers from some quarters about the ASP route, but we took guidance from our IT department and no overall concerns were expressed," he said.